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•Th e IFP• H alton H ills, Thursday, February 13, 2014 7 GEORGETOWN'S Best Kept Secret! 46 Armstrong Ave www.MiskasWoodProducts.com Casings Baseboards Crown Mouldings 416 - 220 - 2741 • Truck Accessories • Upholstery • Heavy Equipment Glass •Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 We handle all insurance work. • your window & door professionals • 341 Guelph St., Unit 3 Georgetown 905.873.0236 www.buy-wise.ca info@buy-wise.ca • awarded readers choice 20 times • Visit our showroom COMMENT It's time for an Ontario employment plan Early in January, Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey re- leased a very disappointing jobs report showing that Ontario had sustained a net loss of 39,000 jobs in the month of December. It would be wrong to read too much into one month's job num- bers. More important is the trend over a lon- ger period of time. But even looking back a year, it doesn't get any better. On- tario's unemploy- ment rate in Decem- ber was 7.9 per cent, unchanged from the province's unemploy- ment rate in Decem- ber 2012, one year ago. The clear conclusion is this: we have made no meaningful prog- ress on net job creation in 2013 in Ontario. And with an even longer time horizon considered, it gets worse. Our Ontario PC Caucus main- tains that Ontario's unemploy- ment rate has been higher than the national average every month for seven straight years. Far too many young people are still unable to find work. Many have finished university or col- lege programs, but can't get their foot in the door into a "career" track job. Clearly, a new approach is needed to encourage job creation in Ontario. We need a comprehensive, multi-faceted strategy which sup- ports small business and start- ups, new apprenticeships, pro- ductivity, innovation, tax relief, hydro price stability, and red tape reduction. To be fair, Ontario's unemploy- ment rate for the month of Janu- ary, released by Statistics Canada on Feb. 7, showed a modest im- provement of less than one half of a percent- age point. However, a media report stated that fewer people in Ontario were looking for work. We continue to chal- lenge the Wynne Gov- ernment to table their jobs plan, and if they can't or won't, we offer them ours. ***** Some of our munici- pal government part- ners, including the Town of Hal- ton Hills, have sought financial assistance from the province for clean up costs in the aftermath of the Christmas ice storm. I did not hesitate to offer my support, in writing, for the prov- ince helping municipalities with their legitimate ice storm clean up costs. If the Wynne Government ig- nores our situation, the full cost of the clean up costs will have to be absorbed in municipal bud- gets. This will do nothing but put upward pressure on property tax- es. We call upon the government to do the right thing, just as we did in the days after the ice storm: neighbour helped neighbour. I can be reached at 1-800-265- 2366 or online at www.tedarnott- mpp.com. -- Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott TED ARNOTT The way we were Natural disasters are not new occurrences in Halton Hills, as seen in this image of flooding on the Credit River near Ninth Line in February 1965. Photo courtesy: Esquesing Historical Society Content: Heritage Halton Hills Credit River ice jam 'Mark your calendars for the Halton Hills Health, Home & Happiness Show' ... see story pg.5 When Chris and Marion Vito of Pauline Street in Georgetown cut away some branches from their magnolia tree, damaged by the ice storm, they decided to try forcing some of them. This was the result. Got a photo you want to share? Email: cgamble@theifp.ca. PICTURE THIS From our readers 'Quote unquote'