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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 6, 2006 - 3 Halton Region chair candidates size up the issues During the 2006 municipal election The Oakville Beaver will be posing questions to the Mayoral candidates on a weekly basis. The candidates' responses to these questions will be printed in the Friday edition of The Oakville Beaver from Oct. 6- Nov. 3. This week, the candidates were asked: In your opinion, what is the single-most important issue facing Halton residents. Brian Burton The single most important issue facing Halton residents is preserving our quality of life by managing growth. I will preserve our environment. Our quality of Brian Burton life has suffered because of crowded roads and because our green space is disappearing. A vote for Brian Burton is a vote to help preserve your neighbourhood, green spaces, and to get better GO Transit service. Clean air and water is critical. One of the most common reasons children are admitted to hospital in the GTA is breathing problems - often caused by polluted air. As an engineer I understand the technologies that will help us reduce air pollution and preserve our waterways. I can defend my position not to incinerate garbage. I stand for homeowners. The Halton plan is to increase property taxes 7 per cent a year for the next five years. Whose take-home pay is going up 7 per cent a year? I believe people should be able to afford to stay in their homes when they retire if they choose. A vote for Brian Burton is a vote to reduce taxes increases on your home, by making developers pay their complete share for growth. I have led four large successful companies in my business career. I lead by working with others to get results. As your Regional Chair I will dedicate myself to improving your quality of life while controlling costs and managing growth. Let me go to work for you Gary Carr The most important issue is which candidate has the right vision to lead our region into the future as Halton Regional Chair. The Regional Chair needs to show strong leadership in dealing with the Gary Carr issues we face. We need to have the right vision to ensure the economic prosperity as well as providing for Regional programs to make our region safer, and healthier. The economic prosperity means we need a region where we can provide an environment to create and maintain jobs for our citizens. We must make Halton a good place to operate a business so that we can give our citizens the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. This also means we need to ensure the taxes paid by residents are fair and reasonable. We also need to make our region safer and healthier. This means we need to guarantee that our police, social and emergency services are there to protect our citizens. Healthier means we have accessible, affordable public health and social services. Some of these community services include mental health, seniors, youth, children, and families. A very important part of making our region safer and healthier is by providing environmental services that are the best in the world. I believe a strong component of making people safer and healthier is a clean environment. These are the principles I believe in. Brent Marshall The single most important issue facing Halton over the next four years will be the need for strong leadership and experience to protect Halton's interests and continue the great quality Brent Marshall of life Halton residents have come to enjoy. Halton Region is one of the most envied municipalities in Canada. Its quality of life is a result of its magnificent natural landscape, rural-urban setting, vibrant communities and vision and leadership of its political leaders and municipal staff. While working as the Chief Administrative Officer for Halton Region over the past eight years Halton has become recognized as a municipal leader for its innovative approaches and business practices. This was typified in 2005 by Halton receiving a AAA credit rating for the 16th year; a record unmatched by any other municipality in Canada. Halton was one of the first municipalities to have the vision to identify Environmentally Sensitive Areas and woodlots to protect them for future generations. I have worked with Halton's Local Municipal, Regional, Provincial and Federal political leaders to build strong alliances and embrace new ways of doing business to advance the interests of Halton residents. Due to Halton's strong financial track record and innovative approaches to business and planning, I have been sought out as Halton's representative to provide advice on Provincial and Federal initiatives. Halton Region needs a Regional chair that understands the complexity of the issues, provides leadership and maintains strong relationships to protect the interests of Halton. Vote for real regional experience. Robert Plaschka The most important issue facing residents of Halton is the reliability and cost of our energy supplies. This past year saw the price of fuel jump to Robert Plaschka above one dollar a litre. Over the past two or three years we have also seen increases in the price of natural gas and electricity. We have the threat of brownouts and blackouts, especially in the summer months. Halton Region must begin taking proactive steps to reduce our reliance on our non-renewable energy sources, begin designing and constructing buildings that are more energy efficient. The Region must begin to design new community development around mass transit, taking steps to ensure that transit ridership grows. The Region should also forge ahead to look for alternative energy sources. The Region needs to ensure that residents, if they so choose, are able to implement solar or wind technologies, and take advantage of net metering. The Region should also review our waste streams (waste water by-products, landfill gas, solid waste) to determine if we can harness these to generate electricity. Ironically, all this effort will also reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and divert waste from our landfill, two other important issues. NO TAX PROMOTION - EXTENDED UNTIL OCTOBER 15TH* PROMOTION EXTENDED FRE E b best price guaranteed! FREE save up to ONTARIO HYDRO SAVINGS REBATE* $ 1,100 , Ontario's Largest Display of Regency Fireplaces *See store for details. North Service Road Oak Town Centre 1 QEW 50 years experience TTSSA. Licensed staff in store. FREE PERSONAL IN HOME ESTIMATES 300 North Service Rd. W. at Dorval Dorval OAKVILLE TOWN CENTRE I 905-844-1223 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK