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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 24, 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 Recognize young leaders Our editorial team has spent the past six weeks covering political leaders in our community, so it only seems appropriate that we are now turning our attention to the young leaders of our town. We want to show you examples of how so many of our youths are already giving of their time and energy to make this a great place to live and work. These young people intuitively understand what the word "community" is really about and unselfishly give of themselves by volunteering with different local groups and clubs, at school, at churches, with sports and more. That's why this newspaper strongly supports the Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Awards here in Oakville so we can provide recognition for outstanding young people who are, and will continue to be, leaders in our town. The awards program is co-ordinated by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA), of which we are a member, and is sponsored by TD Canada Trust. Any Ontario resident aged six to 17 is eligible to receive an Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Award. Please help us by nominating an individual in one of four areas: · A person involved in worthwhile community service. · A special young person contributing to their community while living with a physical or psychological limitation. · An individual who has performed an act of heroism in the past year. · Good kids who show a commitment to make life better for others and do more than is normally expected of someone their age. Each nominee will receive a certificate of recognition. Up to 12 of the nominees and one group will be chosen as the final recipients of the provincial award and invited to a special ceremony held in Toronto next spring. Your vote counts with this newspaper. Nominate an outstanding young person today, and we will personally present them with a certificate of recognition and showcase their contributions in this newspaper. Help us to pay tribute to our leaders of today and tomorrow. Nomination deadline for the 2008 Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Awards is Sunday, Nov. 30. Nomination forms are available at www.ocna.org or by calling the OCNA at 905-639-8720, ext 228. 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 Recently, I was riding on the bus. It stopped in front of an Oakville high school and a group of kids got on. Two boys about 17 or 18 sat behind me and started talking about welfare. One of them was on the fence about whether there should be Ontario Works, but one of them made his opinion quite clear. In his opinion, Ontario Works should be eliminated because recipients do nothing but drink and buy drugs with `his tax dollars.' I turned to this young man and asked Critics of Ontario Works recipients should find out who they are criticizing him if he knew anyone who was on Ontario Works and he replied that he knew no one personally who collected it. So I said to him, "Then how do you know they know are using it for booze and drugs." He didn't answer me and I continued. "So perhaps instead of allowing yourself to be fed a line, you should do a little research and once you realize how wrong you are about the assumption of those who collect welfare, you'll be less judgmental. "It's called growing up and maturing." The young man was silent and I turned around and bit my tongue so as not to continue my tirade. Not so much at him, but by whoever had fed him these stereotypes as he obviously heard them somewhere and that whichever high school he attends seems to be falling down on the job in teaching these kids to be less judgmental and more open minded. It's safe to say many kids in Oakville are lucky enough to be growing up in homes owned by high-income earning parents, so no, they wouldn't be exposed to the harsh reality of life on Ontario Works. They are not witness to parents who have to decide whether to buy groceries or pay the rent; or the humiliation of using a food bank or the grim reality your phone and cable service are probably going to be cut off because you may have had to purchase a medication not covered under the drug plan. This young man needs to realize one important fact: most people in Ontario would rather not be on welfare in the first place. They'd like nothing more than to be able to pay the rent and buy their groceries; they liked to have phone and cable and that much needed medication not covered by the drug plan. Most importantly, the would like to be able to go a month without having to resort to the humiliation of using a food bank. There are numerous reasons why people wind up on Ontario Works -- but primarily it's because they had no other options left. All their funds dried up and they had nowhere else to turn. It's very sad and scary to think young men, like this bus rider who sat behind me, will one day be placing his vote in a ballot box, deciding who to elect to government; worse, he might be the one running for office. I certainly hope my comments to him at least gave him food for thought (no pun intended). 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.