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

6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 2, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS 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: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Convenient message It's encouraging that Halton students are being taught to carefully consider the environment in which they live and what they can do to minimize the size of the `footprint' they leave behind. While global warming, recycling issues, energy conservation and a rapid decline in various species of wildlife have been topics of discussion in classrooms for years, it is the publicity over the film An Inconvenient Truth that has educators, students and parents really talking about the condition of our great planet. Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has been on a whirlwind public relations tour pitching his Oscar-winning flick. The politician-turned-environmental activist was in Toronto Saturday where he pounced on Ottawa's climate change strategy describing it as a "total fraud." It is always easy to sit in the critic's seat (where Gore now finds himself) so while his remarks make for good debate, one wonders why this former second-most-powerful man in the U.S. was not as vocal when in office. Obviously impressed with the message in Gore's documentary, Halton's two school boards are giving teachers of Grades 7-12 students the opportunity to utilize DVDs of An Inconvenient Truth, and the accompanying book written by Gore, in their classrooms. Environmental company SunOpta, located on the Halton Hills/Brampton border, donated 60 special edition discs to the boards. Last Thursday 900 students from eight public and one Catholic school attended a screening of portions of this much-talked about documentary courtesy of SunOpta. SunOpta considers itself a large player in the natural, organic and specialty foods business as well as alternate fuels. The film's website has direct links to ethanol-based fuel cars. Is it any wonder that this burgeoning green business is a proponent of An Inconvenient Truth? Yes, it is critical to debate climate change. Yes, it is critical to change our wasteful habits. However, it is just as critical to ensure Halton students receive a `global' perspective on this issue and not just use Gore's documentary as a convenient education tool. 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. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I recently read an e-mail, which was sent to Iroquois Ridge High school, in disagreement with the Day of Silence on April 18. As a student at this school and a participant in the Day of Silence, I was disappointed to hear that our efforts were taken in such a closed-minded way. I understand that maybe the cause was misunderstood, so I would like to clarify exactly why I participated. I feel that everyone should be proud and feel safe about who they are. The Day of Silence was meant to support everyone who won't talk about their sexual preference because they are afraid Iroquois Ridge student proud of high school's Day of Silence of how they will be treated. In no way were we promoting being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. We were simply offering our support and understanding. In the April 13 article describing the event, the participating teachers explained how they planned to teach their classes for that day. They had many creative and effective ideas, which clearly show that it is not necessary for them to speak to adequately teach their classes. Furthermore, I am proud that our school chose to have a Day of Silence. I am also proud of anyone who chose to participate and managed to keep quiet during all of their classes. Many students chose not to participate because they wouldn't be able to not speak or for other reasons. We would never discriminate these students, especially since the cause we were standing up for, supports tolerance. Finally, I would like to say that as a Catholic I believe that Jesus Christ would be happy that we are accepting everyone for their differences. DIANA FILC Campaign slogan offensive Ed. note: This letter was originally sent to Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn and a copy was filed with The Oakville Beaver for publication. I find it very offensive that your government has resorted to implied profanity to get an environmental message to my kids. It may be unrealistic but I don't even like my boys, aged 9 and 10, to say the word "stupid" never mind your government's choice of profanity. I guess your son is probably old enough for you not to worry about such issues and maybe he's old enough even to be in your target market. However, I've got to explain why it's okay for the govern Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com See Slogan page 7 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.