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

www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, December 27, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 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 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 905-631-6095 Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief, Halton Region 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 Circulation Manager Website www.oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of A New Year's resolution: head towards a shared prosperity Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award JAMES HOGGETT / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER / @halton_photog PYTHON'S PIT: The kickoff of the first Python's Pit contest was held at Liaison College. An investment pool of more than $150,000 will be up for grabs. The six Python's -- Halton business leaders who have come together to support the contest -- are, from left, George Minakakis, Don Dalicandro, Susanne Mikler, Randy Pilon, Nadir Ansari and John Romano. The python was courtesy of Safari Science. s we begin this new year, let us each resolve to work toward a more shared prosperity. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney points out that over the last 20 years, Canadian incomes have increased nearly twice as fast for the top 10 per cent of earners than for the lowest 10 per cent. TD Bank CEO Ed Clark has called for us to engage in a dialogue "as to how do we deal with this issue because it's not good for a society to have growing inequality." In their book Spirit Level, British epidemiologists R. Wilkinson and K. Pickett show that less equal societies almost always have more violence, more disease, more mental health problems, and less social cohesion. U.S. President Barack Obama has declared that "income inequality is the defining issue of our time." Four per cent of Canadian households control 67 per cent of our total wealth. Community Development Halton analyzes Statistics Canada data to help us track the changing face of our local communities. From 2006-09, the data shows that while the number of Halton families grew by 8.4 per cent, the number of low-income families grew by 19 per cent -- with 9.3 per cent growth in low-income families in Burlington, 15 per cent growth in Oakville, 74 per cent in Milton, and 7.4 per cent in Halton Hills. While poverty in Halton is invisible to most of us, by 2009, 7.5 per cent, or 10,000 families in the region, lived below the poverty line. Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring recently hosted a community dialogue with Senator Art Eggleton addressing rising income inequality in Canada. A former Toronto mayor and cabinet minister, Eggleton was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2005. The senator identified potential solutions including tax reform, better investments in post-secondary education for under-represented groups, social assistance reform for those in poverty, infrastructure investment, affordable housing, early learning and childcare. We teach our children to share. Throughout 2013, let us ask ourselves how we can do that better across our communities. -- Submitted by June Cockwell and Marc Hamel, co-chairs, Halton Poverty Roundtable Saying goodbye to a year that passed in the blink of an eye W ell, dear readers, we made the mistake of blinking and another year is being ushered out. I hope you bearhugged 2012 and appreciated each and every day. And I hope you gave the year everything you've got -- your strength and energy, faith and hope, love and laughter, and a bottle or two of your favorite wine. For The Swiss Family Juniper, it was an eventful year that began on the boardwalk of St. Petersburg, Florida, watching New Year's Eve fireworks, and ended with our eldest getting engaged to his longtime girlfriend -- great beginnings, wonderful endings, a year beautifully bookended. Our St. Pete's sojourn ended in early January after days of beach bliss. As family members began catching planes, I packed the car and headed north, driving solo for two straight days, alone with my thoughts: solving all the world's problems and plotting out 2012. Remember the famous John Lennon line: "Life's what happens to you when you're busy making other plans"? Anyone driving long distances in winter should be acutely aware that you never really know what's coming at you, or what's up around the bend. Turned out what was up around the bend was an ice storm in the hairpin-turn region of the Blue Ridge Mountains -- fortunately, I missed the storm by a few hours. But that's life. Hits, misses, close calls, and wakeup calls. Within a six-week span this year, two dear friends went in for routine colonoscopies and came out with their world flipped upside down. Diagnoses Andy Juniper cancer. Both cases thankfully caught, treated, and both friends doing well. Smell the roses, dear readers. And, as my wife never tires of advising me -- stop your nonsense and book a colonoscopy. On a far lighter note, 2012 came replete with a remarkable soundtrack via the magic of live music. We saw Springsteen, officially joining the Brotherhood of Bruce; were enthralled by Kathleen Edwards, playing under the summer stars at that most tranquil and intimate of outdoor venues, the Jackson-Triggs Amphitheatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake; and, in a sonic sneakattack, we were mesmerized by the charm and chops of the Avett Brothers at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. Over the course of the year, my wife and I became increasingly obsessed with cycling, taking on the country roads and the ubiquitous hills around our house. Great for fitness and a whole lot of fun. And, of course, I spent much of my spare time taking my golf game to new levels. I believe it was the `philosopher' Forrest Gump who said that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Likewise, my golf game. When I'm playing, I never know what I'm going to get. And while I'm never a world-beater, the odd time my game disguises itself as a respectable round, giving me a (false) sense of competence. And making me crave more golf. Toss in a few therapeutic road trips to Chicago, a little work here and there, a family wedding, a quiet party for... 55 people in our backyard, and all the activities of everyday life and, as mentioned, 2012 passed in the blink of an eye. Bookended by great beginnings and wonderful endings, and the promise of a rockin' 2013. Happy New Year. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www. twitter.com/thesportjesters.