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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday, May 28, 2003 EDITORIALS AND LETTERS T H EO A K V IL L EB E A V E R 467 Speers Rd,, Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 337-5610 Circulation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher Publisher Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MARK DILLS Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLU Photography Director STEVE CROZ1ER Circulation Director ROD IERRED Managnu) Editor THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL M EDIA SPONSOR FOR: TERI CASAS Mffotmd FVnang. PXfcftng & Dsfrtutrg Lid rtdUtoe fc ru [rfm nn» N m 8 *ne M m ra . Barry* Bar **** Boaon (r«arpnse Brarccaon Guardan "B atnfon Pott. Butopon Sftxorg N w ». Parwt QAnpMioaWasaga Comacicn. Em *arti Mk*K E/w AdNxatoCa/Vy feutoa. ElobetM GuvOm. ('*T toctou& Port. W w rtlrt'te D n ftm Prasa. rtamston R n m K r r t i B u m TVw. Kngttn The Wk*. Lrdav Thr, Wn*. W*v*m Eoonomot & Sui uaon Canada Champcn. ft/M on 9 w p n g Nna. G udr H e rn m m vK icti (n Q tm m NorinuRtwM N m . Novi t A 0afc*a BaMr. Q M £/tcorq Nvw* OMbman KJdwr N***. Ortta Today 0 * M * W « y a a m a k fi Pa! P r y Ih « to * . Own Sand 'rtxrm Pa>T »* r (Xaarwr PMatxrx^i TT» A M , Pdcr C a rtt Gud*. fiKftmond Hfc'HiorT'rtlfaMJflBn UbaraL Scartxnxgr Mm* S b iM M K n lg i W u » . F<r**r * x rg C*r c* Guordan Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association V v /X j a Halton Healthcare i · i · > fY MC A i cromBUI Jlk a i © V: U a M a tfW * y j LJ I I a tO a k v O ta m Canadian Community Newspapers Association SaswS O TA © CJakvilU >sT.Wtr ______________ | oaKvllle galleries) =35 Jm&MFund f r y M m ry i NQK (MXVUXE SK Suburban NmsfUpm of Amerta w <*? r r e * > TV AUCTION FOReusi«ssExcai£Na T l»O K *ia U fera n dRtto R IA L I S T A T C BOARD O+i^JULt u m ic . IlHHARY E To call or not to call Does Premier Ernie Eves honest ly expect Ontarians to believe the resurrection o f SARS in Toronto and the lockout of 3,500 of the city's Catholic teachers are the real reasons he has been indecisive about calling an election this week? Perhaps he could explain how it is that these issues prevent politicians from campaigning or the public's ability to choose its next provincial government. Quite simply he can't, because they don't. According to Toronto's associate medical officer o f health, the most recent SARS cases are confined to medical institutions and don't rep resent an outbreak among the gen eral population. As for the teacher lockout, which affects some 69,000 Toronto stu dents, the situation appears to play right into the hands of a premier who is promising to ban strikes by teachers in his latest series of pre election television spots. Is it not entirely possible that recent polls showing the Tories lag ging woefully behind in popularity have significantly more to do with Eves' suggestion that an election can wait? The Tory strategy to date has been to keep opposing parties, the media and the roughly 60 per cent o f reg istered voters who exercise their democratic right, guessing as to when the election will come. Logic has dictated either a June or September election, but a weekend report had Eves suggesting he was n't thinking of elections right now with SARS and teacher labour strife back in the headlines. Could it be that his comments were part o f the political gamesmanship prior to a snap election call? If an election isn't called by today (Wednesday) or Thursday then it w on't be called until the fall; that much is certain. However. Eves has no guarantee that SARS is going away any time soon and he only has until June of next year to make his party's bid for a third consecutive victory at the polls. What if SARS lingers through the fall and into the winter? What then Mr. Premier? Somewhat more believable is that party insiders are telling Eves send ing the electorate to the polls right now wouldn't yield the desired result. Should the summer pass and the premier still doesn't have the stom ach to drop the writ, perhaps West Nile virus will take over as his excuse du jour. L E T T E R ST OT H EE D IT O R Resident has suggestion for shortage of ice time There is quite a furor in the Town of Oakville over the short age of ice time. 1 have a sugges tion: 1.) Set up a deal with develop ers to sell them the land that now houses Oakville Arena, Kinoak Arena, and Maple Grove Arena. These arenas are at the end of their useful lives anyway. 2.) Take the funds and build a six-pad arena (similar to the one in Ajax if you want to investi gate). This could be anywhere in Oakville, including north of Dundas Street or any industrial commercial area. No-one would care where it is located. Perhaps beneficial building costs could be negotiated with developers that get the old arena lands. 3) Investigate a corporate deal to name the complex after one of our corporate citizens for addi tional funding. The Tim Hortons Ice Complex has a nice ring to it. 4.) This would increase the number of ice pads by three and lower overall overhead and oper ating costs by concentrating rinks. It would also lift visitor traffic substantially (parents etc.) mak ing revenues at an in-house Tim Horton viable. 5.) Charge a $1 or $2 entrance fee to visitors to help cover costs. Parents of MOHA or Hornets players could purchase an annual entrance fee card for $ 15 or some thing to that effect. We live in one of the most affluent towns in all of Canada. A few bucks here and there is not going to cause a prob lem. Not having ice will be a major problem. When I moved to Oakville 12 years ago, Oakville's population was 30-40 per cent smaller. Rink time was not a large issue. Since then our population has swelled, the MOHA has become much larger, the Oakville Hornets Girls hockey has gone from 100 to 800 players, men's recreational leagues have multiplied, and now mature women's leagues are growing. Add to this figure skat ing, short track speed skating, and broomball and we now face a cri sis. The Town has only built one new pad in these 12 years (River Oaks B). We are Canadians. Our win ters are long and hard. We need our winter sports to make the win ters bearable. How can we tell a new family moving to Oakville that none of their kids can play hockey because the waiting list is so long? How can we destroy men's leagues that have been in existence for 10 or 20 years? There is enough money in Oakville to solve this problem. The users will pay. We need cre ativity from our Oakville politi cians. The vojers will thank you. FRANK DUNNIGAN Parents left out of timetable process Once upon a tim e. .. It was early in the school year. Parents, students and faculty of an Oakville school were approached by the Halton District School Board. A pilot project was being considered -- a change in the current school timetable to one of a new and improved Balanced Day timetable. Outlines that stated why the implementation should take place, the benefits and what was hoped to be achieved, were given to all those involved. A meeting was held and once all concerns were noted and addressed it was the consensus to under take the change. Near the end of the school year, the implementation was analysed and data presented to the partic ipants. Some goals were met, some were not. The consensus was the project had been a success and would be presented in the same manner to the remainder to the dis trict schools for them to undertake as well. Then I woke up! As a parent with children in one of the "volunteer" schools -- who volunteered us I may never know -- I was shocked when we were told we were participating in the Balanced Day timetable. The newsletter said studies had shown this change to be beneficial to students and teachers. I spent literally days on the Internet trying to find evidence of such studies and found nothing. When I phoned the school board about adopting such a timetable I was basically told, like it or lump it. No meetings, no discussions just a newsletter stilting how it was going to be. The school year is now drawing to an end and we are now told it was a suc cess. The definition of this success we were never told. To say parents feel left out of this loop is a major understate ment! I think the school board should revisit their communication policy with the public or else develop one and fast! Oh. and Mr. School Trustee where are yo u ' L'TTIW H !0 1T H EW E E K Letter writer challenges Chudleigh's comments I take very little of what most Conservative MPPs say at face value, particularly with respect to environmental mat ters. because what they do is usually the opposite. Halton Conservative MPP Ted Chudleigh's comments (the Beaver , May 17) in his recent guest column are no dif ferent: "I have been laying the groundwork for a plan that would see the ORC cede a substantial acreage of ravine lands from that property to Conservation Halton, thereby keeping them for public use and away from potential development." So far, the only groundwork being done north o f Hwy. 5 is by developers. Does the above quote represent a commit ment from the Conservatives to save the ORC lands from development, or do they still have a little more groundwork to do ? The statement is a little short on specifics. Is this "sub stantial acreage" 10 acres, 20, 50, 1000? What is the legal definition of "cede?" Is that like the "ban" on housing development in the Oak Ridges Moraine that allows thousands o f houses to be built? Which ORC property is being referring to. just a portion of the ravine property ? Does this mean that the rest of the ORC lands that are more suitable for development such as meadows and forests, as well as most of the rest of the land north of Hwy. 5, will be covered in roads, buildings, subdivisions, golf courses, big box stores, strip malls, etc? The provincial conservative government controls what happens to the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC) lands and they control the Ontario Municipal Board. The PC's re-wrote the legislation dealing with land use planning in this province, and stuck it inside the massive Omnibus Bill, which was passed early in their first term. If they were committed to protecting this property as well as many others, it would have happened long ago. The Conservatives' policies clearly reflect, as Mr. Chudleigh says, a "tight grip on inspiration," and this breathtaking metaphor unintentionally sums up the Harris/Eve's environmental agenda quite accurately. In contrast, the Liberal Party plans to protect all the Oakville ORC lands from development, and its election plat form is specific and comprehensive with regard to containing^ urban sprawl and revising the operation of the Ontario Municipal Board. These are some of the many reasons why I am supporting the Liberal Party in this election, and Kevin Flynn in particu lar. rather than representing the Green Party as I did in the last federal election. `Neighbours in Favour' group supports condo project 1 am writing the Oakville Beaver to voice my strong sup port for the new condominium project currently being proposed at the comer o f Lakeshore Road and Forsythe Street in Oakville. It has been my concern that many of the voices opposing the project feel that they represent their neighbours and other" citi zens in the various wards. This is not always the case. "Neighbours in Favour" is a group of Oakville residents who strongly support this project on Forsythe Street at the present location of Sharkey's. My vision of Oakville includes this new project. It will provide an extension of the downtown area with a new standard of excellence and will succeed in continuing to position the Town of Oakville in a leadership role. The elegant architecture and world class amenities will, most certainly, enhance the communi I speak for many of the resi dents when I say that I will wel come an end to the days when the property is no longer a bar and restaurant, generating huge amounts o f traffic, noise and the inevitable behavioural issues that result from late night operations. Often the silent majority is just that -- silent. I for one say sup porters of the project should stand up and be heard at tonight's pub lic meeting at Town Hall. Let us all be passionate about our future and that of our town. Let us embrace this new condo minium residence and recognize the immensely positive impact it will have on our community. FRANK WILEY ty The builder has continued to demonstrate its willingness to work with the residents and the Town's planning department to design a building that creates a quality living environment in context with the unique neigh bourhood that surrounds it. It will bring business to the down town core and assist in revitaliz ing the Kerr Street shopping cor ridor. DAVID DEBELLE GEORGINA HALL Pud LEARN AT SOIOOL TODAY, MAX? J / ^ ' By STEVE NEASE Town has to clean up, too This spring I cleaned my yard to make sure that I am doing what I can to prevent mosquito breeding. I clean my eves troughs of leaves and such, remove things that can promote standing water. Most of my neighbors are doing the same. Most mornings I ride my bicycle through Coronation Park and see a pond that looks like a cesspool and a water filled creek that does not flow. I hope our Town is going to address this before mosquito season. Oops! Too late! VERY Go o d ! S You LEARN, SAMMY? and what did N EVER C R O SS \ v r-> ) "TO ROAD W ITH OUT THE C%0SS\HG S U A R D ^ N k TODD CASTER The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The coundl 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, togeth er with a reasonable allowance for signature, win 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 dedine.