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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , N ov em be r 4 , 2 01 0 6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver 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 adv rtising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. United Way of Oakville Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West 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 WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER ATHENAAward Letter to the editor This letter is a response to the guest column by Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn in the Oct. 28 edition of The Oakville Beaver where he claims a reason to be proud. There is a need to examine some of the subject material. Flynn waxed eloquently about the applause from Grade 5 students. Flynn has stated that he frequently goes to public schools; without a doubt, naive students who are too young to vote or pay taxes and utilities, enthusiastically provide applause. Now that the power plant has been cancelled and the celebrations are over, it is appropriate to say that the people of C4CA, children included, are thrilled. With that being said, they should not have had to work so hard, be so vocal, raise so much money, put up so many signs, hold so many demonstrations, be so deter- mined and be so organized to get the provincial government to listen. This is not the way democracy is supposed to work. The Liberal government and the MPP should be ashamed that their actions forced so many people, to do so much, for so long, to change a government deci- sion. Governments are supposed to listen to people, serve the people and respond to the people. It does not seem like the government is doing that unless a Liberal seat is at stake. Flynn said that the Leader of the Opposition tried to overturn the citizens vic- tory. That statement is not true. It is disappointing for a constituent to read that an elected representative would resort to such tactics. Mr. Flynn knows very well that opposition parties have no control over govern- ment projects. I know from media articles that both Tim Hudak and Andrea Horvath have criticized the many flip-flop and sometimes flip again management style the Liberal government seems to rely on. Remember sex education, Eco-fees, rates for wind and solar suppliers; the list goes on. Each of these programs had a cost that the taxpayer is paying for. Flynn implied that the PC party leader in Ontario has been silent. This is not true. I myself read a letter in The Oakville Beaver in late September that stated the PC policy on power projects in Ontario. I recall the headline that said Hudak will empower municipalities. The MPP has constituency staff who undoubtedly bring all media articles to his attention; Flynn would have read that same letter. I find it interesting, perhaps more than coincidental, that in September, the minister of energy told the mayor of King Township that both Oakville and King projects would proceed (see www.yorkregion.com, then suddenly, do an about face several weeks later and cancel the Oakville plant. It has become a common media story throughout the GTA that the Green Energy Act is a joke. The people in Oakville, myself included were stunned when the most recent R ason to be sh med The Oakville Beaver is a division of Half-truths, untruths, trickery, tomfoolery, subjectivityand subversion in the Internet Age. Youre in a strangecity and your bellys grumbling, but you dont know where to eat. Well, just hop online, surf over to one of the innumerable, immensely popular restaurant-review websites and find an eatery that matches your dining desires and that is receiving rave reviews while obviously ignoring those that have been panned. Smart move? Or not? Last summer in Chicago we ate at Graham Elliot, an eclectic, upscale eatery owned by the renowned, tattooed, bespectacled chef Elliot Bowles (his resume is impressive Americas youngest four-star chef but best of all, hes the Culinary Ambassador for Lollapalooza). We heard rumour that Bowles was plotting to open a gourmet sandwich shop in Chicago called Grahamwich, the very thought of which had us salivating like Pavlovs pooches. Well, Grahamwich recently received its first review, a reputa- tion-crushing one-star rating on Yelp. Which prompted the chef to take to Twitter with the following tweet: Amazing! There is already a negative review posted on Yelp even though weve yet to open Thats right, some clown intent on undermining the restaurant instead undermined the cred- ibility of all restaurant-goer review sites by reviewing a restaurant that was still under construction. This story reminded me of a review someone posted on Amazon of my first novel, Sweet Grass (available in better remainder bins everywhere). The review- er spoke glowingly of my precise prose, raved about my wonderful characters and fell over himself in praise of my plot. Which he then described in detail. Enough detail to make me realize, the reviewer was either drunk, or hed mistaken my book for another novel altogether. Regardless, the reviewer gave me a 5-star rating (best available). And, naturally, I bragged about it for months. I guess this is part of Internet democracy, wherein everyone has a voice, and any idiot can (and usually will) weigh in. In a story in The Globe & Mail, the people at Yelp offered tips to help readers weigh reviews. The tips included, ignoring old reviews (restaurants tend to be forever in flux), and ignoring reviews that seem too anonymous, too positive, too negative, or too familiar with the restaurant. In other words, always contem- plate the source. Too often critiques are written by, say, the owners offspring, or some guy who got fired from the restaurant for refusing to wash his hands. Restaurant and book evaluations arent the only reviews that can suffer untold indignities at the hands of user-generated rat- ings. The Washington Post reported incidences of innkeepers coaxing guests to wax positively online about their inns. Guests talked of being hounded. Although encouraging people to write reviews is considered fair game, strong-arming them, or offering incentives, is not. Like anything posted on the Internet, its a case of let the read- er beware. Unfortunately, too many online users are undiscerning and indiscriminating. And thus, restaurant reputations can be trashed even before the establishments doors open. And people may be mistakenly convinced that Sweet Grass is a five-star novel, which oh, wait, it is. So, in that instance, the online review was bang on. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, con- tacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. To err online is human when it comes to restaurant reviews Andy Juniper FASHIONABLE FUNDRAISING: From left, at the May Court Club of Oakvilles annual Mirror, Mirror Charity Fashion Show and Dinner fundraiser, sponsor Mark LeRoeye, general manager of Mercedes-Benz Oakville, Terry Wells, fashion show co-chair, Leanne Kirk, president of the Halton Down Syndrome Association, Cathy Doucher, fashion show co-chair and Charlotte Riddell, president of the May Court Club of Oakville. The 2010 show benefitted the Halton Down Syndrome Association Learning and its Resource Centre.The runway show was produced by Vogue Models & Talent and featured clothing compliments of a variety of local boutiques. See Commitments page 16