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7 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,A pril 1,2021 theifp.ca The Town of Halton Hills is holding a Specialized Transit Plan Virtual Open House and we want to hear from you! Visit the Specialized Transit Plan project page on letstalkhaltonhills.ca betweenMarch 31 and April 18, 2021 for a Virtual Open House. View the Virtual Open House presentation, complete a brief survey and have your say on the final Specialized Transit Plan recommendations. While we are currently only open for urgent eye care, we are getting prepared for a full re-opening of our offices as soon as health officials will allow.We wish to assure all our current and new patients that strong safety measures will be in place when we do open. Hope to see you soon and stay safe! We are open but due to the current virus situation we have to limit the number of people in our office. If you are planning a visit (for routine eye examinations, eyewear purchase and repair, contact lens pick up etc), please contact us in advance and we will arrange an appointment time for you. This will prevent overcrowding and keep everyone safe! alone in opposing this highway. Now we've got some traction," said Bon- nette. "Many municipali- ties along this corridor are now starting to say, there should at least be a federal assessment done. The province has bypassed a lot of the environmental as- sessment that should be done." The motion came as wel- come news to local resident Janet Duval, who also heads up the Halton Hills Climate Action group alongside Coun. Jane Fo- gal. "It just reflects a groundswell of opposition to this highway all around the western GTA," said Du- val. "Councils and citizens are suddenly waking up to the fact that we can't just keep paving paradise. This would be 2,000 acres of farmland we'd be paving over, plus huge areas of green space we desperately need." The Climate Action group recently led the charge on physically-dis- tanced rallies in George- town and Acton to visibly oppose the highway that would wind its way through southern Halton Hills and along the border with Milton. The events drew resi- dents from Halton Hills, Brampton, Caledon, Mark- dale, Bolton and Oakville, with similar flash demos also occurring throughout the western GTA. The call for federal scru- tiny of the project has in- deed expanded well beyond politicians. Recently, Eco- justice -- on behalf of Envi- ronmental Defence, a Ca- nadian advocacy organiza- tion -- made a request to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to desig- nate the GTA West high- way for such an evaluation. Halton submitted a letter in support of the group's ef- forts. Studies aside, most who oppose the highway con- tend that the road isn't nec- essary in the first place. "It will save 30 seconds in (commute) time. I don't get that," said Halton Hills Coun. Clark Somerville. "The pandemic has also dramatically reduced traf- fic levels that will take years to come back. We're in a work-from-home envi- ronment." Bonnette said he feels the project would lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and urban sprawl, with more develop- ers drawn to build along the corridor. "We have to look at other ways of mass transporta- tion," he said. "The 407 is underutilized right now; that could be a trucking route." STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With the proposed GTA West highway opposi- tion growing throughout the region, we wanted to take a closer look at the steps being taken locally to fight the controversial project. NEWS Continued from page 1 CLIMATE ACTION GROUP LEADING OPPOSITION SCAN THIS CODE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWs OPINION As we come to the end of another financial year at the Salvation Army Georgetown Community and Family Services, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to our communi- ty for its generosity. Your gracious dona- tions have enabled us to help those in need in our community in many ways. Providing Christmas Assistance was very differ- ent this past year as a re- sult of COVID-19. However, because of your generosity, we were able to provide families with a number of toys and a gift card for each child. Families also received a gift card for food to allow for a nice Christmas din- ner. Throughout the year we continue to support fami- lies in need in our commu- nity with grocery gift cards and food staples from our food bank. Other assis- tance is provided in special circumstances as needed. With the help of the Georgetown community, we were able to serve 92 families, which included 188 children and teenagers. Though our fundraising was significantly less than our goal of $120,000 because of our inability to have ket- tles in our usual locations, we still managed to raise $64,000. This was an amaz- ing effort in these difficult times. Thank you for your con- tinued support. MAJOR MIRIAM STEVENS SALVATION ARMY GEORGETOWN COMMUNITY AND FAMILY SERVICES SUPPORT FOR SALVATION ARMY GREATLY APPRECIATED The Salvation Army continues to support those in need, thanks to the community's generosity. Wendy Tavender photo