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6 - The Oakville Beaver, Sunday November 18, 2001 EDITORIALS M D LETTER S THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher NORMAN ALEXANDER Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director STEVE CROZIER Circulation Director TERI CASAS Office Manager MARK DILLS Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLU Photography Director Metroland Printing. Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Ptckering News Advertiser, Alliston HerakVCourier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Barry's Bay This Week, Bolton Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection. East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Post, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review Huronia Business Times. Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Markham Ecnomist & Sun, MkJarxVPenetanguishine Mirror. Milton Canadian Champion. Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times. Mississauga News. Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today. Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune. Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week. Plcton County Guide, Richmond HiK/Thomhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. StouffviHe/Uxbridge Tribune. Forever '(bung. City of York Guardian THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by YMCA Ontario Community Newspapers Association CJN A JJLADCS W fe L C O M E ^ Community Newspapers Association Jinge BeltFund JJditna T VA U C T IO N 5SS QafaiUe @4waSs raresiN E S S E X C E U B C E s. * m V B W B s tim e A K n v te . TM a-- BROSTS PTTEKFLY ·<038??? C S I k F % Suburban Newspapers m of America | oakville galleries - 'o h * C h ild c a r e s y s te m c o u ld b e g u t t e d The undisputed front runner to replace the departing Ontario Premier Mike Harris, is form er Ontario Finance Minister Ernie Eves. But with the campaign for the top Tory job still in its infancy, Eves has already let it be known that he would take a more left ist policy approach. We mention this because a more careful and caring approach to provin cial government policy is the only pos sible way that the Conservatives could possibly hope to return to power after the next election. While coverage o f the leadership race was being played up in the province's daily newspapers this week, a very disturbing story was given short shrift. Here's the deal. A leaked Ministry of Community and Social Services policy paper recommends cutting 45 per cent of the current child care budg et with the remainder going into "low cost" alternatives. W hat's ironic here is that this posi tion comes after the Province received $114 million from Ottawa to enhance Early Childhood Development pro grams. Four other larger grants are also planned by the federal govern ment. All o f the three new funding options suggested would reduce the $470 million The Ontario budget for regulated Ministry of child care by Community & $200 million. Social Services The rem ain ing funds would slash the would be child care budget spent as cash by $200 paym ents to million...why? low income families where at least one parent is in the workforce. Not in the workforce? Too bad. And as an aside, all options would see an immediate 20 per cent wage cut for child care staff who already earn meagre wages for their work. This latest policy farce should find its rightful p lace...in the recycling bin. ITS AMAZING H O IV HE CAN BE LAYING LOW SOMEWHERE, OUT OF SI6 H T, HIS WHEREABOUTS A MTSTEltf, AND STILL BE IN CHARGE/ " BIN LADEN? CHRETIEN/ C o r n f la k e s , h ig h f a s h io n S t f r e e z e t a g All I'm trying to do is navigate from the refrigera tor to the kitchen table with a brimming bowl of Com Flakes when I'm nearly bowled over by a tiny slip of frenetic energy. Just when I manage to stabilize myself -- cursing the milk that has lapped onto my shirt -- the tmy slip returns, nearly upending me again. As she is passing, she shouts two unintelligible words and slaps me on the backside. Next time she enters the kitchen, I put my bowl down and command her to halt. I demand an explanation. A father needs to know why his six-year-old daughter is doing an impression of a whirling dervish around his com flakes, and why she's whacking him upside the backside at... 7 a.m. "Freeze Tag!" she shouts (and on most mornings, as her brothers earnestly attempt to sleep, shouting becomes her preferred method of communication). "Say what?" "I'm practicing Freeze Tag. It's what we play at school. I'm fast. But I ve got to prac tice and get faster..." And with that she's off. Practicing. Freeze Tag. It's a wonderful lire, turning six and being in school full-time for the first time, and watching the world open up before your very eyes. And our daughter, who as a baby was aptly nicknamed Hurricane Haley -- and who has retained many of her Hurricane qualities -- is blossoming right before our eyes. Experiencing all sorts of new things. Loving school. Loving life. I don't have the greatest memory, but I honestly can't recall loving Grade One the way our daughter does. About all I can remember is that we had a teacher whose sur name was a common synonym for a part of the male reproductive anatomy (boy did we have fun with that), and that guy in my class who had trouble controlling his bowels... Not exactly uplifting memories. Then there's Haley, thriving in this new social setting and diving into all the new work. When she's not practicing her Irish dancing steps, this girl's forever colouring, practicing letters and numbers, reading and writing and spelling (and I mean s-p-e-l-l-i-ng) every single word she comes across, to the point where it begins to drive a grown man in-s-a-n-e! Speaking of insane. As our girl grows and becomes more mature, she becomes more fiercely independent and, alas, more opinion ated, particularly when it comes to fashion and what she wears on a day-to-day basis. Our little fashionista has acquired her own odd taste in clothing. As I write Haley is constructing (or rather, reconstructing) her Christmas List, or what she calls: "Things I'm going to get for Christmas." For the past two months she's been all wrapped up in the Christmas spirit. Her energy and enthusiasm are contagious, even if it is a bit annoying to be harking the herald angels in October. I think if she could articulate what she feels, young Haley would surely tell you that, contrary to what you may have been thinking over the past few months, the world is a good place. Full of potential and promise. Not that there aren't pitfalls along the way... Just the other day, her mother was lectunng her about something. Haley looked up from her colouring and casually noted: "I hear you, mom, but I'm not listening..."