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6 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 20, 2009 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. 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 MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Give the gift of life Wednesday was a historic day for the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN), which encourages Ontarians to register their consent to organ and tissue donation. It was the first time multiple faith groups had come together at a prayer breakfast to support the message of saving lives through the donation process. The message coming from most religious communities was one of approval for the idea of preserving life through promoting the work of the TGLN. TGLN, in partnership with faith leaders, has developed and implemented initiatives to encourage and empower donation in faith communities. Initiatives include: service in honour of donor families, religious ceremonies and faith focused pro-donation brochures. According to the TGLN, most major religions and their denominations -- including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Protestantism, Islam and the Baptists, Episcopal, Greek Orthodox, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Presbyterians, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons and the Amish, support organ and tissue donation. One organ and tissue donor can save up to eight lives and enhance as many as 75 others. You can register your consent to donate by visiting your local Service Ontario Health Card Services -- OHIP office or outreach centre where you renew your health card. You can also register by downloading and filling out a Gift of Life Consent Form from www.giftoflife.on.ca and mailing it to the address on the form. If you've already signed your donor card, TGLN asks that you also register your decision and talk to your family about it. "Organ and tissue donation and transplantation is an emblem of the values that weave us together as a society. Disease recognizes no religious affiliation, no ethnic background, no ideology. Just as disease grants no preference nor targets any one group, no one community is responsible for donation. For donation to work, it must be a shared endeavour," said Frank Markel, president and CEO of TGLN. 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 Education Minister deserves a B I am disappointed to see a number of factual and interpretive errors in your editorial. First salary, which you seem to infer was the major issue. The original board offer was 12 per cent over four years and the union wanted three per cent each year compounded that would have been 12.6 per cent so they did not get what they wanted and indeed did not get what was originally offered. So how did they "win this staredown?" My understanding is that the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) had in fact offered no salary increase and instead hired 1,500 teachers to allow for smaller, provinciallymandated junior class sizes, enhanced programming and more teacher specialists. Second, you make no comment other than what I see as a derogatory one by referring to "a slew of other goodies." My understanding is that it was these other goodies that were in fact critical in the negotiations. Indeed, as reported in the paper, it is still possible that these other issues, which are to be decided upon by local school Taxpayer feels like robbery victim Re: Minister gets failing grade, Oakville Beaver, Feb. 13 I totally agree with this editorial about elementary teachers. I feel like I am being robbed and nobody seems to care. Teachers are already among the top earners in Ontario (from 50K to 90K). In a time when everybody is tightening their belt, it's unreasonable to receive a 10.4 per cent salary hike over four years. Especially when the general public has practically no say in the matter. Property taxes (educational portion) will go up again next year to satisfy the increase. As it was correctly pointed out in last week's editorial -- it will create a ripple effect in negotiation with other public unions. I am losing my job in five weeks (not at the Ford plant). Who is bailing me and my three children out? GARY HENDERSON See Minister page 7 Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com This week's poll This week's question is: Should Canada: · pull its military mission from Afghanistan in 2011; · extend its military mission beyond 2011; · get out sooner. To vote, visit oakvillebeaver.com. 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.