THURSDAY OCTOBER 4, 2018 $2.00 WEEKLY IN PRINT. MUCH MORE ONLINE ANYTIME. InsideHalton.com AAAAAUAUAUTOTOTOPRPRPROOOOO OOOAOAOAKVKVKVILILIL EELELELE 2212212 2 W2 yecroft Road, Oakvkvillilleee 905-469-24422 autoprooakville.mechanicnet.com MECHANICAL SERVICES dentistoakville.com 905-842-6030 Real Local People. Real Local Service. Darryl R Demille, CFP 905-842-1020 www.darryldemille.com is becoming: 3420 Rebecca Street, Oakville 905.469.6072 www.lakeshorewoodsdental.com 4 family dentistry 4 teeth whitening 4 emergency care 4 digital xrays 4 we love Lakeshore Woods DentaL Care Southeast corner of Rebecca and Great Lakes Blvd. family dentistry teeth whitening emergency care Southeast corner of Rebecca Thank You Oakville! Diamond Award for Best Dentist Help keep Canadian newspaper journalism alive Pledge your support at newspapersmatter.ca Get more community news now With newspaper advertising revenues decreasing and com- munities across the country in- creasingly at risk of losing local news, the time to support jour- nalism is "now more than ever," says the professional body that represents newspapers in Cana- da. News Media Canada is hop- ing to spread that message far and wide during National News- paper Week, which runs from Oct. 1 to 7. "It's an opportunity for people to reflect on the importance (of newspapers) in their communi- ties, in civic dialogue and civic society in general," explained John Hinds, News Media Cana- da CEO, in late September. "It's about recognizing that journal- ists are skilled, trained profes- sionals that have real knowledge of the community. They have background, they can do the dig- ging and ask the tough ques- tions. We've structured our soci- ety around having that role where someone can ask the tough questions." That civic role is increasingly under threat in Canada, accord- ing to a study released Sept. 25 by Public Policy Forum, a think tank. Called "Mind the Gaps: Quantifying the Decline of News Coverage in Canada," it studied news coverage in 20 communi- ties across Canada over a de- cade, and found that the total number of articles declined by almost half. Coverage of local councils and civic affairs de- clined by one third. See NEWSPAPERS, page 46 LOCAL NEWS NEEDS SUPPORT 'NOW MORE THAN EVER,' SAYS CAMPAIGN NATIONAL NEWSPAPER WEEK ENCOURAGES READERS TO REFLECT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL COVERAGE Oct. 1-7 is National Newspaper Week. Special coverage to mark the occasion can be found throughout this week's edition of the Beaver. Nikki Wesley/Metroland IMPACTING YOUR COMMUNITY SAIRA PEESKER speesker@metroland.com