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Beaver THE OAKVILLE Voted Ontario's Top Newspaper Four Years in a Row - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 OUT OF INK? REFILL AND SAVE UP TO CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! 60% Upper Oakville Shopping Centre (Upper Middle & 8th Line) 905-842-5600 Between Kerr & Dorval YOUR FRIEND IN THE BUSINESS 175 Wyecroft Rd. Oakville 905.845.6653 www.lockwoodchrysler.com www.carstaroakville.com 905-8457579 905-847 -2595 2212 Wyecroft Rd. 547 Trafalgar Rd. www.brantflorist.com/ob 905.639.7001 www.dentistoakville.com 905-842-6030 FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2010 24 Pages $1.00 (plus GST) A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 53 No. 1 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" Give me a hug Oakville man apologizes for role in terror plot By Isabel Teotino TORONTO STAR Start the New Year with Polar Bear Dip Hundreds of dippers and thousands of spectators are expected to turn out New Year's Day at Coronation Park for the 25th annual Courage Brothers' Polar Bear Dip for World Vision. The proceeds this year benefit the Kahi Water Project in Rwanda. The Courage brothers of Oakville expect hundreds of dippers to brave Lake Ontario's icy waters again this year during the 25th edition of their event -- the largest of its kind in Canada. More than $420,000 has been raised by the event to provide clean water in developing countries since the first dip in 1985. The event, which began when local businessmen Todd and Trent Courage jumped into Lake Ontario in Burlington, is now Canada's largest such dip -- attracting more than 500 dippers and 5,000 spectators each year. Last year, the event's festival-like atmosphere, with live music, costumes and celebrities (last year Tom Cochrane was a special guest) drew more than 460 participants and 5,000 spectators to Coronation Park. The dip will be held on New Year's Day -- Friday, Jan. 1. An Oakville man who confessed to being part of a homegrown terror cell that was plotting to blow up truck bombs in Toronto apologized to a Brampton court on Dec. 23 for his "shameful crime." Addressing the court at the end of his sentencing hearing, Saad Gaya said he was "extremely grateful" the scheme "did not progress any further" and asked for leniency. "Some people believe that I must have been driven by a dark ideology of hatred, nihilism and destruction," said the member of the so-called Toronto 18, requesting people not brand him a "terrorist." He said he was "politically naive" and believed the group's actions would result in Canada withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Gaya, 22, said he didn't know the intended targets were the Toronto Stock Exchange and the downtown offices of Canada's spy agency. He said he initially thought a police station was the target, but was later told it was a military base around the Greater Toronto Area, ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER PETER PUCK FAN: Hockey Night in Canada's Peter Puck hugs Serena Rimac at Joshua's Creek Arenas during the Richard Bell Memorial Tournament on Tuesday. For results of the tournament see Sports. See Confessed page 4 See Polar page 13 · HOME · AUTO · LIFE · BUSINESS · AV I AT I O N T H E M A G N E S G RO U P I N C . 1540 Cornwall Rd., Suite #100, Oakville, ON L6J 7W5 Tel: 905-845-9793 Fax: 905-845-9149 www.magnesgroup.com END INSURANCE CONFUSION. For informed decisions that you can feel good about, contact us!