www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 29, 2014 | 4 Alert: Your ash trees are at risk from the Emerald Ash Borer ® TruGreen, Canada's leading lawn and tree care company, has been contracted to treat ash trees on public lands in the Town of Oakville from June through August. Education is on the agenda at all-candidates' debate by Kim Arnott Special to the Beaver Ash trees in the Oakville area are at risk from Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive pest that destroys ash trees if left untreated. Avoid the costs of removal and replacement by treating your ash trees today with help from TruGreen. Special pricing available for Oakville residents. Call or visit TruGreen online for details. 1-866-294-7962 TruGreen.ca Learn more about protecting your ash trees. Join the Oakville Canopy Club. For more information visit oakville.ca In introducing three provincial election candidates in the Halton riding, who took part in an all-candidates' debate Monday in Milton, Halton District School Board (HDSB) trustee Donna Danielli said, "Education is the foundation of our quality of life; it affects all of us whether we have kids in the school or not." While candidates appeared to agree, they found little other common ground as they grappled with the topic of education in front of an audience of about 40 at Hugh Foster Hall. During a somewhat testy meeting, candidates disagreed on the funding and building of new schools, collective bargaining with teachers and tuition for post-secondary programs. Noting the demand for schools in the rapidlygrowing Halton riding -- which includes north Oakville and north Halton -- Liberal candidate Indira Naidoo-Harris said her party would provide $11 billion in capital funding over the next 10 years to build new schools and refurbish older ones across the province. But that led NDP candidate Nik Spohr to question "the Liberal plan to just continue to spend, spend, spend, spend." While new schools are needed in growing areas like Halton, he said that retaining and refurbishing existing schools is a less expensive and more responsible way of managing capital needs. Spohr said the NDP would establish an Open Schools Fund to put $60 million a year toward transforming existing, but underutilized, schools into community hubs with facilities like libraries, community centres, and day care or long-term care facilities. "It's important that we're not too overzealous to keep building and building and building," Spohr added, noting the current funding model has incentives that discourage boards from making school repairs. Progressive Conservative candidate Ted Chudleigh didn't speak about funding, but said his party would leave capital planning issues to local school boards. "In my opinion, the trustees have done a great job of building schools where they're needed and when they're needed," he said. "I certainly don't want Queen's Park to decide what school will go where." Along with advocating the need to bring a satellite university or college campus to Milton, Naidoo-Harris said the Liberals would continue to offer students a 30 per cent rebate on post-secondary tuition to ensure accessibility for all. see NDP on p.5 Voted the Best in Oakville We Invite you to find out why! Call today for your personal tour. We'd love to have you join us! Retirement Living 380 Sherin Drive, Oakville, Ontario (905) 847-1413 www.vistamere.ca At Its Best