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8 uw ° =z = Ss = Thursday, June 17, 2021 | 2 REAL ACTION A NEEDED TO PREVENT = FUTURE TRAGEDIES, ® WRITES MAYOR * RICK BONNETTE ~ RICK BONNETTE. Column The Town of H Hills joins tunipalits across Canada i ing the 215 Indigenous chil- dren whose remains were found at a former resident school site in Kamloops, This is an appalling and grievous discovery. Like you, my heart aches for the children and familie: hope we as a nation learn from these horrors of the st. Say: thoughts and prayers is not enough. We need to see change in poli- cy and attitude. After the elimination of the Edmonton Oilers from the NHL playoffs, Indige- nous Oilers defenceman Bear was barraged on social media with racial slurs. He stood upto his haters with a well thought out vid- 0 response. dential school sites should be searched in case there are many more mass graves of Ingenious children. Eradicating racism, promoting messages of unity, equity and hope should be the very founda- tion of which we govern our lives. Thank you to the Halton Hills Alliance for Social § Change for organizing a : well-attended, emotional GRIEVING FOR KAMLOOPS’ INDIGENOUS CHILDREN view for ‘these children. we recogni History Month (please see the events calendar at hal- tonhills.ca for informa- June is also Seniors Month. We take this oppor- tunity to thank our senior adults who have made last- ing contributions in Hal- ton Hills. June also Pride Month, and we are install- ing a rainbow sidewalk in Acton. Last year, we in- stalled one in Georgetown. These sidewalks are a vis- ible reminder that every- one is welcome in Halton Hills, and that we support our 2SLGBTQ+ residents. I was very saddened to hear of the passing of for- mer councillor Gerald Ren- nie. He was a remarkable man, an English school- teacher and Presbyterian minister. Before he was elected councillor, he was on the board of ASSIC, which lat- er morphed into Links2Care. On council he pushed hard for seniors centres in both Georgetown and Ac- ton. He also served for many years on the Acton Bl r being on council, TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT Don Beatty photo A pair of mallard ducks take a dip in a backyard pond on Harrison Place in Georg: . Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, alone witha brief description. ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2, Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca nne fjocna NewresaiaCounet oO newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara TAMING THE PERSONAL DEBT MONSTER HOUSEHOLD DEBT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL RISK FOR SOME FAMILIES, WRITES he st served on the Acton PETER WATSON Seniors Board. Gerald had time for ev. Managing personal debt eryone. On behalf of could become the most im- cil, I would like to offer my my | portant financial challenge condolences to his family. for many households. Historically the two most Rick Bonnette is the significant financial objec- mayor of Halton Hills. tives were preparing for re- Follow him on Twitter at tirement and saving enough money i with stagram at rick. ee SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT THEIFPRCA the cost of post-secondary education. These two priori- ties will likely continue. However, now we have entered an era of alarmin; personal debt. If debt levels are out of control, it could immediate financial con- PETER WATSON Column cern. For at least the past de- cade the federal govern. ment and the E Bank of Can- da warn it person- al debt levels were getting rmingly high. Interest rates are at an icing low level that makes borrowing very at- tractive. People are buying houses that have become more expensive than ever re. asiterest Rece! contig Statistics Can- ada reported an increase in the inflation rate to 1.8 per cent. The Bank of Canada targets an inflation rate of 2 per cent. If inflation rises above 2 per cent, the most probable way to slow down the econ- ments beyond their finan- cial ability. Adding fuel to the fire will be governments roll- ing out significant stimu- lus packages. This is need- ed to prop up lagging econ- omies that have suffered because of the pandemic. a th Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Gar Halton Media General Manager Jason Pehora CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8- Phone: 905-873-0301 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-873-0398 Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and ere are strong forces in our economy that could lead to interest rates is meant to warn families of what financial difficulties they could face. Managi household expenses is something you should consider carefully. Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, REP, CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial plai ning column, Dollars © Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsonin- vestments.com. for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at theifp.ca For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail Ipotar@miltoncanadianchampion.com or call 905-234-1019. fas Accredited.