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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, July 7, 2010 · 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 --Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends 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: Canadian Circulation Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Canadian Community Newspapers Association ATHENA Award NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. 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 School's out With area schools now out for the summer holidays and local students about to enjoy the next two months free from educational constraints, we hope local adults take heed on two fronts. First, summertime should be a time of fun for area youngsters. However, that time of fun also means a time of heightened attentiveness for drivers. It takes only a split second for a tragedy to occur. Area kids will be out in full force throughout July and August on bikes, skateboards, inline skates and on foot. That means drivers should use extra caution when traversing our roadways. A moment's distraction on either the part of a youngster on a bicycle or a driver can spell disaster. Secondly, a new survey by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario found the majority of kids in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will be missing out on physical activity this summer, as parents scramble to find childcare solutions once school is out. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, parents face the harsh realities of juggling cost, safety and work schedules over finding solutions that allow their kids to be active. The survey found that working and cashstrapped parents of school-age kids placed greater importance on finding programs that are affordable, convenient or safe than ones that promoted physical activity. With child obesity rates hovering near 28 per cent in Ontario the survey found only one in five children will be spending time swimming, one in seven in day camps, and one in eight in organized sports this summer. It is incumbent upon governments at both the provincial and municipal levels to develop processes, both through the public and private sector, to make it easier for parents to make healthy choices for their kids and to ensure physical activity is part of their children's lives -- whether they are in school or out. 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 Funding cuts long overdue Re: PM's Actions speak louder than words by Mervyn Russell, Oakville Beaver, June 30. So Prime Minister Stephen Harper has finally cut funding to such agencies as Canadian Council for International Co-operation, described by Russell as the governing body for 90 non-government aid agencies which, according to Russell, would be putting Canadian dollars to work on behalf of mothers and children. Thank you, Stephen Harper for cutting off funding to all these Canadian taxpayer-sucking associations, who feel they are entitled to take free trips around the planet telling others how terribly disadvantaged they are. Canadian taxpayers should see this as a responsible course of action for a politician, and about time. All my life I wondered how all those people protesting at Queen's Park, while I worked on University Avenue, could afford to do so. Now I know they could do it because they were taxpayer-funded and, like it or not, I was paying for it. Nice to see there will be several thousand chronic protesters looking for honest jobs for a change, and long overdue. About time we had politicians looking after the people who pay the freight rather than the noisy army of freeloaders. ED BELITSKY, OAKVILLE 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 email to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Oakville labour protesters were peaceful The Oakville and District Labour Council condemns the tragic yet senseless acts of vandalism that erupted on downtown Toronto streets during the G20 Summit. The disrespect by a few dissident members of society that burned police cars have disrespected not only our nation, our province and our provincial capital Toronto but also the fine citizens and workers that live and work in the great city of Toronto every day. The burning of police cars and smashing of windows was a cowardly act towards a city that lost its focus on the thousands of activists that not only promised to march in peace but followed through on that promise. The message from labour was to raise issues of global justice and environmental sustainability not to join in with the actions See Black page 7 Postal workers' help in retrieving papers appreciated I wanted to write in with regard to the kind people at the Post Office on Church Street in Oakville. At the end of the day on Friday (July 2nd) I was dropping mail off at the box that sits in front and my daughter, while doing so, inadvertently put in some personal papers by accident, as well. After explaining what had happened inside the Post Office to one of the employees, they immediately contacted someone and within a short time the manager came out, opened the box, and retrieved the items for me. Of note, the manager did ask me for identification to verify the authenticity of my connection to the items. I thought it was great as he was being both tremendously helpful to my daughter and myself while at the same time being sure to protect the security and integrity of things for all those who use the postal service. Once again, my sincere thanks to the kind people at the Post Office. It was greatly appreciated. DAVE IRVINE, OAKVILLE