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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday June 21, 2000 T h e O akville B eaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier Circulation Director Teri Casas OfficeManager Mark Dills Production Manager RizieroVertolli DirectorofPhotography M aroland Prim ing, P ubishing & D istrib o rig L id .. indudes: Ajax/R ckem g News Advertiser. A listo n Heraid/C ourier. A rthur Enterprise News. Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This W eek. Bolton Enterprise, Bram pton Guardan. B u rlin g to n P o st, B u rlin g to n S h o p p in g N ew s. C ity P a re n t. Co*ngwoodW asaga Connection, East M jk M rror. Erin A d -o ca ta C o trtry R ou te s. E to b ico ke G u a rd ia n . F lam borough P o st. G eorgetow n m dependent/Acton Free Press. Hamston Review, H uonia Business Times. K ingston This W eek. Lindsay T his W eek. M arkham Ecnom ist & Sun. M idland/P enetanguishine M irror. M ilto n C anadian C ham pion. M ilton Shoppng News. Mesissauga Business Times, M issssauga N avs, Napanee G lid e . Newm arket/Aurora Era-Banner. Northum berland News. N orth York M rror, O akvie Beaver. O akvie Shopping News. CUdtmers Hockey News. O rifa Tocby. O shaw a/A hriby/darington Port Perry This Week. O ven S a n d Tribune, Palm erston O bserver. Peterborough This W eek. P e ton County G uide. R ichm ond H il/T hornhilt/V aughan Liberal. S carborough M irror, StouftvHeOM hdge Tritxne. Forever Y a n g . C ity o f York Guardan OPINION ° THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: T ^ I H RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community N o w sp ap o rs A ssociation JincJ e B eII Fur»d t a f YM CA O F O A K V U E W E L C O M E ^t W A G O N m i IStrategiesforO F E ~ Vsin c e1 9 3 0 J A tfk e m 0 ^ h e _ 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont L6K3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 W C N A V j Canadian Community N ow sp ap ors A ssociation M / O rp & - .|7r"Tmw TV AUCTION U nited W ay o fO akville O TH E BRONTt i UTTERFLY k rd O akville wards a:iim.iin*M»:<iioi i NCE d f o / d f in d O N T A R I | o a k v ille g a lle rie s | & SK « Suburban N e w sp ap e rs of Am erica rown or B O A*V IL L I H O aSZJJU Children's Choir Editorials Radio waves With the advent of new technology, Canadians have both an eye and ear on the world through the Internet and television that keeps increasing the number and variety of stations received. In many respects, this has left radio stations of f this scenario out in the cold and trying to reinvent them- The ^"e upshot uPs" ° f o this scenario is that selves to reman relevant. isth a t there are too m any When FM was in its infancy, that band was stations with virtually usually die sole domain of classic music sta- id m tk a l formats identical formats dogging clogging I tions and then easy listening operations. But 1 the radio radio dial. dial. That That's not then everyone got into the FM act because of the sn ot I its clear signal characteristics and that's when the way i t ' s the problems began. supposed to work. > Stations seeking radio licenses have to go before the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to demonstrate their format fills a need and they do that through a `promise of performance'. The trouble with this system is that too-often once these licenses are granted, the radio station's format changes after a few months or years. Management concludes their country, classical, oldies etc. format isn't generating enough rev enue so they go to the CRTC for a change and they're usually granted. The upshot of this scenario is that there are too many stations with virtually identical formats clogging the radio dial. That's not the way it's supposed to work. Oakville has only ever had one radio station, CHWO 1250 AM that now uses the catch-line `Radio to remember'-in other words, it's a station that caters to an older demographic profile with music that usually runs from the 1940s1960s. They have made several attempts to get an FM frequency but were turned down on each occasion. But with the CBC's abandonment of its AM 740 spot on the dial in favour of all-FM broadcasting, a hole was available for the Golden Horseshoe market. CHWO applied for the spot and last week it was granted, giving the new station a reach from Windsor to Kingston and north to Parry Sound. We wish CHWO president Michael Caine all the best in this new venture and for giving the area a different option from the usual radio offerings. P C *VB U S I N E S S ten*A P T S 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 Education bill nothing less than shocking Re: B ill 74 My first reaction, to the new b ill th a t th e g o v e rn m e n t is pushing to pass, is shock. Can someone please explain to me what is going on? I have taught for 15 years in Halton and I have worked with a staff where everyone attends school fu n ctio n s and p artic ip a te s in extra-curricular activities vol u n ta rily . P e rs o n a lly , I have co a ch ed sp o rts and d irec ted drama presentations during my lunch-time and after school. We have had w ork parties where teachers have come in on a Saturday to paint games on the black top for students to enjoy. When the new computerized report cards came in, as a staff we asked the principal to open up the school on Saturday so that we could get the job done. There have been long nights where we have painted togeth er on our hands and knees for hours to finish a backdrop for a school play. As a staff, we have support ed o u r sch o o l by a tte n d in g Saturday spring fairs, evening student public speaking events, and many of us have attended d an ce re c ita ls or b a se b a ll games to support our students, sh o w in g th a t we care even w hen it is an o u t-o f-sc h o o l event. T he q u e stio n if w hat is going on out there? I have gone through the sys tem, as a student, always being supported by my teachers who have w illingly gone the extra m ile to provide after-sch o o l trips, after-school team sports Letter of the Week P rem ier looking for scapegoats Prem ier H arris's Open Letter of June 3rd is absolute proof that you can't believe everything you read. T h ere's no doubt in anyone's mind that the P re m ie r's in itial strategy during his brief visit to Walkerton was to blame the NDP for the tow n's contam inated water tragedy. As we qu ick ly saw, that course o f action d id n 't work. People rightly criticized the Premier for finger-pointing rather than accepting responsi bility. Despite his denials, the Premier knew exactly what he was doing when he played "Blame the N D P" . He was trying to d eflect the p u b lic's focus away from his Conservative government and the $100 million in cuts it made to environ ment protection, enforcement and monitoring. It may be easier to cast blame than accept the truth, but it's patently dishonest to do so. The truth is that the Conservatives let go 900 front line environm ent w orkers, technicians, scien tis ts , b io lo g is ts and e n v iro n m e n ta l law en fo rc e rs. As a re su lt, the re so u rces are no longer available to ensure the tough standards of enforcement and the proactive protection of the environment that the NDP had in place. The truth is, the NDP governm ent was an environmental leader. In 1994-95 the NDP envi ronm ent budget was $558 m illion, including $2 0 0 m illio n th a t w en t to e sta b lis h in g the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) specially d e d ic a te d to d e a lin g w ith w a te r and sew er issues. OCWA was one of the number of major environmental initiatives brought in by the NDP. In the 2000-2001 M inistry of Environm ent b u d g e t, O n ta rio C o n se rv a tiv e g o v ern m e n t spending in real dollars is actually below the 1971-72 levels- the year the Ministry was first created. It was M ike H arris who closed the provincial water testing labs and put those oper ations in private hands. The NDP consulted with municipalities and in 1994 agreed to give them the option they wanted of using public or private labs for water testing. In contrast, the Conservatives shut down the public labs and pushed over 400,000 more water tests into the for-profit arena, at quintuple the price that municipalities paid for provincial lab tests that the NDP provided at cost. The Conservatives took, and continue to take, m oney out o f the e n v iro n m e n t m in istry to fin a n c e tax c u ts. T h a t's the la st p la c e the Premier wants the spotlight to land. During a massive global recession, the NDP ch ose to m ain tain or in cre ase en v iro n m en t spending because we recognized the key role that governm ent has in keeping our air and water safe and clean. Now as people begin to see the correlation between tax cuts and the erosion of essential services like clean air, safe drinking water and failing infrastructure, the government digs deep er to find someone else to blame. What a shame. Howard Ham pton Leader, Ontario NDP Pud and choral evenings. My own E d u c a tio n n e e d s children have attended schools w here te a c h e rs , b e c a u se o f th e ir lo v e o f c h ild re n and c h e c k s & b a la n c e s teaching, have supported the Re: The letter by Liz Sandals in The Oakville Beaver, community and have provided May 31st, 2000 -- "Dictatorial legislation.an affront to th ese sam e e x tra s. I ca n n o t democracy" u n d e rsta n d why now, th ese She also states that "The government has acted in a same things have to be mandat punitive and arbitrary manner, in order to silence local ed. government." W hat's happening to free Well, well, now... Ms. Sandals would do well to think dom? Is the government going back to the days when she was a trustee and later, chair to demand that anyone who has person, o f the former W ellington County Board of c h ild re n m ust v o lu n te e r to Education in Guelph, Ontario. How easy it was then for coach a baseball team ? How school boards (with convoluted procedural maneuvres of about grandparents volunteer ing to host a kids' club or else! very expensive labour lawyers and virtually unlimited Doesn't anyone realize that funds from tax payers' money to: "act in a punitive and my rights need to be protected? arbitrary manner in order to discourage and ultimately Just suppose the principal of silence" legal challenges to school board abuses of our school was very controlling process and bureaucratic errors. Should one wonder why and, as a staff, we were forced public opinion has never come to grips with those to attend Saturday or Sunday issues? early morning meetings. What More effective checks and balances need to be imple is my recourse? Will I be fired? mented with regard to administrative decision-makers as I love to teach, but I also love well as teachers, to promote GENUINE transparency and need to be with my own and accountability in all sectors of the education system fam ily . I d o n 't th in k th a t I in the Province of Ontario. That includes the Ministry of should be subjected to another Education as well. Leadership demands that discre person's whim. I know my lim tionary powers be exercised with utmost fairness. itations and take pride in a "job Back in 1868, Dr. Egerton Ryerson stated that politics well done." I need to have con is too often discord, ambition and hatred, while educa trol of my out-of-school time tion is harmony, devotion, fraternity and kindness. The to balance school work, family standards of accountability and transparency must apply and self. completely to all parties who work for a better school This bill does not protect my system for the children of our beautiful province of rig h ts as a w o rk in g , sin g le Ontario. mother, who is doing the best Helene and M ichel Saraga she can for her students and for her family. W hat is th e d e fin itio n of democracy anyway? It sounds like Bill 74 is taking away my What is wrong with our government? Why do we have to right to be with my family and wait five years to ban the spraying of the lawns etc. and now to participate in my own extra we wait four years to ban the use of the pesticide Dursban. c u r ric u la r a c tiv itie s th a t Despite all the publicity, this Town and people are still enhance my every day teaching spraying, signs are posted everywhere. duties. I need to be free to set Our planet earth is disintegrating and if spraying is up my time so that it fits my allowed for another five years, what will happen? Will there s tu d e n ts ' n e e d s, my fa m ily be a future for the children? duties, and my own desire to As was quoted in a letter I received from the mayor's extend myself. office concerning the spraying the weeds were the Members Delia K e rr Brown of Council, the Town staff and myself, we are concerned about the well-being of our children. If we can believe these words, then pass a law, stop the Town from spraying, stop by Steve Nease the people spraying. So to everyone still spraying for the next five years and disregarding the danger of the use of pesticides, may you never hear these wrods from a doctor (sorry it is cancer, no hope). It will be too late, the harm has been done. Ban spraying now V. Carley T im e to d e a l w ith c o y o te s It's time to rid Oakville and the surrounding areas of the influx of coyotes. My cat was killed early Saturday night -- an outdoor cat. She had enjoyed 11 years of a happy existence. Why be denied more? They could easily trap the coyotes, move them to north ern districts. As the building boom from here and above Hwy. 5 has destroyed their habitat, 1 would gladly contribute to any costs. Hilda Milne