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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 11, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & 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 of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Major announcements ring false Maybe we should hold a provincial election every year? That way, we wouldn't have to wait four years for the government of the day to shell out our tax money for projects we have been waiting for funding for several years. To be fair, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn has been very good at prying money from his Liberal government for worthy projects in town -- some of which don't necessarily earn the biggest headlines. And we're sure his office can provide a lengthy list of local programs and projects his government has funded during its first three years in office. But lately, the major government funding announcements have become a little more frequent and some a little more suspect. Take the most recent announcement that the Province is providing Halton Healthcare Services with $12.5 million in funding to plan the new Oakville hospital in north Oakville. Granted this is good news, and the money is welcomed, but when the Province held a press conference back in March to announce a new hospital would be built on the Dundas Street and Third Line site by 2013, does anyone believe they didn't know who was going to fund the planning for the hospital? Instead, at a time when governments are supposed to be conscious of their carbon footprint on the planet, the Province invites everyone back to the same site three months later for another announcement. In June, the Liberals held another major press conference to announce the start of construction on a third mainline GO Transit Track between Mississauga and Oakville. Trouble was, construction had already begun in April and the plans for the track had been announced months before. The major announcement really had nothing new to announce. Obviously, these announcements are part of a well-orchestrated pre-election campaign by the Liberals designed to achieve maximum public exposure -- all at the expense of the taxpayers, who foot the bill for this expensive pre-election campaign. It's a practice that has been followed by nearly every ruling party of every level of government since Confederation. Quite frankly, however, it's become a tiresome practice. We deserve better. 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 number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mandatory lawn watering restrictions are being ignored I think that someone should tell some of the residents of Oakville that adopting "green" practices does not mean watering your lawn every day to keep it lush and green. Based on my understanding, there has been a water use bylaw in place for a long time that restricts watering to days that coincide with your address. Homes with odd street numbers can water on oddnumbered days, and homes with even street numbers are allowed to water on even-numbered days. In addition, on June 28, the Region of Halton issued a press release imposing a temporary mandatory ban on outdoor water uses, including lawn watering. This information has been published in The Oakville Beaver and is highlighted on the home page of the Region's website. place, I still see most of these sprinklers running on a daily basis. This situation is especially evident from riding along the bicycle path on the south side of Lakeshore Road East. There are sections along this path that cannot be navigated in the early morning due to sprinklers running, creating very BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com large puddles in several locations. In addition to a bike helmet, I am contemplating wearing a life jacket in case I fall into one of these puddles! The sprinklers running over the bike path between Ennisclare East and Ennisclare West create I cycle through southeast and downtown Oakville most days, weather permitting. For years I have noted that many homes have sprinklers running every day, in contravention of the odd/even watering restrictions. Now, with the mandatory watering ban in such a massive spray that I thought I saw the Maid of the Mist coming towards me this morning. The homes along the south side of Lakeshore Road have even street numbers, but many had sprinklers on this morning, an odd-numbered day. If some residents of Oakville are not willing to make the effort to keep informed on the bylaws that exist in the town and region, or choose to ignore them if they are aware of them, then I am very pessimistic about the effectiveness of future conservation and environmental initiatives. Do people really care? DALE RICHARDSON Pud 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.