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OPINION & LETTERSTHE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR:The Oakville BeaverTHE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR:Canadian Circulation467 Speers Rd.,Audit Board Member Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 Recognized for Excellence by(905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571COntario CommunityCanadian Communitylassified Advertising: 632-4440 Newspapers AssociationNewspapers AssociationCirculation: 845-9742 Open 9-5 weekdays,ATHENASuburban NewspapersAward5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekendsof AmericaEditorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. NEIL OLIVERVice President and Group ROD JERREDManaging EditorMARK DILLSDirector of Production Unauthorized use is prohibited.Publisher of Metroland WestDANIEL BAIRDAdvertising DirectorMANUEL GARCIAProduction ManagerThe Oakville Beaver is a division ofDAVID HARVEYRegional General ManagerRIZIERO VERTOLLIPhotography DirectorCHARLENE HALLDirector of Distribution JILL DAVISEditor in ChiefSANDY PAREBusiness ManagerSARAH MCSWEENEYCirc. ManagerLetter to the editorLots of coincidencesDay 4 DemocracyYou can't blame Oakville Conservative incum-did contact Youngbent MP Terence Young for being suspicious about the sudden cancellation of Town Council Re: Day for Democracy was not a meetings prior to the May 2 federal election.day to remember for Young,The But were the meetings two committee Oakville Beaver,April 8.meetings and a council meeting cancelled by The Day for Democracy was part design or coincidence?of a national forum for Canadians to Did Oakville Mayor Rob Burton 'prorogue' speak about their concerns regard-council for the federal election?ing democracy and offer solutions in an atmosphere of mutual respect. There are a lot of coincidences to make one This was not a political debate. No wonder.questions, no jeers, no cheers were To wit:allowed during the speeches.? The mayor has made no secret of his politi-The planning committee for cal leanings towards the Liberals. Currently he Reclaim Our Democratic Canada is featured prominently on Halton Liberal can-(RODC) made several attempts to didate Connie Laurin-Bowie's Facebook page reach Oakville Conservative incum-cutting a cake at the Oakville campaign launch bent MP Terence Young.last Friday. Also pictured is Ward 4 Councillor The nature and format of this Roger Lapworth. public event was explained in detail ? The mayor and five councillors endorsed in both letter and invitation and the Khan's bid to win the Oakville Federal Liberal letter of confirmation. The flyer and agenda were attached. Twenty-five nomination.flyers were hand-delivered to the ? The Oakville Federal Liberal Riding Conservative office with encourage-Association currently lists Ward 1 Councillor ment to bring as many people as Alan Johnston as policy chair and Ward 6 possible to the event.Councillor Tom Adams on the board of direc-As host for the event, RODC tors.spokesperson Carol Brayman was That's a lot of coincidences.asked to speak for five minutes. All Probably not enough to draw a solid conclu-other speakers were given four min-sion, but enough to make one suspicious.utes with the exception of Young, For the record, the issue is not whether coun-TheOakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, who was given five minutes at his Letterslength, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must containcillors are working or supporting a federal can-request.the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed todidate, but whether council meetings were can-toAlthough pleased with the cover- theThe Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4,or via e-mail toage, we are disappointedThe celled to allow councillors more time to work on editor@oakvillebeaver.com. TheBeaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter.editorOakville Beaver did not include the the election or avoid a council issue, which three speakers from community could embarass a candidate.groups: Canadians Advocating And we have no issue with Khan seeking elec-Young rebuts Khan's statementPolitical Participation, Women of tion to a higher office while serving as a Town Halton Action Movement and Fair My Liberal opponent Max Khan wroteon the Procedures and House Affairs councillor. Many prominent politicians in Vote.government we can trust is the mostCommittee for three days and watched as Ontario and Canada first learned the ropes at Their messages included con-important election issue in The Oakvillethick binders were given to the opposition the municipal level.crete suggestions for strengthening Beaver,April 6.members with the costs they asked for.However, a federal election campaign should democracy.He immediately then went on to writeNone of it mattered. The Liberal, NDP never impede the mayor's and council's duty to The open microphone comments that my government was found in con-and Bloc coalition had one more vote than serve the community they were elected to repre-from over 240 citizens in atten-tempt three times. we did on committee. Thats how it works. sent. Hopefully, they haven't forgotten that duty dance were thoughtful, well-articu-That is not true.Parliamentary contempt votes are lated and offered creative solutions, this election.There was one vote in the House of extremely rare because they require three all the while modeling the democ-Commons on which the coalition partiesessential ingredients: a minority govern-The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is locatedracy we all hope will prevail in conspired together to cause an unnecessaryment and a coalition (which in this case) at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertisingfuture governments.and opportunistic election. One vote. Notincludes the Bloc, which wants to take their is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portionSherry Ardell,of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonablethree. shot in an election. allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisementPlanning Committee Day 4 This vote meant one thing: the coalitionTerence Young, Oakville will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorizeDemocracy, Time Keeperparties wanted an election. I was there. I satConservative incumbent MPadvertisements or decline.www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, April 13, 2011 6