The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, March 11, 2010 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The 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 for, 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. Commentary Letter to the editor NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager The Oakville Beaver is a division of Effects on Lake Ontario missing in power debate Re: Will McGuinty listen to concerns, Oakville Beaver, March 5, 2010 Finally, Mr. (James) Goodfellow's letter to the editor has included concern for Lake Ontario, which until now, has been largely ignored in the ongoing Oakville power plant debate. It is obviously not a coincidence that all the sites for a natural gas-powered plant chosen by the OPA were in close proximity to Lake Ontario. Since a natural gas power plant, particularly of such a large size, will require an enormous supply of water in the cooling process, a free and convenient source would naturally be economically attractive to potential buyers who would otherwise have to incur the expense of constructing and maintaining their own reservoirs. It is, in fact, debatable that a plant of this size is necessary since its need is apparently based on estimated future demand, which is based on current demand and on population growth. Currently, the Ontario government regulates and subsidizes the cost of the power we consume. If and when we have to pay the real cost of power produced in new and expensive natural gas-powered and nuclear plants, I suspect we will be much more careful in our consumption. Also the growing concerns about protecting our environment have fostered the growth of alternative non-polluting sources of power production. There has been little, if any, concern shown in all the ongoing protestations about the potential ecological damage that could be done to our already compromised lake. There has been no discussion not only about what regulations must be put in place to protect Lake Ontario, but also about how they must be enforced. Why, in fact, does the Ontario Power Authority, a government-appointed body have the `power' to determine the sites and the `authority' to negotiate terms with potential buyers? The debate that now surrounds this power plant and all the obvious reasons why it should not be built in residential Oakville should have been debated before it was a `done deal' and should have included the politicians that we elected to protect our interests and concerns. The ecological future of Lake Ontario is just one more question to be added to the many questions we are all now asking. Let us hope that the answers don't come too late and to our sorrow. MARGARET ANDERSON, OAKVILLE WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Suburban Newspapers of America Media Group Ltd. RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER LAST SNOW OF THE SEASON?: Friends Aiden and Zachary gather up the last bits of snow with the help of brother Adrian. Time to say goodbye to winter and give a group hug to spring S pring (or a reasonable facsimile) is in the air. In my time on our tiny blue-green planet, I have yet to run into anyone who does not like spring. While some may favour other seasons -- some are not truly happy until they're being wilted by heat and humidity, or buried by snow and ice -- they still enjoy spring and its inherent ties to rebirth, rejuvenation and rediscovery: `Hey, I can go outside without 40 layers of clothing' or `Hey, we've got neighbours -- I haven't seen these people in months.' Personally, I'm a spring and autumn kind of guy. While I revel in a nice summer or winter day, I'm not into the extremes those seasons frequently produce, particularly now that Al Gore has gone and messed with our climate. I get equally claustrophobic/agoraphobic during heat waves and snow storms. Seriously, I always need to know that I can sneak outside without risking life and limb (in snow and ice), or life and lungs (on days when air-quality alerts mix with heat/humidity warnings to produce a toxic soup that is not fit for man nor beast). Winter, I suppose, is my least favorite season, if only because here in The Great White North it naturally comes accompanied by several things I truly despise: snow, icy temps (I hate being cold), short days, extended darkness and a pervasive grayness that is conducive only to writing Sylvia Plath poetry, weeping uncontrollably at inappropriate times and curling (up under a bed with the dogs). Furthermore, winter is too darn Andy Juniper long. Even tame, moderate winters like the one we've just endured seem to possess way more than their fair share of staying power. If a season is going to have endurance, let it be summer. I mean, the last few summers have lasted less than an hour and even over the course of that hour it clouded over and rained for about 42 minutes. All that said, I have come to appreciate all seasons more than I did in my youth: perhaps because they are all flying by, and I feel time slipping away. Consequently, I try to live mindfully and enjoy each season to the best of my ability. With that in mind, I bid a (probably premature) adieu to winter and express what I will truly miss about this slowly departing season: · Soup. Yes, you read that right, soup. Hot and heavenly in the winter, soup just seems stupid in summer. My wife and I have gone soup crazy this winter, experimenting with new recipes (thanks, Lucy Waverman), and tinkering-to-perfection with old ones. On some Sundays, you could not hear yourself think for all the wild chopping that was going on in our kitchen. Suffice to say, I'm going to miss soup -- oh, and my worldfamous stew, too. Again, stew just seems stupid in summer. · Fire. That's right. Nothing warms the heart and hearth like a crackling fire. Several times a week, I make like a contestant on Survivor and create fire for the family. They love the fire and love me for making it, unless an ill-wind blows from the east and smokes us out of the family room. At that point, my name is Mud. In a few weeks I'll light the ceremonial last fire of winter and then it will officially be spring. Fire. Soup. And hmmm. Well, that's about it. Yeah, let's say goodbye to winter and give a group hug to spring. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.