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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 Fr id ay , N ov em be r 1 2, 2 01 0 6 467 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 The Oakville Beaver Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. OPINION & LETTERS 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 e-mail to editor@oakville- beaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Mondays Town Council meeting should be pretty interesting, to say the least. Thats when Ward 5 Town and Regional Councillor Jeff Knoll is expected to file his motion calling for an inquiry into Oakville Hydros donations of $17,500 to the Ontario Liberal Party. The donations were made in 2008 and 2009, by way of purchasing a table at each of the years annual dinner events hosted by the Ontario Liberal Party. The Town of Oakville owns Oakville Hydro. Mayor Rob Burton, a member of Oakville Hydros board, said a probe is unnecessary, since he has admitted to authorizing the purchase of tickets to the fundraiser. However, we disagree and believe an inquiry should be pursued because there are still many unanswered questions. This should not be swept under a rug. To further support his call for an inquiry, Knoll has launched an online petition to put a voice to the outrage and frustration members of the public have expressed to him since news of Hydros partisan donation broke. The Hydro donation has touched a public nerve and people are angry. At deadline, nearly 600 people had signed the petition and many have added their com- ments. Here are just a few: I do not agree that what I pay Oakville Hydro should be used to fund the Liberal Party. It is a disgrace that I am being forced to give money to a political party. How do I get my money back? I should get a credit on my next Oakville Hydro bill. Charlotte Cooper. I am appalled at the arrogance of this at a time when energy costs are so high. Jean Wettlaufer. I am not in favour of Oakville Hydro showing par- tiality to any political party or currying favour with high- er orders of government through the use of financial inducements or incentives. The optics of Oakville Hydro spending $17,500 on tickets to Liberal Party fundraisers are terrible. Jeff Knoll is right, whatever loophole has allowed such practices to occur needs to be closed up permanently. Pat Atkinson. A flagrant misuse of Oakville Hydro funds. Instead, why don't you take that money and reduce our rates. Margaret Budd. As a taxpayer I feel there needs to be a further investigation into the actions of Oakville Hydro. It seems from the outside looking in as another case of a sense of entitlement with no accountability with other peoples money. Please keep them accountable and let them know we are watching. James Barrett. If you have not already signed the petition, please visit www.ipetitions.com/petition/oakvillehydro. The mayor and the Oakville Hydro board of directors shouldnt be allowed to get away with saying, Oops, sorry, we got caught. The Oakville Beaver is a division of NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher of 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 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 condi- tion 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 Letter to the editorSupport petition THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ATHENAAward THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIALMEDIASPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Canadian CirculationAudit Board Member Canadian CommunityNewspapers AssociationOntario CommunityNewspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Gross misappropriation of funds this is one of our newly-elected mayor's accom- plishments. Mayor Rob Burton has shown no remorse about his behaviour on donating my money to the Ontario Liberal Party. After reading numerous articles about his donating funds to the Ontario Liberal Party, I am appalled at his response to questions. He seems to feel that spending my money is no big deal. He has not responded to my phone call to his office to return my portion of the above funds. Did he forget that municipal politics is supposed to be non-partisan? I call the people of Oakville to do what Toronto did rise up and state your con- cerns. Please call up your local representative and ask for Mayor Burton to step down. I follow the rules and so should he. SHELLEY KOTURBASH, OAKVILLE Residents should ask Mayor Burton to step down Pud BY STEVE NEASE neasecartoons@gmail.com No justification for Hydro donation Your article in the Nov. 3 edition of The Oakville Beaver described the $15,000 donation by Oakville Hydro Corporation to the Ontario Liberal Party as shocking. I believe that shocking is an appropriate descrip- tion of my reaction when I learned of these donations through a Toronto radio station newscast. I cannot conceive of any appropriate reason for our local hydro corporation to donate to any political party or to purchase a table at any political party fundraising event. And for Rob Lister, president and CEO, to suggest that the funds did not come from taxpayers is preposterous. All of the profits of Oakville Hydro Corporation belong to the taxpayers of Oakville since the Town is the sole shareholder of Oakville Hydro. Thus even if the donations were made from one of Oakville Hydros subsidiary com- panies, the funds still reduced the con- solidated net income of Oakville Hydro and thus reduced the amount avail- able for distribution to the Town. The explanation that the tickets to a political party fundraiser provide an opportunity to network with cabinet ministers and industry officials also lacks credibility. Which cabinet minis- ters does the Oakville Hydro Corporation need access to and for what purpose? Can our local MPP not arrange for a meeting with the appro- priate cabinet minister in a proper busi- ness setting? And which industry offi- cials are only available at a political fundraiser? As you said in your editorial, a rea- sonable question for the taxpayers to ask is who authorized these donations. Another reasonable question is: how was such an expenditure considered to be an appropriate use of the taxpayers monies? I suggest that in addition to finding out how and why this happened, we should be assured by our elected offi- cials that no wholly-owned Town cor- poration will ever again use taxpayers money to fund any political party. GERALD R. POPP, OAKVILLE