www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, September 27, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 905-631-6095 Guest Column Development plan on target e've seen significant growth in our business community over the past year. In May, Halton Region joined Oakville Mayor Rob Burton in celebrating the groundbreaking of First Gulf Corporation's new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold office development near the Oakville GO Station. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) LLP is the lead tenant for the six-storey, 150,000 square-foot office develGary Carr opment located on Davis Road, just east of Trafalgar Road. This June, Profit magazine released its annual listing of the most profitable, fastest-growing companies in Canada. Several Oakville companies made the list, including: No. 56: Keyora Inc., Oakville -- e-commerce software; No. 60: Endonetworks, Oakville -- marketing agency; No. 75: FlightNetwork, Oakville -- online travel; and No. 199: Fluidconcepts & Design Inc., Oakville -- office workstation design & build. In August, engineering and manufacturing giant Siemens Canada officially opened its new Canadian headquarters at 1565 North Service Rd. E. in Oakville. The company's fivestorey, 110,000 sq.ft. office building, which has also been built to Gold LEED standards, is expected to accommodate 800 employees. These and other recent developments are translating Halton Region's recently-approved 10-year Halton Region Economic Development Strategic Implementation Plan Economic Development strategy into action. Developed in partnership with our local municipal partners in Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville, the plan builds on the vision for economic development approved by Halton Regional Council last fall. Our vision is that by 2021, Halton will be a preferred location for innovative businesses and entrepreneurs who need highly-skilled talent, quality infrastructure and a positive business environment in order to contribute to sustainable regional economic prosperity. We have already made progress in a number of the target areas. For example, one of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation actions laid out in the plan is to empower young entrepreneurs to start and grow their business in Halton. Earlier this year, Halton officially launched a new partnership between the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) and the Region's Small Business Centre. Through the partnership, the Centre provides CYBF entrepreneurs with pre-launch coaching including support with business planning, market research, operational planning and guidance during the CYBF application process. The Strategic Implementation Plan positions us well to meet the Region's growth plan distribution of 140,000 new jobs established in Halton over the next 20 years, 55 per cent of which are to be created in the next 10 years. Businesses continue to locate in Halton for two key reasons: quality infrastructure and high quality of life. These attributes are attractive to both skilled professionals and the companies they work for. A strong economy helps make Halton Region a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. If you have any Regional concerns or comments you would like to share, please feel free to e-mail me at gary.carr@halton.ca, or find me on Twitter @garycarrhalton or on Facebook. Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager Website www.oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of W Gary Carr, Halton Regional Chair Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award niikki wesley / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog Illegal act: As is usual at this time of year, residents see red over salmon carcasses, gutted for roe, floating along the shoreline in Bronte Creek. This photo was taken Tuesday after a resident complained to The Oakville Beaver. Some people who fish in the creek, use the roe of salmon that are now swimming upstream to lay their eggs, as bait to catch other fish. The practice is illegal and anyone who witnesses it can call the Ministry of Natural Resources' Violation Report Line at 1-877-847-7667. Some of the perks of being a wallflower, and a reader party. I was about to head out of town and was looking for reading material -- I always travel in the company of a pocket novel because you never know when you're going to need the comfort and distraction of a good read -- when our eldest called to say that he was leaving the Toronto Film Festival where he'd just watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. He was surprised to discover that I'd never heard of this movie and was shocked that I'd never heard of the bestselling book of the same name, written by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film (yeah, I know: busy guy). I did a quick Internet search and was completely turned off. Admittedly, I was gazing through cynical eyes, and looking down the snooty length of my nose, when I read that the novel was classified as Young Adult, and initially published by MTV, and that it had been favourably compared by assorted critics to The Catcher in The Rye. Young Adult? I'll grant you this is a catchall category into which S ometimes you find art where you least expect. Sometimes the tiny gems you uncover are, in truth, not all that hidden. And sometimes you just have to apologize for coming late to the every book that features youths or themes of interest to youths are tossed. MTV? Honestly, who even knew the American cable music channel published books? And, finally, comparisons to The Catcher in the Rye make me leery, in part because they're rarely even remotely apt, and in part because there are as many forAndy Juniper gotten books out there that were hyped as "a new Catcher in the Rye" as there are forgotten bands who briefly bore the moniker, "The Next Beatles." I grabbed a book from my night stand and headed off to Chicago. Alas, on my first morning in the Windy City, I came upon a bookstore that, as fate would have it, was featuring -- in a big, bold display, right up front: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. You know, when fate calls... you answer. So, I bought the book. And spent the next two days stealing time to read it. Instantly drawn in. Amused. Engaged. And, yes, very impressed. Oh, and for the record: this is not a sad book and I was not weeping profusely while speed-reading the final 50 pages in the sunshine in Millennium Park. I, ah, had something in my eyes. So, yeah, I guess I'm a little late coming to the party. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, you see, was published in 1999, and is only making it back to bookstores now because of the movie release. It made a huge splash at the time with (oxymoron alert) teenage readers. Over the next eight years it sold more than 700,000 copies. And it's one of those books that, when you finish it, you naturally feel inclined to pass it on. I handed my copy over to one of our sons. He started reading at dinner and returned the book at 9 p.m. "Done," he said. Then added: "That was awesome." Awesome indeed. The book is that short (written as a series of letters). And that compelling, chronicling the life of a boy named Charlie through his first year of high school. With The Perks, Chbosky hit a home run. Tomorrow, we find out whether he gets a hit with the film version. Of course, I'm going to the movie because sometimes you really do find art where you least expect. You just have to keep your eyes (and mind) wide open. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www.twitter. com/thesportjesters.