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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday August 10, 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 Referendum on ballot On Oct. 10 Ontarians will be asked to make two important choices. The first will determine which political party will govern our province for the next four years. There has been -- and will continue to be -- no shortage of news coverage and information available to voters to make an informed choice on which candidates to support. However, there will also be a second ballot for a referendum on election reform. The referendum is an historic event as the current electoral system has been in place since 1792. Research, conducted by the firm Ipsos Reid, however, indicates that a majority of Ontarians are unaware that a referendum will be held. Among those who are aware, most claim they know little, if anything about how the process is going to unfold and what choice they are being asked to make. Now is the time to become informed. Electors will be asked to consider the following: which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature. Ontarians will, in essence, have two options: · The existing "first-past-the-post" system, which awards the riding to the candidate with the most votes and often results in a party forming a majority government with less than 50 per cent of the popular vote. · Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) is a system that combines members elected in local districts and members elected for the whole province from party lists. Seats are distributed based roughly on each party's share of the popular vote. The Ontario Citizens' Assembly, a group of 103 randomly selected residents from across Ontario, was established in 2004 to study provincial electoral reform and, last spring, supported MMP as a more democratic way of electing MPPs -- thus the need for a referendum. At least 60 per cent of all voters and 50 per cent of voters in 64 electoral districts will have to support MMP for it to be adopted. More information is available through Elections Ontario at 1-888ONT-VOTE (668-8683) or the referendum website www.yourbigdecision.ca. We urge all voters to learn more about this important choice that will be before them in less than nine weeks. 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 Changes needed to cut waiting lists for organ transplants As a patient with a terminal lung disease, I am encouraged by Robert Crawford and Marilyn Olivo-Crawford's cross-Canada tour to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation -- Raising awareness for organ donation, Oakville Beaver, Aug. 3. Their story, and the stories of the many organ donor families, transplant recipients, and living donors are inspiring, and must be told the length and breadth of this great country. It is a story of selfless generosity and human solidarity. In Canada, we have world-class facilities and medical professionals ready to perform life-saving organ transplants. And we have a population that has consistently declared and demonstrated a willingness to donate. Then why is there a shortage of organs for transplantation? Why is it that a patient dies every three days in Ontario waiting in vain for an organ transplant? What are the impediments to increased lifesaving transplantation? We need to hear from those on the waiting lists, and from the families whose loved ones died waiting for a transplant. We will learn that it is not enough to sign a donor card, and keep it in one's wallet or with one's drivers licence. Hospitals allow bereaved families to refuse to honour the wishes of their deceased loved ones, as expressed in the donor card. This impedes generous people from donating their organs, and saving lives. We need a system that carries out people's demonstrated generosity and solidarity to donate organs to save lives. We need concerned politicians to take a stand, and to remove the impediments to altruistic life-saving organ donation. A provincial election is coming. Will any of the candidates or their parties promise to legislate the necessary changes? I am not holding my breath. HENRY LOWI Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Student thanks May Court Club Recently, the May Court Club of Oakville awarded educational bursaries to 28 Oakville youths. I would like to publicly recognize the club's commitment to students and postsecondary education. Its commitment helps make higher education attainable by many. Thank you May Court Club of Oakville for your generosity. TOBY WHITFIELD 2ND YEAR, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT RYERSON UNIVERSITY MAY COURT BURSARY RECIPIENT 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.