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3 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Saturday, March 7, 2009 PHOTOS BY RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER MAKING PROGRESS: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was in Oakville Friday speaking to an Oakville Chamber of Commerce luncheon and making announcements about small business initiatives. At left, he is pictured as he spoke at the podium during the luncheon. At right, Ward 2 Councillors Fred Oliver and Cathy Duddeck are greeted by the premier. Breaking down barriers to business Continued from page 3 also be able to use their federal business identification number to deal with the provincial ministries of revenue and labour and with other ministries and agencies to be included later. The final change will attempt to eliminate some of the red tape businesses must deal with to operate. "We're slimming down the regulatory environment by getting rid of out-dated and obsolete rules," said McGuinty. "Our goal is to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses by 25 per cent by 2011. Our commitment to Ontarians is to make their government faster and friendly and we will never compromise public safety or the environment." McGuinty also called attention to the Green Energy Act noting that it could help deliver the powerful economy Ontario so desperately needs. "We're debating it the legislature right now. Here's what our new law will do. It will bring more renewable energy on line. I'm talking about more green power, more solar plants and more wind turbines," said McGuinty. "Our new law will reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change and last, and perhaps most importantly, it will create more than 50,000 jobs over the next three years. I'm talking about jobs in manufacturing and assembly, building, service and installation, engineering, trucking and in the financial sector. Jobs for electri- "I'm talking more green power, more solar plants and more wind turbines." Dalton McGuinty, Ontario premier cians, inspectors, architects and people who design computer software and hardware and jobs for farmers." McGuinty went on to note that a few weeks ago he had visited a farm in Lindsay where the government was partnering with the farmers there to create a generator that will turn the manure from 600 cows into electricity for 400 homes. McGuinty's visit comes at a time of increasing economic hardship for Ontario, only days after the devastating announcements that Ontario's deficit will be in the area of $18 billion over two years and that the U.S. Steel Corporation will be indefinitely closing its Hamilton and Lake Erie plants, placing 1,500 people out of work. "Our new Green Energy Act alone will not get us to where we need to go and neither will our budget," said McGuinty. "Getting to where we need to go will take more than government acting alone. It's going to take all of us, businesses, workers and government. None of us can build that powerful Ontario economy on our own, but together nothing will stop us." With that said McGuinty noted businesses need to invest more in themselves and said government would make it more affordable for them to do so. He also said Ontario needs a stronger workforce with more skills training and noted government would help to bring this skills training. While the bulk of McGuinty's address in Oakville was spent on the economy, he also took a moment to talk about John Tory, the now former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, whose fate was recently sealed by a Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock byelection loss on Thursday. "I have never once doubted Mr. Tory's integrity or his sincere commitment to our province," said McGuinty. "So I thank him for his dedication to public service and I thank his family for the love and support that has sustained him throughout." OPENING SOON 2195 Wyecroft Rd., Oakville across Bronte GO station Ages 0-9