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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 17, 2007 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 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist Province has dragged feet on new Oakville hospital Ted Chudleigh Halton MPP Infill growth in the south, vast greenfield developments in the north -- Oakville is burgeoning. Residents are rightly concerned about infrastructure Ted Chudleigh which essentially greases the wheels of life, making possible the daily struggle to educate the kids, get to work, shop for necessities and when all that's done, have a little fun. Some infrastructure precedes growth and some occurs in response to growth. We've known for some time that Oakville's main health care facility Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital -- is woefully undersized for the community it serves. Four years ago most of the pieces were in place to build a large, modern medical facility on Dundas Street. A few months later the McGuinty government was elected in Ontario. Now in fairness, any new government takes a while to get its feet under it, to conduct a detailed review of all the plans that are in place. However, political change does not stop the government from functioning -- studies are done, plans are made, projects go forward. However, in the case of Oakville's new hospital, everything stopped. Apparently Oakville was caught up in some ideological battle regarding the value of public-private partnerships (P3s). In P3 arrangements, the private sector, for some consideration, is invited to be a part of a public project -- like letting Tim Hortons operate some of the food services in a public facility, in return for a monetary contribution, for example. It took the Liberal government months and months to decide they had been wrong about private -- public partnerships and that they were a good thing overall. Now it finally appears as if the Liberal government has got it together and the ground is expected to be broken on the project in the next few months. It takes three years to build a hospital of this magnitude. Meanwhile, Oakville has been growing, and growing and growing. If the new hospital was on the verge of being built four years ago, that means that Oakville Trafalgar must have been overburdened for several years before that in order to make the case for a new facility. So, we've got a few years of running overcapacity, four years of sitting on the plan for a new facility and three more years for construction. So, Oakville is running about 10 years behind the curve on this necessary piece of medical infrastructure. As a taxpayer in Oakville I would be outraged. As your representative at Queen's Park I am appalled and sad. I have shouted. I have nudged. I have encouraged. I have appealed to Premier McGuinty's sense of fair play. I even tried an end run and spoke to Health Minister George Smitherman. Again and again my concerns have been ignored by a McGuinty government. Oakvillians have paid huge amounts of money into the Liberal government's coffers. They have paid vast sums in tax increases allegedly directed to health care. And still they wait. IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, 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 Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION The night when The Last Holdout lost his Idol innocence J ournalist Bill Keveney recently asked in USA Today: "Do those awful American Idol screechers really think they can sing?" I personally never had reason to burn brain cells over that captivating question given that I was The Last Holdout ­ seemingly the last person on Earth who could lay claim to never having watched a single episode of any of the umpteen editions of American Idol (or its Canadian cousin for that matter). Never, that is, until the fateful night last week when I found myself on the couch with my wife, losing my Idol innocence, and watching Paula, Simon, Randy, Ryan and an odious assortment of wanting wannabe warblers. It was 60 minutes of over-the-top terrible karaoke. One hour of my life that, sadly, I will never get back. And at the end of that hour, I turned to my wife and muttered, like a Bill Keveney clone: "Do those awful American Idol screechers really think they can sing?" Well, according to Dave Verhaagen, a Charlotte, N.C., psychologist and author, the answer is a resounding "yes". Apparently many of these vocally-challenged chumps really think they are the next coming of Kelly Clarkson or one of the other Idol winners whose names thankfully escape me. "Besides those (contestants) who know they stink but accept humiliation as the price of fleeting notoriety," Verhaagen notes, (and boy, aren't those people welladjusted), "many singers don't know how awful they are." Which begs a follow-up question: how could they possibly not know how bad they are? I've heard nails-on-a-chalkboard more Andy Juniper pleasing to the ear than some of these wounded wailers. "Reasons," Verhaagen asserts, "range from narcissism, with its ego-inflated self-absorption, to an obsession with fame. The very narcissistic honestly believe they are awesome even when there's no evidence of it." Further, research reveals that people who perform poorly at any given task often rate themselves high as "a means of selfdefence." Suffice to say, people are basically delusional. Now I can accept and empathize with "delusional", at least among youth. In my youth there was no uncertainty. I would play centerfield for the New York Yankees. In baseball's off-sea- son, I would be the next Pistol Pete in the NBA. And, when time allowed, I would sing in a band bigger than the Beatles. All of this despite being blessed with no particular ability in baseball and no particular height for basketball. Oh, and possessing a singing voice that did not have the legs or muscle needed to carry a tune out of the shower stall. The point is, like most people, I outgrew delusional. At some point I faced reality. Which is not to say that I quit dreaming. I just began dreaming within the realm of reality. Nowadays I am quite certain that one day while shopping for underpants I will be discovered by a rep for a major modelling agency who will take note of my sculpted features and manly charm and sign me to a billion-dollar contract. Later, on a catwalk in Milan, I will catch the eye of curvy actress Scarlett Johansson who will beg me to take her in my charms and make a real woman out of her! Once back in Canada with my new wife, starlet Scarlett, I will take a crack at, and win, Canadian Idol. Because, you see, I believe (like American Idol contestants) that I am awesome. Even though there is no Earthly evidence of it. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.