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6 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 14, 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. Letter to the editor 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 Wages not root cause of auto industry woes By Gary Beck, President CAW Local 707 RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America T THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Scene from the Renaissance LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER THE PLAY'S THE THING: Ashley Brown performs a scene from William Shakespeare's A Midsummers Night Dream with Alessandra Jenkins during the St. Mildred's-Lightbourn Renaissance Festival last week. The event showcased the traditions of Shakespearean Theatre and the art of the Italian Renaissance. In addition to the play a number of invited guest art specialists and performers from the Stratford Festival ran workshops with the students. he Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement has suggested that Canadian auto workers will have to make sacrifices to save their industry. He insists that the auto industry won't survive without a reduction in labour costs. On Jan. 19, he met with the Canadian International Council and stated, "I think it's evident that change will have to be made by the automakers, by the unions and other stakeholders in order for this industry to survive." He announced that car makers need to renegotiate wages with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union. It was estimated that the new contracts will indicate that Canadian workers will cost $27 more per hour than their American counterparts. It was noted that labour costs owned by offshore manufacturers are generally lower as their employees aren't unionized. The CAW, however, insists that its members cost less than those in the United States because of Canada's public health care system and higher rate of productivity, the lower dollar value, etc. CAW President Ken Lewenza continued to attack that viewpoint: "Concentrating on the compensation paid to workers, which in Canada is seven per cent of the total cost of an assembled vehicle, is just being totally dishonest with the challenges we have in the auto industry. Until this global financial crisis and credit freeze is corrected, autoworkers are going to continue to face significant layoffs, significant insecurities, regardless of how much we make." Perhaps, Clement should take note of the pay cuts that are affecting our Canadian workers due to closures at assembly plants. On the other hand, perhaps Clement should look in his own backyard and justify how in these difficult economic times government ministers have managed to give themselves huge wage hikes -- Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach received a 24.5 per cent increase, the 23 members of his cabinet received a 29.58 per cent increase. If Clement gets his way, a nasty precedent will be set and it won't stop with the auto sector. Clement stated that he finds the discussions regarding the government funding for the automakers "disappointing" and that Ottawa has been ready to hand over its money since December. The question that immediately jumps to mind is: "With what strings attached?" Before committing to such loans, the UAW and CAW will be closely examining the terms of repayment. Let's not be too hasty here. After all, only a few short months ago, he was adamantly opposed to any governmental financing. Now, he wants to play Santa Claus. The United States government is at least backing research and development costs with green technology and aiding buyers in their financing of new vehicles. What has Clement done in Canada to help the auto industry? Take a look: imports have tripled since 1996. Fact: North America imports more than 4 million vehicles from offshore per year. This year, offshore imports will consume almost 30 per cent of Canadian vehicle sales. The import market share has tripled since 1996, and this explains See Workers page 7 Mangling the many myths that surround Valentine's Day T he bar has been set high. And I've been laid low. I blame the media. I blame Saint Valentine. And I blame The Boss (and in this instance, when I say The Boss I'm referring to Bruce Springsteen, not my wife). Today is St. Valentine's Day, a day originally set aside to austerely express and simply celebrate love. But then the media -- in cahoots with greeting card companies and the makers of edible underwear -- somehow managed to transform the simple celebration into one colossal, crass, commercial extravaganza replete with horrendous hype and great (and unreasonable) expectations. In its current form, Valentine's Day is a day most men hate, not because they abhor amore, but, rather, because it is a day on which they are pretty much destined to come up short in the eyes (and expectations) of their ladies. Did I mention that the bar has been set high? Before I continue, allow me to get a couple of myths off my back. The media like to portray Valentine's Day as a day for both women and men. But don't kid yourself: V-Day is all about women. On this day, if men want to stay out of the doghouse they are expected to jump through hoops, burn brain cells, spend like drunks and be incredibly creative and romantic, even if they don't possess a single, solitary creative and romantic bone in their bodies. Conversely, on Valentine's Day a woman might stop at a gas station on her way home from work and buy her man, if he's lucky, a Mr. Big chocolate bar to go with the card she allegedly Andy Juniper forgot back at the office. And if that last sentence sounds like it's spoken from experience, well, it is. And if it sounds like it's spoken by a man who remains bitter all these years after the whole Mr. Big debacle, well, I am. I mean, I'd have preferred an Oh Henry. And if she truly loved me she'd have known that. Honestly. Which brings me to the second myth I must mangle. A woman will take pains to tell you that Valentine's Day means nothing to her and that she'd be completely content with, I dunno, a lousy Mr. Big. But, don't kid yourself, men. On Valentine's Day, it's go big or sleep on the couch. Which is why I was going big, though I'd been told not to (what, do I look stupid?). Which is why I was beside the telephone at 11:59 on the morning of Friday, Feb. 6, my dialing fingers warmed-up, my credit card ready, my heart beating out songs of love for my wife, my mind fantasizing about how pleased she would be on Valentine's Day when her kind, thoughtful, romantic man presented her with two tickets to see her heartthrob, Bruce Springsteen, The Boss, in concert. I dialed non-stop on two phones for 22 minutes. Heard busy signals. Hit redial over and over. At 12:22, I got through only to be told by an automated voice the concert was sold out save for a few single tickets ... leaving me, dancing in the dark. By myself. I believe it was Pat Benatar, that lovely, leggy philosopher of yore, who once said, "Love is a battlefield." I know it was my weird uncle Basil who intoned: "If the bar's set high, just do the limbo." Given that it's now Valentine's Day -- and I'm still on the battlefield, doing the limbo -- I can no longer afford to think big. Only Mr. Big. See you in the doghouse. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.