Ontario Community Newspapers

Oakville Beaver, 3 Feb 2011, p. 6

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The Oakville BeaverLetter to the editor467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742The 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 Leadership pays off for townfor, 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.his week Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak NEIL OLIVERVice-President and Group Publisher, MARK DILLSDirector of Productionsaid if he was Premier, Ontario of 2015 would not be Metroland WestMANUEL GARCIAProduction ManagerTmuch different than Ontario today. If he has a plan DAVID HARVEY Regional General ManagerCHARLENE HALLDirector of Distribution its to do nothing. JILL DAVISEditor in ChiefSARAH MCSWEENEYCirc. ManagerROD JERREDManaging EditorWEBSI dont think thats good enough for the people of Oakville. ITEoakvillebeaver.comDANIEL BAIRDAdvertising DirectorOur community does not expect our political leaders to sit The Oakville Beaver is a division ofRIZIERO VERTOLLIPhotography Directorback and let events dictate as Hudak suggests he would do.SANDY PAREBusiness ManagerThe McGuinty government has been a leader for change and I have celebrated numerous accomplishments by deliver-RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY:Kevin FlynnOntario CommunityCanadian CommunitySuburban Newspapersing to our community. I would like to share with you my top-Newspapers AssociationNewspapers Associationof America10 list of changes brought to Oakville since 2003 through the provincial government:THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR:? We stopped the Oakville Power Plant and secured a guarantee that a Liberal gov-ernment would never build one in Oakville.? Our government has announced a commitment to cleaning up Oakvilles air with United Way of Oakvillereal and tangible commitments in partnership with residents, community groups like ATHENAC4CA, businesses and our municipal and regional governments.Award? Construction will soon begin on the state-of-the-art new Oakville Hospital, which is the largest investment ever made in our town by any level of government.? OTMH has reduced its ER wait times below the provincial target. There are more family doctors and nurses here and across the province. If we were to invite everyone who has found a family doctor since the McGuinty government took office to a party at the Rogers Centre, we would fill it 20 times over. Unlike Hudak and the PCs, we believe hiring doctors and nurses is a far better healthcare strategy than firing them.? Investment in our schools has increased and Oakville has four new elementary schools, two new high schools and hundreds of renovations completed at others. ? Full-day Kindergarten is now in Oakville and will be fully implemented at all schools by 2015.? Funding has increased to Sheridan College allowing it to improve facilities and educational capacity which is allowing it to continue to be a world-class institution. ? The construction of the HOV Lanes and investments to GO Transit to increase parking spaces at our two train stations have made commuting easier. ? The McGuinty government created the Greenbelt and donated the land that has now been turned into Glenorchy Park saving a pristine piece of our natural heritage from development. ? Jobs are coming back to Ontario and Oakville is becoming an ideal location for the high-tech, high-quality jobs of the future.When I think ahead four years, I see our Town and Province as a vastly better place to live. Our community will be opening our brand new, state-of-the-art hospital, ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVERbreathing cleaner air, all schools will have full-day Kindergarten, more students will be NEW CELIAC CHAPTER: The newest Chapter ograduating from our universities and colleges armed with the knowledge and educa-f the Canadian Celiac Association is for Halton Peel resi-dentstion to enable them and Ontario to compete in the new global economy. With this clear . Celebrating at a meeting that included a cake cutting, cooking demonstration and information meeting at Munn's United Church arevision, Oakville and Ontario will not only compete with the global powerhouses, but , from left, Colleen Douglas, Wilma Rodrigues, Marilyn Mahnke, Alison Renaud and Penny DeBuswill be decidedly out in front as global leaders. .After the big technology crash it will be App-ocalypse nowI was away from home, maintaining contact with my off-insinuate itself into every aspect of our exis-toiling at a small-town newspaper that was part of a large chain. Ourspring via cell phone. One had a dilemma and needed advice. tence to greater degrees and increasingpaper was chosen to be the chains guinea pig, testing a newfangledOne wanted to make plans. One was sending me nutty texts just importance these failings becomecomputer system. to bug me. Calls and texts were coming in and going out. Then, increasingly annoying, anxiety-inducingOccasionally that system would work, and wed publish a newspa-without warning (cue the horror music and audience gasps), and intolerable.per, easier, faster and more efficiently. my phone died.Intolerable? Just ask my kids how theyreBut, every third deadline the entire system would crash, sendingFive years ago, I would not have even had a cell phone. Two years doing during one of our frequent countryour editor into spasms flailing about, screaming, like we were aago, I had a phone but used it sparingly. Today, Im a complete man power outages. Unable to access the Internetnuclear power plant encountering a leak: Power down! Powerwith my phone, and a lost soul without it. A dead phone disconnects and use their gadgets, they fret, fuss anddown!Andy Juniperme from my world and gives me untold anxiety. Unable to reach my then they freak demanding I drive them toLesson learned? offspring, and knowing they would be wondering why I wasnt the nearest Starbucks (and Internet connec-Technology is wonderful. When it works. Granted, back in thoseresponding, I started to slip into meltdown mode.tion).days when the system crashed, we had the old system to back us up.Meltdown mode? Hmmm. I wonder if theres an app for that?I worry: what will happen when The Big Technology Crash comes?When the cutting-edge technology failed, we simply returned to ourBecause, according to the good people at Apple, theres an app for And it's coming. According to tech experts, when it occurs, it willold, clunky system and published the paper. everything. make the power outage of 2003 wherein all our modern conve-Nowadays its (completely) out with the old and (totally) in with theTrouble is, weve become so addicted, so dependant on our phones, niences went down with the power seem insignificant. Their logicnew. Thus, when the new fails, well, were simply out of luck.our apps, on technology in general, that when that technology unex-is as follows: the more dependant we are on technology, and the moreOut of luck? I wonder if theres an app for that? Sure. Its calledpectedly fails we are, as the great philosopher Ed Grimley once reliant all our techie tools are on each other, the greater the chanceApp-ocalypse Now.intoned: As doomed as doomed can be.one will fail and bring all the others down. Like dominoes. The perfectAndy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com,Given that technology is invented, advanced and operated by peo-storm.found on Facebook http://www.facebook.com, or followed atple, its bound to fail occasionally. But as that technology continues to I learned the most basic lesson of technology at a tender age. I waswww.twitter.com/thesportjesters.www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, February 3, 2011 6

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