www.oakvillebeaver.com Beaver N O RT H A M E R I C A' S M O S T AWA R D E D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 46 No.5 THE OAKVILLE Their parents' house gets makeover ARTSCENE FLYER DELIVERY Quantities as low as 1000 at Call Marie 905-845-4549 ext 232 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007 48 Pages $1.00 (plus GST) Save-the-tree deal faces opposition By Kim Arnott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Tune-up time A deal that would see the Town pitch in $25,000 to save the towering 250-year-old white oak tree beside the Halton Regional Centre has passed its first hurdle, but not without some dissension from both local residents and town councillors. Inside Opinion.......................................6 Worship....................................29 Entertainment..........................34 Sports.......................................36 Real Estate...............................39 Classified .................................41 Full Delivery: Canadian Tire, Food Basics, Leon's, Superstore, Zellers Partial Delivery: Ashley Furniture, Pharmassist, Sport Mart, Linens-N-Things, Price Chopper, Food Basics, OCS, Sure Slim, Ho Lee Chow, Home Hardware, Sobeys, Pharma Plus, Fortinos, Rabba Fine Foods, Sears, Stoney Creek Furniture, Hopper's, Geomans, Shop & Save, Best Buy, The Barn. Super Pet, Shoppers Drug Mart, Michaels, Dominion, Future Shop, Sears, The Brick SYLC (Support Your Local Carrier) DELIVERY For home delivery & customer service call 905-845-9742 Mon., Tues., & Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wed. & Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. or Saturday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. For new subscriptions, call 905-845-9742 or subscribe online @ www.oakvillebeaver.com The 250-year-old tree, which was slated for removal to accommodate a widening of Bronte Road, has been at the centre of a community fundraising drive for the last six months. And while volunteers raised $270,000 toward saving the tree, the total falls about $75,000 short of the $343,000 needed to reroute the road around the oak. Shortly before Christmas, a three-way deal was proposed that would see the Town, Halton Region and the Province each contribute $25,000 to make up the shortfall. The arrangement was approved at a meeting of Halton Regional councillors, following assurances from Oakville Mayor Rob Burton that it would be approved by Oakville council. On Tuesday night, the town's Administrative GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER GET YOUR BOARDS READY: Lisa Sharpe, 22, scrapes the wax off a customer's snowboard as she fine-tunes it, in anticipation of the opening of the Glen Eden ski centre in Milton this weekend. This is her sixth season working at the ski and snowboard centre, including the Adventure Centre, which handles the rentals and tuning. Like many at the popular winter destination, her hours had been reduced due to lack of snow. For more see page 8. Residents could pay $30 more for regional services this year By Melanie Hennessey SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Halton's 2007 budget received three preliminary stamps of approval this week, meaning local residents could be looking at a $30 tax increase this year. The document was endorsed by the trio of regional standing committees and will soon go before the budget committee and regional council for final approval. If the current figures are given the go-ahead, the tax increase for this year will be set at 2.4 per cent, or $28.88 extra for a home assessed at $300,000. That number may go up very slightly -- by less than $1 -- if the health and social services committee's recommendation to add $200,000 to the budget for local domiciliary hostel funding is ultimately approved. The tax hike is down from the anticipated 3.3 per cent, which would've equated to $39.68 for a typical household. The savings was largely achieved by recent news from the See Mayor page 3 See Halton page 7 brand new 2007 Edge BUY WHAT YOUR NEIGHBOURS BUILD DORVAL DR. VAL In Stock for Excluding freight, taxes and dealer admin. fee. from $32 999 QEW R S. SERV E IC 905.845.1646 0 OAKVILLE Immediate Delivery! WYECROFT