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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday August 26, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com Commentary 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 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Guest Columnist Walking the walk Bradley Shaw Executive Director, Coalition for the Niagara Escarpment IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director ROD JERRED Managing Editor Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton T RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ATHENA Awards United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION he McGuinty government has lost so much ground on the environmental front stemming from recent decisions on the electricity supply crisis one has to question whether it can recover in time to win enough environmental votes in the October 2007 election. A Cabinet decision expected later this month on a Niagara Escarpment quarry expansion may well prove to be a bellwether for how seriously the Liberals want to try to regain a measure of credibility on the environment file. The combination of the government's abandonment of a fixed date to shut down the coal-burning power plants, its embrace of nuclear power and its decision to exempt its plan for new electricity supply, including new nuclear plants, from any provincial environmental assessment has already cost the Liberals dearly. They may be beyond redemption amongst many environment-first voters, but if McGuinty and his Cabinet sincerely want to repair their tattered green cloak, they must refuse the expansion of Dufferin Aggregates' Milton Quarry on the Niagara Escarpment west of Toronto. It's big ­ at 1,156 acres, the existing site is the largest active quarry in Canada. It's ecologically significant ­ the 205-acre expansion would carve up the escarpment's continuous natural corridor. And turning it down would seem to be a political no-brainer since it's smack in the middle of the Liberals' much-heralded Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt. A Niagara Escarpment Commission dominated by provincial Tory appointees supported the quarry expansion in 2002. If the same application went before the commission today it would get a rough ride. Bolstered by the 2002 commission support, a hearing board, after an 82-day public hearing, approved the quarry expansion one year ago. Two environmental intervenors in the case ­ the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment and Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources ­ appealed the decision to Cabinet. The quarry property is part of the Halton Forest, the largest tract of continuous forest along the Niagara Escarpment south of Grey County and the largest intact upland woodland in the Greater Toronto Area. The Dufferin quarry expansion would involve massive engineering works that would need to operate successfully forever to protect the water resources of the area. There will always be a demand for more aggregates ­ stone, sand, gravel and products made from them such as concrete and asphalt ­ for road-building and urban growth. But as a society, we must look at whether we are doing enough to reduce that demand. Recycled sources can provide about five times more of the aggregates needed for public-sector road and development projects in Ontario per year than would be extracted from the Dufferin Aggregates quarry expansion area each year. With so much at stake politically, and viable alternatives to the quarry expansion in the wings, it makes us wonder what could possibly propel the Cabinet to approve the quarry enlargement. The provincially-legislated Niagara Escarpment Plan, first approved in 1985, regulates development to protect this 725-kilometre-long ribbon of natural space extending from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. Cabinet could amend the plan to allow the Dufferin expansion. The Liberal government has not yet had to make any big, tough decisions about protecting the escarpment ­ part of the Greenbelt. The electrical power decisions appear to signal that environmental protection may no longer be a high priority. Approving the Dufferin Aggregates quarry expansion would create an equally strong signal. Does McGuinty's Cabinet truly appreciate the uproar in the environmental community approving the quarry expansion would cause, and how much do they care? -- Bradley Shaw is Executive Director of the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE), an umbrella group founded in 1978 and representing 30 environmental and community organizations. Congratulating our new police chief on his promotion I remember when I received the letter some four and a half years ago. According to the postmark, it came from the FBI Academy in Virginia. Usually any mail I receive is from some senior relatives living in England who still believe that a letter written on paper is far more valuable than one sent via the Internet. I think they may be correct in their thinking. If this particular letter had been e-mailed, it wouldn't have had the impressive postmark on the envelope and, most likely, it would have been discarded in the cyber bin. This envelope and its contents are bundled with other letters that I have felt compelled to keep over the years. Another piece of prose mailed to me was from the late Toronto Maple Leafs' owner Harold Ballard. Years ago, and I mean years ago, I had designs on becoming a sports writer. It was at the time Ballard was barring female writers from the players' locker room. I was in college and decided to take issue -- in a letter -- with Ballard's stance. Within a week, I had received a reply from the hockey legend himself. It is a brilliant, sexist letter that still makes me laugh aloud when I re-read it for its nostalgic value. But getting back to the letter with the Quantico, VA postmark. It was from an individual who I have known for the good part of 20 Jill Davis years. When I first started my journalism career he was working for Peel Regional Police. He has a forthright approach with the media and while we may not have always agreed on issues we have, I believe, maintained our respect for each other's professions. The handwritten letter was from then-Halton Deputy Chief Gary Crowell who had taken the time to write to me after I received a promotion. At the time he wrote the letter, he was participating in a two-week leadership program at the FBI academy. "Just a brief note to offer my congratulations to you on your most recent appointment," he wrote. "I was very pleased to see this for you and I am sure your family will be most proud... "I have enjoyed our relationship ever since coming to Halton even if we had to call on one another in time of need," he said. "While at times we may have been on opposite sides of the fence, I always felt you listened to my side and that is all I have ever asked of anyone." I have to be honest, I have not taken the time to write to Gary and congratulate him on his new position as Halton's chief. So I am hoping that this column will serve as that special `letter' that he may keep, rather than recycle. Congratulations Gary on your promotion. Halton is in good hands and I am sure your family is justly proud. Jill Davis can be reached at jdavis@haltonsearch.com.