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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, May 13, 2009 · 6 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 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 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Wasted exercise Let's try this again. We find it outrageous that the Halton District School Board has turned to the public for a solution to its budget woes. Facing a $2.5-million funding shortfall for the 2009-10 budget year, last week the publicly-funded school board announced Halton residents would be consulted for possible solutions to its financial mess. "What we're trying to do is engage the public by asking them what is working and what they think that we need in our schools, whether it is textbooks or technology," said Steven Parfeniuk, the board's superintendent of business services. However, it's Parfeniuk, his fellow senior board staff and Halton's elected public school trustees who should have the best insight into what is working within the board and what each Halton school requires in order to ensure the region's students will continue to thrive, academically. Are the senior administrators of this school board -- singularly responsible for delivering education to more than 52,000 students at 78 elementary and 17 high schools within the communities of Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills -- admitting to being completely out of ideas to balance the board's books? For the sake of public school students throughout the region, we hope not. In 2008, the 27 top paid superintendents, managers, supervisors and executive officers at the Halton District School Board were paid more than $3.7 million to ensure students received the quality of education mandated by the Province. We believe senior board staff are paid well to make tough decisions -- including balancing budgets based on their wealth of experience in education. Have school board officials stopped to consider that some Halton residents may be too preoccupied by their own serious financial predicament right now to give much thought to the board's shortfall? It's not appropriate, or responsible, to delegate responsibility for balancing the books to the very taxpayers who fund the board's budget, plus the salaries of those who are supposed to be making these hard decisions in the first place. We doubt public budget meetings tentatively scheduled for the weeks of May 18, May 25 and June 1 will provide the miraculous $2.5-million answer the board is seeking. While we certainly support public consultation and transparency whenever taxpayers' dollars are at stake, this feels more like a case of contracting out for free. Senior school board staff had better brace themselves for a maelstrom of criticism from taxpayers, including some who may suggest that their salaries be the first place where board cuts should occur. 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. Letter to the editor Wake up Oakville I am absolutely flabbergasted, dismayed, disappointed and disgusted by the lack of honest, outright and complete factual information that is not being conveyed to Oakville residents and Oakvillians total empathy as far as the `proposed' new gas-fired hydro generating plant is concerned. We all live breathing the most polluted and extremely bad air -- the second worst levels of polluted air in Ontario. Who says so? The Ministry of the Environment says so, courtesy of the study it did in conjunction with Peel and Halton in 2004. Unfortunately, it is called the Clarkson Air Shed Study ­ but it covers much of Oakville's territory and should have been identified as such. Despite knowing that we have a severely taxed air shed (worse than Toronto or Hamilton on most days); the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) has been instructed to select a location for a new power plant in the southwest Mississauga or Oakville area. Even though three sites are in Mississauga and only one is in Oakville, they are all within several hundred feet to one mile of Oakville's boundary. All are very close to residential neighbourhoods. Mississauga residents are signing petitions against the project in the thousands and thousands. Their MP, MPP and local councillor are fully in support. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion has been very vocal in her disgust, but she repeatedly, at a meeting held at ORC, and again very recently in a letter to the Premier, has stated "Stay out of Mississauga" ­ but it's okay to build it in Oakville. No, it is not -- and much as our council has taken steps to make it arduous to build it here, the OMB, where most sensible and well-based decisions can finish up, has the power to overrule anything and anybody and quite often does. Get the picture. It is crucial that Oakville gets as involved as Mississauga and as heavily against this project. PAT MELHUISH Letters to the editor 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. Bronte Village Mall plan hits sour note I attended the Bronte Legion presentation two weeks ago and was overwhelmed by the amount of detail, combined with the lack of opportunity to ask questions. The article, Bronte Village Mall revitalization plan hits the right note, Oakville Beaver, May 2, suggesting attendees were happy with the proposal added to my discomfort. I, for one, am unhappy with the eightand 10-storey building heights.I live on Sovereign Street, directly north of the mall. Despite the promise of two- and fourstorey housing on Sovereign Street, it feels like a wall of concrete. Please note my objection to the bylaw amendment. SUZANNE MONAGHAN This week's poll This week's question is: Who do you believe? · Brian Mulroney · Karlheinz Schreiber · Neither To vote, visit oakvillebeaver.com Last week's poll: Are you concerned about getting the H1N1 flu virus? · Yes 48.94% · No 51.06% Total votes: 47 votes