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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , O ct ob er 2 8, 2 01 0 6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver 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 adv rtising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. United Way of Oakville Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America 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 WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER FRENCH TOAST FOR FILARMONICA: Jennifer Medeiros prepares French toast during a fundrais- ing breakfast in support of Filarmonica Lira Bom Jesus Marching Concert Band Sunday morning in Oakville. ATHENAAward Guest Columnist Acouple of weeks ago I visited the Grade 5 civics class atMunns Public School. When I mentioned the powerplant would not be coming to Oakville, spontaneous applause erupted in the classroom. Seeing young people celebrating a provincial government decision and democracy at work reveals just how important the decision to stop the power plant was for our community. Unfortunately, there are cynics who are trying to cast a shadow on Oakvilles shining moment with fear-mongering myths. It was particularly disappointing to witness Tory Leader Tim Hudak rise in the Legislature recently and attempt to discredit or overturn this tremendous victory that Oakville residents, C4CA, Mayor Rob Burton, Town Council, and my staff and I had worked so hard for. It begs the question, where was Tim Hudak for the last 24 months? Having served Oakville constituents for more than 25 years, I understand how mon- umental this victory truly was. Once a project moves as far along as the proposed Oakville gas plant, it is very unusual to see such a project stopped. It takes unique resident deter- mination, organizational strategy and political fortitude to earn this type of victory. It is also a fact our government stopped the Tim Hudak and Tory-approved 800- megawatt (MW) power plant on Oakvilles border with Mississauga with no penalty or cost to taxpayers. I would like to confirm not only will the Oakville plant be stopped, but neither will it be built anywhere in the SWGTA (southwest GTA) including Mississauga. It was also recently suggested by an executive member of the local Progressive Conservative riding association that the 900 MW plant be built in north Oakville. I do not support this suggestion, nor does my government, and the Minister of Energys recent welcome announcement makes this impossible. Working through the Integrity Commissioners, Minister of Energys and Premier's offices, I was able to bring our community's message directly to Queens Park and the right decision was made. Further, Bill 8, my Private Members Bill would implement separation distances for gas-fired power plants so no other community in Ontario will have to go through what Oakville did. Some misguided individuals even went so far as to site my vocal support of the Green Energy Act as a reason for the choice of the Oakville site. Ironically, the exact opposite is true. The Green Energy Act has allowed for the creation of 8,000 MW of new energy and increased conservation and actually allowed our government to stop this plant. I would like to extend my sincere thanks for your e-mails, letters and words of sup- port throughout the process. Special thanks are due to the current people at C4CA and to Mayor Burton and all members of council who supported him by taking the right legal action at the right time. Oakville has faced many challenges in the past and no doubt will face others in the future. The cancellation of this proposed gas plant will go down as a major victory for local democracy in Oakville. As your Member of Provincial Parliament I am very proud to be associated with those responsible. Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn Reason to be pro d The Oakville Beaver is a division of There is a disturbing trend toward more telemarketing by politicians, lobby groups and businesses. I have received sev- eral illegal calls over the past few weeks, and it has become evident that most callers misunderstand the Telecommunications Act and the CRTC's Telemarketing Rules. This is not surprising. The law is, as one mayoral candidate put it, "quite a thick- et. For the benefit of all, I will provide some clarification. The Telecommunications Act provides for the NDNCL. Any Canadian may add their phone number to this list, and telemarketing calls are then prohibited to that number. There are exactly seven categories of telemarketing which are exempt: registered charities, recent business relation- ship, political parties, election candidates, riding associa- tions, surveys, and newspapers soliciting subscriptions. All exempted callers but pollsters are required to keep a "Distinct Do not Call List". Requests to be on those lists have immediate and permanent effect. Removing a number from a calling list is not sufficient to comply. When a telemarketer (including municipal election candidates) calls again after being requested to desist, they have broken the law, and are subject to a $15,000 "Administrative Monetary Penalty". Even though the CRTC is notoriously lax in enforcement, the fact remains that several candidates' political organizations have recently broken the law. Soliciting votes, or anything else for that matter, by Automated Dialling and Announcement Devices, or Robocalls, is prohibited by the CRTC Telemarketing Rules. Robocalls may only be used for emergency announcements by police and fire departments, schools and hospitals. All other uses require express written consent by the recipient. It should not be necessary to state that our Canadian politicians at all levels of government must comply with the law as it stands today, despite the complexity and the thou- sands of dollars it will cost each of them to build effective Distinct Do Not Call systems. The legislation is needlessly complex and burdensome to telemarketers, as well as being inadequate protection for Canadian citizens who have been bombarded with intrusive calls. I would urge the Honourable Terence Young, MP to improve the situation for everyone by 1) Removing all exemptions from the NDNCL, 2) Allow Canadians to choose which types of call they will accept, 3) Mandate a list scrub- bing service rather than selling untraceable lists of our per- sonal phone numbers to telemarketers worldwide, 4) Enforce the law. When taken in aggregate, unproductive telemarketing snuffs out the equivalent of 87 entire Canadian lifetimes each year. It is time for this travesty to end. MARK OBERMEYER, OAKVILLE RESIDENT P.S. For the record, all exempted parties, please place me on your Distinct Do Not Call Lists per section 41.7 of the Telecommunications Act. Complex rules lead to illegal calls on campaign trail Letter to the editor