A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Tuesday December 21,1999 T h e Oakville Beaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver .Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Martin Doherty Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director ofPhotography M etrbland P rinting. P u tfch n g & D is trtiu tn g L id ., includes: Ajax^Pckering News Advertiser. A fcto n HerakYCom er, Bame Advance. BarryS Bay This w eek. Bolton Enterprise. Bram pton G uardan, Burtngton Post. B utngton Shoppng News. C ity Parent. C oingw axYVtesaga Connection. East York M irror, Em A dvocata'C om try Routes. E tobcoke G uardan. R antxxough Post. Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press. H ucna Buaness Tm es. K ingston T his W eek. Lindsay T his W eek. M arkham Ecnom rst & Sun. M idland/P enetang uishine M irro r. M ilto n C anadian C ham pion. M ilton Shoppng News. M sossauga Business Tm es. M ssissauga News, Napanee G ude. Newm arket/ALrora Era-Banner. N orthurrtieriand News. N orth York M rror. O akvie Beaver. O akvie Shopping News. O ldtim ers Hockey News. Cnka Today. O shaw aW hittyC larington Port Perry This Week. Owen S a n d Tribune. P eterborough T his W eek. P ieton C ounty G uide. R ichm ond H iii/Thom hill/V aughan Liberal. Scarborough M irror. S touffvifle/U xbridge T rtxn e , Forever M xng. C ity o l Y ok Guardan OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers at America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ^ C N A 467 Speers Rd., Oakville OnL L6K3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 SK E ditorials Special gifts There is no better time than this week o f Christian celebration, to reflect on the w ider m eaning of Christmas. The traits o f caring for the less fortu Contributions to the nate, giving freely o f one's tim e to help others, is the true m eaning o f the sea Jingle Bell Fund, son. coordinated by the Christians certainly have no monopoly on these virtues but they come to the fore Salvation Army, have at this time of year. come from all Contributions to the Jingle Bell Fund, groups, religious coordinated by the Salvation Army, have come from all groups, religious denomi denominations and nations and citizens at large. citizens at large. It is this kind o f giving and sense of community that makes us human and if we need a time in the year to remind us o f this fact, Christmas will have served its purpose. M uch is m ade o f the com m ercialization o f the season with the emphasis on gifts, decorations and entertaining. But certainly the getting together with friends and family and sharing one's good fortune with others is also part of the Christmas tradition of giving, caring and shar ing. It's appropriate that the Salvation Army leads the Jingle Bell Fund cam paign for this group, regardless o f their religious ideology, isn't afraid to get their hands dirty to help those in society who need it most. That too, is a basic tenet of Christmas. We salute them for their efforts not only now but throughout the year when many lose that sense of community and true humanity. As those who celebrate Christmas and others who don't, as part of the human family, let's all take some time to give thanks for what we have and how we might enrich the lives of others. OF COURSE I TRIPLED THE PRICE'/ . DONTYOU KNOW ITS THE EVE OFA f c p * ----------- -- ^ 1 ol 2 )1 i jk , t L e tte rs to th e E d ito r The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Use o f park dovetails with Town's strategy A rticles and letters have appeared in this newspaper con cerning the proposed Golf Village project by the Royal Canadian G olf Association (RCGA). We thought it would be helpful to pro vide some additional information , with respect to this exciting pro ject. The O akville Econom ic Development Alliance is a new partnership between the Town of Oakville and the local business community, with a focus on imple m enting the Town's new Economic Development Strategy. For those that may not be aware, the RCGA is the not-forprofit agency in Canada responsi ble for the development and pro motion of the sport of golf. The RCGA is currently headquartered in Oakville and has a plan to build a new "Golf Village facility" with in the Greater Toronto Area. The Village will feature two 18-hole championship golf courses, short nine-hold course and golf academy for youth, clubhouse, museum and the head offices for the RCGA. The Golf Village project will cost $25 million to build, generate $26 million of expenditures annually and create 370 full-time equivalent jobs. The Town of Oakville sets a very high priority on business retention and is very interested in keeping the RCGA and its Golf Village in town. The site that emerged as one with potential and one of interest to the RCGA was a northerly portion of Bronte Creek Provincial Park. It may interest your readers to know the following information: -This northern section of the Park to Dundas Street (formerly Hwy. 5) has recently been approved by the Province of Ontario for development as camp grounds and is already served with water and sewer. It is these "table" lands that are of interest to the RCGA and not those areas in the river valley. -The Province of O ntario, through Parks Ontario, is the only one who can decide if the Master Development Plan for the Park will be changed from camping to any other development, through an extensive public consultation and review process. -Town of Oakville Council rec ognizes that 70-80% of its new economic growth comes from its existing businesses and is very interested in retaining the RCGA and its Golf Village project. In fact, the Town's new Econom ic Development Strategy calls for the Town to put more emphasis on tourism/recreation development and "work proactively with Glen Abbey and the RCGA to explore development potential." -When Town Council agreed to support further investigation of the Bronte campground lands, it recog nized that a full environmental review and public consultation process would have to be undertak en if the Province was interested in the project. -The RCGA has made no appli cation concerning this project to Ontario Parks (or the Town of Oakville), and the sale of Bronte Park was never considered. The RCGA is considering at least 3-4 other sites within the GTA. Tom McCormack Letter of the W eek Thanks for caring A special message of thanks from the family of Steven Hawke, who passed away on Thurs. Oct. 28, 1999 at the age of 11. The sudden loss of our son Steven, brought pain which will be part of our lives for all our days. We were helped immeasurably to endure the early shock of this tragedy by the immense generosity of spirit, love and support given to us by hundreds o f family members, friends and neighbours, near and far. We learned that we live in a wonderful community of caring people who felt grief almost as deeply as our own. There are not enough hours and days for us to thank each of you individually. We want you to know that, as our memories of Steven will last forever, so will our gratitude. God bless you all. Brad, Yvonne & Bryon H aw ke Park for people The assault on the country's parks has recently been well p u b licized in the national press. We are all aghast at the d ev elo p m en t in B anff and other great wilderness parks yet I have not heard any criti cism o f the use, by Ford C anada, o f B ronte C reek Provincial Park's prking areas as a storage pound for their newly-produced vehicles. Is the parking o f several hundred W indstar vans and tru ck s ap p ro p riate for our town's closest provincial park? Julia Still Double standard by Board Re: `Hatton Catholic Board executives get pay hike', Oakville Beaver, Wed. Dec. 15, 1999. Trustees of the Halton Catholic Board have voted in favour of maxi mizing top executive honourariums, thus bringing them on par with the public board counterparts. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they treated their employees in the same fashion. Last year, these same trustees voted in favour of locking out their high school teachers whose contract demands were less than their pub lic school counterparts. If the catholic education system is to survive in Ontario, it must be founded on the gospel values of justice and fairness. This blatant dou ble-standard exemplified by the so-called leaders of catholic education in Halton, should not be tolerated. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Steve Catlin Society "upside down" The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is in the result engendered by a humorous examination of soci ety's elite. In a democracy, you will get published; in a dictatorship you will get killed. This has led, over time, to a breed of peo ple who are never too ashamed to punish the public purse. Charles Darwin would have called it natural selection. In North America, we are treated daily to the antics and foibles of those who would rule us. We experience various stages of response. Outrage, followed by intense discussion about change, a sense of futility and then the final stagehumour. It is humour that gives us relief and keeps us in bal ance. The latest affair concerns a leading heart specialist in the country. The Ottawa police, in their continuing efforts to curb capital crime, have been dressing up their female police offi cers as prostitutes in order to ensnare those men who have taken their business elsewhere. In th net cast by these stalwart officers of the night, they caught the heart specialist. The good gentleman and his medical colleagues were so embar rassed that he resigned his medical post. What an upside-down society M .A. M iller OTHS student Students used as political pawns by teachers Students in various Ontario communities recent ly demonstrated against how the Ontario govern ment was "wasting" money on millennium keepsake books. Many high school students had been telling their parents in advance, that this civil disobedience was shaping up. Some teachers were apparently encour aging their students to try and embarrass the (Mike) Harris government. After all, they had lost a lot of face in their illegal strike, and also in their push to have a leftist government elected in Ontario, and they wanted revenge, regardless of the cost. One newspaper carried a Letter to the Editor from a grade 4 student that decried the waste of tax dollars. If that letter wasn't written by a parent with an axe to grind, or even one of his teachers, I'd be very surprised. When it comes to wasting money, teenagers are tough to beat. Ask any school janitor how many of mom's lovingly prepared lunches end up in a school garbage pail, while the kid's across the street, top ping up on donuts or pizza. Of the lunch money that is given to kids by their parents, how much is wasted on cigarettes? One grade 12 student was asked what he thought of the student protest. He showed his maturity by saying it was just a bunch of kids making a state ment, and trying to get out of school. And who wasted all of the money for the buses that ferried the kids to Queen's Park to return their unwanted millennium gifts? No doubt the Dalton McGuinty Liberals and some school teachers split the bill. Peter Sticklee B ronte P ark lands n eed saving I have paid great attention to an article that appeared in the Beaver some days ago regarding Bronte Creek Park being transformed into a golf course. Nature evolves with a very slow rhythm (centuries, thou sand of years), yet here we are in October at the threshold of the third millennium talking of abolishing a natural park to make room for a golf course. I simply ask: Is this politically and morally correct? Should this symbolism of dismantling natural parks start here in Oakville? G iuseppe Fava Chair o f the Board o f Directors, Oakville Economic Development Alliance Park lands shouldn't be sold May I call on all Oakville area residents to oppose the sale by the Province to private interests for development for a golf course and housing of the Bronte Provincial Park. This is a precious property which should be kept for future generations to enjoy. It is the only Provincial Park in the Greater Toronto Area. Once sold and developed, it will be an irreplaceable park land in this area. I urge all residents to write to their local M PP and Premier (Mike) Harris to express their opposition to the sale. P eter K. M cW illiam s, Q.C.