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9 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,January 27,2022 insidehalton.com The city of Ottawa found that low density on undeveloped land COSTS $465/person while growth within existing boundaries SAVED $606/person per year The Cost of Sprawl Tell your Councillor www.stopsprawlhalton.org I hope that you and your families had a safe and restful holiday season. As we move into 2022, our priority is to finish the fight against COVID-19. When the Omicron variant first emerged, our govern- ment took action to ensure that Canadians were safe and supported. Local businesses are the cornerstone of our Oak- ville community. These businesses, and the work- ers and communities who rely on them, have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic and will be critical to our recovery and long-term growth. Our government is pro- viding support by broaden- ing the access and avail- ability of targeted pro- grams. These measures in- clude: • Introducing and ex- panding the Local Lock- down Program to include employers that face capac- ity-limiting restrictions of 50 per cent or more and re- ducing the revenue decline threshold requirement to 25 per cent; • Introducing and ex- panding the Canada Work- er Lockdown Benefit to en- sure more regions would be made eligible as they make the difficult choices to reduce capacity to help reduce the spread of the vi- rus; • Extending the Canada Recovery Caregiving Bene- fit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, and the Canada Recovery Hiring Program to May 7, 2022; • Introducing the Tour- ism and Hospitality Recov- ery Program and the Hard- est-Hit Business Recovery Program to provide sup- ports to businesses that have faced deep losses due to the pandemic; • Extending the Canada Emergency Businesses Ac- count (CEBA) and Region- al Relief and Recovery Fund repayment deadlines to the end of 2023 for eligi- ble businesses. For more information on these supports, please visit Canada.ca/coronavi- rus, or contact my office di- rectly. I want to thank our en- tire Oakville community for looking out for one an- other during this difficult time. Let's continue to work together to support our local businesses in the coming weeks and months. As always, if you require any assistance of a federal nature, please do not hesi- tate to reach out to my con- stituency office at ani- ta.anand@parl.gc.ca or 905-338-2008. Anita Anand is the MP for Oakville and the Min- ister of National Defence. She can be reached at an- ita.anand@parl.gc.ca. HELPING BUSINESSES WEATHER THE COVID STORM OPINION GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS BROADENED TO ASSIST WITH ONGOING STRUGGLES, WRITES ANITA ANAND ANITA ANAND Column HOSPITAL STAFF ARE REAL HEROES My husband was recent- ly hospitalized for pneumo- nia at Oakville Trafalgar Hospital. Once we arrived, he was triaged in quickly. In fact, he was rushed away while I completed the information required with the triage team. He was cared for throughout his seven-day stay by very caring, capa- ble nurses and doctors. Many of the staff went above and beyond to help him with his care. This was a reminder to both of us, of the constant demands being made on all hospital staff. They are he- roes each and every day; however, even more so dur- ing this pandemic. Thank you from the bot- tom of our hearts. JUDY BRISBIN OAKVILLE RELAXING G1 LICENCE REQUIREMENTS A BAD DECISION Relaxing G1 licence re- quirements a bad decision This is in response to the recent news about re- laxing the requirements for a G license due to the COVID-19 backlog. Great, just what we need -- more inept drivers on the road. Just what is the big hur- ry to process more drivers? Our roads are already congested with drivers who don't have a clue what they're doing. Why not just put G li- cences in boxes of Cracker Jacks? You will get the same results. LARRY SNOW OAKVILLE Don't be a LitterBug! Please keep our community clean.