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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, February 15, 2012 · 6 Opinion & Letters 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 --Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Oakville Beaver THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Canadian Circulation Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Canadian Community Newspapers Association ATHENA Award Neil Oliver Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The OakvilleBeaver is a division of David Harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution Sarah McSweeney Circ. Manager Internet Troll: One who purposely (that purpose usually being self-amusement) and deliberately starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without, in any way, listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He or she will spark such an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. `you're nothing but a fanboy' is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevance to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he or she uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue. -- Urban Dictionary The Oakville Beaver's website, InsideHalton.com, allows for comments on stories. Generally, posters stick to guidelines clearly and readily available on the site. We ask that you discuss the topic at hand; don't name call or post vicious assaults. It is supposed to be a place for civil discourse, not a forum for personal attacks. We understand there will be residents who will not like the paper and have their own agendas. However, there are some folks who, thanks to the anonymity of the Internet, believe they can say what they want about anyone they want. Aside from the obvious nuisance factor, trolls, with their taunting, will often chase away legitimate posters. Why would someone want to offer a sound opinion when a cyber bully is ready to pounce? And they are just that -- bullies. Cyber bullies feel safe unleashing attacks because they believe they are not accountable. The Beaver does its best to delete offending comments when necessary and will remove the poster if the individual continues to violate our website guidelines. Trust us, we don't like removing comments as the majority of them stir debate and get people talking. Unlike Letters to the Editor that are printed in the paper, posters are not required to provide phone numbers and street addresses for verification. And the name they provide does not have to be their own. Trolls have become such an issue that some newspapers have pulled all online commenting on stories. That's not a palatable option. There are some stories -- due to the nature of their content -- where commenting is prohibited. This is usually done when a story involves protecting the identity of a minor. If the need arises, InsideHalton.com posters will now see a comment from an editor or reporter reminding Internet writers to play fair and adhere to the rules of the game. We encourage readers to add their thoughts and opinions to our web stories. However, if you have the urge to unleash nasty comments or libel someone, please keep your thoughts to yourself. Everyone would appreciate it, especially those who have something legitimate to say. 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. Play fair on web Letters to the editor 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. Reader hopes to connect Many of your readers may get a kick out of Steve Nease's cartoon in the Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 edition of The Oakville Beaver on the Ornge helicopter crashing on Premier Dalton McGuinty and Deb Matthews the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, but to me it should be a wake-up call to the Liberals. Since October 1999, when Ms. Matthews took office, we have seen nothing but a waste of taxpayers' money. Take former Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford who collected $762,000 after his retirement, which was hidden in the Hamilton Health Science books. There still has been no answer as to why and how Hamilton funded these costs. Then we had the $1 billion spent on e-health. Now, we are looking at the wasted monies on the air ambulance scandal. Personally, I think it is about time that Premier McGuinty started to revamp his ministries and move Deb Matthews to a place where she can no longer spend millions of unproductive dollars. The Health and Long-Term Care unit has a lot of redundancies, which can be eliminated and Ms. Matthews seems more interested in creating a bureaucracy as she has a deputy minister, associate deputy minister, chief medical officer and 10 other assistant deputy ministers. Adding to the mix is all the senior management of the Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) Community Care Access group who outsource the work it was intended to do to Comcare and Community Rehab. No wonder we have no monies to support our local hospitals in hiring good qualified nursing practitioners. Let's get back to the basis of zero-base budgeting and only spend monies on needed projects. Love to get your readers' feedback. Andy Steele, Burlington I am pleased Oakville Town Council will meet to review ward boundaries Feb. 21. The Town has been divided into six wards for a long time and the population in some wards has vastly increased. Voters should be equally represented as fairly as possible and wards should have roughly equal population totals. In a six-ward system, each ward should contain about 17 per cent of the population. In Oakville, this is definitely not the case. Ward 1 has 14,921 or 12 per cent; Ward 4 has 33,742 or 28 per cent. On Feb. 21, council will meet to decide whether to adopt the federal election policy of no more than (plus or minus) 25 per cent variation in population; and, how many other models to generate. Recommendations from a consultant will be discussed later, probably in May. As long ago as 2005, a Citizens' Task Force suggested the simple expedient of dividing the town into six longitudinal strips, crossing the QEW. While this would resolve the question of equal population in each ward, it is difficult to envision, since neighbourhoods north and south of the QEW are not necessarily the same communities of interest. Another possibility might be to have four wards north of the QEW and two in the south. Populations would be more equal and communities preserved. If north Oakville (currently 61 per cent) elected four town councillors and four town and regional councillors at large and south Oakville (39 per cent) two of each, the situation would be instantly fairer. Growth north of the QEW would likely further level things out over time and all factors, such as communities of interest, natural boundaries, etc., would be respected. It is time citizens woke up to the issue of equal representation by ward population and joined the discussion. Send comments and suggestions to wardboundary@ oakville.ca Let's get debate going and see democracy in action. Tina Agrell, Fair Vote Canada, Halton Chapter Boundaries up for debate Letter to the editor