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6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Gitculation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"0743 Tim Coles Production Manager Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical , that portion of the advertising occupied mww:me.m:Mmfl:fiwbun:fimammmmhmmolmw;fi‘mlmtfimgoodsmmmhwmpme, Feb. 23, 199 The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunday, andFrich.uAfl?aerst. M'Smo'":dm’-’é’u ,PM%%WLLJWp Bsu ba which i ering News Advertiser, Barrie ance, Post, m%omm Etobicoke Guardian, :-w- larcha Independent/ y This Week, Lindsay This Week, Economist and Sun, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian 4 gel News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orilia Toda Oshawa/Whithy This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HiVThomhil/Vaugha Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oaknville Beaver is protected by copyright. Any reproduction whole or in part of this materia! is strictly forbidden without the consent of the publisher. > the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid fo it hes h goodsovuwicesmaymbaM.AMr\gsmwmohrlosduflnuybaWMfiuwm. Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Normaxn Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager ________________ r Kindergarten dilemma B oth sides of the alternateâ€"day kindergarten debate have had their day and that issue is now moot. But regardless of anyone‘s personal bias on this issue, the larger question is just how relevant is the kindergarten program in 19942 We have agreed with the Halton Board of Education brass that the board can‘t afford a Juniorâ€"Kindergarten (JK) program but the province is shoving it down their throat and down of the throats of Halton taxpayers. We can‘t afford it! And we can make a strong argument for knocking off kindergarten as well. Thirty or more years ago, there may have been some argument for kindergarten. \ Educational television was in its infancy and most children needed the kind of stimulation kindergarten provided. ’ But that was then and things have changed dramatically. Too bad the educaâ€" tional system hasn‘t changed with the times. It‘s no unusual today, for children to have already had two or more years of preâ€"school or nursery school experience, along with hundreds of hours of education thrown at them by television shows. The net result is that the overriding majority of children don‘t need JK, it‘s just redundant. The same is true of kindergarten. Most kids are bored out of their mind in kindergarten and could easily do grade one work. Down the road the Ontario Ministry of Education and the individual boards of education will have to deal with this issue. We can‘t go on using taxpayers‘ money for what is tantamount to babysitting. If students are in school, let them learn. More than a prayer nce again our Members of Parliament have decided that the private Oopening of the day‘s activities on ‘The Hill‘ won‘t include The Lord‘s Prayer anymore. The preamble to the Prayer, as spoken by the Speaker of the House before the Commons opens to the public, goes back to 1877 and as such has historic relevance. But we don‘t live in the United States, where changing such historic pracâ€" ‘ tices would be heresy, we live in politicallyâ€"correct, let‘s not offend anyone, | Canada. Come to think of it, why don‘t we change the name of the country? 1 Surely there must be some group out there that finds the name Canada offenâ€" | sive! Do these people have no sense of history? Of Canada? So what the head of the Commons committee on protocol decided to do, was write a generic prayer of his own for MP approval last Friday. This guy has no theological background, no expertise, nothing, yet he thought nothing of throwing out 117 years of Parliamentary history out the window. What an ego, what a shame. Forget too, about the fact that 78 per cent of those polled in a recent Maclean‘s Magazine survey, said they were followers of the Christian faith. Remember, we Canadians can‘t offend anyone. Forget too, that God has a prominent place in our Constitution. Note that no one objected to that incluâ€" sion at the time. No doubt that reference will also be expunged at some future date. Watch for it. We like Tory MP Elsie Wayne‘s suggestion to leave things the way they were and add a minute of silent prayer of nonâ€"Christians or an added generic prayer. In the end, history fell, a new prayer saying nothing is in place and Dear Sir: RE: Town Holding Line on Taxes â€" February 2, 1994 As a taxpayer in Oakville West, I am appalled to think that the town politicians are proud that they have achieved: A 0% mill rate increase. Who do they think they are kidding? Well, being a GO train commuter who uses Oakville transit on a daily basis my property tax may not rise, but I am one of 3 to 4 thousand Oakville transit users who will now pay an indirect tax grab of at least $125.00 a year per user in the household. This unfortunate decision will affect yet again those on the lower end of the social ladder, who once again become the scapegoats to foot the bill, the loss of service, and the loss of jobs whilst the town‘s elitist and the rich in their milâ€" lion dollar mansions and their jags truly have a 0% mill increase. (with no hidden or indirect tax grab). I agree that we have to make cuts, but everyâ€" one on the social ladder must share in the pain, another piece of Canadian tradition is lost. And for what? not just those on the lower end of the scale. One area that should have been looked at is the absolutely ridiculous and horrendously costly bus service that runs from Hopedale Mall along the 3rd line to Oakville West GO station (that on a good trip has 2 to 3 passengers), and instead try a route through the Bronte area which would have been far more fruitful I am sure. Liver Foundation says thanks Dear Sir: On behalf of the Canadian Liver Foundation (CLF), I would like to express our appreciation for your generous support. By publishing our public service announceâ€" ment in Oakville Beaver, you give the CLF an opportunity to communicate our message to more Canadians than previously possible. Darragh Murphy Communications Assistant (CLF) The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, > _ The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 \Councillors ‘kidding‘ with 0% tax increase Could you hear the human cry and unpreceâ€" dented lobby from the elitist and the rich of the town if decisions were made to cut costs by reducing service on such things as (i) garbage pickâ€"up changed to every two weeks instead of every week, and (ii) to have every homeowner or establishment proprietor responsible for keeping sidewalks in front of their premises cleared of snow in the winter? I for one (except for job loss) would have no problem, if I was so lucky to even have a sideâ€" walk to clean, and yes everyone in town would share the pain if any. (O my aching back!!) If cuts must be made â€" everyone in town must share the pain. In closing, the old adage that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer was never more evident, and if our local politicians on the Town Council have this mind set, then maybe at the next election the lower half of the social ladder will react at the one place we can: at the Ballot Box. Rene R. Montague Experience at OTMH restored faith in health care system Dear Sir: I recently spent five days in the Oakvilleâ€"Trafalgar Memorial Hospital and would like to report how impressed I was with the attention and service provided. Management is doing a lot of things right in running a large comâ€" plex institution, with a staff of many specialties, treating people of all ages and all kinds of medical problems. Oakville should be proud of this community facility! We should all learn more about our Town budget delay looks like a ruse Dear Sir: Re: your front page article "Town defers implementing standâ€" pat budget" (Fri. Feb. 18th). Why does the Town have to delay the final meeting to late March or early April if the Federal Budget comes down this week? I can‘t help but get the feeling there‘s some other motive here and they need the extra time to play out some kind of game that‘s not exactâ€" ly a straight line (if that‘s not the Town‘s intention why such a long delay?). And what about the $3.75â€"milâ€" lion they need to get the $7.5â€"milâ€" lion for the infrastructure program? I‘m sure the Public Works and other Town departments are just ‘desperate‘ to get their hands on their sahre of $11.25â€"million. Is this delay in bringing in the final budget a part of a plan to find a way to come up with the Town‘s share? And, if the Town does have the money, it wold be ineresting to know where it‘s been ‘hiding‘. There certainly are a lot of questions raised by this delay and we can only hope that we will be treated to some brilliant flashes of financial and management wisdom (and if we are, I‘d like to know where that‘s been hiding all this time.) Simon Dann Got a gripe? Give us a call. hospital and not take it for granted as I had done. The nurses were always pleasant and friendly to the patients even when their duties were not. They always seemed happy and friendly with each other, which impressed me. Some were sad that their team was being broken up, and they would be serving other areas of the hospital. My family doctor checked on me every morning at 7:30 a.m., and explained what was happening from test results. The specialist also checked on my progress. The techâ€" nician doing the ultra sound imagâ€" ing test said my problem was a classic, and asked if she could run the test again to show a student Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 secâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakville Beaver. what to be looking for. I like her _ enthusiasm. I saw many volunteers helping in various ways. They took me to the labs to have various tests. In total, they must save a lot of money for the hospital. In addition, the Auxiliary has made a $1â€"million donation to the new Equipment campaign. I am very grateful for the help of all these people. Hospitals and health providers are being asked to reduce costs. I hope that the excellent care we now receive will not suffer. I believe that the doctors, nurses, and techniâ€" cians, should be continually conâ€" sulted on how to make the system more efficient. Also, I do not agree that more doctors means higher costs, as there are only so many patients. We may be discouraging some young genius going into medicine who might discover a cure for some deadly disease, or develop new surgical techniques. My specialist is extremely busy (at hospital night and day). It took three months to get the first appointment with him. If it had been two months, I might not have had to go to the hospital, savâ€" ing OHIP about $7,500, and myself 10 days of severe pain and worry. A. James Walker, P. Eng. LETTER OF THE DAY Ottawa needs different attitude Dear Sir: taxes". How is this possible? It‘s interesting how as we approached the final date for a new federal budget, we started getting a barrage of news releases and ‘leaks‘ or rumors about the various ways the federal government may choose to "broaden" its tax base but (get this) "not increase At the same time, we‘ve also heard a lot about some of the posâ€" sible federal revenue initiatives (taxing) which may also provide ways for the NDP to grab new monies. But, the most interesting thing about this is how our government representatives talk in describing money as a cost to them. They sure sound as if the public‘s money is theirs and that the public had no right to it in the first place. And, exactly when did this idea of uncollected money (such as deferred taxes from RSPs â€" taxes which will be paid at some time no matter how you look at it); when did this turn into the concept of "a cost to government". That strikes me as another way of borrowing from the (our) future. If you think about it, these are outrageous attitudes because the money that we earn is ours until we first receive it and then use it to pay the bills we incur. In fact, just as the services and benefits of living here are a priviâ€" lege for every one of us, so should our government officials (whether elected or staff employed) regard tax revenues as priviâ€" leged money to be wisely used and earned. I think that if we‘re ever going to get ahead, get our debts paid off, and start providing real government productivity and value for the billions of dollars that flow out of our pockets and into the provincial and federal governments, then we‘re going to have to have a different attitude ‘up there‘. Terence Young Diabetes Assoc. thankful for support Dear Sir: The Oakville District Branch of the Canadian Diabetes Association, wish to thank the residents of Oakville Milton for their kind and generous supâ€" port to our 1993 Annual Appeal Campaign during the month of November. Our collections have reached $41,000. § We also wish to thank our loyal and dedicated Volunteer Canvassers who braved the cold weather and called doorâ€"toâ€"door spreading awareness of this seriâ€" ous chronic disease, which affects some 1 million Canadians including both adults and chilâ€" dren. Sincere thanks to: Anell Francis, Diana Gillard, Pam Nelson, Joan Larson, Marie McGuffie, Cathy Moss, Coâ€"ordiâ€" nators for the Annual Appeal. Dirty water Sources of marine pollution ____ WEEKLY FOCUS _ Percentage by weight Runâ€"off and discharge from iand e Airborne emissions from land ” 2 Shipping and accidental spills Ocean dumping .z; Offshore mining and oil gas drilling | 7 All sources: 100 Source: Worldwatch NEA Graphic