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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday, S ep tem be r 4, 2002 EDITORIALS MD LETTERS THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 337-5610 Circulation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief STEVE CROZIER Circulation Director MARK DILLS Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director ROD JERRED Managing Editor THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guardian. Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News. City Parent. 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Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association ^C N A Canadian Community Newspapers Association O nW *J w te *iJn tx n x fir'ftwai YMCA O F O A K V I L L E \ JMma # ~CM - © (9nh>Uk F0A BUSINESS EXCELLENCE , 'I T E R H Y WfeLC I p c * a etsfM zsstfm FAm | Oakville galleries Jir^e 8e0 Fund S K t Suburban Newspapers of America "IIS* TV AUCTION United Way of Oakville The OakviHe, Milton and District RI A L KSTATC B O A R D -fSSSE*?? M M rU tt HUH Focus on the students W ith another school year now offi cially upon us, it is our fervent hope that it can be concluded w ithout the rancor that is now apparent. To be sure, we hope to see students excel both individually or as part o f a group, grades continue to im prove and schools return to w hat they were m eant to be -- a place for young people to learn and grow. Unfortunately, for the past several years too m uch attention has been focused outside the classroom . Too m uch bickering has gone on betw een the teachers and provincial govern ment; too m uch gam esm anship has resulted betw een school boards and the province over w hat is an appropriate funding level and too m uch attention has been taken away from w hat really matters -- the students and their learn ing environm ent. We have heard all sides m outh the appropriate w ords -- "we must do w hat's best for the students"-- but in m any w ays for the past few years the province, trustees and teachers have all, at one tim e o r another, failed O ntario's youth be it through inade quate funding, poor spending or jo b action. For its part, the governm ent has rec ognized its funding form ula may be flaw ed and that form ula is currently under review with the final report due in Novem ber. The education m inistry m ust realize that w hat is good for the Toronto school board may not be good for H alton's and that each school board is unique. W ith the double cohort, or tw o graduating classes (the old five-year program and new four-year program ) added to the mix this school year, it is im perative the province look at w ays o f easing the tuition burdens many stu dents find too onerous. School boards will also be faced with the task o f dealing with secondary school teachers' threats to w alk out in m id-year to back contract dem ands. We seriously hope the teachers rethink this sabre-rattling and that com m on ground can be found. Students in the past few years have, at tim es, had to do w ithout extra-curricular activities, "m ake-do" with inad equate learning materials, and play the role o f paw ns in an adults' chess game. Enough. It is tim e all concerned with educa tion in this province back up their talk o f "doing w hat's best for the students" and stop acting like children. No, com e to think o f it, children seem to m anage to settle their differences. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Glad to see McCallion sees `error of her ways' I was delighted to see Royson James article in the Aug. 28, 2002, Toronto Star titled McCallion Sees Error o f Her Ways. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion appears to be the only politician, o f whom I am aware, who has the courage,moral character and integrity to come clean with us regarding urban sprawl. Her experience in Mississauga clearly illustrates that it is the developers who are in charge in the GTA. We must rewrite the Planning Act, and overhaul or eliminate the Ontario Municipal Board, and rewrite the rules for election contributions in order to wrest control from the developers and privatizers in government. All municipalities across the GTA have lost control of their destiny. We see it happening in Ajax where Mayor Parish has fought a valiant battle and seemed to be winning, but now he is losing to the development industry which has harnessed the OMB to restart its sprawl in that community. It has long been the case in Oakville, and continues to be the case for our lands north of Dundas Street -- the developers rule. I would appreciate if you could focus some articles on the Region of Halton and on Oakville's recent decision, in the face of massive resident opposition, to sprawl 55,000 more people into the existing Oakville agricultural lands north of Dundas Street. We need all the help we can get to save ourselves from the development fiasco. R. H .K EM P Iroquois Ridge resident says she is `chilled' by the findings of research Shame on Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale, not only did she pull the rug out from under the Salvation Army, so that they could not get their preferred homeless shelter location (close to transportation, medical care and the food bank), but she then pitted the quiet residents of Iroquois Ridge against the Salvation Army by supporting an illog ical "country-club" site for the home less. This from a Mayor who stated that she doesn't believe this shelter will "lessen safety in the neighbourhood." Let's see, this shelter will import up to 480 homeless transients a year. There are 5,800 school age children within a 2-km radius of this site. The men at this site will have, at all times, a clear view of the girls walking to and from the high school. · The men at this facility, many of whom are struggling with drug addic tion and mental instability will have at all times a clear view of the communi ty centre and swimming pool. Children are prohibited from this homeless institution, clients need anger management therapy and no safety or impact studies had been done. Not "lessen safety" you say? Many Iroquois Ridge residents have done non-stop research, have visited homeless institutions, have asked a lot of questions and have become chilled to the bone with what we have learned. All Oakville residents should be wondering why Mayor Ann Mulvale is working so hard to import hundreds of homeless transients a year into this Town. This is especially troubling when there is not even enough money for many young Oakville children to be bused to school. The residents of Iroquois Ridge have every reason to be outraged by the way the Mayor of the Town and the Salvation Army have tried to push this ill-conceived homeless institution upon them. Even town councillors have called this a disaster. Perhaps under the guidance of Halton Regional Chair Joyce Savoline, who has formed a new committee, the Mayor and the Salvation Army might get their priorities straight. Spraying may compromise health of local residents On behalf of the Hamilton Niagara Group of the Sierra Club of Eastern Canada I wish to express deep concern for the health of the most vulnerable residents of the region -- young children, seniors, and others with chemical sensitivities. I understand that Halton's Medical Officer and staff are conducting a risk analysis of the threat of West Nile virus and the benefits of spraying pesticide. While several dead birds have been found to be infected in Burlington and Oakville, no human deaths have been reported. The health of many vulnerable residents may be compro mised by spraying pesticides which are known to negatively affect humans. It is imperative that those who bear the respon sibility for public health ensure that they carefully balance the risks to human health from the West Nile Virus and from pes ticide spraying. If spraying is to be undertaken, residents must have an opportunity to be heard directly and through their rep resentatives. ALISON SCOTT BUTLER CHAIR, HAMILTON NIAGARA GROUP, SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA Halton Region Chair Joyce Savoline has responded to another reader's concerns about spraying. The following is her reply. I can certainly appreciate the concerns you have. As this is a public health issue and falls under the authority of Halton's Medical Officer of Health, by copy of this e-mail I am asking Dr. Bob Nosal to respond to your comments. You should also be aware that I have undertaken to call a special council meeting, in the event that Dr. Nosal feels that a spray order is imminent. This will allow him to explain to the coun cil and community his intentions and his reasons for pro ceeding. Should you have additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our staff directly. Money is the answer The Oakville Beaver isn't kidding when it reported that the Halton District School Board is not alone in failing to allot money for salary increases for its teachers. Many school boards have run out of funds, and just when they've been ordered to negotiate three year contracts with their teachers. One can't help but imagine, though, that the Halton District School Board and its teachers' unions are just engag ing in wishful thinking when they try to imagine that Dr. Rozanski's Education Equality Task Force will solve the growing salary crisis. Ontario Premier Ernie Eves after all, made certain that Dr. Rozanski never received a mandate to address salaries. If Mr. Eves wants to avoid certain labour chaos this year he'll have to give the province's school boards a long over due break. The Oakville Beaver is right in concluding that more money is the answer. TOM KOPERWAS TAMMY MULLIGAN Ed. Note: The Working Group com mittee is scheduled to met on its own Oct. 18 and then present its findings to the community Oct. 21. Praise for Summerfest organizers I would like to take this opportunity to thank GARA for an excellent Summerfest 2002. My family and I enjoyed the activi ties all weekend long and really appre ciate all the effort to put this on. In particular, I would like to congrat ulate Brad and Claire Thomson for their ongoing Herculean efforts to make this very worthwhile community event spe cial. For seven years they have made this great Glen Abbey Summertime Tradition happen. You guys have my vote for Oakville citizens of the year. In fact I think I will propose you. STEPHEN J. SPARLING Oakville was special The reason I moved to Oakville was that Oakville was spe cial, unlike Mississauga. Mississauga has been built as a developer and shopping malls, traffic congestion and pol lution-friendly city. Instead, it should have been residents, public transport and quality-of-life friendly. I don't want to live in Oakville which will continue being special and unique only by name. We already have shortage of parking spaces at the GO station and buses and trains do not run frequently enough to encourage residents to make their trips to Toronto and around Oakville by public transport. The cost of living will change for the worse. Instead we should maintain the quality of living. Expanding Oakville will reduce its residents' quality of life at the price of increased taxes. That is not an improvement, this is an irre sponsible, very short-sighted and developers'-money-driven management of governing the town. ALICJA ROBINSON Pud tT S T U L & V E S M E VA By STEVE NEASE YOU HAVErtt&W E TO SCHOOL SINCE QUEfctf J FEELIN6/ H77/ We want your opinions and comments The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published, letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Road, Oakville, On., L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish any let ter.