The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday June 23, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com 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 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 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, MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of The environment is our legacy Ted Chudleigh Halton MPP ur environment is inspiring a lot of talk these days. No matter what you believe, there is an understanding that we cannot pollute the place in which we live. In fact, I believe strongly that a large part of my personal legacy as a holder of elected office will be reflected in how the environment was handled under my watch. So, I have taken stands that were unpopular in certain circles, such as voting against my own party to quash development on the Oak Ridges Moraine or advocating successfully against a major commercial development on the face of the Niagara Escarpment. I have argued long and loud for improved emissions technology on Ontario's coal plants and talks with nearby American states to improve their emissions from coal fired generating stations. Given the length of time it will take to remove our existing coal plants from service, the cost of improved emissions technology is easily justified. The McGuinty Liberals have steadfastly refused to budge even when it was obvious that their plans to end our dependence on coal were impossible to complete. I have championed a number of environmentally-sound investments by the Ontario government in Halton, including the purchase of a number of tracts of sensitive land which were given to the Halton Conservation Authority and added to the Bruce Trail, as well as prying the initial 470 acres of land away from the Oakville Land Assembly. Much of that land has become Glenorchy Conservation Area in north Oakville. Fifty acres will become the site of Oakville's new hospital. Of course there are a number of people who had a hand in making these good things happen. So often it is by working together that we achieve notable results for Halton. It seems to me that the air we breathe, the safety of our water and the ability of our land to produce the nourishment we need is paramount in our quest for a healthy environment. These things must be achieved while creating a fertile playing field for business and ensuring that we have the power necessary to live our lives in a northern climate. We must keep striving for excellence by providing ourselves those opportunities that allow us to know with certainty that our children's lives will be better in their turn than ours were. I am appalled at how we have come to accept the all too-often blanket of air pollution over southern Ontario. While the extent of the pollution is hard to predict, we know with absolute certainty that it will happen several times each summer. While working with our American neighbours to reduce this pollution is difficult because of the multiple jurisdictions involved that difficulty shouldn't preclude us from making the effort, and then making it again and again until we are successful. I've participated in the process that doubled Ontario's provincial park lands and that identified the northern shore of the Lake Huron and Lake Superior as being in need of significant environmental protection. I've planted trees, arranged for remedial work to be done on streams in Halton, and watched closely as old quarries were returned to nature. My concerns regarding air pollution have not been taken up by the current Liberal government, but that will not stop me from continuing to take on this most significant scourge of this young century. Ted Chudleigh IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. 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 O THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION A stellar list of novel ways to spend perfect summer days ccording to the late American humorist James Dent: "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." Amen, James. Although, to that perfect summer day I feel obliged to add water (a pool or lake will do), a lounging chair, a liberal libation (pick your poison), and a delicious novel into which you can really sink your teeth. And to assist in your quest for scrumptious reading, I humbly present (drum roll, please) my 20th annual offering of superb summer reading -- Books For The Beach, Perfect Prose For The Poolside -- a recommended reading-list that has been known to incite bedlam in bookstores, lunacy in libraries and rioting, or at least reading, in the streets. Hey, it's officially summer. Turn off those televisions. Pour yourself a drink, get comfy, and crack some spines. A Year of Lesser, by David Bergen. This past year I (finally) found David Bergen and, man, what a discovery. I read A Year of Lesser, the Winnipeg author's first novel, with admiration and delight and then raced out to snag his other three novels: See The Child, The Case of Lena S., and the Giller Prize-winning The A Time in Between -- all wonderfully observed, sensual, satisfying reads, and all written by an author in complete command of his craft. Read A Year of Lesser and you will feel like you have actually travelled to the heart of this small town and examined the soul of its people. Eventide, by Kent Haruf. This stunning novel is a sequel to Haruf's acclaimed Andy Juniper Plainsong -- only, remarkably, Eventide is even better. Haruf's writing is similar to that of Bergen in that their prose seems effortless (like the books wrote themselves). Paradoxically, as you read you are aware that the authors have taken pains with the careful placement of each comma. The Washington Post raved that Eventide is "a kind book in a cruel world," and a novel blessed with "honest impulses, real people and the occasional workings of grace." Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky. A book about Parisians evacuating their beloved city as the Nazi machine rolls toward them. Written in "real time" by a woman who was writing (perhaps literarily) "under the gun." Part Two of this incredible jour- nal documents the author's time spent in Paris under the occupation. As you read this account you will feel chillingly like you are on the scene, and you will be haunted by the knowledge of Ms. Nemirovsky's ultimate fate ­ death in a concentration camp. The journal that became this book was not unearthed until the 1990s when her daughter found it collecting dust in an attic. Love Etc., by Julian Barnes. Barnes' ninth novel is a dark, witty and clever continuation of 1991's Talking it Over, which examined a twisted triangle of love. Like a cat having its way with a ball of yarn, Barnes joyously toys with language, to the delight of his fervent fans. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. Rare gems are found in unlikely places. You may know Ms. Walls as a gossip columnist for MSNBC.com. This riveting memoir opens with Walls watching her eccentric mother rooting through a garbage bin for food in New York, and then travels back through the author's nomadic childhood with her unconventional family. That's it, that's all. Remember: keep crackin' those spines. And have a great summer. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.