6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 4, 2007 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 IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Trustees skipped out Failure to attain a quorum for a recent special meeting is the latest indication of a widening rift among elected trustees of the Halton Catholic District School Board. Director of Education Lou Piovesan said last week's failure to meet quorum marked the first time in his 25 years the board couldn't conduct its business due to poor trustee turnout. While the hastily called March 27 meeting was short on agenda details, all nine school board trustees were sent notice of the meeting at least four days in advance. The special meeting was called by board chair Al Bailey (Burlington), who wanted fellow trustees to receive a legal review of their roles and responsibilities. Bailey believes a recent board decision may have violated the board's own policies. At the centre of this brewing political storm is a pilot school uniform project planned for this fall at two Halton Catholic elementary schools -- St. Gabriel in Burlington and Guardian Angels in Milton. While Bailey has accused fellow trustees of ignoring policy in order to push the pilot project through, Burlington trustee Bob Van de Vrande disagrees and is very frank about his decision not to attend last week's special meeting. "We want to carry on with valid board decisions. We can't continually be asked to revisit decisions that have been made. I don't see any point for the meeting. I don't see any point in (resuming) it," said Van de Vrande. Of the nine trustees elected to the board last fall, only Bailey and Oakville's Alice Anne LeMay and Ed Viana showed up for the meeting; at least two more trustees were required to conduct official board business. Four of the other five absent trustees -- Oakville's Anthony Danko and Pauline Houlahan, Burlington's Joanne Matters and Halton Hills' Rosanna Palmieri -- indicated they had prior commitments, while Milton's Rev. David Wilhelm never returned a reporter's calls. Regardless of their differing points of view, trustees owe it to students, parents and fellow trustees to attend meetings -- if only to uphold their position. Considering the board's perfect record of 25 years without failing to meet quorum, the sudden absence of two-thirds of the board's elected officials seems suspicious. And in Van de Vrande's case, a difference of opinion does not justify skipping a scheduled meeting of the school board he was elected to serve. 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 Incineration discourages waste diversion programs Incineration (gasification, plasma arc, pyrolysis, thermal treatment) is the most costly discard waste management option. Incinerator companies may demand "put or pay" contracts, which mean the municipalities have to provide enough garbage to burn, and if there is insufficient waste, the communities pay. This undermines the Province's goal to reach 60 per cent waste diversion. So incineration encourages waste generation. Germany, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union (EU), has with the other EU members accepted a waste hierarchy that puts recycling above energy from waste. Re-using, recycling and composting reduce the need for virgin resources, and cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions associated with production. On the whole, three times more energy can be saved by recycling and composting materials than by burning them. Nova Scotia has diverted 50 per cent of its waste in five years. This has created 1,000 jobs in 1996 and since then up to 2,000 jobs in industries using separated materials. So-called "state-of-th-art" incinerators do emit pollutants. High temperatures and costly pollution control equipment do not make them safe. "State-of-the art" pollution control devices do not eliminate or adequately control toxic emissions from the chemical complex that constitute today's discards. Adding to this concern, Ontario's air emissions regulations are rather dismal compared to other areas in North America. Permissible thresholds for particulates etc. may not be accepted in some states in the United States, as well as in Europe, which has very stringent regulations governing air emissions. Ontario is not in the midst of a waste disposal crisis. We are in the midst of a waste generating crisis. The solution is waste prevention and waste minimization. Companies should design materials that can be re-used and recycled. We consumers must buy products that create less waste. Finally, we consumers must reduce, re-use, recycle and compost. We have a win-win solution; a healthy environment and reduction in climate change gas emissions. This is less costly, the money we save stays in our province, we save energy, and we create jobs. ENVER DOMINGO Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.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.