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4- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 4, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Michelle Bilek Terence Young Continued from page 2 Continued from page 3 What she has seen has shaped her beliefs and her desire to get involved. "I've seen health care dwindle. When I was younger, I got dental care. Now you can't get dental care. You can't even get your eyes taken care of. Things like that frustrate me. I'm concerned about my brother and my sister-in-law and how they spend more money on childcare than their mortgage. That's a concern for me," she said. "I'm really tired of the way the world and Canada specifically has been moving. It's in a direction of profit over people and it scares me. All these various experiences and being concerned with the state of the world has brought me to this place where I feel that I have to do something about it." On Oct. 14, Bilek is hoping the people of Oakville will cast a vote towards changing things for the better. "There's no other party that will create change for most of the populous in Canada, the working class and families," she said. "I'd like people to vote for me because I can bring that change to them. I can make our community and our country a better place. I really believe that." For information on Michelle Bilek, call 416-953-5569 or visit www.bilek4ndp.ca. Think Green. Breathe Easy. HUGE CENTRAL AIR & FURNACE $ Up to SALE BEST PRICES EVER! 2950* MANUFACTURERS CASH BACK Cash Back AND NO PAYMENT! NO INTEREST! FOR 6 MONTHS *OAC HYDRO CASH BACK UP TO UP TO UP TO $1400 + $1000 + $550 GOV. CASH BACK *Call for details. Financing Available Since his arrival, Young has been immersed in the community volunteering with Halton Crime Stoppers, Community Policing, the Glen Abbey Residents' Association, the United Way and other local groups. Young has also sat on the board of directors for the St. Anne's Tower and St. Hilda's Tower seniors' residences and was instrumental in introducing a convalescent care program to St. Hilda's. This civic participation reached its height in 1995 when Young ran in the provincial election, as a Progressive Conservative, for the North Oakville riding. He won this election by more than 16,000 votes. "It was a terrific experience. I loved the variety of the job where every day was different," said Young. "My favourite part of the job was every Friday when I'd be in my office at North Service Road and Dorval meeting with constituents. Normally, I'd have them stacked in half hour appointments all day." Young said he had a rule in his office that when someone called, their call would be returned within two business days. This proved exhausting for his staff, but Young believed it was an important thing to do, even if it only let the person know Young was looking into their issue. "My view is you work for the people who elect you," said Young. Young would hold this position until the riding boundaries were changed in 1999. While politics and business have dominated Young's professional life, his personal life has been devoted to his wife Gloria and his children, Hart and Madeline. Young also works to honour the memory of his daughter, Vanessa, who died in 2000 after taking the prescription drug Prepulsid. Young noted that this tragic experience radicalized him and he has since spent countless hours advocating the importance of drug safety. "I began to do research immediately after Vanessa died and I discovered the way that prescription drugs are marketed and the lack of proper safety information," he said. "I've studied that for years and I've written a book about it, which is basically a cautionary tale for other families to help keep their families safe with prescription drugs. It's called Death By Prescription and it will be published in January." Young has also founded Drug Safety Canada, a research and public advocacy organization that seeks proper safety warnings on prescription drugs and in some cases, calls for risky drugs to be removed from the market. All that Young has done, he feels, has prepared him for the role of Oakville's MP. "What I've stood for in my volunteer work and my political career is looking after and caring for ordinary people. That means working to keep the streets safer with criminal laws," he said. "It also means keeping families safe with regards to prescription drugs and chemicals in the environment. The Harper government's introduced new amendments to the Food and Drug Act that I'm very proud of and I will work very hard to see that they work. A strong economy, a balanced budget, keeping taxes low for families so they have more choices as to what they can do with their own money, those are the things that I've worked hard for." For information on Terence Young, call his campaign office at 905-338-2008 or visit www.terenceyoung.com. Blake Poland Continued from page 3 efficient car, selling their powerboat, taking the train rather than flying, upgrading their furnace and buying local, fair trade, organic food. Poland said there's no time like the present to go green. "I've had the opportunity more 8 Locations To Serve You Better! 905-849-4998 www.aireone.com 1-888-827-2665 Thank you for bringing a smile to our community. Having a Baby? avin ving y? W Welcome Wagon W can help! Exciting door prizes & gift bags for every mom-to-be, come and experience what a Welcome Wagon Baby Shower has to offer. Yes, the Smile Cookies are gone. But the smiles will last forever. Thanks to you, we raised over $12,000 for ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment and Development in Oakville. Please contact Welcome Wagon for information regarding the next Baby Shower in your area! © Tim Hortons, 2007 For further information and to receive an invitation, contact: 1-866-283-7584 www.welcomewagon.ca w. than the average Canadian to learn a lot about climate change and energy and security issues, and the health consequences of some of those," he said. "I taught a course last year on climate change and health promotion at the university at the graduate level and to tell you the truth, it is pretty sobering material. The media has gotten better at covering those issues, but most people have not yet been told what the real story is on that. We really only have a couple of years to turn it around. After that, it is going to be very difficult." Poland said he is doing what he can when it comes to campaigning. He is still working full-time as the director of the Collaborative Program in Community Development at the University of Toronto, as well as a professor with the department of public health sciences (faculty of medicine) at the university. He spends his evenings and weekends door knocking and attending all-candidates meetings. "My philosophy is that we do the best we can and know that every bit we do matters," he said. "I'm in this to raise debate about key issues. This isn't a personality race. This is an election that needs to be fought on important issues facing Canada and the world." If elected, Poland said his first task would be to work with other MPs on finding alternate ways to fix the economy using green solutions. "People are concerned about their jobs and income security, but using the old ways to fix it by throwing money at sectors that are still in the process of figuring out how to retool for the economy, that has to be rethought and done more carefully," he said. "We're sitting on the biggest business opportunity of human history. The move to a low-carbon society is coming." For information on Blake Poland, call his campaign hotline at 289-8388967 or go online to www.blakepoland.ca.