Civic Action - Greater Toronto Summit

The G.T.A. economy was hit hard by the global financial crisis and resulting downturn that began in September 2008. In 2009, the G.T.A. economy's had the worst showing since the recession of the early 1990's. The job market was sideswiped by the global recession. Employment fell by 1% in 2009.

Fortunately the economy began to recover and to some a lot quicker than first thought. The Municipal economies in the GTA region are highly interconnected and dependent. Regional strengths and challenges do cut across munipal boundaries. The problem is economic efforts are generally localized, fragmented and often competing. This is a serious issue.

A week a go I attended the two day Civic Action Summit held in Toronto and was chaired by CFRB radio host John Tory. It was very interesting as this was not the usual conference or summit attended by politicians. It was actually attended by few politicians but really a cross section of various business entrepreneurs, executives etc. There were many workshops on opportunities for action. There were over 600 delegates at this conference.

All of the material from the workshops will be sent out. I was pleased to have attended as this one was really business driven not politically driven. It was worthwhile and I hope to attend next year.

Enjoy Family Day Holiday in Halton Hills

This will be the third year that this will be a long weekend in Ontario. Premier McGuinty pronounced Family Weekend after just be re-elected for a second term. There was some push back as this may cost money to companies having to pay employees for a new statutory holiday. Personally, I like the idea of a long weekend in February. It's just a long month or as some would say we are in the " winter blahs". Not a bad weekend for some to exercise and enjoy what winter brings.

This year our Recreation and Parks are asking our residents not to forget that there are free activities on Family Day Feb. 21st. It's all fun and fun for all thanks to our generous sponsors - Canadian Tire Georgetown, RBC Georgetown, Tim Horton'. Come on out and enjoy swimming, skating,c rafts, yoga, ZUMBA and a Youth Room.

For more information visit www.haltonhills.ca/familyday for the day's activity schedule.

I Had a Visit From Flat Stanley - Who is Flat Stanley

Yesterday I had visit from Flat Stanley. Do you know who Flat Stanley is? Flat Stanley is a character in a series of books written by Jeff Brown.

In 1995 Dale Hubert, a grade three teacher in London Ontario, began the Flat Stanley Project. The Project focused on literacy. Students begin by reading the book and becoming acquainted with the story then they make their own paper Flat Stanley. They then document the places and adventures of their very own Flat Stanley. Usually a teacher will assign their students a two week time frame to have their own Flat Stanley adventure.

Since then, Grade's 2 and 3 students all over the world have been participating in the Flat Stanley Project and I'm happy to have recently been visited by a local Halton Hills Flat Stanley. Madison McMaster a grade 2 student from George Kennedy Public School brought her Flat Stanley to the Civic Center for a visit. His conversation with me was rather flat. All kidding aside, I think this a great character and the kids have a lot of fun using their minds to create adventures for their Flat Stanley.

I never knew who Flat Stanley was but now I do.

Georgetown Hospital Asks Town for Financial Support

We are in very tough budget deliberations. On our plate we have two to three arenas we have to build during this term, we have requests for senior's centers in both Acton and Georgetown plus many more big ticket items as well as the usual of road repairs, maintenance of our facilities. Last night at council the CAO of Halton Health Care John Oliver presented quite a compelling case for a $4.456 million dollar grant to the Georgetown Hospital for a new CT Scanner, improved Digital Imaging as well as an expansion for the hospital.

The total cost of the project is over 12 million dollars. Council members campaigned to be elected on the usual Municipal requests like the arenas, libraries etc. Hospitals normally are a Provincial jurisdiction. But I guess the Province is in difficult financial times as well as there are many hospital projects throughout the Province.

The hospital is confident that they can raise the money through the Hospital Foundation (they do wonderful fundraising), as well as the Hospital volunteers and through parking receipts etc. The Town will have to debenture the money over ten years if we do decide to go ahead which will be a Hospital Levy of up to 2% on the taxes. Council has asked our Treasurer to look at how we can finance this urgent need. There are many stories out there our CT Scanners do save lives. If council decides not to support this it may be 8 - 10 years before we get one.

Council supported a motion to have a public meeting on Jan. 24th to hear from you, our Halton Hills residents on whether they would support this as I stated earlier this is not really the norm for Municipalities. Having said that, Oakville and Burlington have already committed through their taxes support for their hospitals. It was only a short time ago that many people of Halton Hills along with myself, councillors of the day fought to keep obstetrics open in Georgetown.

I would like to hear your opinion on this issue. You can email me at mayor@haltonhills.ca We recognize the need, but can we afford it now is the question?

New Acton Library on Schedule

I had a tour of the new 9,000 square foot Acton library this week. Councillors Jon Hurst, Clark Somerville and Jane Fogal were also on the tour. We were all impressed with building thus far. It is going to be a great improvement of the outdated building that is the library now.

The best news of the day is that the library is on time and on budget. That is music to Municipalities ears. This new library will be almost three times the size of the present library. Statistics show that since 2003, circulation is up 45%, children's program attendance is up 23% and in-house Internet usage is up 50%.

The current Acton branch cannot meet the community needs. Not was space limited, users do not have enough room to work and read, and many larger programs cannot be accommodated. This new library will be more accessible for wheelchair users, people with mobility issues and young moms with strollers. Natural light will be maximized, will have more Internet stations.

The new Acton branch is due to open in late February or first of March. The new building will be heated and cooled using Geothermal. The cost of the new branch is expected to cost 3.5 million dollars which is being split between Federal, Provincial and the Town of Halton Hills.

For Acton and area library users this will be an exciting time to see the new building completed.

Mayor's Breakfast for Halton Industry Education Council

Today was a once a year special day for Milton Mayor Gord Krantz and myself as we co-host the breakfast for the Halton Industry Education Council. Over the past 20 years the HIEC has played a key role in providing positive learning experience for the students in Halton Region. The working partnership between businesses and schools has helped make Halton a great place for businesses to locate and students to find excellent employment opportunities close to home.

We know technological advances are upon us so quickly today that the need for a well educated and competent work force is a priority for both business and our community.

Today young people need to constantly upgrade their skills throughout their careers and the HIEC will continue to play an important part in their long learning journey.

Today there was a good crowd of about 200 people at Rattlesnake golf course. Many school board trustees as well as councillor Dave Kentner. Many students, educators and busy people were there. After breakfast there was a panel discussion of businesses and students who have gone through the program and they took questions from the floor.

The Student C0-Op program operated by HIEC is well received by the business community: students learn what the " real working world " is a like. There is no fiction here. It prepares them to enter the work force as productive players.
HIEC should be thanked for their ongoing commitment to make our community and region of Halton a great place to live and work.

Santa Claus is Coming to Halton Hills

This Saturday Santa Claus will be making a few appearances in Halton Hills. That is right, the jolly fellow will be first coming to Acton. Bill Spielvogel and Acton Firefighter's Association have made arrangements for Saint Nick to join him in the Acton Santa Claus parade. The parade begins at 1 PM. It is a fairly long parade so get your spot early. Also the Acton B.I.A. will have photos with Santa tomorrow afternoon at Roxxy Coffee at the corner of Mill and Main St. Acton. The B.I.A. will also be giving out hot apple cider vinegar. The parade begins at Acton Blvd. and runs through Mill St.

Now if you miss Santa Claus in the afternoon he will be making a second appearance in Georgetown for another parade. Al Watts and the Georgetown Lion's Club have Santa booked for their evening parade. The parade begins at 5:00 pm. This is also worthwhile to see as their are many colorfully lit floats. This parade will be going through Guelph St. to downtown Georgetown onto Charles St.

The weather man has arranged for great weather but please bundle up the little ones.