6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 29, 2008 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 DAVID HARVEY General Manager 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 ANCHOR Circ. Manager Do homework on driving schools News of eight Greater Toronto Area (GTA) driving schools having their licences pulled for handing out beginner driver education certificates to students who hadn't completed their training, raises questions on provincial standards for the industry. Our town streets and major highways are congested enough with too many drivers who believe they own the road and demonstrate it through aggressive and dangerous behaviour behind the wheel. Adding novice drivers, who haven't completed the minimum training required by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, is a recipe for a traffic fatality. The driving schools that had their licences revoked this week include two each in Brampton and Etobicoke, and one each in Toronto, North York, Mississauga and Scarborough. Equally troubling is that the ministry removed 22 businesses from its list of approved driving schools last year. This raises the question, should Ontario be raising the bar on minimum requirements for businesses preparing novice drivers? Yesterday's comments by Ministry of Transportation Jim Bradley offered no hint that the driving school licensing process will be reviewed or overhauled. "Ontario will not tolerate driving schools giving certificates to untrained drivers," he said, adding, "Driving schools that fail to meet Ontario's high standards will not be certified to teach novice drivers." He made no mention of how these eight slipped through the cracks of Ontario's driver training certification process. According to the province, there are 418 licensed course providers of beginner driver education in Ontario and 278 high schools that deliver ministry-approved courses. These schools graduate more than 100,000 novice drivers each year. Before paying for driver training, the province recommends parents and novice drivers get the following information when selecting a driving school: · Ask for recommendations; · Check Ontario's Consumer Beware List for information on driving schools. They should also register any problems with a driving school on that site; · Choose a driving school from the list of ministry-approved Beginner Driver Education course providers; · Meet with instructors before paying; · Visit Ontario's Consumer Protection Branch for advice on purchasing a good or service. 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 LHIN seeking out consumers in decision-making process Halton residents had a chance to comment on what's working and what's not when it comes to mental health and addiction services at a community meeting early this year. We attended the session which was hosted by the Mississauga-Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and we met the LHIN Mental Health and Addictions Detailed Planning and Action Team. This team is collecting community feedback, which will be used to improve mental health and addictions service delivery. The 30-40 clients and service providers who attended the meeting were divided into three discussion groups, and we cautiously began sharing our experiences in accessing or providing appropriate mental health care and addiction treatment. As we rotated through the round table discussions, the facilitators filled page after page of easel paper with our experiences, frustrations, and pleas for long-needed improvements in mental health care delivery, and the discussions became more animated. The meeting became so lively; it seemed no one wanted to stop talking at the end. A group of mostly strangers, who began the meeting discouraged and somewhat cynical, seemed energized and hopeful that positive change is posBY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com sible. Diane Koz, the senior planning and integration consultant for the Mississauga Halton LHIN, promised to notify us when the community feedback from across the LHIN has been summarized. From this summary, the priorities for the future of mental health and addiction services in Mississauga Halton will be set. The LHIN concept and current process of seeking consumer input within the planning process provides new hope that the delivery of much needed Mental Health and other health care services will be more con- Pud sumer driven in the future. It appears that LHIN administrators may be prepared to fill the many voids in mental health services. It is a good start and we will be watching the `execution' part of the equation. The importance of this process to everyone who lives in this area cannot be overstated. It was well worth juggling our schedules and going out in the cold to take part in this vital process. Please join us next time. SHARON CRAVEN AND JILL SIMM, CONSUMER ADVISORY AND ADVOCACY COMMITTEE, MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, HALTON 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. 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