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9 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,D ecem ber 12,2019 insidehalton.com 1200 Speers Rd., Unit 12, Oakville, Ont. L6L 2X4 (905) 845 - 1408 | Fax (905) 845 - 5931 | ricky@rickywong.ca Ricky Wong CPA, CA, MBA, B. Eng Ricky WongRicky Wong DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONONONONONDDD DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONONONONONONDDD Voted Best Accountant by Oakville Beaver ReadersVoted Best Accountant by Oakville Beaver ReadersV for 11 Consecutive Years For more information please check our website www.rickywong.ca •Accounting •Auditing • Taxation Pud bySteveNease ArborMemorial Inc. Honouring a lifetime Honour your accomplishments, your faith, your individuality. Complete your plans, your way, in the stately grandeur of our modern, climate-controlled mausoleums. Take the first step and call us at 905-257-1100 3164 Ninth Line, Oakville, ON glenoaks.ca GlenOaks Funeral Home&Cemetery byArborMemorial *Offer valid on contract products until January 12, 2020. See location for full details. 5% DISCOUNT* for a limited time. ANIMAL TALES This possum was taking a rest break in the backyard of an Oakville residence last month. If you have a recent photo of wildlife in the town, send it to Oakville Beaver news editor Kevin Nagel at knagel@metroland.com. Include your name and where the photo was taken. Lauren Mitchell photo In the rush of the Christ- mas season, as the year comes to a close, I find it is a good time to take a moment to look back and see where we have come and what we have accomplished in the last year. I'm proud to say our government produced an extensive list of achieve- ments, and below I provide several significant accom- plishments. Ontario's economy is growing! As a result of the hard work and ingenuity of the people of Ontario and our government's policies, it led to the creation of 254,000 net new jobs since June 2018. In our fall economic statement, our govern- ment announced that we are projected to beat the deficit target for 2019-20 by $1.3 billion - reducing the projected deficit to $9 bil- lion from the $10.3 billion outlook presented in the 2019 budget. For this year, we are in- vesting an additional $700 million in education and $1.4 billion on health care. Additional spending is achievable thanks to Onta- rio's strong economy, which continues to gener- ate higher revenues than expected. For the environment,For the environment,F our government has expan- ded penalty charges made in cases of environmental violations. The government reinvests the funds collected from these penalties intofrom these penalties intof conserving our environ- ment. Moreover, we are strengthening measures to protect the Great Lakes, be- ginning Ontario's first-ever climate change impact as- sessment, and establishing Ontario's first Day of Action on Litter. Ontario has a new plan to build safer communities by making annual invest- ments in dedicated anti- human trafficking initia- tives. We are investing $20 million toward community supports, Indigenous aid, co-ordination offices, youth-in-transition worker programs, the OPP human trafficking investigation team, victim and witness assistance program, and more. This year our govern- ment introduced the Pro- vincial Animal Welfare Services Act, which is go- ing to have the strongest penalties in Canada for an- imal abuse. Ontario will become the first province in Canada to introduce a provincially-operated en- forcement system. Our government has been working hard this past year to deliver real re- sults for everyone in Onta- rio. From my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a Happy New Year 2020. Joyeux Noel. Stephen Crawford is the Oakville MPP ONTARIO'S YEAR IN REVIEW OPINION PROVINCE'S ECONOMY IS GROWING, WRITES STEPHEN CRAWFORD STEPHEN CRAWFORD Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT INSIDEHALTON.COM