www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 6 Hold on... spring is around the corner (we hope) We are a little more than three months into a harsh Canadian winter. Although lately, including at the beginning of this week, we've been getting brief reprieves and glimpses of spring, the unrelenting cold continues -- most recently with Wednesday's storm, which sent us approximately 10-15 more centimetres of the white stuff and a chilling wind. Snow, ice, freezing rain and other forms of gelid precipitation keep falling. Snowbanks, which have started to tower over us like the walls of an ice palace, have been obstructing our vision. Not to mention walking the sidewalks has become a balancing act thanks to the buildup of slush that melts, then refreezes. Frankly, we are exhausted. And when we are exhausted, we get cranky. No, it's not right that the guy on the corner won't make a better effort to clear the walk in front of his house. Yes, the oncoming driver should have yielded to your car in the snowbank-narrowed street. We agree that more than two months is a long time to be looking at debris from an ice storm stacked along the side of the road. And that person who insists on blowing the snow from their driveway onto the street? Unforgiveable. But let's look at it from the other side. Many neighbours and strangers have risen to the occasion this winter. So, here's a thanks to those who have gone the extra mile in this sometimes excruciating weather to ensure those around them are a bit safer, and a bit more comfortable. First, everybody's favourite: the snowblower owner who takes his machine just a few houses farther along the sidewalk so the end of the driveways are cleared of the heavy dreck left behind by the plow. There is the considerate driver who stops to see if they can help dislodge a fellow motorist who has slid off to the side of the road. And what about the person who clears a path around the re hydrant or removes the buildup of slush and snow from the storm drain at the side of the street? Believe it or not, spring truly is just around the corner -- Thursday (March 20), to be exact. We will make it. We just have to hang in there a little bit longer -- and be a little bit more patient, with Mother Nature and each other. Editorial D A N C I N G F O R J U S "Connected to your Community" T I C E 447 Speers Road, Oakville ON, L6K 3S4 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Editorial Department: (905) 632-0588 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 52 | Number 32 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. VicePresident and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Halton Region Editor in Chief Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER DAVID HARVEY JILL DAVIS DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor Dozens of women recently gathered at the Holiday Inn & Suites Oakville to freestyle dance and join women across the world taking part in the One Billion Rising For Justice campaign, which encourages women survivors of violence and those who love and support them to gather and share their stories through art, dance and whatever form feels right. The Oakville group featured above dances to the Rising for Justice song, Tonight We Rise, by Roman featuring Sand ower. | photo by Graham Paine Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Business Manager Director of Production SANDY PARE MARK DILLS A healthy and prosperous Oakville John Sawyer Oakville Chamber of Commerce president My View MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Director of Distribution CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager T he Oakville Chamber of Commerce has long promoted the value of bringing jobs to Oakville. The ability to live and work in the same community brings many bene ts to the municipality and enhances the quality of life of its residents. Oakville has many characteristics that make it a very desirable community in which to locate a business. We have a great talent pool; our residents are among the most educated on the continent. We have easy access to respected institutions of higher learning like McMaster University, University of Toronto and, of course, Sheridan College, which is recognized around the world as the leading school for animation and digital media. We have access to customers through key road, rail, air and water transportation routes. Thirty per cent of the North American market is within a day's drive of Oakville. Our new hospital will provide outstanding healthcare. We are a clean, safe community that offers an exceptional quality of life. These are all attributes companies will consider when looking for a place to locate. From an environmental perspective, transportation, primarily related to commuting, is the single largest factor affecting the quality of the air in Oakville. Living and working in Oakville reduces the congestion on the highways which reduces the burden on the current infrastructure. From a nancial perspective, businesses pay two to three times the tax rate that residents pay and a business typically uses half the services required by a resident. The business community subsidizes residential taxpayers. There is a signi cant personal cost to commuting, both nancially and in terms of time. From a quality of life perspective, getting people off the roads improves the ability of all of us to get around. It also eliminates the need to spend an hour or more at either end of the day commuting. That time spent commuting could be better spent on leisure activities or, more importantly, with our families. Bringing jobs to Oakville will have a positive effect on our nances, our environment, our social well-being, our quality of life and our sustainability. Given all that Oakville has to offer we need to look at what barriers exist that inhibit businesses and jobs and all the bene ts they bring to our see Oakville on p.8 Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Proud Official Media Sponsor For: The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5040 Mainway, Burlington ON L7L 7G5 or via e-mail to; ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. 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.