The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 8, 2006 O P IN IO N & LE T TE R S 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: Canadian Grailations Audit Board Member THE OAKVIUE BEAVER !S PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: | oakvllle galleries 1 Recognized for Excellence by a Canadian Community A Newspapers Association ffrn / A TH E N A A w ard T h e O a k v ille , M ilt o n IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager ROD JERRED ManagingEditor RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director- CHARLENE HALL Director ofDistribution DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishlne Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberiand News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, OshawaAMiitby/Clarington Port Penry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thomhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian N e w g o v e r n m e n t, s a m e s to ry and perhaps rankled even more, with the surprise inclusion of a Liberal defector. Naming Liberal floor-crosser David Emerson Trade Minister only two weeks after he vigorously cam paigned against the Tories and warned voters that a Harper govern ment would bring massive cuts to crucial governm ent^ programs, smacks of the lack of accountability of which Harper often and loudly accused the Liberals. The Ugly: Installing Tory organiz er Michael Fortier in the Senate so he can act* as Public Works Minister-- the very ministry that spawned the sponsorship scandal-- smacks, of cronyism-- the very thing for which Harper rightfully lambast ed the Liberals. The very fact Fortier was unelect ed is reason enough for him not to be part of Harper's Cabinet. His appoint ment is a slap in the face to voters, as is Emerson's defection two weeks after the election. With his appointments to Cabinet Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper let it be known he won't be a shrinking violet while living at 24 Sussex Drive. His choices could be dubbed the good, the bad and the ugly. The Good: Harper opted for a smaller Cabinet and strove to get rep resentation from across the country even though he had no members from B.C., Quebec, or Toronto to pick from. Facing such limitations he managed to get a good mix, involving the few experienced members he had to choose from and bringing in some youthful exuberance. Included in that latter group was Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong who was handed the portfo lios of intergovernmental affairs and sport. W ith.the Turin Olympics on the horizon and Vancouver to host the 2010 Games, Chong could find himself a busy man. We don't doubt he is up to the challenge. The Bad: Harper stunned many, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 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. Parking ticket left Oakville GO train commuter with foul taste Every morning thousands of Oakvillians flood the GO Station on Cross Street. Many of these commuters will arrive after 8 a.m. and inevitably realize that they are not getting a parking spot. This realization will not occur without the ever frustrating, and increasingly prevalent, "GO Train Parking Lot Tour." (Classic "Tour" symptoms include: empty spot mirages, vigorous head shaking and vehe ment cursing). Completion of the tour is unavoidably fol lowed by a hasty retreat to Trafalgar Village Mall (the empty parking spot haven across the street). I had always assumed that an unspo ken agreement existed between the Cross Street GO Station Parking Lot Exiles, and the Powers That Be: "We'll let you park where you probably shouldn't as long as you pretend that the lack of parking isn't a real problem." This agreement was violated when I received a parking ticket at Trafalgar Village. I'm convinced the ticket would have been avoided if I could have spoken with the officer. I would explain, "No, you can't write that tick et. I agree with commuting. I want to reduce pollution. I want to alleviate traffic conges tion. I want to park in the allotted areas. It's not my fault...I promise...it' s just that there was no room for me." After digesting my point, I'm convinced the officer would see the logical fallacy of a government that actively promotes the increased use of a public trans port system that is already so far over capaci ty that users can't even find a parking spot to make their train. He would see the hypocrisy of penalizing commuting citizens whose hon est attempts to be socially and environmen tally responsible are hindered by*the govern ment's lack of foresight and inadequate plan ning. He would realize that Oakville's demo graphic trends will surely cause this problem to escalate in the future. He would rip up my ticket. MATT FERRONE Pud C A N lY IMUSW& TD'fOUR Pu d ? l S t e m V>T - T W % « * £ BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com No clear mandate for Brown It would have been good to see a more conciliatory tone from our Oakville MP following the election. After all, more people voted against her than for her in this riding. I would not classify the local poll results as a clear mandate from her electorate to criticize anything that the elected government of Canada may do. She would be better off representing her constituents and doing the best job with respect to issues that pertain to them. RAY GANONG i-PoD , \e'C" O K I LISTEN TO CAM I LISTEN TO YOUR Your PISCMAN, W A L K M A N ,SAMMY? iU U S lM & I T . MOM? WHAfS NEVER SEEN A PORTABLE 8 -T fc M C ; '*r IM USING- IT. .try your rap 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.