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6 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 31, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 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 Vice-president and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director 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 SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, 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 Time is right to plunge into GO Ted Chudleigh, Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh Queen's Park. Any regular reader of The Beaver knows that I have been pushing for a number of improvements to GO, including dedicated tracks, longer trains, more express trains, and improved switching equipment that doesn't freeze at the first hint of Jack Frost. In her recent letter to the editor, Ms. Tibbo is right, an unreliable GO system just pushes more people on to our highways and she is also right that little has been done about it. For years, I've heard stories of commuters catching the more expensive VIA train in Aldershot rather than taking the less-expensive and less-reliable GO train that travels the same route. Frankly, for every call to overhaul the system, there is a chorus of officialdom telling us why it can't be done. CN owns the tracks, union contracts prevent more cars on each train, Union Station can't accommodate longer trains or more frequent arrivals and switching equipment is too expensive, etc, etc. What we need is for someone to cut though the excuses and fix the problems and do it immediately. That someone has to be the Premier. He sets the agenda. For too long he's been more interested in pit bull identification, dangerous sushi, scary cheese, Family Day, smoking and tossing money to insatiable unions. And now, with the economy, the engine of government revenues in trouble, and while we face a monster deficit, Mr. Dalton McGuinty has a built-in excuse to further ignore GO. However, it is GO that facilitates that economic engine to run smoothly. With infrastructure projects high on the government's agenda as an economic stimulus -- it is now that we should plunge ahead and fix GO. By its nature our society abhors change. And so, we rarely get systemic change until outside forces demand it. The economic meltdown is such a demand. The time has come for change. We are going to see change in the auto sector. We are going to see change in the housing sector. We are going to see a seismic shift away from the outdated, indefensible and downright archaic ways of doing things. Premier McGuinty has an outline for making transit upgrades. However, the Metrolinx report envisions $50 billion being spent over 25 years in a variety of transit projects. Given the desire for short-term economic stimulus, and the willingness to borrow these funds, perhaps the Metrolinx plan could be implemented over five years and financed by a provincial bond issue. So it's evident we need a better transit system, and the tall foreheads in the McGuinty government are hot to spend borrowed money on infrastructure -- we've got a match. Given his lack of interest in any substantive change, such improvements are likely only when the mercury plunges in Hades. However, as the budget dominoes in the United States, Canada and Ontario all begin to fall, it will become apparent if Hades, like our economy, is cooling down. RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America I 'd like to assure Nancy Tibbo and other GO commuters in Halton that each Thursday, when the Legislature is in session, I do take the train to Toronto and ultimately THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Breaking records is fun RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER STORYTIME: Forest Grove Preschool students (l-r) Tsais Mattineau, Hannah Bennett,Ava Bennett, Grayson Wells and Kyle Wells seem to be enjoying a Robert Munsch tale during the school's participation in the recent world-wide Guinness World Records challenge to break the record for the Most Children Reading With an Adult -- Multiple Locations category. The tale of Broadway Joe and how a bowl became super T omorrow is Super Sunday: the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl 43, or as Super Bowl buffs -- resolute Roman numerologists, each one of them -- like to call it, Super Bowl XLIII. Now, in case you're not in the know, Super Bowl Sunday is a big hairy deal. From a television ratings standpoint, it's bigger and hairier than (a) Robin Williams' back (b) the Oscars and the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, combined. Suffice to say, the Super Bowl is a superlative sporting event and a colossal cultural extravaganza all wrapped up in one glitzy, glossy All-American package. But it wasn't always such. Gather around kids because wise old Uncle Andy is going to tell you about a time when the Super Bowl was no big deal at all. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're thinking that Uncle Andy isn't all that wise. Well, I assure you: whatever he lacks in smarts, he more than makes up in age. Heck, Uncle Andy has knee injuries (and emotional issues) older than Kurt Warner, Arizona's aging quarterback. So, close your eyes, and Uncle Andy will transport you back to Jan. 12, 1969, back to a Sunday when he was but a pup, back to the day when the Super Bowl actually came of age, and thus started to become a big, hairy deal. Close your eyes and picture the party -- 10 adults and a motley crew of kids gathered in a family room around a brand-spanking new Zenith colour television set for Super Bowl III. That's right, kids, colour. Now, Andy didn't know much about Andy Juniper football back in those days. Back then he was barely old enough to know anything about anything (as opposed to now when he knows lots about nothing). But some of the guests that his parents had assembled were, by their own admission, veritable fonts of football information. And their consumption of pre-game cocktails made them anxious to voice their vast knowledge and to school young Andy. It's like this, they said: the Super Bowl pits the best team from the established National Football League against the champs of the upstart American Football League. In the two previous Super Bowls, the NFL reps humiliated their AFL opponents. And, so the consensus went, this year would be no exception. The Baltimore Colts -- considered the best team in football, ever -- would put those wanna-be New York Jets in their place and make Joe Willy Namath, the Jets flamboyant, cocky quarterback, eat his words. Because, you see, Broadway Joe had brashly guaranteed that the Jets would crush the Colts and create a new world order in football. Young Andy had taken a shining to Namath, and he'd taken heed of the guarantee. When it came time to toss his coins into the Super Bowl pool, Andy picked the upstarts -- the lone Jets supporter in a sea of disapproving, gently ridiculing Colts backers. Final score: Jets 16, Colts 7. The first Super Bowl win for the AFL. One of the greatest upsets in professional sports history. A win that gave the AFL credibility, and Andy some cash. Oh, and a win that also gave the Super Bowl a load of allure upon which it would build an empire. From no big deal to a big, hairy deal, all on the arm (and charisma) of Broadway Joe. -- Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.