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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday April 7, 1999 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Martin Doherty Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director o f Photography Metroland Printing. Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering New s Advertiser. A isto n HerakVCotrier. Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guardan. Burfngton Post. Burlington Shopping N a v s . City Parent. Coingwood/VVasaga Connection. East 'rfark Mirror, Erin Advocata'Country Routes. Etobicoke G u a rd an, Ramboroucfi Post. G e orge tow n Independent/Acton Free Press. Huronia Business Tim es. Kingston Th is W eek. Lindsay This Week. M arkham Ecnormst & Sun. Mkland/Penetanguishine Mirror. M lton C a nadan Cham pion. Mlton S h o p p in g N e w s . M ississauga Busin e ss T im e s . M ississauga N e w s . Napanee Guide. Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner. Northumberland News. North York Mirror. Oakville Beaver. OakvUe S hopping News, Oldtimers Hockey N ew s. Orilia Today. Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This W eek. O w e n S ou nd Tribune. Peterborough This Week. P e t on County G u ide . R ichm ond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal. S ca rborough Mirror. Stouftvie/Uxbndge Tribune. Forever Yotrrg, City of 'rbrk Guardan 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 E d ito r ia ls S a v e t h e t r e e s , c a ll a n e le c t io n For the past month, Ontario residents have been bombarded by a thinly- disguised pre-election campaign -- all paid for by the taxpayers -- aimed at convincing voters that Mike Harris and his ruling Tory Party aren't really the penny-pinching tightwads they appeared to be for the past three years. Locally at the Beaver, we have been inundated almost on a daily basis with near-identical faxes from our two MPPs Terence Young (Halton Centre) and Gary Carr (Oakville South) commenting on the most recent provincial govern­ ment giveaway. Sometimes, we even get another near-identical fax from Tory MPP Ted Chudleigh, whose new Halton North riding will cover part of north Oakville. Added to this stack of faxes is the background material supplied by Queen's Park commenting in eight pages what the Oakville MPP's have whit­ tled down to one or two. We're somewhat surprised we didn't receive a fax from one of the local MPPs taking credit for the sun rising following the implementation of daylight savings time last weekend. All joking aside, multiply this scenario by the number of newspapers, radio and television stations across Ontario and it adds up to a lot of wasted fax paper spent on the Tory's pre-election campaign. Compounding the waste, is the fact that some of the announcements are actually old news repackaged to garner new headlines. For example, last week's announcement of $689,438 for the Emergency department at Oakville- Trafalgar Memorial Hospital was actually the second phase of a grant announced a year ago. In a bold and ingenious public relations move, the Tory government has actually managed to take credit twice for giving the money once. fri response, the Liberals have finally stopped waiting for the election and have started running their television ads. But in their case, the taxpayers aren't paying for the TV spots. For the sake of the trees (and our overworked fax machine), we hope the Harris government will finally show some backbone and call the provincial election now. OPINION Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Misconceptions about welfare recipients People today seem to hold a lot of mis­ conceptions about the recipients of welfare. It is, or appears to be, common knowledge that the whole lot of them are deadbeats who sit around getting drunk for most of the day, and are happy to receive the pittance welfare doles out more carefully than gold. Everyone complains about the number of people on assistance, and how their tax dollars go to these lazy people. But as with all rules, there are exceptions. I am writing in the hopes that somewhere, out there, a prospective employer will read this and think twice before hiring their next employee. There was an ad in the local paper that a neighbourhood church was hiring for a part-time position. I applied, citing qualifica­ tions that accurately met the requirements. I was not given an interview, nor was I con­ tacted for some months afterwards. When I did receive a letter of rejection, it informed me that they had hired a member of their congregation. Upon further investigation, I was told that the person hired wanted to "get out of the house a few hours a week," and so had applied for the job. How nice. I need that job to get off the welfare program, to feed and house my children, to get back some of my dignity. Instead, it went to someone who just wanted out of the house. What about the company who hired a retired relative to take the place of someone in my position and put that person out of a job? Once again, the person hired did not need the financial gain; they merely wanted something to fill their time with. The result was devastating for the replaced employee. I have nothing against retired people, housewives, the rich, the idle or those related to the boss. I do, however, have something against being on welfare. And I do resent it, and take it very personally indeed, when jobs are lost to people who don't NEED them. If you are bored by staying home, why not vol­ unteer? Oakville has any number of volun­ teer organizations that would love to have your help. The contributions you could make are endless. Much like the damage you do when you take a job that could go to some­ one who needs it. In closing, people on welfare are consid­ ered to be second class citizens. We're bums; we're lay-a-bouts; we're no good. If you knew you were interviewing a welfare recipi­ ent, would that colour your judgement? I suggest to you it would. That's too bad, real- Re: letter by Peter Pellier, Wed March 31st Oakville Beaver. If the Town Council says the Lord's Prayer, more power to them and they should not stop! We have had enough erosion of our Canadian heritage. We've gone so far ;over- board that many people now seem to consider Canadian citizenship just a piece of paper- example: some Serbian immigrants have said they want to go back and fight there even if it means fighting Canadians! I am not a practising Christian myself, but I don't see how there is anything in the Lord's On behalf of the Oakville Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society, I would like to express our thanks to the members of Beta Sigma Phi for their support in selling daf­ fodils on the weekend of March 27th-28th, for the 22nd year. With the strong support of the community, they raised over $25,000. I would also like to extend a very special thank you to Margaret Anderson and the staff ly. Because we are the people who would work ourselves to the limit, in return for our dignity. Think about it. Jane Smith Ed note: Jane Smith is a pseudonym Afghan women worthy of community support Thank you to the hundreds of people who have responded to the plight of Afghanistan women by signing the petition "Canadians In Support of Afghan Women'. A steady stream of men and women have come to the HRCC to sign and take petitions to be filled. The extrem ist Taliban Government is demanding women and girls even the most basic of human rights. They are prohibited from going to school or work and forbidden from leaving their homes without a male rela­ tive, they are under house arrest. They are prevented from getting adequate health care since male doctors may not care for female patients. Additionally they must wear head to toe 'burqa' with only a small mesh opening for their eyes. Women have been beat­ en for showing a bit of ankle or having noisy shoes. They cannot speak in public and any female from puberty until death may only speak to men who are her relatives. Homes in which women reside must have the windows painted over to obscure their view. We are facing in Taliban- controlled Afghanistan, one of the worst examples of the treatment of women in history. Please come to the HRCC Monday-Friday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. and show your support by signing the petition, writing a letter or taking a petition to be filled. Thank-you to Claudia D'Sousa and the Oakville Beaver for bringing this trav­ esty to the community's atten­ tion. Bev LeFrancois Executive Director, Halton Rape Crisis Centre Hopedale Mall, room 227 Canadians are Canadians are Canadians Cancer Society support appreciated Prayer that could offend anybody. Canada is a western country and a Christian country, will all the values that implies and these two factors are what made it great. That's why so many people want to come here. We are second-to-none in our acceptance of immigrants and refugees but we shouldn't thereby lose our Canadian heritage. Multiculturalism causes division, it foments old hatreds. From what I read, I know many agree. I myself came here as an immigrant and assimilated. I say let others do the same! Anita Kern of Ian Anderson House (IAH), the in-resident cancer hospice serving Oakville, for allowing us to take the 'Daffodil Days' picture in their facility. It was the perfect setting, represent­ ing the strong links between the Canadian Cancer Society, IAH and Beta Sigma Phi in supporting cancer patients and their families. Joanne McLeod Information Outreach Chair, Oakville Unit, Canadian Cancer Society by Steve Nease L e tte r of th e W eek North-south road plan won't help traffic Twenty-one years ago, we brought a nearly empty nest to Oakville and set it down in a nice bungalow on a large lot in Falgarwood. Our roots struck down deep in the town-church, yacht club, many friends, much shopping, household services-all south of the QEW. They still are! Of course, it was a bit awkward travelling back and forth via Trafalgar Road but we were assured that a bridge to carry Eighth Line over the QEW was solidly in the plans. As it became more and more dif­ ficult to get from Falgarwood to downtown Oakville or to Speers Road, we took comfort in the thought that relief was coming. We even were able to contain our jealousy when those Johnnies-Come-Lately in Glen Abbey etc. were connected via Third Line, Fourth Line and Dorval Drive. In the meantime, the traffic through the Iroquois Shore-Trafalgar intersection grew to the point that one now may have to wait as long as three light- changes to enter Trafalgar. One then has the fun of negotiating Trafalgar to Cornwall or beyond! 11115 is not the pleasant journey we used to enjoy 21 years ago. Well! Now the mid-town core-QEW Crossing Report has a specific plan. It will not connect Eighth Line and Chartwell; it will not give us direct access to Cornwall Road. Yes, it would give us another route: Iroquois Shore over the QEW to Royal Windsor and then, maybe, snake back to Chartwell and so to Cornwall. It may even take some of the traffic away from Trafalgar-QEW-maybe. I guess the idea of a bridge directly over the QEW was too simple and direct for the minds of profession­ al designers. Now, we also have people objecting even to the current convoluted proposal by the pros. I think the proposal is dumb but it's better than nothing and we have been waiting 21 increasingly frustrating years for it. John D. Harvey In support o f prayer I read the letter by Peter Pellier (Silent prSyer would suffice at Council'-Oakville Beaver March 31st) with great sadness. He stated "what was acceptable a generation ago no longer applies." Canada has always been a predominantly Christian country. Our ancestors survived though many hardships and almost insurmountable difficulties to make this a Christian country. Because of their great faith in God, they survived. Fellow Christians, it is time to speak out and promote our Christianity rather than allowing it to be thwarted. It would be good if the Lord's Prayer was put back in the schools. God bless the Oakville Town Council for allowing the Lord's Prayer to be invoked to open council meetings. Let the non-Christians silently pray to their gods. Why should we be the ones to be silent? Backlash me all you want but our Lord Jesus Christ will return triumphant! We would do well to prepare for his coming. Amen. Julie Greeniaus R E C O G N I Z E D F O R E X C E L L E N C E B Y . . . The Oakville Beaver O F F I C I A L M E D I A S P O N S O R F O R : SKt Suburban Newspapers ot America t e - T Y M C A