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OAKVILLE BEAVER Saturday, April 11, 2009 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 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 NEIL OLIVER Vice-president and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director 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 SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, 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 It's about jobs Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP any rumours have been circulating about what the 2009 Ontario Budget will mean for people. While Ontario is in the grip of a global economic crisis, the budget directly assists businesses by increasing Kevin Flynn their competitiveness. A tax reform package was proposed to strengthen our economy for the long term. It is the single most important step the government can take to create more investment, new jobs and help Ontario emerge from the global economic crisis stronger than ever. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Daily Bread Food Bank, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the 25-in-5 Poverty Network for Poverty Reduction have publicly supported the budget. The government is proposing to combine the two sales taxes paid in Ontario into one, starting July 1, 2010. The single sales tax would combine the GST and PST at a combined rate of 13 per cent. The budget will cut the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) rate for small businesses by 18 per cent, while further reducing the general CIT rate to 12 per cent on July 1, 2010 and to 10 per cent by 2013. We are also proposing to cut the manufacturing and processing CIT rate from 12 per cent to 10 per cent by July 1, 2010. This budget also eliminates a barrier to growth for small businesses by getting rid of the CIT small business deduction surtax, making Ontario the only Canadian jurisdiction that does not claw back the benefit of the small business deduction. Once fully implemented, our comprehensive tax reform package would cut Ontario's marginal effective tax rate on new investment in half making Ontario one of the most competitive jurisdictions in the industrialized world for new investment. To help families, the government is providing $10.6 billion over three years in tax relief. Books, children's shoes and clothing, diapers, car seats, booster seats, and feminine hygiene products will all be exempt from the new single sales tax. Families making less than $160,000 will get three payments totalling $1,000, and single people earning less than $80,000 will get three payments totalling $300. Besides this transitional assistance, Ontario is offering significant permanent tax relief for people -- 93 per cent of Ontario taxpayers will get a permanent personal income tax cut. Families and individuals with incomes up to $80,000 would get an average cut of 10 per cent. As well, low- and middle-income families will see a new, permanent sales-tax credit of up to $260 for each adult and child. Now is the time to help families and businesses being hurt by this global recession. Our government is taking action to make our economy more competitive, because our ability to strengthen the schools and health care services that families rely on depends on a growing economy. M RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Sweet LIESA KORTMANN/ OAKVILLE BEAVER EASTER TRADITION: The Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children's annual Easter bunny raffle raised $1,781. Here, Ron MacLean of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada presented the bunny (donated by Bernard Callebaut) to winner Daniel Miller. Next to Miller is Flavia Ceschin, program director at The Lighthouse Program. Managing to scrape the plaque off the planet in a single sitting M ost people go to the dentist for a cleaning and a checkup, or to have a cavity filled or a canal rooted. Most people go to the dentist to save their teeth. I go to the dentist to save the world. Admittedly, there was a time when I didn't go to the dentist at all. For many years, I had an overwhelming whacky dental phobia (a.k.a. odontophobia, dentophobia, or, as my empathetic wife used to call it, Looney Tunes), rooted in several fears: the fear of being confined (this part of the phobia also saw me steering clear of barber chairs and airplanes, thus rendering me a very hairy and grounded guy); oh, and the healthy fear of pain. When I was a kid, I had to undergo what our family dentist called "routine" dental surgery -- "quick," he assured my parents, "and painless." Only during the procedure, something went awry and quick and painless went out the window. Rather than abort the whole operation, or call in the cavalry, our determined dentist decided to just keep refreezing and hacking away at the problem. Suffice to say, I (eventually) left that dental office with a monstrous month-long mouthache and an even greater fear of dental facilities. For years, the very smell of those places sent me off in a panic. Now, all that has changed. I've matured. Okay, maybe not matured, so much as I've grown older. You're doubtlessly wondering, what psychological (or mystical) mumbo-jumbo did I enlist to overcome my phobia? No mumbo-jumbo at all. What happened was this: my wife and I had three kids and eventually I began to perceive a dental Andy Juniper office not as a place to be feared, but, rather, as one of the few places on earth to which I could escape for some guilt-free peace and quiet. I went from having panic attacks to having luxurious naps, so happy was I to be ephemerally freed from the madness at home. Eventually I found my current dentist, who is a wonderful man with a wonderful practice and my comfort level increased even more. One of his hygienists, the one who typically gets the call to clean my choppers, is on my wavelength on most matters. Her name is Ashanti Sea Breeze Finlayson (not her real name; her real name is Donna, but I felt the need to employ a pseudonym to protect her privacy so people don't start showing up at her doorstep at 255 Carnation Dr. at odd hours yelling, "Donna!", reminiscent of Marlon Brando shouting, "Stella!", in A Streetcar Named Desire). When I arrive for an appointment, Donna, er, Ashanti, sits me down and within a heartbeat we pick up where we left off at the end of the previous visit, some six months previous, catching up on the nuttiness of our family lives and solving all the world's problems. It's a tall order -- solving all that ails the planet over the course of a cleaning -- but we're efficient and we get it done. It doesn't help that for half the session I'm rendered unable to speak as Donna, er, Ashanti goes about the business of plaque removal, fab-flossing and giving my old choppers a coat of protection against cavities. Hmmm. Now that I think about it, maybe it does help that I'm rendered speechless -- in fact, that may be the key. The bottom line is that I'm proud of myself. I think I've come a long way: from being a crazy person who cannot even begin to tolerate sitting in a dentist's chair, to being a crazy person who thinks he can save the world in a single sitting. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.