The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 13, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Halton trapped by numbers By Melanie Hennessey HOW TO ACHIEVE TRUE WEALTH We all seek it, but very few o meaning of `true wealth'. I am money you have, but being total Firstly, I believe most of us set o looking for the quick fix. We con kid ourselves; most of us spend m future well being. Furthermore w management yet somehow feel w I am a strong advocate of financ considers all aspects of your fin plan to suit your individual and The task of a professional fina by understanding their lifestyl complex and not so friendly fina Having dealt with literally h confirmed my belief that the on plan, one that is not limited to i Sounds simple enough, but is rarely achieved for the variety of reasons, including: - Our lack of planning. - A vast financial industry more concerned with selling products rather than solutions. - Our preoccupation with spending. - Who wants to think about boring financial planning? As a professional wealth manager I challenge clients to really think about their lives. This is a necessary starting point in most instances because we're generally talking about changing people's behavior and spending patterns if they are to realize their dreams and find `true wealth'. A major stumbling block to achieving this is that our lives are very complex. For this reason we need to divide it into manageable sections, which make it possible for us to decide how we wish to live and what it is that we wish to accomplish in our lives. I strongly believe that to be happy you must have dreams. Success, however, generally requires a plan. It is with this in mind that I partner with clients to develop, implement and monitor a holistic financial plan to ensure their dreams become reality. In the simplest terms, our lives can be divided into five categories; financial, health, relationships, adventure and spiritual. While these are obviously interconnected, each one is distinct and should be considered separately. We then focus on incorporating financial plans that will allow you to achieve `true wealth' which is not so much about the money as it is about contentment in our lives, finding that elusive happiness by realizing our wonderful dreams. TriDelta Financial Partners is a fee based holistic financial planning company where we do things a little differently. Our planning is also all about the big picture and we focus on finding the right balance between all the aspects of your financial life ­ investing, protection (insurance), mortgages, debt and cash flow management to achieve your goals. Anton Tucker, CFP, FMA, FCSI is Vice President at TriDelta Financial Partners Inc. (www.tridelta.ca) ­ a fee based financial planning firm servicing the Oakville area. Call me @ 905 901 3429 or email anton@tridelta.ca SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The Province's growth plan is "putting the cart before the horse" with the massive development it calls for in Halton and the Greater Golden Horseshoe, according to Ontario's environmental watchdog. This was one of the sentiments delivered by E n v i r o n m e n t a l Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) Gord Miller at a community forum held by the Region Monday evening at the Halton Regional Centre. More than 100 residents turned out for the session to hear Miller share excerpts from his 2006-2007 annual report, entitled Reconciling Our Priorities, and his thoughts on the Places to Grow plan, which says Halton's population is supposed to increase by more than 300,000 to 780,000 by 2031. The ECO said the plan elevates accommodating urban growth over the need to live within the ecosystem and watershed limits, thus putting the cart before the horse. "The Province has established projections for some communities before assessing water and wastewater infrastructure needs, their costs and environmental impacts," he noted. He said this ties into what he sees as the hierarchy of development planning in southern Ontario. Top priority is being given to accommodating residential and employment growth targets, along with protecting aggregate resources, he said. Third on the list is accommodating infrastructure, followed by preserving agricultural land. At the bottom of the heap, according to the ECO, is protecting natural heritage lands. "It's not necessarily what we want -- it's what we've got," he said of the hierarchy. On the transportation front, Places to Grow indicates that public transit will be a first priority. But, Miller said population densities need to be higher than those put forward in the Province's plan in order for transit-focused communities to come to fruition. "People should be able to live their lives and use transit for a lot of their needs," he said. "But (with the density targets) it looks to us like the highway system will still be the dominant transportation mode." He noted unless transit options are developed, Places to Grow will add about 2 million cars to the roads in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. New roads will have to be built to accommodate the vehicles, and unfortunately those roads can pave over provincially significant wetlands, Miller said. He explained the Province's planning system Gord Miller that protects wetlands also allows exemptions for infrastructure projects. "When we build up all the other areas and have to put in a new highway, sometimes it (wetlands) is the only place we can put new highways," he said. "We lose wetlands for the bad reason that they're the only area we can put this stuff." More growth also means more demand for aggregate use. This has Miller calling for changes to the Province's pits and quarries approval process, which he deemed cumbersome, long and biased toward approving proposals. "Municipalities also have very little say about pits and quarries in their land use planning," he pointed out. He noted he's a big advocate of recycling and reusing aggregate. In closing, the ECO put forward some key principles of sustainable development that he said could be used when planning for Halton or anywhere else. Among the principles is prioritizing quality of development over quantity and respecting nature and the rights of future generations. "If we have a good quality of life right now, it's because the generations before us made the right decisions Column Provided by Tridelta Financial Partners The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author p p f and do not necessarily represent the views of this newspaper. PROBLEM DENTURES... FULL SERVICE DENTURE CLINIC PROMPT QUALITY CARE SAME DAY RELINES & REPAIRS Peace of Mind ... ... the most Valuable Service we Provide years ago," he said. "We're going to make major decisions -- will we make the right ones so future generations can enjoy the quality of life we enjoy?" The audience had a chance to ask Miller questions, such as how much the Province consulted with him before it published Places to Grow. "Not at all," he simply stated. He was also asked what influence his Reconciling Our Priorities report will have. Miller said while his job is to bring a voice for environmental concerns from the people, the only way change will come about is if people push their elected members for it. "The strength and authority is with you. It's not with me," he said. When asked after the meeting to share his thoughts on the Region's Sustainable Halton planning process, he said he thinks Halton has always been extremely progressive when it comes to planning. Sustainable Halton is designed to guide the population growth called for in Places to Grow while preserving and protecting things like greenspace. Miller noted Sustainable Halton is, in a sense, "trapped" by Places to Grow. "It has to follow the tenets of the growth plan," he said. And when it comes to how sustainable the population growth slated for Halton will be, he said it remains to be seen. "The numbers will present a real challenge to the Region," he said. For information or to read the ECO's report visit www.eco.on.ca. Anton Tucker CFP, FMA, FCSI 905.901.3429 anton@tridelta.ca www.tridelta.ca OAKVILLE NORTH YORK MISSISSAUGA THORNHILL EVENING APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE NEW PATIENTS WELCOME! Tim Trian, CFA - Portfolio Manager Laura Trian, CA., CFP CIM - Associate Portfolio Manager , Vi i h // i d d lh 200-2908 South Sheridan Way, Oakville Tel: 905-829-0600 Live your dream. Increase your Net Worth. Ca I'll show you how. Philip Mathew, B.A. Sc., MBA 905-634-6021 www.philipmathe Investment Planning Counsel I P C I N V E S T M E N T C O R P O R AT I O N TM BRIAN CARR DD JODIE CARR DD HAYLEY CARR DD Are you a candidate for Permanent Teeth-in-a-Day? 627 Guelph Line, Burlington, Ontario L7R 3 M 7 Making a Family Tradition of Creating Smiles for 29 years!