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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, December 4, 2009 · 6 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 --Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Waterfront Festival will be missed In the words of Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell: "Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone?" Those lyrics came to mind when we first heard the Oakville Waterfront Festival had been cancelled. For 18 years, the three-day festival had ushered in the beginning of summer in Oakville. The festival provided a wide mix of family-fun events and musical entertainment that included something for everyone. When the Waterfront Festival first opened, it was spread across town with stages in Bronte Village, Coronation Park and downtown Oakville. Entrance buttons cost $5 each and easily represented one of the best bargains in town. Over the years, the festival gravitated to one home base in Coronation Park and button prices rose, but the festival still represented one of the best entertainment bargains in town. In recent years, the Waterfront Festival was named one of Ontario's Top 50 Festivals. The festival earned this prestigious honour by providing top-notch family fun including the midway, dog show, craft table, food vendors, health and wellness centres, tips for gardeners and, of course, fireworks displays. It also featured several stages for local entertainers to display their talents. But the Waterfront Festival may be best remembered for its headline acts presented on the Waterfront Stage, which was built as a result of the festival's early success. Headliners have included a diverse range of renowned, rising and established artists, such as Hedley, Jan Arden, Tom Cochran, Jesse Cook, Finger Eleven, Great Big Sea, Alannah Miles, Jully Black, Blue Rodeo, Colin James, Susan Aglukark, Michelle Wright, Jack Soul, Justin Hines, Bedouin Soundclash, The Philosopher Kings and Ill Scarlett, to name a few. But the festival was about more than just three days of family fun and entertainment. Over the past 18 years, the festival raised more than $1.9 million for local charities through the sale of its buttons by volunteers. And now it's all gone -- apparently a victim of a sagging economy, waning sponsorship interest and bad weather, which left the 2009 festival with a $30,000 deficit. Hopefully, the loss is only temporary and the festival will rise again, or something else will be organized to take its place. Otherwise, summers in Oakville just won't be the same. 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. Letter to the editor Can taxpayers afford full-day kindergarten? Re: Full-day kindergarten coming to some Halton schools next year, Oakville Beaver, Nov. 20. Our publicly-funded schools are expanding from 13 years (12 grades plus two half years of kindergarten) to 14 years (12 grades plus two full years of kindergarten). In addition, there will now be government daycare before and after school for kindergartners. Ontario currently is running a $24.7 billion deficit. There is insufficient debate on whether we want the government (we the taxpayers) to fund another full year of school, as well as a new daycare program. There are capital costs and staffing costs. In one of our community's schools, Joshua Creek Public School, there are nine kindergarten classes, approximately 180 students who are served by five classrooms and five teachers. When the new program is rolled out, this school will need seven kindergarten classrooms (class sizes are increasing by 30 per cent from 20 to 26 students). There are presently only six kindergarten-suitable classrooms in this school. Ignoring changes to school boundaries and busing away some students to make room, this means there will need to be two portables added for some other grades to move into and one classroom retrofitted to be kindergarten suitable. Those are the capital costs. The staffing cost is 2.5 new teachers and 14 Early Childhood Educators (the ECE's facilitate the before and after school daycare and assist the teachers with the increased class sizes). There will also be additional expenditures for administration and services. Letters to the editor 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 email to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Disappointing guest column I was pleased to see a guest column (We need direction, Oakville Beaver, Nov. 26) by Max Khan, the new Liberal candidate for Oakville. In it, he addresses climate change, our federal position prior to Copenhagen and the need for "direction." These are topics I have read much on recently and they are clearly very important as we move towards generational proposals for tax and cap and trade regimes. In reading his comments however, surprise turned to disappointment and then dismay. Rather then promoting a new direction, Khan advocates following the old discredited approaches. He cites Al Gore, Jean Chrétien, Bill Clinton, Paul Martin and even the Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Khan, where have you been the last few years? Have you not noticed that there is a new direction? Have you completely missed it? Consider these factors: · Politics -- The consensus is that all major See Liberal page 7 Pud BY STEVE NEASE neasecartoons@gmail.com See Burden page 7