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

6 uw ° =z = Ss = IFP - Halton Hills | Thursday, November 18, 2021 | 2 SANTA CLAUS ~ PARADES RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, WRITES RICK BONNETTE \ RICK BONNETTE. Column It's great to see some sort of normalcy returning during the COVID-19 pan- demic. A special thank you to the Royal Canadian Legion Branches 120 and 197 for having Remembrance Day services at the cenotaphs. The Acton Fire Asso tion and the Georgetown Lions Club are once again organizing the Santa Claus parades, set for this Satur- day (Nov. 20). Hockey, figure skating and the Georgetown Raid- ers are back on the ice. It's wonderful to be able to dine inside again. Many of our businesses and res- taurants strugg] through the pandemic. Support them whenever you can. Remember, our small businesses are | your friends and neighbours, and they always step up in mas, shop local; shop Hal- ton Hills. I'm part of an initiative to raise awareness about domestic yislenee. Work- $ ing wit ton Women's : Place and the Halton Re- RETURN OF MANY ACTIVITIES A WELCOME SIGHT gional Police Service, we will be unveiling a "purple bench" as a stark reminder of the abuse that quietly oc- curs in our community. re were 335 inci- dents of domestic abuse re- ted in Halton Hills this year, a statistic that almost mirrors 2020. Halton Women's Placeis the only women's shelter in the Halton Region, provid- ing emergency safe shelter and community outreach services to women and children experiencing do- mestic violence and abuse. If you need support, call 905- oo ee 7 905-878-8555, or reach out through the online chat 1 tool at halton- womensplace.com/chat. Lastly, in anticipation of winter fast approaching, town staff have been busy preparing for winter. The town's response to heavy snow will be carried out per council's approved policies that set out the pri- ority routes, focusing first on main arterial roads, then collector roads and Bnas residential and rural ro: I want to remind resi- dents fat we will clear roads as quickly as Possi- ble. However please be tient as it does take time for the plows to get to all of our 1 streets. Please know that we rec- ognize the importance of road maintenance in sup- porting drivers' safety, and we have over 1,100 kilo- metres of roads, 158 km of sidewalks and 27 munici- pal parking lots. Rick Bonnette is the mayor of Halton Hills. Follow him on Twitter at @RickBonnettel and In- stagram at @rick_bon- nettel. Milkweed blooms along the Bruce Trai to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT i / y Mary Anna Wyga photo in Limehouse. Do you have a great local photo you'd like ESTATE PLANNING GONE TERRIBLY WRONG ROGERS FAMILY'S PUBLIC BATTLE A LESSON ON HOW ESTATE PLANNING EFFORTS CAN BACKFIRE, WRITES PETER WATSON A large part of estate planning is deciding how to allocate your wealth to dif- ferent beneficiaries. For most families, this means distributing your wealth among your cl The late Ted Rogers built his tech company and according to the Rogers website, it has 25,000 em- ployees and an annual rev- enue of $18 billion. For per- sonal reasons involving the premature death of his fa- ther, he wanted to protect his children and ensure they would benefit from his financial success. In theory, all of these PETER WATSON Column good intentions should come true. Except, however, when you add in a human ele- ment. For the last while, we have seen what amounts to a family feud that has reached high levels of an- guish, disbelief, and sad- ness. Siblings are arguing against each other, their mother has been vocal which children she agrees with and which she does not. The argument is now in court. The press is havinga field day. This isa learning oppor- tunity, everyone. How can our estate planning efforts avoid this kind of family in- fighting? Astarting point is to un- derstand we are all human. People change over time and so do their priorities. We are not going to always agree with others, includ- their estate planning is overly complex and relies on ongoing family harmo- ny, that might not actually ippen. Estate planning is an ex- tremely important aspect managing your wealth. Meee family harmony during this process - serves your careful consid- eration. Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, REP, CIM®, FCSI offers Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsonin- vestments.com. 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 ocna newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Jason Pehora Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Deputy Director of Content Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director rr Distribution Cindi Campbell and Graeme Macintosh 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 telephone number 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. EO}