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N O V 1 8 2001 D r. Jonathon Kazdan D r. Steven Solomon O M V IU E PUBLIC LIBRARY 120 NAVY SMILE! W T H E e e k e n d O A K V I L L E d it io n www.oakvillebeaver.com ixxxj ^ w y \ : | OAKVILLE-CENTRE DENTI STS Oakville Place Mall (905)842-6030 & w ed eh dI E v e n in g Now Featuring SUNDAY BRUNCH 11 :30am - 2pm CALL FOR RESERVATIONS E B E A V E R NORTH A M e t r o la n d P u b lic a t io n A M E R I C A 'S M O S T AWARDED COMM UNITY NEWSPAPER 40 Pages (905) 842-5000 7 5 C e n t s (plus gst> V o l. 3 8 N o . 138 S U N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 18, 2 0 01 Halton Catholic test scores top provincial average By Kim Amott SPECIAL T O THE BEAVER Halton's Catholic elementary stu dents continue to outperform the provincial average in reading, writing and mathematics. The recent release of Grade 3 and 6 results from testing done last May shows that the board's students, like their public school counterparts, have continued to improve over the last three years. "We are pleased and very encour aged by the large number of our stu dents who continue to achieve at or above the provincial standard on these assessment tools," said Lou Piovesan, director of education for the board. The testing, done by the provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), ranks students' results on a standardized test on a scale of one to four. One is considered the weakest score and four is considered performing above expectations. A score of three has been established by the Ministry of Education as the provincial standard. In reading tests, 64% of Grade 3 stu dents in Halton's Catholic system scored a grade of either three or four. Provincially, only 53% of students test ed received those grades. (See Catholic' page 5) Should Canadians be forced to vote? By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Did you w in $ 2 5 ,0 0 0 ? The two lucky winners of the $25,000 Early Bird Prizes in the Community foundation of Oakville Great Dream Lottery are Anthony Murira, of Toronto, and Cynthia Jones, of OMississauga. If you haven't purchased your ticket yet, you're out of luck. The deadline for buying a ticket was 9 p.m. Friday night. the final draw for the Dream House and other top prizes is on Dec. 7 at Mattamy's Upper Glen Abbey Sales Office at 1388 Dundas St. W. Political affairs pundit Jeffrey Simpson is rethinking the merits of imposing compulsory voting on Canadians. Participation is forced in countries such as Australia and Belgium where not casting a ballot in a federal election results in a fine. Turnout in Australia, for example, is about 92%. But a query on the practice from one member of the Canadian Club of Halton Peel Thursday night, following a presentation by the author and Globe & Mail columnist, has Simpson won dering if perhaps voters are ready to make such a leap. He didn't make the suggestion in his latest book The Friendly Dictatorship, which comments on the sorry state of politics in Canada and offers achiev able solutions to regain public interest in the system. "The most obvious example Canadians are disengaging from gov ernment was seen in the last election when only 61% of Canadians on the voters' list bothered to vote," Simpson told about 160 Canadian Club mem bers gathered at the Oakville Conference Centre for its monthly din ner meeting. At the time he was putting his book together, the idea of mandatory voting (See `Prime' page 8) INSIDE Editorials..............6 Sports..................13 Travel .............12 Classifieds............ .16 Riziero Vertolli · Oakville Beaver A LASTING G IFT: Danielle Olscamp, of the Oakville Heritage Trails, went shopping for the perfect long-lasting gift for her grandchildren Hayley and Tyler and found it at Tannery Park. To find out what this gift was, turn to page 4. Special Supplements Full Delivery: Zellers Partial Delivery: Fortino's, Pharma Phis, RecallDrugs, The Bay, Little Caesars, Sears, Shoppers Drug Mart Canadian Publications Mail Product Agreement *435-201 u g h t u p r n n r .z r, w . r m n r T - rrrrn rr m rm v m m w r r r T r f is t s m m m m m w m m m D on't Put H oles in Your H om e! SAVE m flirn ri^ Hf. P.. crr.rr r'ntrrt: rrnn. -Tr:. ISsBniswCpiw, Crt. Cin. p te sja s nfiO Varr ttrr-r-i vrr,r.r. i ' r i i t -c : 75% > 150 OUTDOOR RIBBON LIGHTS · Super Bright »M ulti-coloured lights w ith green o r white cord > Clear lights w ith green o r w hite cord · 8 Function m ulti coloured or clear lights w ith green o r white cord > Plugs at both ends HUGE ASSORTMENT OF LIGHT CUPS to m ake d e co ra tin g y o u r hom e q u icke r and easier. I'm . - Crt. fiwvtfijre: Ctrrt. No fasteners required. N M M N M N M M N N nM N H M M M M i