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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 6, 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 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 Media Group Ltd. Helping make Easter happy As we settle in to an Easter weekend filled with religious observance, candy treats for children and traditional meals marked by a gathering of family, we must not forget those less fortunate than ourselves. In our ridiculously busy lives, many of us don't take the time to notice or acknowledge that this affluent town has an ongoing hunger problem. Each month roughly 310 families or 1,100 people -- more than half of whom are children -- in Oakville require a visits to the local food bank, Fareshare, to supplement their grocery budget. It's unfortunate, and alarming that more than half of those food bank clients are children in need of adequate nutrition to grow -- physically and intellectually. Without major food drives twice a year -- at Easter and again at Thanksgiving -- residents in need would suffer the indignity of starving while living in a country that is widely regarded as a land of plenty and a nation of caring people. Fareshare is currently in the midst of its annual Easter food drive -- the drives providing about 80 per cent of the food Fareshare hands out for the year. Helping the hungry can be as simple as gathering a grocery bag full of nonperishable food items such as canned fish, canned fruit, peanut butter, prepackaged dinner mixes, dry and/or canned pasta, canned juice and toiletries, and delivering it to your nearest grocery store or fire hall. Fareshare, which has been in operation in Oakville since 1988, has special bins in all of Oakville's supermarkets. All local fire stations will also accept donations to the food bank. An even easier method of assisting the hungry involves writing a cheque made payable to Fareshare Food Bank and mailing it to 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6, Oakville, ON L6L 2X4. For information call Fareshare at 905-847-3988. Your financial donation provides the food bank the buying power to purchase items it runs short of or to provide vouchers to needy families for perishible items like milk and fresh fruit. Those who find themselves too busy this weekend to help out have until Sunday, April 15 to make a difference to those who need it most. Please give. Happy Easter! 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 It is irresponsible and reckless, the criticism of the Provincial plan Places to Grow, by Halton Region Chair Gary Carr and Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, along with the Mayors from Milton, Burlington and Halton Hills. To call it Places to Sprawl is certainly short sighted and politically motivated. We certainly expect more from our elected officials. Population growth needs clarity: the federal government decides how Ontario's Places to Grow plan is not Places to Sprawl many, the provincial sets guidelines for where to grow, and the regional and municipal governments decide the how. Any concerns with the quantity of growth should be dealt with by our MPs, who represent us at the Federal government. As for the where to grow, the MPPs, are our representatives to the provincial government. The previous provincial governments had not done much about it and in large measure are to blame for the chaotic growth. Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government had the vision and courage to put a limit on the growth area and created a magnificent Greenbelt around the Greater Horseshoe Area and organized the growth in the Places to Grow Plan. By the way, last year the American Planners Association gave their highBY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Pud est award to this plan; many environmental groups have publicly recognized it as a forward thinking plan to save our environment. This is why it is ironic that Carr and Burton, who spent energy and public resources in saving one tree in front of the Regional office, probably because it was visible and "sexy" to do it, while they criticize Places to Grow that will save millions of trees. The local politicians might be correct to say that they need clarity in some areas. But it is not done with irresponsible labelling but rather with constructive dialogue. The happiest stakeholders must be the people interested in developing the Greenbelt (sprawl type) and in not having restrictions on where to build and continue the chaos that does not benefit anyone but their pockets; to weaken the Places to Grow Plan is the biggest threat to our local and regional environment! On the other hand, the regional chair and local mayors should see how their areas of influence have done a mediocre task in their area of responsibility: the how to grow. The best neighbourhoods and streets were done over 50 years ago, such as downtown Oakville as a neighbourhood and Lakeshore and Trafalgar south as examples of roads; how can you compare those with the growth north of the QEW, See Sharing page 11 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.