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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday September 13, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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. Commentary Guest Columnist NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Investing at home for future prosperity Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP ntario is only as strong as its communities. Investing in municipal infrastructure not only Kevin Flynn strengthens communities for long-term prosperity, but it provides a boost by creating more jobs in the short term. Earlier this year I ensured all Oakville residents that we have a forward looking provincial government and that our government would be working in partnership with municipalities, instead of against them like previous governments. Thanks to the Investing in Ontario Act, the McGuinty government is allocating $1.1 billion from its 2007-08 year-end surplus for priority municipal infrastructure projects. For Oakville, this means receiving an extra $7,434,016 for its priority infrastructure projects. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton has already stated that the Town's portion will go toward capital budget projects that will stay true to the Premier's objectives of building needed infrastructure and creating jobs in the process. Introduced last March, this act gives the government the flexibility to use year-end surpluses to address immediate priorities while reducing the deficit. The funding for municipal infrastructure from the Investing in Ontario Act is expected to create the equivalent of 11,000 full time jobs province-wide during the construction phase of the projects and strengthen communities in the long run by addressing their capital needs. While the funds are to be used for capital purposes, each municipality will have flexibility and discretion to spend its allocation on its own priorities such as improved roads and bridges, expanding transit or upgrading social housing. Much-needed local capital projects can now be undertaken without raising local or regional property taxes. Who knows better the immediate capital needs of a community than the community itself? Now, municipalities can receive their local share of this investment, pick a project they need and put people to work to get shovels in the ground -- right away. In 2007-08, Ontario invested a total of $9.9 billion in infrastructure to improve the province's highways, public transit, municipal roads and bridges, hospitals and places to learn. Of that, $3.5 billion has gone toward municipal infrastructure. Investing in infrastructure is a crucial component of a strong economy. These investments are also evidence of a more collaborative and productive relationship between the province and Ontario's municipalities and represent another element of the government's five-point plan for jobs and growth in Ontario All these investments help build stronger communities and a stronger Ontario ­ now and in the future. IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America O THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION When the weekend's free and the world is your oyster e had in our grasp what is, for parents with three offspring and people living in the modern world, the most elusive of all things ­ more elusive than world peace, or spiritual happiness, or a playoff berth for your Toronto Blue Jays. We had a free weekend. That is, a weekend san obligations, devoid of duties, without commitments. I know this to be fact, not fiction, not fantasy, for I consulted my calendar and found it to be oddly blank, which led me to querying my social coordinator, who doubles as my wife: What have we got going on this weekend? And she replied: Nothing. I nearly buckled in bewilderment. Nothing going on? We always have something going on: a dance competition for our daughter, a dinner with friends, a gathering of family, a road trip, a work obligation to fulfill. I mean, the last time we had a completely free weekend, I had hair down to my shoulders, my shoes were goldfish-filled platforms and my pants were ridiculously belled at the bottoms -- granted, that was last year, but still ... the point is, it had been a while since we'd had a free weekend. As the weekend approached we spent some time deliciously pondering the prospects, contemplating the trouble we could get into, the fun we could have. We were like kids anticipating W Christmas, or the release of Rock Band 3. In the end, we decided not to make any set plans, to be free as birds and wing the weekend. Since I knew which way the winds of my desires would blow, I booked a tee-off time for us on the Saturday. On the Friday night, my wife arrived home with a feast of Thai food (although, as our much-missed friend Chandler Bing Andy Juniper would note, in Thailand they just call it food). We poured generous glasses of wine, retired to the balcony and enjoyed, simply enjoyed. What to do next? The world was our oyster (does anyone have any idea what that saying actually means? The world was our edible shellfish?). Anyway, we considered a movie, maybe, ah, hmmm. My wife went to fall asleep while reading while I decided to fall asleep while watching the Blue Jays. It was Friday night, after all. We woke on Saturday to complete cloud cover and delightful drizzle. Still, we trundled off to our local golf course because real men don't allow a little precipitation to get in the way of their game, or at least that's what my wife told me. Behold, by the third hole the sun broke through and we had a great round. From there we went out for breakfast and then returned home to repose in a leisurely fashion by the pool. It was whilst leisurely reposing by the pool, that my wife was seized by a whim that could be summed up in one word: theatre. She had an urgent and irrepressible urge to see a play, a theatrical production. She scrambled online and the next thing I knew I was slicing into a steak at a restaurant in Stratford prior to the curtain rising on The Music Man. And how did I find this production that has garnered glowing reviews? Well, the sets were imaginative, the costumes resplendent, the singing was superb, the choreography crisp, the dancing divine and there wasn't a single moment in the entire production where I wasn't daydreaming about, ah, offing myself. You know, they say that in the quieter moments ­ for instance, on a weekend when nothing much of anything is going on ­ you learn (or rediscover) things about yourself. We had a fab free weekend, but live theatre is really not my bag, baby. It's just not the way the winds of my desire blow. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.