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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday June 23, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: IAN OLIVER Publisher WEBSITE Oakvillebeaver.com NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Giant step backwards The Halton Catholic District School Board's decision to opt out of the Halton Regional Campus Plan is puzzling. On Tuesday night, the board dropped out of this innovative cost-saving initiative during a bizarre school board meeting. At that meeting Burlington trustee Bob Van de Vrande presented two motions, the first of which was to approve the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) hammered out between all four partners in the project, and then voted against them. When the motions ended in identical 44 tie votes, the Catholic school board's participation in the Halton Regional Campus scheme was effectively over. For the record, the three Oakville trustees, Alice Anne LeMay, Ed Viana and David Goch, voted for the plan. The Catholic board would have probably benefited the most from the `super centre' shared administration facility between the Catholic board, Halton Region, Regional Police and the public school board. Of all four partners, the Catholic board is operating in the most outdated and cramped administration facilities. Although the centre will cost about $127-million to build, the overall savings to the taxpayers of Halton would be about $20. As it stands now, the other three partners in the campus plan still intend to proceed with the plan, which is still in its planning stages. Which makes the Catholic board's decision all the more puzzling. All the board members were being asked to approve Tuesday was the MOU it has with the other partners in the project. This was not a binding agreement and all partners, but an expression of the participants' intent to proceed with the Halton Regional Campus. The Catholic board could have pulled out afterwards if they felt uncomfortable with the project. We are not even sure why the four school trustees objected to the plan. On Tuesday night, they weren't talking. We do know they turned down the plan without any visible alternative on the horizon. According to Catholic Board Chair Al Bailey, they are not in line for any provincial funding to build a new administration facility. After turning down the campus plan, we can't see the province rewarding the Halton Catholic board with more money to spend on a new facility. Our only hope is that a new slate of trustees might feel differently about the campus plan after the November election. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Oakville Catholic school trustee calls for calm As plans proceeded for our participation in Halton Region's new office complex anxiety levels increased within the Catholic community. On Tuesday the Halton District Catholic School Board (HCDSB) defeated the motion to proceed with the next steps to move forward with our participation. As trustees we seek input from wide and varied sources when making decisions. A number of stakeholders beyond the trustees had reservations about consolidating the board offices to Bronte. Oakville trustees listened to the views from both sides and voted in favour of the motion. As one of the HCDSB trustees, I am not immune or insensitive to what some are feeling. Whether or not our administration staff join the other participants in the Regional Centre in no way lessens the excellent service our staff and teachers are providing or the highest quality of education and family values taught in our schools. These will continue whether our staff are in separate facilities or on Bronte Road. Let's try to put this issue behind us for now as graduation ceremonies are happening these next two weeks. Join me in congratulating our grad students as they begin an important new chapter in their journey. DAVID GOCH, OAKVILLE TRUSTEE, HCDSB Why scrap EnerGuide? The Conservative government chopped the EnerGuide for Houses program to save about $45 million annually. They did it in a sneaky quiet way without announcement over a weekend (were they embarrassed?). Yet that same program probably helped 10 times that amount in energy-efficiency improving renovations. It reduced average energy consumption and homeheating bills by one-third and greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent, or four tonnes per home per year using the program. It's understandable for the Conservative government to want its own policies, such as Kyoto, but we have no hint what their "made in Canada" policy will be. It's another thing to systematically kill any successful program or project the Liberals had a hand in. That sort of mean-spirited, short sightedness is not in Canada's' best interest. HENRY SHEWFELT Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com More letters @ www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206,Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981.Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous 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 advertisements or decline.