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A6 - The Canladian Champion, Friday, December 29, 2006 OPrINIONi Resolve to be green in 2007 Holidays liard on environment Despite political positions to the contrary from George Bush andl Stephen Harper, the majoriîy of scientists world- wide agree the deterioration of our environmaent through global warming has reached a critical stage. Glacier ice is melîing at an alarmning rate and the number of severe stormns and droughts are on the rise. In 2006, somne of the brightest andl wealîhiesî minils in the world put their money where their mouths have been when il comes t0 preserving the environment for future genera- lions. In September, Sir Richard tlramson made a pleilge of $3 billion over 10 years t0 combat global warming and pro- mole alternative energy. However, lit will take much more than money to reverse the damage our species bas inflicîed on the planet. Itvwill also take a global effort. Andl theres no better lime to take that to hieart thaît nghî now According 10 the Ontario Ministry ol the Lnvironment, December marks a staggering increase in the amount of wasîe generated. Ontarians îoss about 900,000 adilitional tones of holiday trash - roughly 288 million Christmas cards, one million Christmas trees, arounil 900 tones of alunîiniir foil, approx- imaîely 35,000 tonies of plastic packaging and an as--on--shing 23 square kilometres of wrapping paper - enough 10 cover more than îhree îhousand football fields. With multiple and frelquent shopping trips (many of whîch are still goîng on thîs week) and visits 10i family and frienils, hanrnful emîs- sions from vehicles and airline travel also increase at this lime of year. There's plenîy of ways 10 cul back on wasîe during the holidays, like using LFD lights that reduce energy use andl wrapping gifts with the comics or arts and enîerîainmenî sec- lion of the newspaper insîead of btîying rolîs of tînfoil and bleached, heavily-dyed wrapping paper. For more lips, visit wwwontarioconservices.gov.on.ca. The facî remains, the way we're accusîomned to doing îhings in the fossil-fuel baseil economy lis taking a toîl on our planet. The environmenî should always be on our mental ",shopping" list - not jusî at Christmas, but îhroughouî the year. We got ourselves mbt this global warming mess andl - accordîng t0 popular scientihec opinion - we can't afford 10 waiî for future generations t0 gel us out of lil. Readers Write Send your letteas to mifltoned@haltonsparch oem or drop thomn off at 875 Main St. E Malboeuf's views dumbfounding DEAR EDITOR: So Rick Maîboeul, our very own real-life Flem Snopes (Oh, go look it up, Mr. Malboeuf), believes the Conservatives will pumsh thousands of people in Halton as a way to gel at MP Garth Turner. Think about this, folks. Tbis is how Maîboeuf thinks. This is how hie believes government works, as if Vile were Al something right out of a William Faulkner novel. It's dumbfounding that a polical hopeful like Malboeuf would even commit this to writmng. Just so no one misses the point, as if' we didn't know, lets suppose that Malboeuf magically woke up in Stephen Harpers Gucci loafers, wvih this samne Turner problem. I think Malboeuf bas essentially declared that hie himself would feel jus- îified to wiîhhold fair funding from a riding just because its duly elected rep- resentative's proboscis refused to staîn the proper shade of tiuber. Gîven that Malboeut could actually say what hie did, I have to question whether hie has the ability bo thînk this -see COMMENTS on page A7 l1irb QLinabian (&»ampion Milons community Newspaper Stnce 1860 875 Main St. E., Milton, Ont. L9T 3Z3 905-878-2341 Editorial Fax: 905-878-4943 Advertising Fax: 905-876-2364 Classified:905-875-3300 Circulation: 905-878-5947 www.n-idtoncanadtianchampion.com Publisher Neil Oliver Advertising Director Wenrly McNab Managing Editor Karen Mmcel Production Manager Tîro Colos Circulation Manager Charlone Hal Office Manager Tert Casao The Canadian Champion, publiîhed every Tuesday and Friday at 875 Main St E., Milton, Ont, LYT 3Z3, is a division of Metroland Media Group West - Group Publinher Ian Oliver. Adverusng o atoepied nn the cnnditon that in tne event of a typogtaphtal enntir mat nortion of One adveosing spate ocupnd by the eronenas item tngethe with a reasonabe alinnanne for signa tunettil nnt betchatnd for but the balanceof the atsementtll fie pati fnr at the applicabile rate. One puihe resenant the nII tn categntane advedteet or dectîne. CCAB Audited tdec'ognized for enxcellence loy ~PfaOntario Commanity oSNeenspapers Association Canadian(Communty CCANeenspapes Association Sutrbfan Newspapets Eh. f Antenca Edi ,t o r'sd e sk Krantz must have a big ciystal bail in his office Thtl .1tt, vatiSt In todays Champion, Mayor Gord Krantz hias made bis predictions for Milton in 2007 - basically what Miltonians can expect for their town next year. He did the samie thing last year for 2006. As 1 was reading bis thoughts for the year ahead, 1 wondered just how good osîr long- lime mayor ls at looking int his crvstal hall archives and sec what le said in 2005 would happen in 2006. He said developmrent might go down slightly in 2006 because the east end of îown was "more or less building out." But with a sîew of proposed subdivisions coming forward for west Milton, Krantz pre- dicted the residential growth would transfer to that end of the municipality Right on. We can ail see the slew of con- struction activity îhaî's going on in west Milton. Industrial and commercial . growth would also come along big lime in 2006 - it had better, ~, Krantz forecast. 'ht means job creation and eco- Krantz said hie also suspected the Town Hall expansion would go ahead in 2006. Preîty close. Design work was done and houses were moved t0 make way for the S expansion, but no actual con- struction will begin uintil 2007. WsVblc thiese predictions Ccer things happen'... tell people wby r .\ doesn't have t0 worry), îhey tbey sbould bring their business were accurate, showing a mayor here." whos in touch wvitb bis commu- That's not bail eiîher. The Town did have nity a record-breaking year for indusîrial and Maybe tbalÈs one of the reasons hie [eht commercial growth, with building permits confident lu make one last prediction for being issued for 1.8 million square feet of 2006 - duat hie would seek re-election. new developiment. Last year, that number sat Karen Miceli can be reached at around one million. miltoned@haltonsearch.com. UNIE ,WAY CLAU 0F MILTON TV AUCTION PARADE aro'V Showcase Mto ÎAI- ~Ards M ~ lei