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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday April 4, 2001 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver Publisher N ei Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier Circulation Director Ten Casas OfficeManager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Uertolli DirectorofPhotography Metrotand P rifcig . PuCtehng & Distributing Ltd.. ndudes: Ajax/PV*ering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Barry's Bay This Week, Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guardian. B u rlin g to n Post, B urlington S h opping N ew s. C ity Parent. Collingwood/Wasaga Connection. East \b rk Mirror, Erin Advocate'Country Routes. E tobicoke G uardian. Flam borough Post, G eorgetow n Independent/Acton Free Press. Harriston Review. Huronia Business Times, Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun. Midland/P enetanguishine Mirror. M ilton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Barmer, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, OrilBa Today. Oshawa/Whrtby/Qarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer. Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide. Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal. Scarborough Mirror. Stoutfville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever 'ibung, City of M *k Guardian OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: 1 C A i Y M O F O A K V I L L E M /E L 'C | ^ A G O N lt,» 1 Strategies for J \ | H fc .......... JiwqU B eII Fuwd 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont L6K3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 A t . Canadian Community f * C N A Newspapers Association *o m & TV AUCTION JRONTE of Oakville i. _ JTtthena ^ J^toard Gaki'iUe (sAwac'tk FOR B U S IN E S S EXCELLENCE THE BUTTERFLY O N T A R I O | oakville galleries | T O W NO F^OAK V IL L t SK* E d it o r ia ls Transit railroaded When it comes to transportation planning, the GTA might as well be in the 19th century instead of motoring along in 2001. Over the past 40 years many ideas have been offered in an effort to deal with `future' transportation requirements P la n s fo r s o m e k in d o f fa il but none o f them have been implement link between Pearson ed. But that should come as no surprise InternationalAirport and to the prov in ce's taxpayers who have Union Station in downtown seen b illio n s o f th e p u b lic 's m oney Toronto are in for poorly spent w hile our transportation 1 woes continued to escalate. a rough ride. And so now we are trying to fix a system in areas where urban sprawl have put a premium on space needed to move both people and materials. The latest roadblock, if you'll pardon the pun, comes from none other than GO T ransit. The panjandrum s o f that august body have told the Province to forget about using any of their rail lines in trying to forge a link from downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport. The reason is pret ty simple. The existing tracks are already overburdened through their use by GO Transit commuter trains and VIA trains. What was needed years ago and is needed now is some creative thinking along the lines of a dedicated raised rail link to the airport. Technology for such systems has existed for some time but no one at Queen's Park has had the foresight to do something innovative. The private sector has been asked to come up with a workable scheme to link the airport to Union Station but already it appears that GO is GOing to fight any plan to use their tracks. W ouldn't it be nice, ju st once, if the m illions o f dollars the Province exacts from taxing gasoline would actually go into some progressive trans portation planning? Talk about wishful thinking... Suburban Newspapers ol America Children's C hoir m sam FOR O BUSNESSKTHEAFTS mm n r fa h M tt 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 Power plant meeting prompts more questions I atten d ed the Town C ouncil M eeting last M onday flight where the Sithe Power Plant was discussed, and I left the m eeting with as m any questions as answ ers about some o f the im plications o f this project. At the m eeting, I was surprised to see a p etitio n , spo n so red by our C o n serv ativ e M .P.P., p r o te s tin g th is p la n t. I s n 't th e C onservative governm ent responsible for having approved the location o f this plant in the first place? If the petition results in Sithe being m oved to another inappropri ate residential site somewhere else, are we then satisfied to have use o f the electricity, but not have the p o llu tio n in our b a c k yards? I don't think so. W hat if the plant simply isn't built? We w ere told that the proposed Sithe facility w o u ld p ro b a b ly be th e c le a n e s t in th e p ro v in ce, and th a t if it is not approved, then O ntario may increase its use o f coal fired plants like Lakeview, which creates more em issions. The Sithe representatives also seem ed to be saying that air quality here is so bad already that we probably w o n 't notice any difference if and when they begin operating. On the other hand, m any re sid e n ts q u ite rig h tly w o n d ered w hether there w asn't a better location for th e co m p an y to ch o o se to se t up th e ir operations, and our councillors supported them. Its a difficult problem. T h e G re e n P a rty p la tfo rm p ro v id e s some solutions to our energy needs aside fro m ju s t b u ild in g m ore p o w er p la n ts, especially in ridiculous places like residen tial neighbourhoods. The Green Party sup ports investing in renew able energy tech nologies, and in energy conservation and efficiency in buildings, industry, and in the tran sp o rtatio n sector. T hese investm ents w ould create m any jo b s, and they would reduce our reliance on fossil fuels dram ati cally. D uring the oil crisis o f the 1970s, c o n s e rv a tio n and e ffic ie n c y m e a su re s proved to be very effective in reducing our consum ption o f fossil fuels. The technolo gies and techniques available today would make an even greater difference. I hope that the Sithe project does not proceed on W inston Churchill Blvd., but it is a symptom of other important issues that deserve a sim ilar degree o f scrutiny. For example: W hat's happening with the dereg ulatio n o f our energy m arket? W ill this result in cleaner, more reliable, and cheap er energy supplies as advertised? There is am ple evidence to suggest the opposite. U ltim ately, environm ental concerns must be a larger com ponent o f the values and priorities that people consider when choos ing their governments. In this regard, does a governm ent that has im plem ented hun d red s o f sp e c ific re g u la tio n s th a t have trashed environm ental protection through out Ontario, and made our province one of the worst polluters in all o f North America, deserve to be re-elected? David deB elle Green Party o f Canada - Oakville Letter of the Week Board's JK numbers lied The numbers lied. I don't want my child to go to all day altemate-day JK or SK and I tried to make my point to the (Halton District School Board) trustees. At the March 27th presentation at Blakelock (High School), we were presented with numbers on busing c o sts. T hey in d ic a te d th a t the a d d itio n a l c o st o f lunchtime busing of JK students would be just under $500,000 annually. But in fact, it would be next to noth ing. The lunchtime buses are virtually empty. To add JK students to the SK students already on board would add no cost as it's likely that no new buses would need to be added. The trustees' numbers were based on the assumption that the per capita cost for future JK students would be the same as the current per capita cost for SK students, or $450. per student. That's a fallacy. The per capita cost is determined by dividing the cost of the buses by the number of students. If more students are on the buses, the per capita cost comes down. (This is why the per capita cost o f before and after school buses is much lower.) It is true th at the im p lem en tatio n o f JK w ould increase transportation costs by approximately $140,000. regardless o f the model, for before and after school buses. It is also true that cutting out lunchtime busing for SK students would reduce the transportation budget by approximately $400,000. But that means removing an existing service, whose cost would not have doubled with the adding of JK. The trustees misled us. To indi cate such a large additional cost smells of finding an excuse to cut transportation costs using the implementa tion of JK as an excuse. By my calculations, the all-day, altemate-day decision was made for a savings of only $400,000. i.e. a trans portation cost decrease rather than a slight increase. Is it worth it? It would have been nice if the public meetings had been held more than one day before the vote. Maybe the trustees would have had a chance to listen to public input before making up their minds. Lisa Seiler Politicians hearing but not listening Although our elected offi cials may give the im pres sion they are "h earin g the public", it certainly appears they are not really listening! Case 1: At the m eetings to approve the strategic land use option study (H em son report) last summer, so many re s id e n ts a tte n d e d an d spoke, req u estin g to delay the appro v al o f the rep o rt u n til the N atu ral H eritage System was incorporated in it, that three evenings were needed to hear all the p re sentations. At the end of the la s t m e e tin g c o u n c il approved the report without so much as a word of debate. C ase 2: T h e is s u e o f w idening the QEW was to h av e am p le p u b lic in p u t. H ow ever, p rio r to the last p u b lic m e e tin g , it w as revealed that the decision to w iden it on the N orth side h ad a lre a d y b e e n m ad e. That decision may be right. However concerned citizens were ignored and insulted. C a se 3: T h e O n ta rio R ealty C o rp o ratio n h eld a p u b lic m e e tin g on S e p te m b e r 28 , 2 0 0 0 and p u b lic in p u t w as in v ite d re g a rd in g th e fa te o f the approxim ate 1000 acres of land owned by ORC north of D undas. The tw o altern a tives presented were: 1) to m aintain the status q uo (O R C /G o v 't.. o w n e r ship); or 2) to sell the land. In th e ir re c e n t u p d a te ORC stated that "the com ments received from agen cies and the public both dur in g and a fte r th e p u b lic in fo rm a tio n c e n tre , h av e been incorporated into the e v a lu a tio n p ro c e s s . T he preferred alternative to "sell th e la n d w as s e le c te d ." Preferred by whom? . I think M ike Harris was serious when he said in one o f his la te st speeches: " If you are not on the steam ro lle r , y o u w ill lik e ly beco m e p a rt o f the p a v e ment." Pretty soon so many Oakville residents will have b e co m e p art o f the p a v e m ent that there w ill be no need fo r fu rth e r d e v e lo p ment! H ank Rodenburg Oakvillegreen Town won't participate in Pesticide-Free Week As a g ro w in g n u m b er o f sc ie n tis ts , p h y sicia n s and e n v iro n m e n ta lis ts , not o n ly in C a n a d a b u t w o r ld w id e , are becoming increasingly aware o f the dan gers of pesticides, the coalition known as C am p a ig n fo r P e s tic id e R e d u c tio n is going its best to persuade m unicipalities across C anada to declare A pril 2 1 - 2 8 (April 22 is Earth Day) as Pesticide-Free Week. The purpose o f this m oratorium is to suspend all governm ent-initiated pesti cide programs on parks, sportsfields and m unicipal grounds. W hereas the Town o f Oakville will not be participating in this one-week m orato riu m , w e the m em bers o f G ardens O ff D rugs, w ould like to urge each private citizen in Oakville to voluntarily observe this week-long ban as a step towards our shared vision o f an environm ent free o f com etic pesticides. K aren S andford Small children deserve better Re: Letter to the Editor, Oakville Beaver, Wed. March 28, 2001 `School taxes should be portable fo r better serx'ice I am a mother of two and I have chosen to stay at home and raise my children while my husband works his full time job. Why you ask? Because I think it is important to be here for my children. I cringe when I listen to people brag about the institutions they send their children to. I enjoy feeding my children breakfast, snacks, hot lunches and hot dinners. I along with other stay at home moms have structured play and learning time, and on top of that send our chldren to the Public and Catholic school system and don't have any complaints. My children love their school, teachers and friends and they love attending school trips planned throughout the year. I find it very disturbing to think that your school doesn't close for March Break, Christmas holidays or summer vaca tion! It is important for children to have `down time,' family time, and time to enjoy their friends throughout the summer. It seems to me you are not enjoying the miracle of creating a family and enjoying your little ones. You are dropping them off to a facility and expecting the people who work there to raise them through the week. Your story is very sad. J. Mills Pud by Steve Nease