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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 18, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Soldiering on As the first 200 of an anticipated 2,000 Québec-based soldiers boarded a plane bound for Kandahar last weekend, it was eerily appropriate that a light rain was falling. Although our troops' efforts continue to garner strong support back home, there is a gathering storm of public opinion about the mission, Canada's disproportionate number of casualties and the absence of a date for an exit strategy. Canadian casualties have increased a staggering 57 per cent in the last eight months of fighting -- from 42 in early November of last year to 66 as of this week. British casualties stand at 63, this despite the UK having nearly 1,000 more soldiers in Afghanistan and having served a year longer than Canada. With so much Canadian blood being shed and so little positive news coming out of the war-torn country, it's only natural more civilians would start to wonder when our troops might be coming home for good. Anyone expecting a direct answer from Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been met with political doublespeak. Earlier this month Harper dodged questions about Canada's plan as it approaches the expiration of its military commitment through February 2009, saying only that the issue of an extension would likely be debated in Parliament sometime next year. The prime minister now finds himself tiptoeing along a political tightrope -- especially in vote-rich Québec where 76 per cent of those polled immediately following the most recent Canadian deaths in Afghanistan felt Canadian casualty levels have reached an unacceptable level. Some outside observers believe the Canadian government has only itself to blame for growing dissent surrounding the country's mission in Afghanistan. Ottawa has done a poor job of explaining the dangerous mission from the outset, has banned the media from military funeral services and hasn't publicized mission objectives that could have given Canadians a way to track our soldiers' progress. With so little tangible evidence offered of the impact our troops are having in Afghanistan, is it any wonder weekly casualty reports have become the foundation from which many Canadians form their opinion of how the war is going? The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Resident outraged teens ordered to dismantle skateboard ramp I am writing in response to the article in the July 14 edition of Weekend Oakville Beaver titled Grounded. The article dealt with a group of boys and a skateboard ramp that they had built. Let me first begin by stating that young kids, especially boys, need social activities of some sort to keep them occupied and out of trouble. A group of friends pool their money to build a skateboard ramp in their own backyard. The event should have been covered as a special interest story, as youth take on a project and follow it through to completion. Minus political bungling it would have been a great example of the teens and their can-do attitude; instead it shows how invasive bureaucratic probing intrudes in our daily existence where it is not needed, nor wanted. It's a bloody outrage. Do we really need Big Brother telling us what we can and cannot do on our own property? If this is indeed the case, then it is beyond my scope of comprehension as to why anyone would want to plunk down large amounts of cash to purchase, and pay land taxes for a house in this town if they must adhere to these discriminatory rules that infringe on our rights. I suppose, in their infinite wisdom, the Oakville Town council members believe that it is worse for lads to break Town bylaws by entertaining themselves in a wholesome manner, than it is to break provincial laws by defacing, or destroying public and private property. There's far too much bureaucracy in this town. SEAN MAYOR Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Stabbing at school is a big deal, says dad I read with both disgust and sadness the article about the stabbing at Iroquois Ridge High School in the July 13 edition of The Oakville Beaver. The story created the illusion to me and to others I know who read it that a stabbing at school is not a big deal anymore. This is so misguided and naive on many fronts. My daughter was in the classroom during the incident. At 15, I admit she has not been subject to viewing a friend being stabbed seven times in the back before. See Police page 7 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.