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All Mufflers During the month of March See M aragef for Detats *20 O ff otk «t ) 112SpeenR d .. O a k v tlle(u« Mercedes-Benz C L E .W . & D o r v a l D r. www.oakvillebeaver.com o li'U H i r\ib licatio nv < A M e in > 1 .3 9 N o .2S THE OAKVILLE BE A M NORTH A M E R I C A 'S M O S T AWARDED WYA S .2 < x>2 > M > ,1 J A Y .M A R <11 ( COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 4 H I' ages 1 Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver The protesters w ere clearly outnum bered by the police on D undas Street outside the S t Volodymyr C ultural C entre -- the site of the final Progressive Conservative leadership debate, M onday night. Reinforcem ents from neighbouring police services were called in by H alton Regional Police in anticipation of a massive anti-Tory protest, which never developed. P r o te s t flo p s M o r e p o lic e th a n p r o t e s t e r s le a d e r s h ip d e b a te a tte n d P C By Robb Swybrous more than six to one. The only real excitement in the 55minute protest, however, was a brief A protest that might have been, game o f pickup soccer played on turned out to be a soccer game that bare Dundas Street by a handful of protest ly was, Monday outside the Provincial ers. With close to 500 officers present. Progressive Conservative leadership Halton police say they were ready for an debate at the St. Volodymyr Cultural escalation of the protest and insist a sig Centre on Dundas Street. nificant show of About 60 antipolice presence was Progressive Con necessary. servative protest "What we want ers paraded north to do (in these situ on Third Line and ations) is make sure east along Dundas the debate goes on. Street prior to the but we also want to scheduled 7:30 make sure the p.m. debate. protest is lawful When the and orderly," Sgt. group got to with Val Hay o f the in 200 metres o f Halton police said. the centre, they "Sometimes a show were met by a of force is better throng of police than a use of force. officers, who had We have to respond set up a steel and we have to fence to barricade anticipate the worst the protesters scenario, and if that from entering the did happen we defi premises. nitely would have Acting on been prepared." information that The protesters some of the d e m o n s t r a t o r s ^ m asked p rotester waves the skull huddled together were planning to an(* crossbones o utside the St. waving black and bring hockey Volodymyr C u ltu ral C entre, red flags, chanting and taking turns sticks and potentially turn the protest violent, Halton Regional Police solicit spreading anti-poverty and antied the help of crowd control officers Conservative messages using a mega from Waterloo, Peel and Metro Toronto phone. Some o f the demonstrators came police services. Uniformed and plainclothed police outnumbered protesters (S e e D e m o n s tra to rs ' p a g e A3) S P E C IA L T O T H E B E A V E R Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver Tory leadership candidate Tony Clem ent, the M inister of H ealth, m akes a point d u ring M onday's debate. Candidates trade shots in final debate By Howard Mozel O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F T he final O n ta rio Progressive C onservative leadership debate in O akville M onday night was an event th at proved to be equal p arts circus and arm ed cam p. Outside the St. Volodymyr Cultural Centre on Dundas Street were scores of emergency personnel prepared for the worst from protesters, while inside, rau cous Tory youth divided in colourcoded tribes -- and an inexplicable Pink Panther mascot -- lent the evening a carnival air. A scowling NDP MPP Peter Kormos prowled the floor, while partisan supporters clapped and gave standing ovations to their candidates' every sound bite. At the centre of all the commotion, the five debaters did their best to impress the crowd with positions on a variety of serious issues ranging from health care and taxation to crime. The debate was far from sombre, however, as the quintet of speakers poked fun at, and holes in, each other's platforms. Minister of Labour Chris Stockwell and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unin tentionally came across at times as the Martin and Lewis of the debate as Flaherty played straight man to Stockwell's animated punchlines -- with Health Minister Tony Clement often caught up in the middle. Environment M inister Elizabeth Witmer sometimes found it hard to get a word in edge-wise while former Finance Minister, and frontrunner in the race, Ernie Eves largely let the others battle it out then stepped in with his careful, measured delivery. The theme running through most of (S e e 'T o rie s ' p a g e A5) B E M u lv a le d e liv e r s a p o lo g y t o F ly n n By Angela Blackburn O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F Editorials................ A6 Artscene...................B1 Business................... B4 Focus......................Cl Classified.................. C5 March Break............. C8 Sports...................... D1 Best Wheels..............D4 Full dcliu-n: Staples Business Depot Partial O rfiv iT V C o lo rY o u rH brii D a n ierlea th er, C uardimD ru g s,H o m eD e p o t. S e a rs. F u tu reS h o p .O b rieri S t. C u th b ertsC oop\u rsery. C o a stM o u n ta inS p o rts,R o n aIjjnang N ducl«9M m inlM »]0t C m d a n PuNcaOort Mm SportChtk. Akxum an C a rp e ts* CashuvgRuMngCentra. Ward 1 Councillor Kevin Flynn received an apology from Mayor Ann Mulvale at Town council Monday. As the local cable TV cameras rolled. Mulvale read a prepared state ment. "1 apologize if my words were misunderstood or offensive, clearly not my intention." Flynn then rose and stood firm on the need for the apology. "I'm not looking to stretch this out, but there were allegations, as an elected official. I'd like to put to rest," said Oakville M ayor A n n M ulvale Regional Councillor Kevin Flynn Flynn. The mayor said she regretted any unintentional offence caused to Plynn "in either his municipal or provincial capacity." Both Mulvale and Flynn agreed that the root of their disagreement was "dis tasteful." The dispute arose after the mayor responded to comments made by Oakville resident Roberta Need, at last week's week-long public hearing on Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 198 dealing with growth north of Dundas Street. Need's presentation last Wednesday sparked a response from Mulvale and a subsequent protest from Flynn about the mayor's comments. By Thursday. R ynn was seeking an official apology from the mayor. The Oakville Provincial Liberal Riding Association was also looking for an apology. On Friday, the mayor fired off a let ter of clarification to the riding associa tion and on Monday. Mulvale apolo gized to Flynn. "1 cannot retract what I said because it's a matter of public record and I said it." said Mulvale. ""While I did not specifically mention other councillors, I felt I was acting on all of council's behalf to quickly put closure on the sub ject. Given subsequent discussion I cer tainly failed to achieve that." ( S e e 'C o u n c il' p a g e A2) Oakville Volkswagen - -- 557 Kerr Street ; t a - n PeterWats°n » I I » Si V F S T M E \ T S 905.844.3285 w w w . 0 akvillevwaudi.com _ '& Drivers wanted.! * 4 MOTION all-w heel drive RETIREMENT PLANNING SPECIALISTS Free C o n s u lt a t io n 8 4 2 -2 1 0 0