7 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,January 30,2020 insidehalton.com 49% of Canadians give themselvesa grade of C or lower on howthey view their personalfinancial skills. Does that include you? Let'sTalk. 905-842-2100 Finance Study Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® 220 Randall Street, Downtown Oakville 905-842-2100 www.watsoninvestments.com Does that include you? Let's Talk. Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. *Source CIBC poll, February 2018 of Canadians aren't sure if they are saving enough for retirement*53%The World at Your Fingertips delmanor.com With an internet connection, a screen and a little know-how, the world is just a few keystrokes away. Delmanor is here to support you with technology seminars and one-on-one training. Now it's time for you to show your grandchildren a thing or two. Call today to book your personal tour and join us for lunch. (905) 469-3232 1459 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville Local businesses, chari- ties and the Town of Oak- ville were among those to make investment pitches to Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips during budgetRod Phillips during budgetR consultations in Oakville on Monday, Jan. 27. Phillips said the Halton event, which was held at the Oakville Conference Cen- tre, is one of 30 consulta- tions taking place across the province in the lead up to Ontario's 2020 budget. "We're really just asking people what their priorities are and also just talking a little about the state of the fi- nances so people can under- stand what we are trying to do as a government and we can understand what peo- ple think the budget should look like," said Phillips. The minister was joined by Oakville MPP Stephen Crawford, Oakville North- Burlington MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos and Bur- lington MPP Jane McKen- na. Phillips said previous consultations have seen re- quests fall into three areas including: concerns about affordability, desire for in- vestment in priority servic- es and a drive for the prov- ince to be put on solid finan- cial footing. The minister said the Province is actively work- ing on all these fronts. He also pointed out that Ontario is currently the big- gest sub-sovereign debtor in the world with $13 billion spent on interest payments for this debt annually.for this debt annually.f Those who spoke during the consultation were each given three minutes to make their case to the min- ister. Susan VanderBent, CEO of Care Ontario called for more investment in health care, particularly home care nurses. "It is critical to recognize that hallway health care will not change in the hospi- tal. We need to relieve pres- sure on our hospitals and home care can do that," said VanderBent.VanderBent.V "The wages for our nurs- es, therapists, and personal support workers in hospi- tals and long-term-care homes has far outstripped home care's potential and we simply cannot maintain our workforce. They are leaving us to go to other ar- eas of the health care sec- tor." To stabilize and grow theTo stabilize and grow theT home care workforce Van- derBent is calling for a 5 per cent increase to contract rates for home care in each of the next three years total- ing $300 million. Oakville Mayor Rob Bur- ton encouraged the minis- ter and the Province to make the necessary infra- structure investments to unlock the potential of the Midtown Provincial Growth Centre around the Oakville GO Station. The development of this area into an urban mixed- use community and trans- portation hub is expected to create more than 8,000 new jobs and affordable hous- ing. Burton said it would also improve the movement of people and goods. Phillips also heard from Faye Lyons, vice-president of Government Relations for the Oakville Chamber offor the Oakville Chamber off Commerce. She said a survey of Chamber members has identified business compet- itiveness, transportation, recruiting and retaining tal- ent and innovation as their top priorities. "Our members have identified taxes as an obsta- cle to business competitive- ness and growth. To that end, recognizing that the government has already an- nounced a reduction in the small business corporate in- come tax rate, there is still more that can be done to en- courage business growth and scale up with regard to the structure rather than the level of the corporate in- come tax," said Lyons. The need to invest in af- fordable housing and thefordable housing and thef importance of investing in education were among the other issues discussed by the more than 30 present- ers. Ontario's 2020 Budget is scheduled for release at some point before March 31. PROVINCE HOLDS BUDGET CONSULTATION IN OAKVILLE Oakville Mayor Rob Burton speaks during an Ontario 2020 Budget Consultation event in Oakville. Rob Burton Twitter photo DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS