6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 12, 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 SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Let the campaign begin The Ontario election campaign is now officially under way and it's difficult to remember a campaign in which the electorate appears to be as conflicted as it is. For the past four years, under Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, Ontario's economy has, for the most part, performed solidly. There has been labour peace among the public sector workers. There has been a relative calm restored to Queen's Park compared to the latter days of the Mike Harris/Ernie Eves Conservative-led years. Yet, virtually every poll to date indicates McGuinty would do well to win only a minority government. Why, one wonders, has the electorate not embraced him and his party? Perhaps it is because, after his election in 2003, McGuinty quickly broke his vow not to impose a health tax-- a broken promise that has dogged him ever since. In recent weeks the Liberals have been promising the sun and moon with daily announcements of funding for a wide variety of projects-- all with one caveat attached-- they must be re-elected. Perhaps voters find this electoral blackmail distasteful? Or perhaps they are unwilling to give their trust to a politician who callously abused it the last time around? Since the NDP appears to have little hope to form the next government or even attain Opposition status, it remains with the Conservatives and leader John Tory to convince the electorate there is an alternative to the McGuinty Liberals. However, Tory has not yet shown to be the dynamic counterbalance to McGuinty's blandness. He has, curiously, created a hot-button issue with his call for faith-based school funding -- something most Ontarians do not appear to support. The Conservative leader has also outlined a spending plan that mirrors that of the Liberals -- both intend to spend more than $14 billion for programs over the next four years -- but he brings up a dreaded Mike Harris-era phrase-- "finding efficiencies"-- when asked how he will pay for those programs. Like McGuinty, the voters have not warmed to him at this point. The parties now have a month to give the electorate something solid to chew on and, hopefully, improve the bitter taste they have obviously so far left in the voters' mouths. 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 Upsetting incidents have left new resident disillusioned Today, I am left wondering if Oakville really is the right place for us to be living. We moved to Canada less than three months ago from the UK. Since then, we have been whole-heartedly welcomed by the neighbours, have found an amazing array of activities for our two young children, and had a fantastic summer taking advantage of Oakville's lovely cycleways and going to the many splash-pads, parks, festivals and attractions nearby. However, all this is overshadowed as we have been the unfortunate victims of crime three times since living here. · First, our satellite navigation was stolen from our car parked in the driveway in broad daylight. · A few weeks later, a full tank of gas was cyphoned out of the car, causing us to run out of gas (we filled up only the day before). · And finally, today, I cycled to Glen Abbey Community Centre with my four-year-old daughter on the back. Whilst we were inside, the bike was stolen, along with the child seat and my daughter's helmet. What kind of mindless person would take a bike with a child seat, obviously leaving a mother and child stranded? Ironically, only last week we read the article about Arthur Holland who also had his bike stolen, and we wrote in offering to donate a spare bike we had. Arthur was inundated with offers from Oakville residents wanting to do the same, and we were heartened by his letter expressing what a caring community Oakville is. The majority may be, but the minority have left us feeling disillusioned and are certainly tainting our view. HELEN WILKS Pud Excellent service appreciated BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com In today's world of (at best) mixed service standards, it is refreshing to come across excellent service; in this case from local government. I live in southeast Oakville, and my representative is Ward 3 Regional Councillor Keith Bird. On Aug. 31 the Southeast Water Treatment Plant was running some equipment that created severe low-frequency noise and vibration. I could find little refuge in my home from the effects of this machinery. At about 11 a.m. that day, I e-mailed Mr. Bird to See Good page 10 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.