A6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday, November 24, 2004 EDITORIALS AND 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 ot the Oakville Beaver Is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use Is prohibited. IAN OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director CHARLENE HALL Director o f Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circulation Manager DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager M tfro tv tJ F rrc n g P u ttafm g & DeO tuerQ L U . m d uo w P o a rrg a v e r ts * . A a a ftr * jr a ttC c u * r. A itv [ r * s rp n » News. t o n e A M n c a . Brameton Guordan, ftx v iQ to n Post. B u rtn g ttn S K f O r g M m *. 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S k i i M s l M n l j t ( c - n - x n j Orjd^AGulrJan THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SF>ONSOR FOR: | oakville galleries | Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community ; N o n p ifw n A uo d iB o n A , * C u u d u n Community ffe w s w ttn A sso cia tio n 1 Ijlc o n l lc a lih ca rc O A K V II L LL E C V uW fin d $ BfM Fund O M fiffc A G O N h i* W ( ru N r a » D ( ,y n SKY Suburban Newspapers of America TV AUCTION I M M W it o f tafcrtO e i ATHENA Aw ard & The Oakvv illc. M ilton I YMCA * ite g @ r 'f p - Parrish-able goods It's no surprise Prim e M inister Paul M artin gave M ississauga-Erindale MP Carolyn Parrish the boot from the Liberal caucus last w eek after her loopy anti-party outburst, which cam e on the heels o f her loopy anti-G eorge W. Bush skit on the C B C , which followed years o f loopy com m ents. When you tell your boss he can "go to hell" and you have "no loyalty" to him, a pink slip is sure to find its way to your desk in a hurry. To be sure, Parrish is a loud, opinionated, unrepentant boor w ho loves the sound o f her ow n voice, revels in the glare o f the m edia spotlight and appar ently has the m aturity o f a spoiled two-year-old. However. M ississauga voters love this rebel without a clue so m uch they've repeatedly sent her to O ttaw a, so go figure. When you tell your boss W hile her recent stom ping on a G eorge W. he can " got to heJI" Bush doll -- as part o f a This Hour Has 22 and you have " no Minutes prom otion -- may be looked upon as loyalty" to him, a pink ju v e n ile fun, her penchant for calling slip is sure to find its A m ericans "idiots" and "bastards" and pro way to your desk in a claim ing her hatred for them w ere grounds for dism issal -- in 2003. hurry. A s badly as Parrish looks, M artin looks equally foolish. He repeatedly tolerated her calling our closest neighbour nam es (W hat, we wonder, would he have done if Parrish had proclaim ed a hatred for Jew s or blacks, instead o f A m ericans, last year?), but only chose to take action against her when she had the nerve to target him. In expelling Parrish, M artin said he could not "tolerate behaviour that demeans and disrespects others." Who. we ask. w as he referring to? If it w as our A m erican friends, then why did he wait so long? If it was him self, perhaps he should develop a thicker skin. The predictable, forced departure o f Parrish does little to strengthen an already vulnerable Liberal m inority governm ent in Ottaw a. It also begs the question, are there other potential rebel Liberal M Ps pres ent in M artin's caucus and, if so, will he be able to rein them in before they, too, becom e public em barrassm ents? Stay tuned. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR R e a d e r w a n t s s p e c if ic s fro m O a k v ille M P P personnel? W hen (date) will this be provided? · P ublic ed ucatio n system is im proving: A gain be specific - how has your governm ent im proved the O akville elem entary school system ? L ikew ise at the secondary school level. How. w hen and w here w as the O akville education system im proved by your governm ent in 2004? · Preserve 1,286 acres o f green space: a good program . Do these set aside acres show n above include the 300 odd acres provided by the previ ous governm ent o r are they o ver and above the previous allotm ent? · Investing at Ford o f Canada: Be specific. W hen did we stop (date) com peting on the w orld stage? W hat specific actions has your governm ent taken so that w e can "co m p ete again?" · D esignated land for a new hos pital: W hen we m oved to O akville we were told that the O akville-T rafalgar M em orial Hospital had designated and reserved land for a new site north o f D undas Street. T his action was taken by Halton Region and the Town o f O akville. T he "designation" in your article -- does it m ean a second hospital site, or are you ju st insinuat ing that your governm ent is providing the site that has alread y been reserved? R. B. BAWDEN In support of Oaklands We w ere very disappointed to read O akville M PP dem ands quick answ ers in O aklands tragedy, Oakville Beaver. Nov. 12, and the tone his story took. We are in full agreem ent that an inquest m ust be done, as soon as p ossible, into the tragic death o f Randy M ogridge. We. too, are clients o f O aklands and actively assisted in the organized search for Randy. We can only imagine how his fam ily m ust have felt w hen they learned o f his disap pearance and then after two w eeks o f intensive search, the discovery o f his body. We have a daughter with special needs, age 15. Kirsten has tuberous sclerosis, w hich leaves her function at about a 2-3 year-old level. She is globally developm entally delayed, is autistic, has intractable seizures, and is also non-verbal. Until O aklands opened their Respite House a few years ago. we had very little help for the care o f Kirsten. Needless to say. O aklands has been a godsend to our family! In the article, m ention is m ade o f the South fam ily's dis content with O akland's care o f their son w ho spent "several w eekends" at the facility m ore than two years ago and who have ju st now sent a "strongly-w orded" letter to all three levels o f governm ent and the province's ch ief coroner. Yet, in this very sam e article, m ention is m ade o f the 70 residents O aklands cares for, but fails to m ention the over 200 fam ilies that O aklands provides respite care for. Did it ev er o ccur to the author that perhaps he should talk to some o f th ese 2 7 0 -p lu s fam ilies o f th eir ex p erien ces w ith O aklands o ver the past 25-30 years it has been open? A gain, I m ust reiterate that we are in full agreem ent with the M ogridge family. M PP fflynn. and your editorial that an inquest m ust be done to find out ju st w hat happened on that Sunday evening o f O ct. 24. D oes it do anyone any good though with all the mud throw ing against the entire O aklands program and staff? I think not. M any people I have spoken to, who know o f our family situation and the support we received at O aklands. have com m ented that: " Had they not know n about the good work that O aklands does do. they too would call for the closure of such a facility '. L et's get the w hole story about the facility and the pro gram s they run before we condem n them. JILLIAN AND JOHN DASILVA Farmers and environmentalists share common concerns Re: Greenbelt pits farm ers against environm entalists, Oakville Beaver, Nov. 12. Why do you have to create an adversarial situation where it doesn't exist? Environmentalists are, for the most part, happy with the proposed establishment o f a perm anent greenbelt around the G reater Toronto A rea (GTA). Farmers have issues with the situation, so far. But that doesn't mean that w e're locked in battle! At the Greenbelt meeting on Nov. 10, farmer after farmer stood up to voice their con cerns. They can't make a liv ing from farming. Young peo ple are not staying on the farms to continue the profes sion. Designation as a green belt property will lower the property value and thus make business loans harder to obtain. Many farm ers said they want to be able to continue to farm. They want to enjoy the lifestyle that many o f them grew up with. But they're find ing it difficult in today's world. Environmentalists in atten dance heard, understood, and sym pathized. At the annual general meeting o f the Ontario Environment Network on Nov. 20, m em bers voiced strong support for farmers. E nvironm entalists know the need for farmers to remain nearby. The ever-expanding population o f the GTA will require more and more food. Without local food, we must rely on other countries to pro duce our food, suffering increasing fuel costs and increased air pollution to trans port the goods so that we can be fed. Southern Ontario has some of the best growing conditions in the country. Urban sprawl worries many people. It seems to me that farmers and envi ronmentalists want the same thing. Stop the sprawl and maintain the farms. The problem for farmers is not the establishment o f the greenbelt. Their problem is the lack o f adequate compensation for the public service they per form. How can they be com pensated fairly for supplying us with food? If fanning becomes finan cially viable once again, farm ers will not have to consider selling their farm s. Young farmers will be attracted back to the business. Property val ues in the greenbelt will not be an issue. Environm entalists are in favour o f the Greenbelt Act. Citizens who are concerned about sprawl are in favour of the Greenbelt Act. The real opponents are speculators who want to make money from their land holdings in the pro posed greenbelt. Com ments are due by Nov. 29 for the Greenbelt Act. and by Dec. 12 for the Greenbelt Plan. For more information and an online survey, visit www.greenbelt.ontario.ca LISA SEILER Editor's note: the fo llo w in g was sent o rig inally to O a kv ille M P P Kevin F lynn a n d fo rw a rd e d to T he Oakville B eaver by th e w riter f o r publication. I am w riting in regard to your guest colum n in the Nov. 13 Oak\>ille Beaver, Com m unity o f Winners. It is not election tim e, so your arti cle contains "factual" inform ation, not necessarily, "prom ises" or "party platform policy." The article is refreshing because most o f it is w ritten in a positive way. You have the advantage o f having the "facts" to back up your article. As a reader we are not provided with all the back up inform ation that you have to be able to m ake the state ments in your article. I ask you to supply the "facts" that back up your following general statem ents about Oakville. · O ur econom y is stronger: Do you have the G N P num bers for O akville? Do you have the current Oakville unem ploym ent and em ploym ent numbers com pared to 2003? · Health care is on firm er footing: More money will be com ing from Ottawa. W hat additional m oney will be com ing from your governm ent above the present am ount to O akville? Be specific -- w hat "firm er footing" is being provided to O akville health care facilities and W e w a n t y o u r o p in io n 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 num ber of the author. Letters should be addressed to T he E ditor, O akville Beaver, 467 S p eers Rd., Oakville, O N , L 6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@ oakvillebeaver.com . The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Save lights for Christmas I was appalled the other day. when I saw Christmas lights burning bright on a nearby house. The 2003 August black out concerned many citizens about their use of electricity. During the summer months some used their air conditioner less frequently to preserve energy. Why not try to preserve it during the winter months as well? As December approaches we will see more Christmas lights. Think of the energy we could conserve if a by-law was passed to insure residence did not turn their lights on until December first. We have a bylaw that we can only water on alternate days to con serve water. Why not a bylaw to conserve electricity? Conserve energy, don't turn on the Christmas lights until Dec. 1. Pud I need Yo u r \ W H C T D o YOU THINK? By STEVE NEASE sneasetfhaltonsearch.c -LE T ME SEE ? ,fAY SAMMY NEEDS A haircut , he disagrees. O P IN IO N ! ^ ~ "B T KYLEIGH SEMMENS GRADE 10, ABBEY PARK HIGH SCHOOL The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The coundl Is located at 80 Gould St.. Suite 206, Toronto. Ont. MSB 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 reason able allowance for signature, will no! 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 dedJne.