The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday June 7, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 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 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 Metroland Media Group 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 MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Guest Columnist Liberals working on productivity Bonnie Brown, Oakville MP he current session of parliament is drawing to a close. Unfortunately, it has been marred with numerous distractions like the Conservatives' "in and out" election finance scheme, the departure of the Prime Minister's chief of staff over allegations of interference in U.S. politics and numerous blunders by the foreign affairs minister. Important opportunities for serious policy debate have been lost. In the meantime, the Liberal Opposition caucus has been busy working on initiatives to address the immediate concerns of Canadians. I'll briefly outline just two. A new survey conducted by Nanos Research for the Canadian Union of Public Employees shows that a large majority of Canadians trust their municipal government more than private corporations to deliver services. Canadians favoured public delivery for every one of the nine categories of services on which they were questioned: sewage treatment (75.8 per cent), drinking water treatment and delivery (75.5 per cent), community and social services (75.1 per cent), maintenance and upkeep of parks (69.4 per cent), public transit (68.6 per cent), road maintenance (64.7 per cent), garbage and recycling services (64.6 per cent), recreation facilities such as rinks and swimming pools (64.5 per cent), and electricity generation and distribution (60.6 per cent). However, aided by several ex-Harris government cabinet ministers, Mr. Harper has been pressuring provincial and municipal governments to privatize their service delivery. By contrast, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has recently announced a new Liberal government will work in partnership with Canadian municipalities to address economic, environmental and social challenges. "Liberals agree that we owe it to our children to address the $123-billion infrastructure deficit facing Canada," said Mr. Dion in an address to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. He committed to investing in municipal infrastructure any future unanticipated surpluses that exceed the $3-billion contingency reserve. The priority for this funding would be sustainable infrastructure: public transit, water systems, green energy, landfills and cleaning up contaminated sites. "This commitment indicates that for us, Canada's infrastructure needs are an important priority" added Mr. Dion. "Canada's cities and communities are showing leadership in changing for the future, but they need a federal partner who shows the same leadership. I am confident that together, we will lead our communities and our country in the right direction, for a richer, fairer and greener Canada for ourselves, our children, and the generations to come." On a similar note, you'll recall Mr. Harper recently toured Europe. It was a failed effort to redeem Canada's tarnished international reputation on climate change following his abandonment of our Kyoto commitments. Mr. Dion, by contrast, has been busy working with the Liberal caucus as well as both domestic and international expert groups to find workable measures to immediately reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, we need to put a price on carbon and for that there are two main techniques. One is to fundamentally change our taxation system so that "good things" like income and capital are taxed less while "bad things" like carbon emissions are taxed more. This method is referred to as a "carbon tax" but it is very important to note that the net effect on government tax revenue would be zero. Bonnie Brown IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, 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 RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America T THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION See Summer page 7 He's seen mid-life crisis up close and it's wearing Spandex M aybe this is what a midlife crisis looks like. I'm back in my hometown, standing at the starting line of a 10km race on a warm and sunny Sunday morning, and I'm wondering what the heck I'm doing here? I could still be in bed, sipping a latte and perusing the morning news, or in a diner tucking into some bacon and eggs. Honestly, I'm old as the hills -- I've got bunions more mature than half the runners lining up around me -- and even in my prime I was a sprinter, never a 10km (or 5km or 2km) kind of guy. It's true that when I entered this event I was under the impression that it was a run, not a race. Runs, you see, tend to be non-competitive, attracting weekend warriors who participate for fun (and, typically, fundraising), while races tend to be competitive and intense, attracting the super-serious Spandex-set who participate with the goals of knocking off the competition and shaving precious time off their assorted intervals, which they know by heart. I determined I was at a race when I saw competitors warming up by sprinting up a steep hill -- oh, hell, call it a mountain -- repeatedly, without the aid of oxygen, or Sherpas. It's been said that a midlife crisis is just a cliché, until you have one. To date, I've foregone the flashy red sports car. I haven't abandoned my family and run off with a woman half my age (and, not solely because no woman half my age would ever have me). I haven't grown a ponytail, or got my bum pierced. But, standing at that starting line I can't help, but think that maybe I am trying to recapture the fading bloom of youth. Or, maybe my motives are altruistic: the race is raising money for the Andy Juniper hometown hospital, where a lot of people I love were born, and too many people I love have died. The starter's pistol sounds and we're off. The rabbits sprint out of the gate -- whoa, guys, I want to shout, there's another 9.9 km to go. I hang back, out of necessity more than strategy. Given my fitness level, if I sprint early, race officials will be carting me off the course. I find myself matching opening strides with an energetic octogenarian -- seriously, this guy's 80 if he's a day; I'll be fortunate to be running a fever at 80, let alone 10-k. Anyway, he's telling me the course wasn't very well marked last year and that he got lost. I figure I'd better ditch this guy or, given my nose for navigation, the two of us will end up stumbling through some faraway cornfield. I pick up my pace. At the one-kilometre mark, I hit The Wall. For the uninformed, non-running readership, The Wall is a 1979 concept double-album by Pink Floyd. Oh, and The Wall is when a longdistance runner basically runs out of gas (usually at around the 40-kilometer mark of a marathon). At two kilometres, as the race winds for two large loops through the park where I used to play as a kid, I start to see spots. At the five kilometre-mark I must surely be hallucinating: I imagine a race official shouting for me to move over because the race leader -- a leggy, teenage girl covering full city blocks with each effortless stride --is, ah, lapping me. Obviously a hallucination. At eight kilometres, I lap the octogenarian who gives me a thumbs-up and, if you can imagine, a winning smile. It's then that I realize why I'm here: yes, there's a bit of mid-life crisis going on. I'm committed to the fundraising cause, but mostly, I'm here for the challenge: not just running a race that near kills me, but doing things that interest, even though they don't come easy, right on into my eighties and beyond. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.