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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, June 30, 2010 · 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: Canadian Circulation Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Canadian Community Newspapers Association ATHENA Award NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. 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 What does it take? What does it take to get the Ministry of Environment's attention? What does it take to make Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government to admit that the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) made a mistake when it selected TransCanada's proposed 900-megawatt gas-fueled power plant on Royal Windsor Drive as the lottery winner of the Southwest GTA Replacement Power Plant sweepstakes. So far they've ignored the pleas of Oakville residents who are questioning the wisdom of building the power plant in the already heavily polluted Clarkson-OakvilleAirshed. They have also ignored safety concerns of residents who question the logic of building a large gas-fuelled power plant on a small site in close proximity to homes, schools and businesses. They continued to ignore these concerns even after a gas-fired power plant exploded in Middletown, Connecticut in February. The Premier has also ignored the pleas of his own party member Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn to implement a minimum 1,500 metres buffer zone between power plants and homes, schools or hospitals. They've ignored a request by the Mayor of Haldimand to build the power plant in her community by replacing the coal-fired plant in Nanticoke with a gas-fired plant. They've ignored petitions, letters to the editor, and even a protest march at Queen's Park. So we have to wonder whether the recently released report by the South West GTA Air Quality Task Force and its 30 recommendations will finally get the attention of the government. Key among the 30 recommendations is one that states all applications for Certificates of Approval for new or modified industrial activities, which will increase emissions within the airshed, must be considered in light of the current capacity of the airshed. The report says no new major pollution sources should be permitted within the already taxed Oakville-Clarkson Airshed unless there is some kind of plan to fully offset key air contaminants. If adopted, the recommendations would seem to put an end to any plans of building a gas-fired power plant in the Oakville-Clarkson airshed. However, although the air quality task force was formed by the minister of environment last fall, there is no requirement to make the recommendations binding. The Province can simply ignore the findings of its own task force and continue business as usual with its head planted firmly in the sand. We can only hope that the Province will finally see the light, admit its mistake, and follow the advice of its own task force. If it ignores this advice, we can't help but wonder, "What does it take?" 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 Black Bloc ruined peaceful protest I am writing in to express my personal disgust with the violent tactics employed by the Black Bloc at Saturday's G20 protests. Together with local labour members, I attended the peaceful rally and march on Saturday. I was happy to see so many positive messages in the crowd, calling on global elites to respect the rights of women, to fight poverty, promote peace, and protect our shared environment. Unfortunately, the selfish actions of a few so-called `protesters' undermined those messages. Based on their actions, I can only conclude that they are either disinterested in progressive change, or totally ignorant of how politics work in a democracy such as Canada. After the violence on Saturday, the positive messages of the many groups participating in the march were drowned out by media coverage and (justified) public outrage at the violence. This small group of irresponsible people effectively trampled upon all the signs and banners calling for peace, sustainability and equality. A peaceful protest would have embarrassed the Harper government for the hefty security price tag. It would have made the harsh security legislation passed by the McGuinty government an obvious overreaction. Now I fear that in the public's mind, all these measures appear justified. The actions of the Black Bloc totally undermine the positive messages other protesters are trying to send. Imagine if a large group of people spent a quiet afternoon building a house of cards, and then, just as they are finishing, a smaller group, clad all in black, comes along and smashes it down. Would anyone call that a `diversity of tactics'? The actions of the few cancel out the actions of the many. The Black Bloc should not be welcome at any peaceful protests in the future. JAMES EDE, OAKVILLE FEDERAL NDP CANDIDATE 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. PM's actions speak louder than words Prime Minister Stephen Harper's laudable G8 initiative has been to secure funding to support global improvements to maternal and infant health in parts of the world where such services are in very short supply. Commendably, the Prime Minister also regularly states he is in support of promoting stable, strong democracy in countries where it currently does not exist and continues to send our armed forces into Afghanistan to promote this stated objective. It is perplexing, therefore, to know why government funding for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) has not been renewed after it expired in March of this year. The CCIC is the coordinating body for 90 non-government aid agencies, some of whom would be the very agencies that one would suppose would be instrumental in putting Canadian dollars to work on behalf of mothers and infants. Similarly, it is perplexing to know why the government cuts government funding to civil society agencies such as Match, the only women's international development organization devoted to women's rights and which has been a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) partner for 34 years. Other agencies such as the Canadian Council on Social Development, The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Women, the Alberta Network for Immigrant Women, KAIROS, the National Association of Women's Lawyers, and even the Canadian Human Rights Commission have experienced partial or total cuts in government funding. Such organizations contribute greatly to informing public debate on significant and national and international issues and particularly do they do so just because their views can and often are, different from those of the government of the day. It is not only Huntsville and Toronto that is being fenced in and locked down. MERVYN RUSSELL, OAKVILLE