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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 25, 2008 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 DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager A healthy move We applaud the Ontario government's recent action to take steps toward eliminating all food and beverages in schools that contain trans fats. There's an overwhelming body of medical evidence to suggest that today's young people are more likely to struggle with obesity and a host of related health problems. Levels of obesity among young Canadian children have nearly tripled over the last 25 years. The Heart and Stroke Foundation estimates consumption of processed trans fat contributes to 30,000-50,000 deaths in Canada every decade. Being raised in a society where our young people are confronted by the triple enticement of television, video games and the Internet, is it any wonder the end result is an entire generation of less active and, potentially, less healthy citizens? While the Province does not and should not exercise control over how parents choose to raise their children, it has a responsibility to ensure that publicly-funded institutions, such as schools, do promote a healthier lifestyle. "Our message is clear: a lifetime of good health starts with healthy practices in childhood. Healthier choices for students mean healthier habits later in life," said Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best. What better place is there than our schools to introduce a `curriculum' of eating right and remaining active? Poor eating and exercise habits established at a young age become much harder to break as teens graduate to adulthood. The combination of skyrocketing rates of obesity in our young people and the entry of the baby boomer generation into their golden years has the potential to place an unprecedented strain on Ontario's health system. By passing legislation that requires schools to drop trans fat from cafeterias, vending machines and tuck shops -- some foods that naturally contain small amounts of trans fat, such as beef and milk, as well as special food event days will still be allowed in schools -- the provincial government has taken a proactive step to address the alarming rate of obesity in our children. 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 In praise of dual-track schools I read Andrew McFarland's letter, French immersion demand should not force kids out of school, Oakville Beaver, April 23 with interest. My daughter is in a French immersion program and every year we struggle with the question of whether she should stay in the program or move to the English program. My child is not great at change, therefore I was left with the option of leaving her in the program to avoid the trauma of switching schools. I, too, am befuddled by this determination of parents to keep the French immersion program a single-track program in one school. The argument they make is that the children will not properly learn French because there will be too much English in the school. Funny, when I go into the singletrack school my daughter is in, I hear plenty of English, so what's the point then? This parent of a French immersion student has no problem with the dualtrack system because if it ends that the French program is not succeeding for my daughter, she wouldn't have to go through the stress of switching schools. So I totally agree with the letter writer in this regard. There's nothing wrong with dual-track French immersion programs. SANDRA MACKAY Put the shoe on the other foot Re: Andrew McFarland's letter French immersion demand should not force kids out of school, Oakville Beaver, April 23 For one minute I would like Mr. McFarland to place the shoe on the other foot. Suppose his son or daughter attended an overcrowded English school and there was talk of having to split the kids from this school across four or five schools, three of which were French immersion schools. As it so happens, the three French immersion schools were also operating at a sub-optimal enrollment, and were thus, not receiving optimal funding from the Ministry of Education. If a solution was proposed whereby one of the lower-enrollment French schools could be turned into an English speaking school, thereby ensuring that all schools -- French and English were optimally enrolled and thus optimally funded, would Mr. McFarland still say: "Oh no, I would not want to force those French immersion children to have to take a bus to school. I will have my child go to one of the French Immersion schools, where they will be in one or two classes of English speaking children in a French immersion school. Anything so that no one has to ride a bus." I highly doubt it. The solution is not one of convenience, it is one that ensures that all schools in the western region of Oakville are optimally staffed, with an optimum number of students, thereby ensuring optimal funding per school. JEFF FORD 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. Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com