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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday August 15, 2007 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: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager No vacation for donations Many people view August as summer's last gasp. The remaining weeks before the start of a new school year are usually spent enjoying the great outdoors and having fun with family and friends. But August is also the month that proves difficult for many service-oriented agencies that support and care for residents all year long. When people are on vacation their thoughts don't always turn to rolling up their sleeves at a blood donor clinic or buying extra groceries to help stock the shelves at the local food banks. However, Canadian Blood Services will tell you that blood products are needed all year and there is no `vacation' from the demand. Indeed, there is more carnage on the highways during the summer months straining the blood supply needed for critically injured victims. "It is crucial that Canadians understand the immediate need for blood donors and respond by coming to donate in the weeks leading up to, and following, the long weekend," said Graham D. Sher, chief executive officer, Canadian Blood Services. Oakville residents have two opportunities to give blood at Canadian Blood Services clinics this month. The first is Friday, Aug. 24 at Iroquois Ridge Community Centre, located at 1051 Glenashton Drive. The clinic will be operating from 4:30 - 8 p.m. Another chance to give blood locally is on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Rd. The clinic there will be open from 1 - 7 p.m. Just as important as blood donors are the generous people who provide a lifeline to the food bank and the hundreds of residents it serves each month. While the cupboards are not bare, Dudley Clarke, of the Oakville Fareshare Foodbank, says donations of food or cash are always needed and welcomed. Currently, the foodbank is in need of canned fruit donations. When you are packing up groceries, perhaps for another trip to the cottage, think about making a donation at any grocery store that has the blue bins marked food bank. Donations of money are also a mainstay of the food bank. For information or to donate, visit Fareshare at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6 or call 905-847-3988. Once you have donated, don't forget to tell relatives and friends what you did on your summer vacation. 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 Time is right for change to Mixed-Member Proportional system I welcome a new voting system to Ontario and will gladly do so on the Oct. 10 provincial election. Why? I think our current system worked well at a time when there were only two parties to pick from. That was in the 1800s. However, now there are many more parties out there to choose from because our society has changed dramatically. We are more diverse, better educated and well-rounded. Therefore, we need a government that is more reflective of our society. Another reason for my voting for Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) on Oct. 10 is because I'm tired of a system that gives so much power to a party with such a small number of voters. A party can be voted into power with at least 40 per cent of the population. That means there are least 60 per cent of voters who really don't want them there to begin with. With this party comes its ideology which not all Ontarians support. Not everyone was happy with the Common Sense Revolution brought in by Mike Harris and Company in 1996, but we all had to live with it and its negative effects on health care and education. Not to show partisanship, but even Conservatives have to admit the first-past-the post system has been harsh on them. In the 1993 Federal Election, only two Conservatives were elected to the House of Commons. In the 1980s, a New Brunswick election resulted in the complete elimination of the Conservative party there. With a Mixed-Member Proportional system, the possibility of this is minimal and the best part is that the parties will have to work together -- finally. So no Common Sense Revolutions or Red Book Revolutions will high-jack social policy ever again. MMP also gives voters more choice. So if they don't like the party, but they like the candidate representing them, they can pick the candidate and then pick the party they like. No vote is wasted in this system, all votes are counted. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It's really about giving voters real choice. Now Ontario can set a precedent for the rest of Canada that we don't have to stick with a system that wastes votes and gives too much power to one party. So on Oct.10, I'm voting for MMP. SANDRA MACKAY Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.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.