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OAKVILLE BEAVER Saturday, March 14, 2009 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 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 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 Guest Columnist Politicizing energy bulks up government Ted Chudleigh, Halton MPP nd again, government gets a little bigger. The Green Energy Act proposed by the McGuinty Liberal government will add a little bit more to the Nanny State by politicizing energy and bulking up the size of an already bloated government. This intrusive piece of legislation gives government inspectors draconian search and entry powers on private homes to root out illegal appliances. It also puts the government's hand a little deeper in your pocket by requiring energy audits on homes prior to sale. What's ultimately worse, however, is that Green Energy projects will be bankrolled by consumers with no regard to their cost effectiveness. This law will take energy out of a regulatory environment where the goal was reasonable profit for investors and reasonable costs for consumers. The government has moved to politicize energy by putting consumers on the hook for wildly expensive Green Energy projects because they believe in windmills and the like, regardless of the costs. Forcing people to conduct energy audits is simply another government intrusion into life, another government mandated cost for citizens which produces nothing of value. The government wants to look like it's interested in the environment, but this plan is all about creating inspector jobs, even if those jobs are pointless. Today, most people ask to see the utility bills of a property they are interested in purchasing. Those bills provide an excellent audit of energy use. Granted, that information doesn't specifically identify problems, but armed with the utility bills, it isn't hard to identify where improvements need to be made. A few years back, the McGuinty government's big energy saving plan was to have people plant trees around their homes to provide cooling shade. There were two big problems with the plan. First problem was that trees take 30 years to grow to sufficient height, somewhat delaying their value as energy saving shade providers. The second problem was that while the shade would save cooling costs in the summer, it would limit the sun warming a home in winter, and so add to the energy requirement. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the Green Energy Act, the government hasn't improved its planning too well in the intervening years. Apparently, Premier McGuinty is still getting his advice from the person who convinced him he could close the coal plants by 2007. Ted Chudleigh RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America A THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Solar thinking NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER AT THE FAIR: Jun Zou from Globe Solar Energy discusses his CSA-approved evacuated tube product with Mary Ellen Payne at the Halton Residential Solar Project's Solar Fair at the Halton Regional Centre. The fair boasted speakers who provided an overview of residential solar energy applications, costs, benefits and product displays, and financial advisors discussed strategies and incentives associated with installing solar energy equipment. Raising readers in the age of innumerable other options e didn't think we'd set the bar that high. We didn't think we were shooting for the moon, or dreaming the impossible dream. No, we thought our goal was realistic and reachable. We wanted to raise our kids to be readers. Nevertheless, despite our diligent and determined efforts, at some point in recent years we came to the (once unfathomable) realization that still has us shaking our heads. Our kids are not readers. That's right, a writer's kids who rarely read. Child-rearing experts say to raise readers you need to do two things. First, read to your kids. We did, routinely, religiously: picture books before bed when they were young, and chapter books when they were ready. They loved their story times. The second thing experts say you need to do if you want your kids to love books is be a role model -- read yourself, frequently and in front of your offspring. Well, my wife is a reader. Whenever unshackled from the bonds of work and commitments, she plants her nose in a novel. The kids can't help but see her. Then there's me. When I'm not trying to write a book, I'm busy reading one. I W read to relax, to refuel my mind and I read to escape. Ironic: a writer who reads to escape the fact that his kids don't...read. Sadly, my wife and I are not alone. A study in Britain suggests that young Brits are spending a third less time reading then they did just six years ago. Personally, I talk to parents who can't remember the last time their kids cracked the spine of a good Andy Juniper book. And I talked to a teacher who said that he could have an entire class of kids sitting on the edge of their seats to see how a plotline turns, but when he suggests they finish the story at home, he gets few takers. So, what is it at home that is more compelling to these kids then finding out how an exciting book ends? Experts blame video games. And television. And they blame the Internet with all its inane (albeit all-absorbing) applications: MSN, Facebook, Twitter, et al. To these you could add, overextension ­ our kids are spread too thin to have what they consider `spare time' for reading. Whatever, it's a huge problem. While reading is truly a wonderful recreational pastime that I'd hate to see anyone live without, it's also a tool for success, indeed survival. I once heard a father scoff that he didn't read because he had no time and he didn't really care if his kids read because, as a businessman, he wanted them grounded in the real world, not the fantasy world of fiction. Well, the real world has little time for functionally illiterate kids who can sweep through all levels of Donkey Kong, but who can't cobble together a simple paragraph. Still, logic tells me that if we want our kids to read we have to resist the urge to simply rail against what they love, and instead passionately and persistently present the case for reading. Raising a reader: somehow it's come to seem like were shooting for the moon, but it will be worth it if we can just get them to sink their hooks into books. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.