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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Sunday December 24, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com 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 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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 Shedding light on problems By Kevin Flynn Oakville MPP Shining light where it has been previously dark is not always pleasant. It can expose some troubling things. But only by shedding light can we identify a problem and address it. This is exactly why our government extended the powers of the Auditor General. Before the McGuinty Liberals took office, agencies like Children's Aid, Ontario Power Generation, hospitals, boards of education and colleges and universities were exempt from scrutiny by the Auditor General. Previous NDP and Conservative governments chose to turn a blind eye and refused to give the Auditor General the power to investigate. We changed that. As a result, for the first time the Auditor General in his most recent report was able to identify some disturbing practices. And for the first time, a government was able to act quickly and take steps to ensure we have ever-higher standards. As a past president of the Halton Children's Aid Society, I know how important child welfare is, and the hard work that goes into helping children in need of protection. We are implementing each and every recommendation from the Auditor General for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. And we are going even further with an Action Plan for Higher Standards, including a new Accountability Office for tougher enforcement ­ one that will monitor CAS', and direct corrective action when necessary. We are directing CAS' to immediately conduct a review of vehicles using Ontario Public Service guidelines. We have directed them to sell the cars they don't need and reinvest those savings in services for children and youth. We are also requiring continuing regular audit reporting of Children's Aid Societies. These come on top of steps already taken to put the interest of children first. We created the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Ontario's very first dedicated ministry for children. We passed legislation to create an independent appeals process for Children's Aid Society complaints. And we introduced Independent Child Advocate legislation, something the NDP and Tories refused to do. Never again will Ontario's Child Advocate be muzzled by the government of the day. Every year 300,000 children are served by children and youth protection services. We owe it to those kids and to taxpayers to aim for a higher standard. We also owe it to the thousands of children's aid workers who treat their profession as a cause ­ not just a job. So much of this starts with ensuring that the Auditor General has the necessary authority to open doors. It starts with the kind of information being brought to the surface now. It starts with everybody, hundreds of thousands of people who are the beneficiaries of taxpayer dollars in one way or another ­ understanding that you've got to act responsibly, that you are all, ultimately, accountable to the people who pay the bills in Ontario. I am proud our government is the first to bring this level of inspection and scrutiny forward. The only way to fix problems is to shed light on problems. That's exactly what our government is doing, for the first time in Ontario's history. The Provincial Auditor will perform his next audits on Ontario's universities and nursing homes and I look forward to his findings. Kevin Flynn RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Christmas sans jellyfish, palm trees and Bootsy on the beach I had a dream. Granted, not quite as racy as my wife's recent sleeping cinema wherein she envisioned herself topless, in church. But, a dream nonetheless. Actually, it's a recurring dream, one experienced each year for as far back as I can recall. Like most good dreams it involves adventure, escape and, of course, a stellar round of golf. In my dream, it is Christmas morning. I am awakened early, not by kids invading our bedroom, pouncing on the bed, and clamoring to rip open stockings and gifts, but, rather, by birds sweetly singing through flung-open windows, by the soothing sound of waves lapping up onto the beach, and by the rejuvenating scent of a sensual sea breeze. Languidly, I rise. Clad in nothing more than a t-shirt and my SpongeBob SquarePants boxers, I pour myself a tall cup of coffee and take that aromatic beaker of bliss out onto the balcony, overlooking the beach and the ocean. As I leisurely sip my coffee I peruse the pages of a riveting novel (Solomon Gursky Was Here, The Sunforth Chronicles, or some such) until it's time for breakfast, delivered in its hot, artery-clogging glory by smiling room-service. Bacon, two eggs overeasy, toast, a heaping helping of home fries, and more cof- fee. After breakfast I digest more of whatever novel I'm reading, and then I go for a lazy run on the beach, under azure skies and a sultry and seductive sun, careful to dodge jellyfish that have washed-up onto the sand, careful not to burn my fair skin, and careful not to run too far and tucker myself out. Because, Andy Juniper of course, I have scheduled for noon, my Christmas round of golf. A round in which all aspects of my game will be aligned and I will be, in a word, stellar. On my way back to the resort to collect my clubs, I jog by my wife who is sunbathing on the beach (top on, I feel obliged to note): "Toodles, Bootsy," I call to her, "I'll be back at five for the happy hour, highballs on the beach!" And there, the heavenly dream ends. I ran my dream by my family with the slim hope that they might see it the way that I see it ­ an alternative, slightly eccentric but altogether awesome Christmas. But I was shouted down, rather vehemently, rather rudely, I must say. No way! they hollered in unison (this, I believe was the first time they'd ever all agreed on anything). Have you had too much eggnog, they wondered? Christmas is about tradition! Christmas is about being at home! Christmas is about being with family, relatives, and other people who drive you bonkers! Christmas is about the cold, the snow, about coming in from that cold and snow and huddling around a warm, crackling fire. Christmas, in their minds, is apparently not about palm trees swaying gently in a breeze. It isn't about "getting away from it all," and it certainly isn't about Bootsy on the beach, or me having a stellar round of golf on Christmas Day. Unceremoniously, shot down, I closed my eyes, boxed and wrapped my dream, and put it away for another year. For this year I'll settle for (or revel in) surrounding myself with good flesh, carrying on the traditions for which my kids crave, and keeping that warm and crackling fire well-stoked. Merry Christmas, dear readers! Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.