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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 10, 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. 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 Here we go again In just 34 days, men and women from Victoria to St. John's will be asked to select Canada's 40th Parliament. Facing a world full of uncertainty -- see rising fuel prices, global warming and the strong Canadian dollar's crippling effect on the country's manufacturing sector -- voters who are not staunch supporters of a particular party will probably find themselves scrambling to find some straight answers to some serious questions. We suspect the campaign for this federal election will not be much different from the last -- just two years and nine months ago -- with loud and aggressive attack ads drowning out candidates who have taken the time to formulate real positions on real issues Canadians care about. Indeed, even before Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially called a fall election, radio and television advertisements by the Conservative Party of Canada were taking dead aim at Stéphane Dion's Green Shift plan that proposes reducing personal income tax while penalizing polluting companies. For Ontarians who have watched their province fall on hard times -- the result of a downturn in the U.S. economy that is the largest market for goods manufactured here, rising fuel prices and a strong loonie that has sent companies like John Deere running for cheaper pastures (can you say, Mexico?) -- this election may be more about which party's leader seems most prepared to help Ontario out of its economic rut. Local voters may be in for some compelling races including the Oakville riding where Liberal incumbent Bonnie Brown is being challenged by Conservative Terence Young. Michelle Bilek will represent the NDP and Marion Schaffer is the Green Party candidate. Meanwhile, residents who vote in the Halton riding will see Conservative MPturned Independent MP-turned Liberal MP Garth Turner take on federallyappointed Conservative candidate Lisa Raitt, president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. The NDP candidate for Halton is Robert Wagner. Amy Collard will represent the Green Party. As the election draws closer, The Oakville Beaver plans to provide readers with a better understanding of who each candidate is and where they stand on issues that affect residents most. 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 Re: Butterfly Foundation was expensive failure, Oakville Beaver, Wed. Sept. 3. Was that headline and the accompanying article intended to be a news flash or some kind of revelation? For anyone who doesn't know, all Canadian charities have a law to disclose. Over its eight-year existence, why didn't the Bronte Butterfly Foundation (BBF) follow regular disclosure practices as set out by our fed- BBF didn't provide full disclosure eral Charities Directorate? The public enquired over and again about financial details regarding the BBF, but no clear answers were given. One would think with elected officials from province, region and municipality at various times all serving on the BBF board, that someone might have ensured donors knew what was being done with their Butterfly Foundation was worthy of support As the volunteer treasurer for the Bronte Butterfly Foundation for the past seven years, I would like to clarify some of the references that were made regarding its finances in the story Butterfly Foundation was expensive failure, Oakville Beaver, Wed. Sept. 3 It is true that the fundraising target was an ambitious one in 1999. However, the quality and vision of the project and the efforts of the board of directors, the executive director and many volunteers were sufficiently strong and compelling that the Ontario Trillium Foundation in two separate grants over five years was prepared to support a portion of specific administrative costs to enable the Foundation to See Grants page 9 This week's poll The Oakville Beaver has a polling feature on its website oakvillebeaver.com. A new poll will be posted every Wednesday with the results of the poll published in the following Wednesday edition of The Oakville Beaver. This week's question is: Should Green Party leader Elizabeth May be included in the televised leaders' debates? · Yes · No To vote, visit oakvillebeaver.com Last week's poll: If the federal election were held today, which party would you vote for? · Conservative 27.47% · Green 39.56% · Liberal 16.48% · NDP 16.48% Total votes: 91 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. See Butterfly page 11 Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com