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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 25, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager Metroland Media Group 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 Commentary 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 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 MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Fairness in Ottawa important to us Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP his October marks our government's fifth anniversary working with Ontarians to build a better Kevin Flynn province. I am proud to serve as your MPP and by working hard and working together, we've taken significant steps forward. The things we do today build a strong foundation for the things we will accomplish tomorrow. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Terence Young on his victory in the recent race for Member of Parliament for the riding of Oakville. I would also like to congratulate Bonnie Brown on a well-fought campaign and for her many years of working for the needs of the people of our great town. A vote of thanks to Green Party candidate Dr. Blake Poland and New Democrat Michelle Bilek for offering the range of opinions that make our democratic process work. Many important issues were raised in this election and as a province we also raised an important issue that needs to be heard by Ottawa: Ontario deserves fairness. Now, 106 Ontario MPs have an opportunity to do something to ensure families and businesses in our community are treated fairly. We'll continue to press for fairness for Ontario with the newly elected government and I look forward to raising the issue with our new local MP, Terence Young. Ontario is being challenged by troubled economic times, high oil prices and a volatile dollar. Our government has a five-point plan to help families and businesses get through the global economic challenges we're facing. It is the right plan for the times, but we could do more, and do it faster, if Ottawa was a willing partner. Over the last 50 years, Ontarians have sent more than $100 billion in equalization payments to other Canadian provinces. That's almost half of all the funds contributed to the program over half a century. We contributed to equalization because it was just and right. It was fair. Ontarians believe strongly in the principle of fairness -- but fairness is a twoway street. Since Confederation we've been fair with our fellow Canadians. And today, we are looking for the same treatment in return. Taxes collected from Ontario citizens and businesses should be spent right here where it's needed in communities like Oakville. Right now, laid-off workers in Ontario get $4,600 less in employment insurance than they'd get if they lived in another part of Canada, yet often the cost of living is higher in Ontario. Federal health care money is supposed to be divided equally among all Canadians. But right now, Ontario is shortchanged by Ottawa by more than $700 million a year. And, right now despite a desperate need, the Building Canada Fund shortchanges Ontario by $970 Million on funding for infrastructure projects. None of this is fair. As Ontarians, we've seen what can be accomplished when we all work together. Over the last five years under Premier McGuinty's leadership we've seen lower class sizes, higher test scores and graduation rates, and the highest rate of post-secondary education in the western world. We have shorter wait times, and 630,000 more Ontarians now have a doctor. We have created a Greenbelt bigger than Prince Edward Island for families to enjoy forever. We're cutting business taxes, are investing in the green economy through innovation and in infrastructure like never before, partnering with businesses to help them grow stronger. -- and created Canada's biggest ever worker retraining program. Together, we're doing what we need to do in Ontario to strengthen our economy and create new jobs. But we could do more, and faster if we were treated fairly by Ottawa. To learn more, visit www.fairness.ca or contact my constituency office at 905- 827-5141. IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, 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 RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America T THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION It takes a village (and an open line of credit) to raise a child I recently saw a giddy celebrity on a talk show extolling the wonders of raising her angelic offspring, and blathering on about how she envisioned herself writing a book on the idyllic experience, tentatively titled, Parenthood: Never A Dull Moment. The cynical side of me wondered whether this so-called celebrity was involved hands-on in the day-to-day trials and tribulations of raising kids. I'm a parent of three kids -- three upstanding offspring, I might add, but kids nonetheless -- and unlike the celebrity, when I get around to inking my exposé on the experience, I think I may be inclined to inject a little reality into the title and call it something like, Parenthood: Never A Dull Headache. This past week our youngest turned 13. That's right, we have another teenager in the house to give us grief. Granted she's an incredible girl. But, alas, by definition teenagers are at times glowering, contrary and cantankerous creatures, rendered irrational by the ponderous weight of life they perceive to be on their backs, and by hormones gone totally bananas. I believe it's these hormones that give my daughter -- just as it gave her brothers before her -- her Jekyll-and-Hyde-ishness: one minute effervescent and angelic, the next minute -- yikes, get out of her way. If you don't currently have a 13-year-old in your house, you need to know that today's 13-year-olds are worlds apart from the thirteen-ers of yesteryears. With all the garbage they are prematurely exposed to -- and if there's a case to be made for blowing up the Internet, it's teenagers -- they're more worldly (and, subsequently, more worldweary) than any previous generation. Yet, regardless of the adult crap crammed Andy Juniper into their heads, they're still just kids. The other morning as I was driving my daughter to school, we were listening to news broadcasters babbling about the fiscal apocalypse. My daughter noted that in the last 18 months of her young life, she's been inundated by pundits prophesizing the imminent end of the world via (a) environmental collapse (b) bird flu (c) global economic meltdown. As the broadcasters further spread their nets of doom and gloom, she sighed, said she was tired, and "really needed a coffee." Even though she doesn't drink coffee. I don't remember ever feeling like I really needed a coffee to make it through the day (and the day's news) at 13. And I grew up during The Cold War with the Doomsday Clock ticking toward midnight. There's an age-old proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. Actually, according to the U.S. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, it takes a village and about $304,740 to raise a child from infancy to age 17. To that, you can add the cost of three or four years of college and keggers, and you're closing in on halfa-million dollars. That is, if your child doesn't own a cellphone. And if he/she does, well, you're way over half-a-mil. Naturally, our daughter does indeed own a cellphone. We bought it because we live in the country, and she's often in transit, and we like to be able to reach her. Well, at some point when we weren't watching, she deftly veered off her cellphone plan and texted up a monstrous bill. I won't get into specific figures (I'm only allowed to wash so much of our family's dirty laundry in print). But if we invested in the global economy what we currently owe our friendly cell provider, we could personally re-float the world's sinking financial markets. Just thinking about it gives me a massive mind-buster. Because with parenthood, there's never a dull headache. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.