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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 27, 2006 - 7 Region chair candidates offer solutions for youths During the 2006 municipal election The Oakville Beaver is posing questions to the Regional chair candidates on a weekly basis. The candidates' responses to these questions are printed in the Friday edition of The Oakville Beaver until Nov. 3. This week, the candidates were asked: We've been hearing from Oakville teens for a long time that there is nothing in Oakville for them. We are now experiencing some of the symptoms of that in the way of increased drug use, vandalism and graffiti. Boredom coupled with a lack of parental/adult monitoring and feeling unconnected to the community spells trouble. What strategies other than police enforcement would you commit to that will address the root cause of our youth angst? Brian Burton It's not that youth have nothing to do; it's that there are insufficient recreational facilities for our involved youth. The sports and recreational facilities we have are overbooked and schools always have more students trying out for plays than there are parts. Expanded facilities, of course, are not the answer for the youth who do not want any- Brian Burton thing to do with supervised recreation. So really, there are two solutions to this problem. The answer to the first part is straightforward and has long been pushed by activist parents: Halton needs more recreational and artistic facilities that are easy to access and require very little to maintain. While this responsibility lies with individual municipalities, Halton can lead by example and collect all development costs ­ not just 75 per cent. This will free up capital to build more recreation and artistic venues and facilities in open air local parks. The second issue, that of disconnected youth, can be addressed by expansion of existing peer to peer programs. These programs show all youth that you do not have to be the best student, athlete, or artist to enjoy yourself and be part of something fun. For disconnected youth the existing youth centre is a success. Young people go there to hang out, play video games, socialize and shoot pool. This is an encouraging initiative. We should create more youth drop-in centres with later closing times. Gary Carr I believe we need to provide the infrastructure in our communities for facilities for our youth. That means ensuring that we have the libraries, recreation facilities and the funding for our social programs as well as for new schools and hospitals. I want Halton to remain a good place to raise a family. I have raised my three children in Halton. I helped coach my chil- Gary Carr dren in their activities as they were growing up. We must ensure that we have the facilities for our youth. We also need to provide for children's and youth services that will assist our youth. I will explore the idea of a Region wide anti-bullying bylaw to supplement the work being done in our schools. One priority for me will be children's mental health services. We must reduce the waiting times for the services that our children need. We must move quickly for assessment, counselling and referral to our community resources. The Health Department works in the community to provide information, programs and resources on a wide variety of mental health topics to teens, parents, adults, seniors, caregivers and professionals. I will ensure the health department gets the resources they need. We can assist our youth if they get the services when they need them. I will also continue with my youth advisory committee to get input from our youth on the issues they face. Our youth need to be part of the solution. I will make services for our children and youth a priority. Brent Marshall Let me say that I think the majority of our youth are intelligent, engaged and motivated. This generation knows what they want and how to get it. However, there are always going to be pockets of youth in every community that suffer some `angst.' If this is due to boredom and a lack of local amenities, then we must look to recreational programs that fall Brent Marshall under the local umbrella. Halton Region bears responsibility for building a healthy community in partnership with others. In regards to addressing youth issues, I support the peer-to-peer approach facilitated by staff, which provides opportunities for input and collaboration with our young people. The resources applied in these areas have realized success, including: · The formation of the Halton Regional Youth Advisory Committee, which hosts a website, discusses topical issues and advises Regional Council; · Halton's Truth About Youth plan that engaged youth and the community in discussions and planning for the purposes of `making services better for youth in Halton'; · The formation of Halton's Youth Action Team, which hosted a Youth Tobacco Summit and Halton's Youth Alliance, which will work with the Health Department to reduce teen tobacco use. The approach of working with youth and empowering them to make the decisions and take actions to enact positive change, has proven successful. I have great confidence in today's youth to not just identify issues, but become part of the solution, and Halton should continue to apply resources to support these efforts. 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