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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 18 ,2 02 1 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca insidehalton@metroland.com facebook.com/OakvilleBeav @OakvilleBeaver WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Jason Pehora Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman Director of Production Mark Dills Regional Production Manager Manny Garcia Directors of Advertising Cindi Campbell and Ryan Maraj CONTACT US Oakville Beaver 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8 Phone: 905-845-3824 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Advertising: 289-293-0620 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com or call 905-631-6095. Letters to the editor Send letters to insidehalton@metroland.com. All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at insidehalton.com OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM People in our communi- ty have a lot of questions about the new vaccines for COVID-19. Many ask when they and their loved ones will be eligible. Last December, we saw the first vaccines pro- vided by the federal gov- ernment to Ontarians, and the rollout of vaccines will occur over the coming spring and summer. If you want to receive a notification when your age group will be eligible, please email me at ef- fie.triantaflopou- los@pc.ola.org, with your age and an email address to contact you. Vaccine appointments can only be made online or by telephone with Halton Public Health, and I would be pleased to send you a re- minder when your age group is eligible. Vaccinations against COVID-19 involve multiple levels of government. The federal government sourc- es and buys vaccine from companies who make it outside of the country and delivers it to the provinces that distribute it. Health Canada also decides if a vaccine is safe to use, and so far they have approved vaccines from Pfizer, Mo- derna and AstraZeneca. The Ontario govern- ment provides the vaccine to public health units and creates plans for who is most at risk and should be vaccinated first. To do this, Ontario cre- ated an Ethical Frame- work for Distribution and a three-phase vaccination rollout plan. The actual doses are de- livered in our area by Hal- ton Public Health, led by Dr. Hamidah Meghani, working with local health workers and hospitals. These are the hardwork- ing people on the front lines -- such as the para- medics who delivered vac- cines in our long-term-care homes -- fighting CO- VID-19. I know that every- one in the community has great respect for what they do. As Ontario is dependent on supply coming from the federal government, we can only provide the vac- cine as supplies are avail- able. This means there can be delays, which was the case in February with two of the vaccines. Over the coming months, we will ensure that we provide vaccina- tions to every person who wants one. I encourage you to sign up for my vaccine notifica- tion and you can find out more about COVID-19 and vaccinations at co- vid-19.ontario.ca. Effie Triantafilopoulos is the MPP for Oakville North--Burlington. She can be reached at ef- fie.triantafilopou- los@pc.ola.org. KEEPING YOU SAFE... AND INFORMED WE'RE HERE TO PROVIDE THE LATEST INFORMATION ON VACCINE ROLLOUT, WRITES EFFIE TRIANTAFILOPOULOS A snowy owl visits Bronte Harbour. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Vic Turczynski photo SNAPSHOT We need our health to live our life and our wealth to pay the bills. Last March, COVID-19 put a stranglehold on North America. The contagious virus spread through Canada and people got sick. Many others were fearful of the disease and our economy turned on a dime. While we were all fo- cused on health, our wealth took a hit. Early last year, the U.S. stock market was enjoying a prolonged period of con- tinued growth and cele- brating new all-time highs. Then in March 2020, the bottom fell out of the mar- ket. People panicked. Inves- tors sold in order to seek the safety of the sidelines and leave their money in cash. To add insult to injury, after many investors had sold, the stock market broke records for its speedy recovery. The past 12 months have been the most challenging time for most of us. We expect that we will re- cover, but there will be huge changes. It is not reasonable to think that we can experi- ence this dramatic a year without a major reset on how we live our lives. There are major political challenges ahead, including federal debt reduction and the financial inequity expe- rienced by those who have been financially devastated by the pandemic. We will argue and we will debate. We will shape our future together. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. Watson provides wealth management services through Watson Invest- ments. He can be reached at peter@watsoninvest- ments.com. HEALTH AND WEALTH UNDER SIEGE CHALLENGING TIMES AHEAD WHEN IT COMES TO OUR FINANCIAL WELL-BEING, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column EFFIE TRIANTAFILOPOULOS Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT INSIDEHALTON.COM