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© BOPINION | Thursday, December 15, 2022 | Hills LENTY OF CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR THIS NEW COUNCIL, WRITES ” ANN LAWLOR he IFP - Halton ANN LAWLOR Column It's been a whirlwind of activity with the munici- pal election in late October, the inauguration of our town council with six new members, orientation and transit into new office space tot routine: Halton H Hills Cone isa Your new, elected repre- sentatives are: Ward 1 (Ac- ton) Mike Albano, Alex Hil- son; Ward 2 (hamlets and countryside) Jason Brass, Joseph Racinsky; Ward 3 Cold’ Ron PROUD TO SERVE AS YOUR MAYOR by the Province to remove important funding for mu- nicipal growth — as wellas changes to our i systems, herltageand env municipalities scrambling Under new provincial regulations, some costs that are currently paid by developers for new local roads, sewers, parks, recre- iain facilities and brary date. could land on the property tax bill: existing resi- dents and businesses. The implications are still being sorted out, but it will be a challenge to fi- nance the future growth for our town that the prov- ince has mandated. it said, we will forge ahead with a commitment to prosperity and mai taining the best Teatures o of our communit This holiday season, I hope you and family and friends enjoy the Ci treats our jocal businesses and are offering. Shop Tocal in our shops, markets and bazaars; take in the sparkling parks in the Glen, Acton and by Light Up Norris, Chantal Garneau; Ward 4 (south Georgetown and Delrex) Bob Inglis and D'Arcy Ke ene. Wards 1 and 2 are re- presented a _Halton Re- \d Wards and 4 are represented by Jane Fogal. As your mayor, t also sit on regional coun- We are hitting the ground running with early budget meetings and plans to develop a new strategic plan that will guide coun- cil's actions for the 2022- 2026 term. § I have to be honest, : though, recent decisions the Hills and enjoy the con- corts and theatrical pro- ducti Your. ‘contributions to various charitable funds are always im) Council, best wishes oN ‘happy holidays. Ann Lawlor is the may- or of Halton Hills. She can be reached at mayor@hal- tonhills.ca. SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT THEIFP.CA TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFPCA SNAPSHOT David Heimbecker photo Awhite chipmunk explores a backyard on Valleyview Road. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. MANY STRUGGLING WITH HIGH INFLATION PERSONAL FINANCES MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER, WRITES PETER WATSON When it comes to how inflation affects Canadi- ans, there is good news and bad. Three out of four Cana- dian: e reduced their eine to help cope with higher prices, according to a Maru public opinion sur- vey. The reality is people have different abilities in PETER WATSON Column financial despair. In my opinion, the most att risk of financial de: ose who pay their bills be using credit cards. This is done by one in four people. In the future, they are likely to have expenses they cannot afford. dealing with higher prices. Added to that are in- Almost half of Canadians creasing credit card bal- are feeling the effects ofin- ances with exorbitant in- flation to the point they _ terest rates. For many, this have made drastic changes _ will cause the most finan- to their lifestyle. cial damage. One in three people sur- The good news is it's im- veyed report that increas- portant inflation be co ing interest rates have trolled. That will lead to pushed them i i ility and that will benefit us all. The Bank of Canada has a job to do. It must control inflation. Managing personal fi- nances is far more impor- tant now than it was a few years ago. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned 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 Watson Investments. He can be reached at www.watsoninvestment- This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division ofthe 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 heir concems. Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca , soca newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress. Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Neil Oliver Vice President, Content, Community and Operations Dana Robbins Regional General Manager Jason Peho! 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