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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , D ec em be r 9 , 2 01 0 6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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 adv rtising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. United Way of Oakville Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director 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 MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER ATHENAAward Guest Columnist Heading into the New Year in Canada we have good reason to be optimistic. My caucus colleague, Canadas Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently chose Oakvilles Chamber of Commerce to update Canadians on our economy. Canadas Economic Action Plan helped create 440,000 new jobs since worldwide recession began, more jobs than were lost, making Canadas recovery the best of the G8 nations. In November, 31,000 jobs were created in Ontario alone, three quarters of them full-time. Canada is on a roll. Due in part to lower tax rates for business, investment and jobs are flocking to Canada, especially in small and medium-sized businesses. According to the University of Calgary School of Public Policy this will create 233,000 more new jobs in the coming years. Weve extended the funding time for federal infrastructure projects to be sub- stantially completed from March to October. No local projects were in jeopardy, along with 90 per cent of the 22,000 projects across Canada. But in other parts of Canada, var- ious delays held up 10 per cent of the projects, which will have a grace period to finish. Please note this extension is not new money. It is time to balance our budget. In 2011 there will be no significant new federal spending commitments. Our government will not risk structural (ongoing) deficits, which would pile up and leave our children and grandchildren a massive debt load they would be paying their entire lives. Weve seen the dramatic effects of ongoing overspending in Greece, the UK and Ireland, so we know how important it is to get back in the black by 2015-2016; possibly sooner. The exact date will depend in large part on how soon our major trading partner the U.S. recovers from the recession. But the rest is up to us. We are looking for ways to eliminate duplication and waste in government, and we will prioritize prudent investments. In 2006 and 2007, our gov- ernment paid down more than $30 billion in government debt. We can start to do that again within a few years, and reduce high interest costs on our children, by slowing down spending just like Oakville families and businesses do. Note: Minister Flaherty is clear: We will not cut transfers to the provinces for health and education as was done in the late 1990s. Nor will we cut pensions. We have started with a three-year freeze on all federal spending. All MPs salaries and budgets have been frozen since 2008. All ministries will be asked to cut five per cent in oper- ating costs, no exceptions. We placed a cap on all federal spending on travel, hospitality, and conferences at the 2009 level. We will conduct administrative reviews to look for more sav- ings. We need your input for the February budget: tell us where to focus our priorities, and suggest ways to reduce spending. Send your suggestions to young.t@parl.gc.ca and copy (cc.) Flaherty at jflaherty@fin.gc.ca. You can also submit your ideas through an online sur- vey at http://www.fin.gc.ca/prebudget-prebudgetaire/1-eng.asp. As we fully recover from the recession Canadas economy will be booming. Together we will slay the deficit and once again begin to pay down our national debt for our chil- dren and grandchildren. Terence Young, Oakville MP Terence Young More j b growth The Oakville Beaver is a division of It pains me to admit, but last year I was simply not in themood. I wanted to be in the mood I wished and willed it,but it just never happened. So, Christmas came and Christmas went (in the blink of a weary eye, as usual) and I never really felt ready. And I never whol- ly embraced the season like Id embraced it every year previous. Truth be told, I think my wife and I were both in a bit of a Yuletide slump, overwhelmed and somewhat defeated by both the frenetic pace of life and the season that once energized us. Which may explain why we never got around to getting a Christmas tree. We blamed our lack of pine on the puppy we cant get a tree, we said, the rambunctious, curious canine will just tug it down. But, as our offspring intimated, that was pure poppycock. We didnt get a tree because we just never got a tree. In our porous defence, we did procure at the 11th hour some sort of two-foot- tall, festive-looking, Christmassy bush? Oh, great, the kids shouted, the traditional Christmas bush. Yeah, they were a tad underwhelmed by our Charlie Brown-esque shrub. But, then, these so-called kids are pretty much grownups now and we didnt see them rising to the occa- sion and rushing out to a tree farm. No, they all sadly claimed what we were claiming, to be too busy. It will surely be the sorry epitaph of our generation and generations to come: They were busy people. Would you think me a Scrooge if I were to declare in my dotage that Ive slightly soured on the season? I think as a society weve slowly, steadily veered off the course of the seasons true meaning, to the point where its getting harder and harder to navigate back. I heard my first Christmas carol over the loudspeakers in a mall on Nov. 1. It was sunny and 15 degrees outside and I was being exhorted to deck the halls. Theres a wonderfully wry guy on Twitter named Tim Siedell who goes by the handle badbanana, and it was around that point in time that he tweeted precisely what I was feeling: The halls, he wrote can go deck them- selves. Bingo. About one week later, I received my first Christmas card in the mail right about the time Christmas commercials began running in earnest on radio and TV. The other day I found myself scaling a tall ladder to hang sea- sonal outdoor lights, and to try to find (as I wavered on the top rung of that ladder) my misplaced Christmas spirit. It was a brilliant ploy on my part, to allow all the unseasonably warm November weather to pass me by and to procrastinate until a hostile wintry chill descended before I hauled myself outside to give my family what they craved: outdoor illumination. I wont go all corny on you and suggest that I had an up-a-lad- der Yuletide epiphany, but I did take certain unexpected pleasure and pride in getting those lights up. The next day, we hung the stockings by the chimney with great care. And the other night I came home to a Christmas miracle on her way home, my wife had veered off course and bought a fine looking tree. Hey, we may not be completely out of our Christmas slump, but were working on it. And, thankfully, for this year at least, the halls did not have to go deck themselves. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, con- tacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. On the top rung of the ladder looking for misplaced spirit Andy Juniper BANKING ON STUDENTS: From left, Norm Shogilev and Daniela Gatti of Scotiabank, David Euale of the Halton School Board, Mike Shepherd and Pat Wright of the Halton Learning Foundation with a $20,000 over- sized cheque symbolizing the funds provided by Scotiabank as the presenting sponsor of The Halton Learning Foundation's seventh annual Celebration Dinner at the Oakville Conference Centre.