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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, S ep te m be r 19 ,2 01 9 | 6 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 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- 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 newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Steve Foreman Regional Director of Media Holly Chriss Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Iouliana Polar Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Garcia Production Shelli Harrison Halton Media General Manager Vicki Dillane CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 280 Guelph Street, Unit 77 Georgetown, ON L7G 4B1 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 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail lpolar@miltoncanadianchampion.com or call 905-234-1019. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFP.CA EDITORIAL If something that could improve your mental health were free, offered tons of choices, and didn't require anything but your own energy and motiva- tion, would you go for it? We probably all would, and it's right there waiting for us: exercise. Canada's Physical Ac- tivity Guidelines recom- mend at least 150 minutes of at least moderate activi- ty per week for adults, cit- ing physical benefits that include reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. We may not give much thought to mental health benefits while doing it, but following are just some of the ways in which exercise can benefit our mental health and wellness: • Improving our self-es- teem. When we take action to care for our overall health, we can feel pretty good about ourselves. Beats sit- ting at home criticizing ourselves for not taking such a positive step. • Getting feel-good chemicals flowing. Endorphins and seroto- nin pump through our bod- ies and brains when we're active and can improve our energy and mood. • Taking a mental break. Physical activity can get our thoughts at least tem- porarily away from stress- ors and worries and give us something else to think about. • Being mindful. Turn up your music and really listen, focus on your steps, feel your breaths, take in all of your sur- roundings - fully immerse yourself in the experience. Choose a type of activity you enjoy, not what others are doing or think you should do. • Socializing. Walk with a friend or set up a workout buddy to build connection into your plan. On Sunday, Sept. 22, an amazing group called Noise is hosting a "Make it Loud" walk for mental health in Milton with all the proceeds helping to keep free walk-in counsel- ling available in Halton. Walk 1 km or 5 km, enjoy great conversation, and MAKE IT LOUD! Visit www.halton.cm- ha.ca to get more details, register, or donate and take steps for mental health and wellness. Melanie McGregor is the communications and advancement specialist at the Canadian Mental Health Association Halton Region Branch, which provides mental health/ addiction community sup- port and education. Visit www.halton.cmha.ca for more information and follow @cmhahalton on Twitter. EXERCISE CONTRIBUTES TO MENTAL HEALTH IT'S FREE AND FUN, WRITES MELANIE MCGREGOR MELANIE MCGREGOR Column Buy a car, or a toy car for that matter, and pay taxes. We live in an economy and society built on the trans- actions of goods and services. Generally, we know any transaction will include a share toward our public costs. That's how it works. For most of us. But the world's largest corporations - all Big Tech - are taking money from us, our towns, villages and cities, without paying their fair share to contribute to those public costs. While they are extracting dollars, billions of dollars, they are also extracting information, unimaginable amounts of information, about virtually every single Canadian. With mind-boggling algorithms, they use that data to control commerce, marketing, and even information and news distribution - further increasing their reach and profits. Think Amazon's dominance of online shopping, Apple's control over the App Store and how Google now answers your questions on its home page rather than directing you to another source. Our governments, with weak regulatory standards, are allowing them to do this. Only our governments can insist these behemoths contribute relative to their revenue when it comes to our health, security, education and infrastructure. Only our governments can regulate what they do with your data to control the marketplace. And what are our legislators doing? Dragging their feet on regulation. Even spending our taxpayer money on advertising with social media giants like Facebook. Read that again: spending taxpayer money on Face- book, which pays virtually no taxes, to reach voters because Facebook can collect voter information, un- fettered, to parse and parcel for advertisers. In 2018, the federal government spent $39.2 million on digital advertising, and $7.8 million of that on social media - close to $6 million of that on Facebook. These digital giants are milking us of our informa- tion and taking revenue out of our economic cycle. Not only are legislators allowing it to happen, they're giving them more of our money along the way. This newspaper has traditionally relied on advertis- ing dollars to fund local journalism and bring you news and information about your community. Those dollars are dwindling. Google and Facebook share 74 per cent of the $6.8 billion spent on internet advertising in Canada, according to the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project - leaving local media struggling to survive. We suspect this story's ending doesn't include greater privacy, strong local media or the ability of startups to get a foothold in the digital economy. Unless, that is, our provincial and federal governments find the courage to regulate them so they pay their fair share, and have limitations on how they use our information. GOVERNMENTS MUST STAND UP TO BIG TECH