The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 20, 2007 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian What a difference a year makes Garth Turner Halton MP Garth Turner I was in trouble. Big trouble. The prime minister wanted me to say that appointing a guy to the Tory Cabinet, who was elected as a Liberal a few days earlier was a good thing. But I couldn't do that, after promising voters that ­ above all ­ I would do the principled thing, and represent them first, instead of my party boss. And nobody, I can tell you, was calling my office to praise David Emerson. Well, we are now at the anniversary of these things, and once again election fever is in the air. In three or four months we'll be doing it all again, and the people here will be trying to decide who can represent them best in Ottawa. My name will be on that ballot, but not as a Conservative this time ­ and you know why. Stephen Harper never forgave me for speaking out against his floor-crossing minister, saying he should have gone back to the people for re-election. In addition, I raised my voice on other issues during the year ­ like rescuing 15,000 `Canadians' from Lebanon, half of whom went right back, because that was their home, leaving us with a $63 million bill. I also pushed hard for good environmental climate change strategy, which we did not get, and opposed proposed legislation, which would discriminate against gays in the name of religion. And I campaigned hard against Mr. Harper's insistence that the Québec people be recognized as a "nation" within Canada. In short, on several occasions I found the political masters in Ottawa telling me to support one thing, while constituents asked me to do something opposite. And, in every case, I went with the voters. And paid the price. Since October I have sat as an independent MP, famously booted out of Mr. Harper's caucus. I was successful in helping all retired couples in Canada split their pension income, after a big lobbying campaign that had Flaherty take a few strips off me. Ultimately, though, he agreed ­ and pensioners can now share their income and cut taxes, a change which took effect just a couple of weeks ago. It will save them hundreds of millions a year. My latest campaign is to have income-splitting extended to all families, and on Jan. 30 I'm hosting a national conference in Ottawa to gain more support among MPs for this initiative. More than anything, this is at the top of the wish list for Halton families, based on all the door-knocking I did. People know it will help family cash flow, give a monetary value to stay-at-home work, even the unfairness between single and dualincome families and allow caregivers to start making their own RRSP contributions, since they'd have earned income. Finally, I told you four months ago when I stopped being a Conservative that I'd consult with you, listen to you, figure out the best way to be effective, and then make a decision about the future. That process, I think, is almost at an end. There are advantages and drawbacks to being an Indie, just as there are to wearing a party sweater. I know my days being a Stephen Harper MP are over, since I cannot work with anyone who insists a party is more important than the voters. I know I want to be an MP for a while more, since there are things ­ like family income-splitting ­ still to be accomplished. And I know, whatever happens, I will not sell out. RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America J ust a year ago I stood in front of TV cameras in a local hotel as the shiny new MP for Halton, part of the shiny new Conservative government. Less than two weeks later THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION The Fridge Diet that will have everybody shedding pounds F orget all those famous diets. Forget the Scarsdale and the Atkins and the South Beach. Heck, you can even forget the Supermodel Diet (eat entire sprig of parsley, then purge). I'm telling you, if you want to lose weight fast and furious, try my new diet. I'm calling it The Fridge. I wasn't trying to create a new diet. There's really no need. Oh, sure, like many people, I entered the New Year having pocketed a few pounds from too much indulging and too little activity over the holidays. Still, I wasn't running off in different directions looking for the number for Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. I wasn't trading in my regular soda for diet soda. I wasn't asking my wife: "Do I look fat in this?" No, I figured that a return to sensible eating and exercising would facilitate the triumphant reappearance of my manly figure (my two-pack abs, if you will). And then the fickle finger of fate found my fridge. Now, like many people, I don't know much about the science of refrigeration. I know that if you plug in a refrigerator, things get cold and stay fresh. And if you unplug a refrigerator, things get warm and go rotten. Well, to that limited knowledge, I can now add: if the fridge starts sounding funny, and smelling funny, and doing funny things ­ like leaking water out its doors ­ then, chances are, it's busted and the hundreds of dollars worth of food you had stored in this baffling appliance is, well, garbage. Anyway, that's what my repairman told me: "Your fridge is busted." Then he added, "And I don't have the Andy Juniper part so it will have to be ordered. It should only be a few days." That was seven days ago. And we're still waiting. I know what you're thinking, dear readers, because you're sharp tacks and you tend to pick up on things. What does a broken fridge have to do with dieting? Well, as we have discovered, modern families cannot function without refrigeration. Simply ain't possible. So when our kitchen fridge bought the farm, we plugged in our old basement fridge and began utilizing it. Now, between the kitchen where we prepare food and the basement fridge that now stores the food, there are some 16 stairs. I know, I've counted. What I can't tell you for certain is how many times over the past week, I've scaled those stairs. But my guess is that it's too many times. Up, down, up, down, like a yoyo. I suppose I could have cut those trips in half by merely being organized. But when I prepare food, organization doesn't enter the picture. So up I go and down I go, and by the time the meal is ready I've burned about 10,000 calories, lost a pound or two, and taken a quarter inch off my waist! The beauty of this diet is that you can eat anything you want, any time you want. The bane being that you have to run downstairs to get that food. Thus, the diet actually works on two levels: the stairs act as a pretty steep deterrent and, if you're craving is even bigger than the stairs, the stairs then chew up the calories contained in the food your craving. Eureka! The perfect diet! I predict right now that The Fridge will sweep the nation. Suffice to say, when it comes to diets and weight loss, the nation needs sweeping. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.