www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, May 27, 2010 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 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 Letters to the Editor NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional 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 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Open letter to the Premier Open letter to Premier McGuinty: Re: Development of the Oakville Generating Station If one were to read the facts, there would be probably at least 50 good and valid reasons why you should not be considering proceeding with the development of the Oakville Generating Station. You have already read/heard/been briefed about the facts relating to a very flawed process, the safety issues, the environmental issues, the health issues and the effect this particular power project will have on our public finances for years to come which has a lot to do with a hefty after tax return on a very expensive plant we don't actually need. Your own government knows how over-taxed this airshed is since they have studied it. You have seen the detail and the pictures of the recent explosion in Middletown or know a little about the Sunrise Propane explosion. So the question really is why are you intent on putting an entire community of families at risk? I'm not sure why Ford is willing to put our community, its own community of workers and its own very profitable Canadian manufacturing facility at risk by enabling the development of this plant, but it doesn't actually work for us....you and your government do work for us. So we have the right to know. Or do we? I'm also struggling with some other questions that I feel the need to ask you: · Do you know how many volunteer hours and after tax dollars are being spent on opposing such a flawed decision making process? TransCanada has apparently set aside $2 million to fight opposition to this plant. That seems like a lot of money to spend for a proponent the OPA said had community support. Those volunteering are giving up time away from their families and jobs to fight this plant. Others are helping to fund a group set up specifically for the sole purpose of opposing the proposed plant. · Do you know how many other well deserving non-profit organizations and charities are suffering each day that you continue to fight to move ahead with this project? Time and money is being diverted away from these groups because we have no choice but to safeguard our families and neighbourhoods. You, on the other hand, have a choice to shut down this project, seek out an alternative or tell your environment minister to do an Individual Environmental Assessment on this plant. · Why do we have to work this hard on opposing our own government when the facts are the facts? Why do we have to work so hard to safeguard our families from potential disasters, when the government should have our best interests and that of my family's at heart? · How do I explain this kind of decision making and opposition to the governSee No page 7 WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Suburban Newspapers of America Media Group Ltd. RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER WATERWORKS: The fifth annual Halton Children's Water Festival, set for early fall ( Sept. 28-Oct. 1) at Kelso Conservation Area, had a ceremonial kickoff recently at Halton Regional Council. Here, the two honourary co-chairs Conservation Halton Chair Brian Penman and Regional Chair Gary Carr joined Jack Gutman, Grade 3 of Oakville's St. Matthew's Catholic School, and Emily McKenzie-Yeo, Grade 5, of Georgetown's Silvercreek Public School in a game of H2O Jeopardy, one of the water-themed activities the students will participate in at the festival. How a man finds himself moving out of the moving business ou swear that this is it. Your swan song. The last time you will ever help anyone move, so long as you and your achy knees and wonky back shall live. Frankly, you're too decrepit for this nonsense. Yeah, this is it. Your final moving experience. Granted, you said that the last time would be your last time. That being the time when your eldest finished university and asked if you'd help clear out his apartment, and you were so giddy about his great grades and graduation that you did not even think to say, hell no. And at some point in the middle of that migration, a fold-out couch, folded out on your face, rendering the whole experience a little light-headed and whole-lot hazy. So, why in the world did you enlist for another tour of duty? Truth be told, you didn't really enlist so much as you got sucked in. Second Son, you see, is known as Full of Beans, or The Procrastinator. So, when he said the move was "under control", and that your help would not be needed, well, you should have known to call him on it. You should have demanded details. But you were just so happy that the move did not include you. Then, with only one week left before his lease expired, with little having been packed, nothing having been cleaned, and all grand plans Y having fallen through, it became painfully apparent that if you did not take the bull by the horns, the bull was going to attack you, like a fold-out couch. Moving Day. Five a.m. on a Saturday and you are awake, a thousand things going through your (normally empty) head. Logistical and practical things things like, don't forget to take your toolAndy Juniper box. Inevitably during the course of a move, you need a toolbox. Thoughts overpower any sense of sleepiness, so you get up and hit the open road. Only this move is in Toronto where there is no such thing as `open road'. You finally outwit the gridlock to your son's apartment. Which, in terms of cleanliness, is a disaster zone. You begin frantically cleaning and packing and cleaning. Then begins the back-and-forth, from apartment to rental truck, hauling the heavy and the awkward and helping yourself to a hernia. Fortunately, you think, it's not raining. That is sarcasm. Because it is raining. And even though 680 News is saying, "light showers", it's a deluge. Eventually, all that remains in the apartment are the dust bunnies your son will be left behind to corral, and a wrought-iron daybed that is way too big to ever fit through the apartment doors. No problem: just take it apart. Only the toolbox you were contemplating at 5 a.m. is, naturally, back home. You run off in the rain in search of tools in a metropolis that seemingly does not harbour a single hardware store. You are exhausted and melting down. There is a part of you that's hoping you'll just get run over crossing one of those busy streets. Tools purchased at a convenience store, daybed dismantled, apartment fully emptied, truck fully loaded, you hit the open road for home. Oh, right. No open road. Bloor Street is down to one lane and traffic is backed-up to Pickering. This is your swan song, your last gig as a mover. You expected more from The Moving Gods. Maybe not a handshake, or a gold retirement watch, but, at very least, a little open road. That's it, you swear. Your final moving experience. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.