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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, June 7, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 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. Guest Column Small business is heart of downtown he Town of Oakville is well down the path with its plan to designate much of the downtown core as a heritage district. A staff report recommending that Town council move to the next stage of this process will be tabled and voted on next Monday. As councillors consider their vote on this matter, we would ask that they very carefully consider three important things about independent retailers in the town's Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution KIM MOSSMAN Circ. Manager Website www.oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of T Wendy Rinella, Oakville Chamber of Commerce Chair Wendy Rinella Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award Submitted photo HAYLEY'S HARD WORK PAYS OFF -- AGAIN: Grade 3 West Oak Public School student Hayley Peever, recently raised funds for The Michael `Pinball' Clemons Foundation with a bottle drive. This is the second year Hayley has fundraised for the foundation. Surpassing her goal of raising $400, here she is presenting a cheque for $613.33 to Clemons. Hayley says she hopes to build on her success next year and to some day reach her goal of $8,500 -- the cost to build a school. There has been plenty of debate for Bill C-38 pposition members are claiming that the budget bill C-38 has not had enough debate in Parliament. Contrary to this assertion, Bill C-38 is in fact the Terence Young longest-debated budget in two decades. To date, the Canadian Parliament has dedicated seven days of debate, totalling 26 hours, and heard 113 speeches. The Standing Committee on Finance has spent 43 hours -- which includes hearing from the Minister of Finance and other government officials -- and the Sub-Committee on Bill C-38 studying Part 3 of the bill has spent a total of 14 hours studying the legislation; a thorough and fair period of examination. NDP Official Critic for Energy and Natural O Terence Young, Oakville Member of Parliament Resources Peter Julian monopolized 13 hours of debate last month and even resorted to reading tweets from his Blackberry, taking up 27 speaking opportunities his colleagues could have used. Most recently, the special committee created by our federal government to study the budget, sat to hear from witnesses for three consecutive nights. Conservative MPs were there, witnesses were there, but the NDP critics did not show up. After not being able to find anyone who supports their views, the Liberal Party presented only one witness, one of their own MPs. Bill C-38 invests $1.1 billion in research and development, introduces important changes to get more Canadians back to work and will keep our economy on track to balance Canada's budget by 2015 as promised. It must be passed before Parliament adjourns on June 22. downtown core. First, small businesses are -- figuratively and literally -- at the centre of the core. This has been the case for more than 175 years, as the town's external consultants have themselves outlined in their Heritage Assessment Report. Therefore, any planning initiative for the downtown core should focus squarely on small businesses in that area. And why shouldn't it? Small businesses contribute significantly to the core's unique character and vibrancy through the products and services they offer, the local charities they support, the taxes they pay and the quality of visitors they attract. The ongoing health and contributions of downtown's small business community simply cannot be taken for granted. Indeed, if independent retailers were to leave the core because of rising costs stemming from a heritage designation -- as many retailers in that area worry may well happen -- then so goes much of the heritage that the Town's planning initiative is meant to preserve. That would be a substantial loss for Oakville businesses, residents and the municipal government itself. Second, many of our members believe that adding more bureaucratic layers to doing business in the core runs counter to the longstanding and organic evolution that has given Oakville the heritage, which some people now believe can only be protected by governments. In other words, what can -- or should -- the municipal government do now that independent retailers have not been able to do for generations in creating a unique, diverse and vibrant downtown core? And third, the vast majority of participants at the two public meetings voiced strong opposition to a heritage designation, as did some participants in the focus groups. Many of these voices came from small business owners who, quite rightly, have vested interests in maintaining a vibrant downtown. Why wouldn't they, given their huge investments of energy, time, money and personal commitment in running their businesses? Many residents have also voiced concerns about the potential negative impacts of a heritage designation on independent retailers in the core. They are worried that such a designation could drive out the very retailers who help create the unique character and vibrancy that we all love and cherish. Given that many residents live downtown precisely because they can walk or cycle to a variety of diverse, independent small retailers at their leisure, the support of residents for local small businesses in this regard cannot be overlooked. There's no question that the Town's thinking on this initiative has evolved since the public engagement phase began last November. We appreciate the Town's work to date on this, knowing that it's not an easy file to manage. But what's particularly frustrating today -- seven months into it -- is that, according to the report being sent to council, staff will undertake "an extensive public engagement strategy to ensure that the public is involved in the creation of the plan and guidelines to ensure that the uncertainty surrounding them is resolved." This raises another important question on behalf of independent retailers in the core. To what extent will their concerns be fully taken into account by Town staff and external consultants, in not just answering their questions, but in actually shaping the planning path ahead, wherever that path may lead? If council votes to proceed to the next step, we would ask that it ensures -- by a formal motion, for example -- that the concerns of small business become Town planning staff's top priority in moving toward the next decision point. Oakville's downtown entrepreneurs, and the residents who support them, deserve nothing less.