6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday December 15, 2006 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 METROLAND MEDIA GROUP WEST GROUP PUBLISHER IAN OLIVER NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, 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 Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, 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 It's just plain wrong There are some things in life that are just plain wrong, no matter how anyone tries to justify them: · Paris Hilton's attempt at being a legitimate actress/singer. · Sylvester Stallone trying to fleece the movie-going public with one more attempt at a Rocky film. · Ontario MPPs giving themselves a 25 per cent wage hike two weeks before Christmas. Not only was it bad enough that Dalton McGuinty's government introduced surprise legislation Tuesday that would see MPPs' salaries soar from $88,771 to $110,775 a year, but McGuinty did so after earlier saying he was not looking at pay increases for MPPs. Another broken McGuinty pledge. To top it off McGuinty told Conservative Leader John Tory (a longtime proponent of higher pay for MPPs) of his change of heart on Monday, but then sandbagged NDP Leader Howard Hampton (who opposes the hikes) with news of the legislation only minutes before the bill was introduced. This bill marks the first significant pay hike-- apart from modest cost-of-living raises which are the only kinds of hikes many Ontario workers receive-- for MPPs since former Conservative Premier Mike Harris increased MPPs' basic pay from $42,218 to $78,007 in 1996. That said, MPPs' salaries jumped nearly $5,000 in 2002 and have climbed since then, including an increase of nearly $2,000 earlier this year. Integrity Commissioner Coulter Osbourne, in an 18-page report, suggested MPPs are underpaid compared to their federal and municipal counterparts and provided the impetus for this week's legislation. While we certainly don't deny MPPs receive fair compensation, we cannot agree with Coulter's or McGuinty's belief that the level of compensation could become a deterrent to public service. It has always been our understanding that those who devote their life to public service are not "in it for the money" but to better their community. If MPPs so desperately wanted to bring their pay in line with that of their municipal or federal counterparts, raises should have been phased in over several years. By doing so in one fell swoop when the province faces a huge deficit and funding shortfalls in education, health and other areas, only makes MPPs look greedy. 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 Poor could use save-the-tree funds It truly is a sad time of the year, especially so, when the Salvation Army is struggling to reach their goal of $110,000 and cannot find enough volunteers, yet our misguided neighbours have the time and energy and wallets to save an "old tree". What a misplaced sense of priorities they have that they are prepared to abandon the poor and deny them food and warmth. The more than $200,000 that they have already raised would more than meet the Salvation Army's target and their volunteer time would have been much more helpful to the Sally Ann than saving the old tree. Yet these same people may be sitting beside you in church celebrating the coming of Christ. Shame on them and the Town Council which is preparing to spend taxpayers money on a tree instead of those in need. The words hypocrisy and selfishness spring to mind. And so much for trust and democracy for the new council which is not prepared to uphold a decision already made. The "save the tree" committee was given the opportunity to raise the money and they failed. What more needs to be said or is no one prepared to live up to their end of the agreement. Clearly with this Council and these volunteers an agreement is only worth the paper it is written on. Twisted priorities indeed! PETER SWIRZON BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com MPPs should not be allowed to vote themselves salary increases Here we go again! The Ontario MPPs (currently earning a base salary of $88,771 a year, more than twice the average salary of employed Ontarians), voted themselves another increase of 25 per cent bringing their base salary to $110,775 per year. Cabinet ministers will be paid $157,633 per year. By voting themselves this 25 per cent increase in salary, they displayed inconsistency and arrogance. Ontarians are tired with MPPs voting their own salary increases. Salaries of MPPs should be legislated to be exactly twice the average salary of employed Ontarians (is twice as much as the rest of us not good enough?), should be recalculated with each budget, and should be fully taxable. In this way MPPs' earnings would automatically be tied to Ontario's economic prosperity and tax levies, which they are supposed to control. GIUSEPPE GORI LEADER, FAMILY COALITION PARTY OF ONTARIO 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. 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