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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday October 18, 2000 T he Oakville Beaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Ol iver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, .Advertising Director Steve Crozier Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director of Photography Me&oland Printng. PuB chng & O a rtu tn g LB.. includes: Ajax/Pckering News Advertiser. AAston HerakyCouner. Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay The Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guardan. B urlin g to n P o st. B urlin g to n S hopping N ew s. C ity P arent. C oingw oodV^saga C om ectcn, East VfcrV Mteor. Ertn A d vo c ateC a rtry R outes. E to bicoke G uard ian. Flam borough P o st. G eorgetow n independentActtn Free Press, Hamston Re^ew. H u tn a Busness Times. Kngston This W eek. Lindsay This W eek. M arkham Ecnom ist & Sun. M xftand/Penetanguishine M irror. M ilton C anadian Cham pion. M ilton Shoppng News, KAssesauga Busness Times. Meassauga News. Napanee Gude, Newm arket/Aaora Era-Banner. Nortfxrnbertand News. North \brk Mrror, O akvie Beaver, Q akvie Shoppng News. O dtm ers Hockey News. O r*a Today. O shaw aW itby/dam gion Port Perry The Week. O e n S a rd Tribune. Palm erston Observer. Peterborough The W eek. Pcton County G iade. Richm ond Hiil/Thomhril/\teughan Liberal. Scarborough M irror. SioufNie\ M3ridge "W in e . Forever \txng. City o< >fcrk Guardan OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ° H I YMCA O F O A K V U E urvi I Strategies for Prryarmg tar Tomorrav t H ttllh Carr m Jir»ql B eII F uncI BRONTE TH E BUTTERFLY O LC O M E StNCX 1930 AGON l t d . ft ......... I l l t e . . . JMiena M:)he \JAward Oakville © 4nuu8s 467 Speers Rd., Oakville O n t L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 f*C N A JL _ ^ Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers ot America TV AUCTION N T S FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE ffiu t A R u I O to w u | oakville galleries | SKt o r lo / u m H O a C ^ jU C hildren's C hoir /OR J BUSNESSKTHE ARTS mm .W .U U E d ito r ia ls Complacent electorate It should have come as no surprise to anyone that the municipal election set for Mon. Nov. 13th is shaping up as one of the biggest non-events in local politi cal history. With a huge number o f In fact, about the only people likely to take an interest in the most important com acclamations for the Nov. 13th ponent of our democracy, will be political municipal election, i t ' s clear that junkies and the media. most Oakvillians either approve Let's review. o f their elected On Monday, the final list of candidates representatives...or just don 7 was set and it revealed a record number of acclam ations, that is people put their care about the entire process. names up for office and were unopposed. First of all, with Mayor Ann Mulval scaring off any contenders to her throne, much of the interest in local governance ceased. Sure, there's Halton Regional Chair Joyce Savoline trying to become the first person elected to that position in the region, but that's about it for any kind of excitement. We can really feel for the people of Ward 1, the westernmost area of town. They're ballot will be short indeed with all local spots acclaimed including local and regional government and both school boards. All that's left for them is the regional chairmanship, so guess what the voter turnout will be there? There will be some scattered races worth looking at like in Ward 2, the core area of town where political veteran Fred Oliver will vie with David Bazar for a regional seal while town council incumbent Linda Hardacre goes against Mary Paul and Tom Maich. Ward 4 regional incumbent Stephen Sparling has Allan Elgar as competition while incumbent Liz Behrens in Ward 5 will face the oddity of an opponent in Janice Wright, as will Ward 6's Kurt Franklin in Roberta Need. In the coming editions of the Oakville Beaver, we'll bring you information on the candidates, the ridings and the issues to keep you informed about those seek ing your endorsement for local government. But our first job will be trying to make this election something other than a yawn. R1DEAU CANAL L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Harris revolution: on a roll or rolling over? W hen you think about Prem ier Mike Harris these days you cant help but fixate on one question: Is it straight or is it bent? I am talking about his ideology, of course. It used to be bent. Then it got straight. And now it seems like its bent again. Or is it? All the confusion started about a month ago when Harris told the media about how he planned to govern in the new legislative ses sion. "Were interested" he stated at the time, "in providing our constituents with absolutely the best service we can for the best price for taxpayers w ithout any ideological bent. (Italics mine, the Premier cant speak Italics.) Now when a conservative politician, like Mike Harris, starts to talk about having an unbent ideology like this it usually means one thing: he's not interested in being a conserva tive politician anymore. It happens all the tim e. Form er Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, for instance, flattened his ideology and ended up doing all sorts of unconservative things like imposing new taxes and mounting mas sive budgetary deficits. Now no one is suggesting that Premier Harris is about to pull a Brian Mulroney. But pundits have begun to speculate that perhaps he is preparing to jettison the conservative principles of the Common Sense Revolution and chart a middle of the road, wishy washy, don't-rock-the-boat type of course for his gov ernment. Prominent conservative author and colum nist David Frum, for instance, wrote that a "strange listlessness has over taken the Harris government. It has no new projects to pro pose." Translation: Harris is not privatizing. He's doing nothing about reforming Ontario's labour laws. He isn't cutting back on big gov ernment. But then, surprise surprise, when the legis lature reconvened in Septem ber, H arris sounded like his old conservative self com plete with an ideological bent. He talked about the need to keep tax cuts coming; he promised to review the privatization of gov ernment services. And he pledged to reform Ontario's labour laws to promote workplace democracy and to make union bosses more accountable to their own members. "Our revolutionary spirit endures," he con cluded. But does it? Just consider the Premiers words closely. Its really just a bunch of vague promises with no concrete proposals. Take his promise to "review" privatization. After five years in power, what's left to review? He should know by now which gov ernment cash cows would be better off in the private sector. Heck, even before he came to power the privatization of the Liquor Control Board and Ontario Hydro were long overdue. And what's to consider about selling off TVO. Its pretty simple. The government has no business being in the broadcast business. Then there's his pledge about restoring democracy to the workforce. Sounds good. Yet when news broke during the summer that the governments own Red Tape Commission had come up with some praiseworthy propos als that would in fact make workplaces more democratic and accountable, Tory officials including Labour Minister Chris Stockwell were quick to dismiss them. And its not as if the Commissions recom mendations were radical. It had simply sug gested the government give workers the right to drop out of a union on moral or religious grounds and that union bosses be prohibited from using forced dues to finance their own pet political projects. If the Harris government is really against these type of reforms how exactly does it plan to make union bosses more accountable and give workers more rights? The answer is we don't know. And Harris added to the confusion when he recently made this statement in the legisla ture: "The work of fixing governm ent, of reforming government, of improving govern ment goes on!" Fixing? Improving? Reforming? I thought the Common Sense Revolution was mainly about doing one thing for government - mak ing it smaller. Yet we still have no sense that making government smaller is a main priority for the Harris government. So is the Common Sense Revolution on or off? Frankly, its still too early to tell. But one thing is certain. If Ontarians had really wanted a leader with no ideology, no vision and bland do-nothing policies they would have voted for Dalton McGuinty. That's something Premier Harris would do well to remember. G erry Nicholls Letter of the Week Let charity begin w ith Catholic board executives Re: Catholic school sta ff called to donate rebate cheques 1 would remind (Halton Roman Catholic District S ch o o l B o ard D ire c to r) F red S w een ey and all Catholic School Board adm inistrators that the 13% pay increases they have received over the past five years has also been at the expense o f those less for tunate in Ontario. In my opinion, taking home a sixfigure income in the name of Catholic education is immoral in light o f the C hurch's teaching and the Gospel. Further, with the passing of Bill 160, all property taxpayers are funding Catholic schools. Therefore, Catholic system bureaucracies are answerable to all O n ta ria n s . T h o se o p p o s e d to p u b lic ly -fu n d e d Catholic schools would argue that Catholic School Board adm inistrations are redundant and could be e a sily re p la c e d by a sin g le `S u p e rin te n d e n t of Catholic Schools' who sits on each Public Board. If Catholic education is to retain its integrity and justi fy its existence in this province, it will need adminis trators who see their position as a ministry of service and not of power. It needs leaders who are willing to m odel J e s u s and w o rk fo r th e sam e w ag es as employees, minus a dollar, as it were. Finally, I trust that Mr. Sw eeney's em phasis on justice and charity is more than just talk. Employees of the Halton Catholic Board are looking forward to a fair contract next year-at least comparable to those in neighbouring C atholic and public jurisdictions. C harity and ju stic e begin at hom e and hopefully these will be achieved without adversarial bargaining tactics and lockouts for which the Halton CAtholic Board is historically notorious S te v e C a tlin Joe C lark o u r o w n C ap tain C anada Ernie Eve's `Ontario Taxpayers' Dividend Cheques' for up to $200 will give Ontarian's another tax cut that would have better served Ontario's long-term well-being if it was allo cated to `debt reduction.' Mr. and Mrs. Canada, I would suggest our political parties, whether the splurging federal Liberals, the 30% plus 20% tax-cuts-aren'tenough provincial Tories, or the help-the-richbetter-than-a-Republican Canadian Alliance, are recklessly ignoring the opportunity to slash the enormous debts amassed over the past few decades by parties of all stripes. The exception being that 'floppy-eared, double-chinned, trusted leader' of the federal Conservative party which has engineered a `swift debt-reduction plan' that will aid in low ering interest rates for young families purchas ing their first home or automobile, that will diminish the threat domestically of higher rates as other nations suppress inflation, and that will furnish Canadians with a `triad-windfall' that would bolster the departments of health and defence, and give Canadians `humane tax-cuts!' Presently, the Harris Tories and Chretien Liberals are shamefully paying-down the debt by approximately a minute `one-half of 1%' of their respective debts per annum, in a `compla cent procrastination' that appears could burden Canadians for at least a century to come! Joe Clark is the noble politician who, I believe, will follow in the foot steps of U.S. vice-president A1 Gore, whose decisive plan, a `debt-free' America in 12 years from now, may knock junior George (Bush) out of the running as America's working class and her C.E.O.'s endorse the Democrat's economic agenda. Just as Canadians demonstrated their perseverance, courage, and sacrifice against foreign adver saries in the past, I'm sure they will again internally if they are compelled to, by `Captain Canada' Joe Clark! It's Joe to the rescue. David C. Searle Cycling laws need to be enforced Firstly I wish to compliment Ivor Davies on his letter headlined `Keep the bicycles off the sidewalks', which appeared in the Wed. Oct. 4, 2000 issue of the Oakville Beaver. I would also like to recount two instances that I experi enced. In each block on Lakeshore Road East is a sign on a post that reads: `Skate boarding, bicycle riding, roller blading on sidewalk prohibited By-laws 1990-102, 1962-55 (3). One day I approached three young teenagers who were skateboarding at the southwest corner of Navy Street and Lakeshore Road. I asked one if he could read English and when he said he could, I then asked him to read the above sign out loud. Having done so, his only com m ent was "Cool...man.". On another occasion I stopped an adult male (35-40 yrs.) who was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk on Lakeshore Road between Thomas and George Streets. I asked him why he was wearing a helmet and his reply was "because it's the law." I then pointed out that the law also prohibited riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, he then rode on without comment, giving me `the finger'. Perhaps if we had an (Halton Police Constable) Ellie VanVliet on Lakeshore Road East to hand out a few tickets, this practice might stop. W.E. Davis Executive Director, Ontarians for Responsible Government Pud I FbR&oT To 6ET THIS FIELD TRIP fbRM SISNED. IT ^ D U E /r r -,,.,, by Steve Nease X SIAPUEDTH ESIC N E E lI Form to Youp LUNCH BAS so Y O U FoaSETlT. ' RFAPYFoF K AY.