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" OPINIONTF Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager consent of the publisher. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of the advertising space occupied by the errongous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize and reject advertising. In the event of typographical error, advertising goods price, goods is may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. But the reality is that when it comes down to specifics, when commissions or other governmentâ€"appointed committees, task forces and the like convene to get public input, the resultant report often doesn‘t reflect the views of the majority of those who have addressed those same commissions. view carries any weight on issues that impact directly on them. Sure, much is made about federal elections when we all trot off to the polls in the misâ€" taken belief that the result will give us a better life. One of the great illusions of Canadian democracy is that the average person‘s Most of these groups which spend our money to see and hear what we think about various issues, really have their own mandate. Membership on these boards is usually constituted along party lines making unbiased conclusions almost imposâ€" gible. So much for the will of the people. Enter the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission (FEBC). This august group trotted into our area earlier this year to float a trial balloon consisting of a plan to reapportion the federal election boundaries for Oakville. Basically, their plan would see Oakville residents represented by two MPs instead of one, with the current Oakvilleâ€"Milton riding cut in half. _ At the time of their deliberations here, that commission heard a battery of comâ€" plaints over their plan that came from Oakville Town Hall and everyone else. To our knowledge, no one spoke in favor of the proposed change. . The ‘new‘ riding would retain the Oakville part of the riding from our eastern and western boundaries but with the northern boundary changing to Upper Middle Road. Live above that artery and you have one MP., live below it and you have To most people, this would logically indicate that the ‘revised‘ boundary scheme would die and another option would be forthcoming. But this belief doesn‘t take into consideration two realities of formal governâ€" ment commissions. First, these bodies don‘t have the word ‘logic‘ in their lexicon and second, they regard the population at large as a mere inconvenience in the way of formulating their views. And so we don‘t find it surprising that the FEBC has completely ignored all local public input into the planned boundary changes and has plowed ahead with their original plan. Public input is an annoyance to this group. _ _ Oakvilleâ€"Milton MP Bonnie Brown was and is against the change which would create a new Halton Centre federal riding and intends to fight the scheme. To do so would require the Liberals to form another commission before next June when the Toryâ€"dominated FEBC will reconvene to receive input...but just from MPs. The theory behind their decision is strictly along numerical lines. The commisâ€" sion wanted to carve up the province into ridings of 100,000 people...it‘s neat, tidy and completely arbitrary. In other words, it‘s a bureaucrat‘s delight. And as lowly as view these commissions have of the general population, they have an even lower opmlon of elected MPs and as a rookie, Brown has her work cut out for her. Editorial Japan Spain Soviet Union France United States United Kingdom Italy Mexico China Brazil Egypt India Iran Sudan Ethiopia Annual seafood consumption per person in selected countries mid ‘80s Country Contemptible public 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 The Oakville Beaver, ished every Sut W-dm and Friday, at 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, is one of the Metroland ng hing Distributing Ltd. group of suburban newspapers which includes: Ajaxâ€" Pu:korlng News Advertiser, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Colli Connection, Etobicoke Guardian, Goo lown | W Acton Free 4 Kingston This Week, Llndla’x leek, Markham Economist and Sun, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian Champion, Mississauga News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HiV Thombhil/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by yrwgl ht. Any reproduction in whole or in part of this material is llridly 1orb|ddon ithout the Seafood (kilograms of live weight) Animal heroes, I mean. We‘ve had plenty of them. Never mind the celluloid canines like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie and King of the Royal Mounted. ~ f Cooperstown can have a baseball museum and Montreal can have a humor museum, how come there‘s no museum of animals? How about Bibs? Bibs was a Laura Secordâ€"style canary who lived in Hermitage, Tennessee in the home of an elderly lady. One day the woman took a tumâ€" ble and badly hurt herself. Bibs, who was out of her cage at the time, flew out the window and down the street to a neighbour‘s house where he flapped and cheeped at the window until the neighbour took the hint and went to investigate. Bibs saved Old Aunt Tess‘s life at the cost of his own. He died from the stress of the incident. Or how about Comanche? He was a quarterhorse who fought the battle of Little Big Horn. Comanche‘s job was to carry one Captain Myles Keogh through the fray and he did it admirablyâ€"â€"even though the horse took seven wounds, three of them serious. Nevertheless, when the smoke cleared, only one participant wearing U.S. Cavalry colors was still standâ€" ing and that was Comanche. Life got better for Comanche after that. He became a U.S. military legend with a special army order permitting him free wandering at any army post, lots of parades and absolutely nobody allowed to climb on his back. Man‘s animal friends deserve special recognition Or how about Jack the porâ€" poise? There‘s a nasty stretch of water called the French Pass off the coast of New Zealand. A century ago, sailors had an unusual way of negotiating the passageâ€"â€"they followed a porâ€" poise who led them through the tricky reefs and currents. From 1871 until 1903, "Jack" as he was known, met and guided ever boat that came. Right up until the Penguin. The Penguin was a passenger ship that appeared at French pass in 1903. As Jack set off in the lead, some drunken fool of a passenger leaned over the bow and shot him in the back. There are plenty of animal heroes down through history if you just know where to look for them. As a matter of fact, I‘ve just discovered another oneâ€"â€" Hachiko, by name. Fortunately Jack recovered and resumed his nonâ€"paying pilot‘s job. For the next nine years, he guided every ship that appeared at the mouth of French Passâ€"â€"with the exception of one. The skipper of the Penguin always knew he was on his own. Hachiko went, some time ago, to the Big Dog Kennel in the sky, but before that, Hachiko was a golden brown Akita b itch, who lived with her master in downtown Tokyo. Although she died nearly 60 years ago, Hachiko is still a hero to millions of Japanese. They line up to view her taxiâ€" dermied carcass in the National Museum. You can buy books, plaques, statuesâ€"â€"even movies and CDs about Hachiko. Hachiko came by her hero status honestly. She used to walk her masterâ€"â€"a commuting professorâ€"â€"to the train station every morning. Every evening, when the train came back, Hachiko would be on the platâ€" form waiting. But one day in 1925, her master collapsed and died at work. That evening, Hachiko waitâ€" ed on the platform long after the last passenger had departed and the train had gone. No master. The next evening, disemâ€" barking passengers â€" saw Hachiko waiting again. And the next night. And the next. Hachiko met the train, winter and summer, rain and heat wave, every single evening for the next 10 years. Her loyalty never waivered. She never forâ€" got. Hachiko died in 1935 and was buried beside her master. There‘s a statue to her at the train station where she waited a decade for him to come home. An important statue? You bet. When the station was rebuilt and modernized in 1948, the architect had to design the staâ€" tion around the statue, so that it wouldn‘t be disturbed. Hachiko never forgot. Neither, it seems, will the Japanese people.