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

OAKVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 120 N A V Y STREET O A K V IL L E , O N T A R IO L6 I 2Z 4 C hisnolm (905) 844-3240 Celebrity footsteps Business High success rate for "Streetwise MBA" m Focus Mercedes-Benz (L E .W . & D o rv a l D r. SCHOOL SUCCESS www.chisholmcentrc.com NOR1 tA'S MOST ME BEAVER AWARDED COMMUNITY NEW SPAPER By Howard Mozel SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER www.oakvillebeaver.com Sithe shelves plans for gas-fired power plant By Kim Am ott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER A proposed new power generating station near the border of Oakville and Mississauga has been put on hold indefinite lyAlthough Sithe Inc.. the company planning to build the plant, has received most o f the regulatory approvals it needs to build the gas-fired power plant, the project has been shelved until market conditions in Ontario improve. "There's a lot of "There's a lot of turmoil turmoil right now in right now in the industry and the industry and we're we're trying to sort through all trying to sort through that and figure out what our next steps are," explained all that and figure Sithe vice-president Duane out what our Cramer. next steps are." In late 1999, the company proposed building the 800·Duane Cramer, megawatt plant on the east Sithe vice-president side of W inston Churchill Boulevard, along with a similar one in Brampton. Both were originally expected to be operating this year. However, regulatory approvals took longer than expected, said Cramer, and market conditions haven't been encouraging for new investment. The provincial government's recent decision to cap elec t e e 'Sithe' page A5) Chamber warns Region against raising development charges A proposal by Halton Region to reduce its discount on industrial devel opment charges (DC) drew considerable fire Monday at a special meeting by the area's four Chambers of Commerce. Hosted by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce (OCC), the event was held to educate business owners about the impact of such a move and to exert pres sure on those councillors in attendance to vote against changes when the time comes. According to Oakville Chamber President John Breakey, it's already a "hard task" trying to attract develop ment to the region at the best of times and increased DCs certainly won't help. "We have concluded this is rather prohibitive," he said. Stephen Sparling, chair of the OCC's Advocacy Committee, said the industry feels blindsided by the region's review since the current DC by-law is in effect until 2004 and they were not expecting to deal with the issue until then. Sparling also said that despite the staff report's assertion that Halton has a relatively low tax rate, the region must i remain competitive "on all tax fronts." jllalton should also wait until other [regions complete their own reviews, he continued, to understand where Halton stands in relation to them. Jeannette Gillezeau, analyst for Clayton Research, presented a regionby-region comparison of existing and proposed industrial DC rates and the huge change in numbers that would result. Using an 18',000 sq. ft. building on a one-acre site as an example Gillezeau said Halton's proposed rate would be approximately 63 per cent more than those in Vaughan. "It's not a minor difference," she said. "It is a major increase ... and the dollars aren't insignificant." Halton's DCs are at their current lev els, Gillezeau, added, due largely to the "very high cost" of the region's sewer and water works. Development charges are used to pay for demands on roads, police, services for seniors, GO Transit, water and wastewater created by growth. Shortfalls in development charges are supported by the regular tax base. Recently, the Region's Administration and Finance Committee narrowly approved the elimination of retail development charge discounts and Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver a reduction from a 50 per cent discount to a 25 per cent discount for industrial R E J E C T IO N !: Aquinas R aiders' new 7-ft. Russian im port Ivan Shariyev m akes a huge block businesses. New retail businesses curagainst Alex Leadke of the Oakville T rafalgar Red Devils in H alton high school senior basketball action. lo o k in g on is the R aiders' Jon Esteban (#31). See Sports Section for full coverage. (See `Halton's page A4) Search for Carr's replacement off to quick start MPP Gary Carr announced only last week he won't seek re-election and already two contenders for the Oakville Progressive Conservative nomination have stepped forward. Carr -- who has served at Queen's Park for 13 years and is currently Speaker of the House -- made it official on Wednesday and on Monday a pair o f candidates let it be known they want his job. They include Andrew Pask. currently vice-presi dent of the Provincial Riding Executive and president of the Oakville Federal PC Association, and David Young, a director o f the Oakville PC Association. Young, a sales representa tive with a local real estate firm, said that, if elected, he will accomplish his mandate as MPP by working as a team com prised o f equal parts Q ueen's Park, voters and himself. Young said he views him self as a representative and advocate for the people -- not someone seeking higher office for its own sake. With that in mind. Young makes it clear that he planned to run for the position long before C arr's announcement that he would not seek re-election. Also contained in Young's pledge of commitment is the promise to return con stituents' phone calls, to lis ten to their concerns and to take Oakville's concerns to Q ueen's Park -- not the other way around. One way Young plans to stay in touch is through his (See 'PC' A3) Oakville couple conquer Mt. Kilimanjaro Oakville couple Andy and Andria Blanchard and 22 fellow associates from IPC Financial Network Inc. reached Mt. Kilimanjaro's summit Sunday, right on schedule. The 19,340-ft. climb -- part o f a $200,000 fundraising effort for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada - was a seven day trek that saw the group hike through extreme temperature changes and struggle against altitude sickness. A spokesperson for the group, Tanice Mundle. revealed via e-mail that "all had a wonderful time, a chance o f a lifetime. All are doing well, the trip was a great experience. The altitude and low oxy gen levels continued to play a larger role in the dif ficulty o f the climb, however, they are all down from the mountain - healthy, well and clean, after long hot showers. `T he weather was cold and snowy/rainy at the summit, but they are now back down at the base in tropical, African weather." The expedition got off to a rocky start when seven members of the group didn't receive their luggage upon arriving in Africa. She said the financial goal hasn't been met as of yet, "but I'm certain with all of the publicity around the event recently, they'll have more and more trickling in." The Blanchards, who planned to drive to Paris for their 25th anniversary after the expedition, were not available for comment. For a slide show o f the clim b visit www.makeawish.ca.' I Editorials................. A6 Community Update A7 Business..................A8 Focus...................... B1 ArtScene.................. B4 Test Drive................. Cl Classifieds................. D3 Sports.......................D1 Best Wheels.............. D4 Partial Delivery: Clines For women. Furnishings 2 Day, Home Depot. Staples Business De/xit. Sears, Hy & Zeis, Utile Caesars Piz&. Swiss Chalet, Colour Your Worltl Canadian PuMcabom Mail Product AgrMmant M35-201 Andy B lanchard pauses for a m om ent en route to the top of M ount K ilim anjaro. 1 PeterW vtson 1111 I N V E S T M E N T S RETIREMENT PLANNING SPECIALISTS F re e C o n s u lta tio n 8 4 2 -2 1 0 0 P e t e r C W a tso n NLB-A-, CJFJ>_ ILFJPL LOCKWOOD C II R Y S L E R 1 7 y e a r s i n t h e s a m e lo c a t i o n . C H R Y S L E R · -J E E P * D O D G E F IX / E S T A R © © © © © C E R T IF IE D 175 W y e c ro ft R o ad, O a k v ille 9 0 5 .8 4 5 .6 6 5 3 w w w .lo c k w o o d c h ry s le r.c o m