6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 24, 2007 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 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist Command and control versus open consultation Bonnie Brown Oakville MP In Ottawa, Parliamentarians are watching Prime Minister Harper as he makes a series of spending announcements based on the budgetary surplus and Bonnie Brown healthy economy he inherited after 12 years of prudent fiscal management by the Liberals. I particularly noticed these announcements because when we took over in 1993 we faced a $42 billion annual deficit left by the Conservatives and did not have the luxury of any new spending. Like most Canadians we are appalled by Prime Minister Harper's sleazy negative ads about the new Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. Experts estimate the Conservatives have spent between $9 million-$10 million on these ads but remain stuck at 33 per cent in the polls. I wonder how citizen donors to the Conservative Party feel about this use of their hard earned dollars. I wonder how all citizens feel about this new low in the political discourse of their nation. My mail indicates that the hottest federal issue in Oakville is still the taxation of income trusts. It was right in Oakville during the last election that Stephen Harper made his promise not to tax income trusts. In so doing, he encouraged Oakvillians and all Canadians to invest in the income trust market. Then only months later he broke that promise, imposed a 31.5 per cent tax and caused that market to crumble. Canadian investors lost $25 billion of their savings. Liberal MPs demanded public hearings at the finance committee and only after listening to a wide range of Canadian witnesses decided on an income trust policy. We suggest a 10 per cent tax on income trusts (refundable to Canadians but not to offshore investors). We would continue the moratorium on new income trusts. Tax experts at the Finance Committee testified that this moderate approach would restore as much as two-thirds of the value that investors lost on November 1, 2006. Finance Minister Flaherty had claimed that conversion to income trusts by B.C.E. and Telus would cost the Treasury $800 million each year. Then these companies announced that even as corporations they would be paying little or no tax for the foreseeable future. So the Minster changed his argument and said that all trusts cost the government $500 million per year. But a reputable analyst showed that the true cost was $32 million. Now the Minister refuses to release any of the data to support his $500 million claim. He has retreated from the debate. If only Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty had listened to others before acting, they could have avoided these problems. Yes, they were decisive but decisively wrong and investors are paying the price. The handling of income trusts is but one example of the difference between Mr. Harper's "command and control" style of governance and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's open and consultative style, a style that is based on respect for the opinions of Canadians. IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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 RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Now here's a sport that needs a high kick in the rumba I t's a sport that should be banned for its maliciousness, ferocity and skullduggery before someone gets seriously hurt. Honestly, how many times must this contentious issue arise, how many athletes must be injured, how many unseemly episodes of viciousness and violence superfluous, gratuitous must we witness before we finally give our collective heads a shake and shout, in unison: enough is enough? Alas, even if the Neanderthals who support the sport and its inherent savagery, replete with brutish bloodshed, have yet to see the light, I have. And I hereby petition for the absolute abolishment of... ballroom dancing. That's right, ballroom dancing. What did you think I was talking about, you chowderheads, hockey? Boxing? Now, I imagine there are some ignorant people out there naive, head-in-the-sand types who think of ballroom dancing not as a sport, but, rather, a genteel, refined, proper and polite activity engaged in by B-list celebrities (determined to revive flagging careers via bad Reality TV dance shows), or by middleaged men dragged (kicking and screaming) to dance studios by well-intentioned wives. Well, I'm here to say that you don't know the half of it. In fact, you don't even know a quarter of the half of it! For starters, ballroom dancing is a sport. In fact, under the designation of Dancesport, it's well on its way to becoming an Olympic event. The IOC, you see, defines "sport" as "any activity that combines a physical effort with a certain amount of skill." By this definition, we can look forward to pole dancing in the Andy Juniper Olympics, but never mind. Secondly, there are some people who believe that ballroom dancing is as safe as any so-called sport can be. Again, these folks don't know a quarter of the half of it. In Britain, where Dancesport is huge, coaches and judges have been forced to draw up an official code of conduct to rein in epidemic outbursts of Tonya Harding-esque aggression by overzealous competitors. It's true. I'm not making this up. In fact, the actions of some of these dancers make Britney Spears' recent conduct seem normal. To wit, competitors have been known to try all sorts of non- sense to intimidate judges, even something called "judgebumping" wherein they crash into officials, making them lose their notepads and glasses. Further, there have been instances of dancers waltzing around the dance floor at dangerously high speeds, in the wrong direction, just to upset and intimidate their opposition. This is when they are not busy crowding other dancers -- while those dancers are leaping, no less, just so they can't land safely! One of the sport's leading judges, Harry Smith-Hampshire, says these actions are not accidental; they are carried out with "cold-blooded deliberation." He adds that the competitors are introducing to the sport "the manners of the football stadium and boxing ring." He cites examples: "One top amateur has only just returned to the competition circuit after another dancer damaged her cartilage with an unseemly high kick during the rumba." It's my contention that an unseemly high kick in the rumba right off the sporting landscape is exactly what ballroom dancing needs. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.