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© BOPINION hursday, November 17, 2022 © NEVER A DULL 2 MOMENT AT THE HELM OF COUNCIL, : & WRITES RICK 2 BONNETIE < “ RICK BONNETTE Column Congratulations to May- orelect Ann Lawlor. I would like to congratulate all the candidates who were successful. To those unsuccessful fanaa. Isay thank you for putting your names for- wal ard, After 19 years as mayor and 21yearsasa councillor, this 1 is my last mayor's col. Where did the 40 years go? I can honestly say there was never a moment. Right from the get-go and af- ter only a few months as mayor, I had to deal with the It was an exciting six weeks, especially to hear then-health ministe George Smitherman over- ride the board and keep these vital services open. \day we have a vibrant hospital, but we are now in need of a new one. In2009, Halton Hills was put on the international map when the United States brought in its “Buy American” campaign. $ They were banning all : products made in Canada TIME AS MAYOR TRULY MEMORABLE ‘lam truly humbled the people of Halton Hills chose me as mayor over the years.’ on government infrastruc- ture projects. Ibroughta resolution to council stating Halton Hills would not buy from any country ihat oi discrimi. nates against C: Wow! I had no no idea that this went over the wires — national papers, the Brit- ish Guardian, NY Times, etc. This got right up to the Prime Minister's Office. It was an interesting time. My motto after eve! interview was "It's time to show Canadian backbone and not Canadian back ba- con." In the end, the potential ‘ade war was resolved. The residents of Halton Hills always elected a great council that I could work with. During my time as mayor, we built three ice pads, two fire halls, two li- braries, the Helson Gallery, a Public works operations three destination skateboard parks and 27.5 kilometres of trails. We al- so reduced gravel roads from 95 kilometres to only 10 kilometres today. Two epic events I will never forget during my time as mayor were the 2013 ice storm and, more re- cently, the COVID-19 pan- demic. They were very challenging times. 1m truly humbled the people of Halton Hills chose me as mayor over the years. A sincere thanks to all of you. Rick Bonnette is the outgoing mayor of Halton Hills. TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT Anita Robinson photo Sparrows enjoy a bird bath in a backyard on Mowat Crescent. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. CHALLENGING TIMES AHEAD AFTER ANOTHER INTEREST RATE INCREASE Many households will feel the pain of the most re- cent interest rate hike. And the cumulative effect of so manageable. The Bank of Canada's most recent increase is one half of one per cent. That increase was a combina- tion of good news and bad. On the itive side, most had predicted a high. er increase of three quar- ters of one per cent. The bad news is this is the sixth time this year the BOC has raised interest rates. Consider the impact on households. The trend to manage spending is based onan ability to pay the cost days that would save first then chase an item. PETER WATSON Column Now for the reality of 2022 — six interest rate hikes with another antici- er, plus the amount ofr rate hikes is higher than would be ex- pected. If the BOC's hard policy mn raising interest rates goes too far, the economy could slip into recession. Business activity would decline, workers might decline or disappear while borrowing costs rise. These are challenging times. We hope you can suc- cessfully navigate them. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Angra Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is member of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. Only investment-related prot ind services are offered through Watson Securities of ACPI. Watson provides wealth manage- ment services through He have their ment reduced or suddenly find themselves unem- ployed. Your income could Watson can be reached at www. wbatsoninvestment- ABOUT US This newspaper, | published Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. 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