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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 14, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 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: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS A DIVISION OF Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Keeping pace with growth While Halton's elected officials pumped up the volume on their protest of the provincial Places To Grow plan last week, Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government appeared to be turning a deaf ear. The premier was conveniently preoccupied by an announcement of his own when the political contingent that calls itself Durable Halton came calling. Unfortunately few media outlets normally assigned to cover Queen's Park were in attendance for last Thursday's Toronto press conference hosted by regional chair Gary Carr and mayors Cam Jackson (Burlington), Rob Burton (Oakville), Gord Krantz (Milton) and Rick Bonnette (Halton Hills). Despite last week's hollow reception, Carr and the mayoral quartet have pledged to continue to challenge the province to explain how municipalities are to fund the population increases outlined in the provincial plan. While growth is inevitable, Halton's elected officials raise a valid point when they suggest the region can't be expected to cope with a 68 per cent population increase in the next 24 years, while simultaneously sending tens of millions of dollars to Toronto each year to help fund its social services. This issue is particularly important in Oakville, which along with Milton, has born the brunt of recent growth and is targeted for much of the future growth. The municipality is currently trying to catch up to the demands this growth has placed on both hard and soft services. Future growth will only create more pressure on the abilities of Halton and Oakville to keep up with this growth. With a provincial election just seven months away, Carr insists Halton's demand for answers will continue to intensify in coming weeks. Halton is not alone in its fight. Other regional governments -- including Peel and York -- have put a freeze on the amount of money they are prepared to send Toronto's way in the province's GTA pooling arrangement. With Carr encouraging voters to make Places To Grow a provincial election issue, it may only be a matter of time before the premier will be forced to answer the questions he and his government managed to duck last week. 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. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Oakville MP Bonnie Brown Brown opened her mouth wide enough to put both feet in. Abraham Lincoln said "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Her recent comments about "men with guns" remove all doubt! My late father was a career officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Oakville MP's comments insulting Police. He was prepared to put himself in harms way to protect his fellow man and our quality of life. Brown's comments are tantamount to spitting on not only his grave but thousands more like him. Madame you should kneel by your bed at night and say a prayer of thanks for the great people that try to keep us all safe. J.DENNIS TOEWS Turner's Town Hall meetings refreshing On the evening of March 5, I attended my very first Town Hall meeting held by Halton MP Garth Turner. Until recently I had lived in Toronto for my entire life and, in all that time, I barely remember more than one occasion when my MP held a meeting for local constituents. From my discussions with other people in the Halton riding, I understand Turner has, in fact, held well over two dozen town hall meetings in the past year. On March 5, Turner patiently listened to the constituents in the room and provided his thoughts and insights to issues of importance to the people of Halton. What impressed me most about Turner was his openness with the constituents in the room about his move from sitting as an Independent MP for several months to a member of the Liberal caucus. He was candid and honest and in today's politically volatile world, it was indeed a refreshing sight. BEN FRIEDLAND Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Canada Geese taking over As seen in Barrie Erskine's photo on the front page of The Oakville Beaver, Feb. 17, Oakville is becoming "strictly for the birds" and Bronte has the same problem. When is the town or whoever else is responsible for our problem going to do something to solve this ongoing and ever increasing problem? Many of us love to walk along the waterfront paths but with all the "donations" left on these paths by the geese it is no longer an enjoyable walk. See Geese page 7 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.