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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 28 ,2 01 9 | 10 oakville.ca Join us to learn more. Community Mobile Sign Review Open House Wednesday, April 3 6:30-8 p.m. Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Road Palermo Room The town is reviewing the available locations for community mobile signs. Community mobile signs are used to display information regarding community events and initiativesheldby charitableornot forprofit groups. Recommended updates to the sign by-law will be presented to Community Services Committee on May 20, 2019. The decision of the Committee will be presented to Council on May 27, 2019. Why a review of community mobile sign locations? The current regulations set out in Sign By-law 2018-153 allow for two sign locations perward. The introduction of additional locations will offer local organizations better opportunities to display information on community events in highly visible areas along the roadway. Can't make the open house? Send us your comments by email at enforcementservices@oakville.ca Accessibility needs If you plan to attend and have accessibility needs, please contact Margaret Boswell at 905-845-6601, ext. 3350 (TTY 905-338-4200), email margaret.boswell@oakville.ca, or fill out the accessible feedback form on oakville.ca. For more information Visit oakville.ca or contact ServiceOakville at 905-845-6601 or service@oakville.ca The Trudeau government's budget was released Tuesday, March 19 and Karina Gould says there is plenty in there that will benefit the people of Halton. The Minister of Democratic Institutions and Burlington MP said this year's federal budget is all about investing in Canadians and the middle class. "This is really about mea- sures that are going to have real tangible impacts on Canadians and particularly residents of Halton," said Gould. The Minister first pointed to more than $2 billion, which would be divided up by munici- palities across Canada, to kick- start local infrastructure pro- jects. "This is an increase to the Mu- nicipal Infrastructure Fund, which we already transfer, but this year it is going to be dou- bled," said Gould. "One of the important reasons for that is because the provincialfor that is because the provincialf government is holding money back and we know how impor- tant it is to deliver services to our residents locally and we want to make sure municipalities can move forward with their infra- structure plans whether it's im- proving roadways or improving access to clean drinking water." As a result of this initiative, this year Burlington will receive more than $5.6 million, Oakville will receive more than $5.8 mil- lion, Milton will get more than $2.7 million and the Halton Re- gion will receive nearly $16 mil- lion through the indexed fund for municipal infrastructure. for municipal infrastructure. f Gould also pointed to the new- ly created Canada Training Ben- efit, which will provide workers between the ages of 25 and 64 up to $250 a year (to a maximum of $1,000 over four years) through employment insurance to re- train. It also allows these workers to take four weeks leave to attend this training. Gould said the government acknowledges the nature of work is changing and this mea- sure lets workers up their job skills over the course of their lifetime. She pointed to cuts to interest rates on Canada Student Loans as something that will help Hal- ton's young people. The budget lowers the float- ing interest rate of these student loans from prime plus 2.5 per cent to prime. The fixed interest rate will be decreased from prime plus five per cent to prime plus 2 per cent. Another important measure for young Canadians, whichfor young Canadians, whichf Gould listed, was the first-time home buyer's initiative. "If they can get a down pay- ment together the Canada Mort- gage and Housing Corporation will be able to put a certain amount towards that down pay- ment," said Gould. "So that will lower the initial cost of their mortgage, which is really huge for people trying to get into the housing market. In Halton that matters a lot because we know that housing afford- ability is a really big issue." Not everyone is happy with the budget or what it has to offer. Some have pointed out the Liberal government came to power in 2015 on a platform that vowed to return to balanced bud- gets by 2019. This budget unveiled $22.8 bil- lion in new spending over the next six years and features a def- icit that is expected to grow to $19.8 billion in the 2019-2020 fis- cal year. Gould said Canada has a very healthy debt to GDP (gross do- mestic product) ratio. "When it comes to comparing us to other G7, OECD (Organiza- tion for Economic Cooperation and Development) or G20 coun- tries we are in excellent econom- ic shape," she said. "The other thing I can say is our plan in terms of investing in Canadians is working. Over 900,000 jobs have been created since we took office, 825,000 Ca- nadians have been lifted out of poverty, we have over 300,000 children that are no longer liv- ing in poverty, we have the low- est unemployment rate in over 40 years. This is the sign of a healthy economy. Our position is investing in Canadians is mak- ing a tangible impact and is only going to help us grow our econo- my. This is not the time to go to- wards austerity measures." Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the budget is intended to distract Canadi- ans from the SNC-Lavalin scan- dal the government has been em- broiled in for the past few weeks. Conservatives stomped their feet and eventually walked out offeet and eventually walked out off NEWS BURLINGTON MP SAYS THERE'S PLENTY FOR HALTON RESIDENTS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT IN FEDERAL BUDGET DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com Burlington MP and Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould. Burlington MP office photo INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING FOR MUNICIPALITIES, TRAINING FOR WORKERS AND HEALTH RESEARCH GRANTS AMONG BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS See CANADIAN, page 12