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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, July 31, 2015 | 6 Hopefully, initiative will truly bene t people with ASD, families and caregivers The federal minister of health recently announced the names of members of the newly-formed Canada's Autism Spectrum Disorder Working Group. In doing so, Minister Rona Ambrose said it was a vital rst step towards ful lling Ottawa's commitment to developing a plan for a national autism partnership. For the people who have autism and their families this announcement has been far too long in the making. Ambrose will lead the 11-member working group, which includes the who's who in the eld of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This talented, broad range of experts will consult with others on a variety of topics, including information sharing and research, early detection, diagnosis and treatment and ways to support those affected by autism. The disorder has been described as an epidemic. The neurodevelopmental disorder is said to affect one per cent of the Canadian population. However, we know many more families are trying to piece together the puzzle of autism, as they watch their loved ones struggle to navigate ASD's unpredictable path. In November 2012, the Oakville Beaver and its sister papers produced a four-part series on the spectrum disorder. The series spoke to a lack of services available to those with ASD, as well as difculties in diagnosing it. So many questions remain unanswered in this complex disorder with its challenging symptoms. What is clear though is more funding needs to be devoted to ASD research and far better services readily available to provide treatment and care, and to help families cope. It's encouraging to hear the federal government commit to trying to answer complex questions surrounding the disorder. With $39 million already invested in autism research between 2006-14, we commend the health minister and her colleagues for setting aside $2 million more for this working group. However, we can only applaud the government's initiative if it truly bene ts families, caregivers and, most importantly, the people with ASD. Let's just hope whatever great work is carried out by this committee doesn't collect dust somewhere on Parliament Hill. Ottawa's ASD working group is long overdue Editorial 1 0 0 G U Y S W H O C A R E "Connected to your Community" 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 53 | Number 61 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Vice ­President and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Halton Region Editor in Chief Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER DAVID HARVEY JILL DAVIS DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI The 100 Guys Who Care Oakville chapter recently donated a cheque to Home Suite Hope (HSH) for $13,800. The funds were collected from the group's inaugural fundraiser held last month. The grassroots `100 guys that care' charity concept has organizations across Canada and the U.S. Donald Belovich and Amir Gorgi, co-founders of the Oakville chapter, were inspired by the organization's counterpart in Toronto to establish one locally. The concept, which was originally founded by women in 2006 in the U.S. and later in Canada in 2012, is to get 100 people to meet once a quarter at a local restaurant or bar for drinks and some networking. Each person who attends donates $100, raising at least $10,000 at each event, which is then donated to a Halton-based charity by popular vote. The Oakville chapter had 109 people sign up for its kick-off event in June -- the group currently has approximately 150 members. Its next fundraiser is set for Tuesday, Sept. 22 at The Keg in Oakville at 7 p.m. Future events are to be scheduled in April, June, September and December of each year. For more information, visit www.100GuysWhoCareOakville.com. Above, from left are: Belovich; Peter Kolisnyk, HSH chair; Michelle Pommells, HSH president and CEO; Nigel Kettle, 100 Guys Who Care Oakville nominating member; and Gorgi. | photo courtesy of 100 Guys Who Care Oakville Photography Director Business Manager Director of Production SANDY PARE MARK DILLS MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Director of Distribution CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager Oakville's fiscal health ranks No. 1 Rob Burton Mayor of Oakville My View Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association O akville ranks at the top of the list when measuring municipal scal health. University of Toronto Professor Enid Slack's 2015 book, Is Your City Healthy? Measuring Urban Fiscal Health, looks at elements of scal health for cities. Slack is Canada's top academic expert on municipal nances. Her book explores ways to measure scal health. The book lists Oakville as the municipality in Ontario with the highest scal health. Oakville's scal health is 27 per cent stronger than the second-place city. The ndings that led Slack to rank Oakville as No. 1 included debt-to-tax ratios, lowtax arrears, revenue raising capacity, estimates of the scal gap and other nancial factors, which are detailed in the book. With the highest rating for nancial health, Oakville is well-placed to meet the nancial and service needs of our community now and in the future. This means, as Oakville residents, you can continue to feel con dent in the high level of services and programs the Town provides, as well as our scal health. As a council, we will continue to keep Town nances strong and stable and property tax increases at or below in ation. Together we can be sure to keep our No. 1 ranking for municipal scal health. Proud Official Media Sponsor For: The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 or via email to ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. 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. 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