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Specializing in 100% Credit Re-establishment IF WE DONT HAVE IT - WE WILL GET IT! Low as per wk.$37 SAME DAY DELIVERY $0DOWN! IF YOU HAVE AN INCOME YOURE APPROVED! Ask for Casey S LE A FALL PLUS a special offer up to $100 off * Save $50 off your total purchase of $495 or more Save $100 off your total purchase of $995 or more Offer valid until Oct 29, 2008 One coupon per purchase. * Savings are applicable on any combined purchase (before taxes). Not applicable on previous purchases. offer code 0001243 49 Eastern Av. Acton Hwy 401 to Hwy 25 North 519 - 853 -1031 Mon. - Sun. 10am - 6pm Fri. 10am - 9pm www.hidehouse.ca SAVE UP TO 50% THE E VENT OF THE SEASON O n A l l L e a t h e r & S h e a r l i n g Fa s h i o n s a n d F i n e L e a t h e r F u r n i t u r e Im writing this column the morning after the night before. Its that next day after having little sleep feeling that most newspaper people experience after covering an election. In that quarter century Ive been working as a member of the media, Ive lost count how many federal, provincial and municipal elections Ive covered, burning the midnight oil into the wee hours of the morning to get that special moment when the chief protagonists in the game meet, as one concedes defeat to the other, like some convoluted pair of modern gladiators. Its the rule any politician worth his/her salt should drop by the other guys party and con- gratulate him/her on a great cam- paign. Tuesday night was no excep- tion. At 9:30 p.m., I started at Liberal candidate Bruce Bowsers headquarters to watch the returns come in. Keeping in touch with editor John McGhie by cell phone, at 10:30 p.m., I decided the place to be was at Michael Chongs camp, located in Acton, since he was winning by a considerable margin. When I got there, Chong and his wife Carrie had just arrived, and were in the midst of a small media scrum, where they were on camera, and answering ques- tions about his victory. Chong moved inside, and within the hour he delivered his victory speech to his supporters, as well as accepting congratula- tions from defeated Liberal can- didate Bruce Bowser. After repeatedly blinding both politi- cians with a camera flash, it was time for me to head back to the office to get the finished newspa- per put to bed. After editing the images, I was able to get out of the office by 12:30 a.m., but editors John McGhie and Cynthia Gamble, as well as reporter Lisa Tallyn, had to work, finishing their stories, and confirming numbers. (Those are the times I revel in being a photographer.) Driving home, I thought about past elections some recent; others eons ago. I felt a certain relief at the joys of shooting digitally. Years ago, Id have been in the office dark- room halfway into the night, developing film and waiting for it to dry, before printing the photos for publication. I thought back to how much things have changed since those early days. In my early elections, we had no cell phones, we had no two-way radios, we had no way of communicating with our office, unless there was a pay phone nearby, and no other reporter was using it. I thought of the different rid- ings weve had one time I was in Oakville, covering Otto Jelineks victory party (his organ- izers did give media members comp bar tickets, but failed to do the same for volunteers not a great way to attract volunteers in the political arena.) I thought of my first time cov- ering Chong, where I had to shoot in Fergus, and return home to electronically file images for all the Metroland newspapers that the riding encompassed. Covering elections is some- times fun, sometimes frustrating, and is always a bit stressful. I must admit however, the job has been made much easier with the addition of communication devices like cell phones and Blackberries. And digital photography is so much faster, allowing me to pull those images up in seconds. But as I got home, and finally slid beneath the sheets to get some much-needed sleep, I real- ized there is one thing that will never change for any journalist covering an election. It still takes HOURS to get ones mind to gear down enough to finally get to sleep. Ted Brown can be reached at tbrown@independentfreepress.com The morning after the night before Ted Brown The Region is dishing out almost $2 million to upgrade social housing units throughout Halton. At its meeting last week, regional council approved a social housing capital repairs plan thatll guide the disburse- ment of $1.8 million the Region received from the Province. The funds will be used to address high-priority repair needs and energy efficiency improvements, a Region staff report said. A little over $500,000 will be allocated for unexpected repairs and $350,000 will be available for energy efficiency improve- ments. Almost $1 million will be dis- tributed to social housing providers who have or are expect- ed to deplete their reserve funds by December 31, 2009 to cover their high-priority repairs. The staff report indicated that a few housing providers have depleted their capital reserve funds already and others are expected to do the same by next year. Council directed staff to report back by April 30, 2009 with a list of social housing providers and projects that receive the funds. A motion passed by council also authorizes Regional Chair Gary Carr to write to the Province to thank it for the fund- ing and request continued finan- cial support for social housing. Carr will also be writing to the minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to underscore the importance of the federal govern- ments role in ensuring the viabil- ity of existing social housing through continued financial sup- port. Social housing units to get $2M in upgrades 10 Acton/Georgetown, Friday, October 17, 2008