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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday December 20, 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 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Juggling economy is a balancing act Ted Chudleigh, Halton MP have heard some people suggest the upcoming recession is a self-fulfilling prophesy -- the more we talk about recession, the more likely we are to talk ourselves into one. Ted Chudleigh I remember the recession in the early 1990s being like that. However, in that case, a tragically misguided government reaction by Bob Rae and the NDP, quickly took the economy from bad to worse. This time around I don't have the same feeling. The situation in the United States is dire with multiple economic challenges and plenty of blame to go around. Our Ontario economy, heavy in manufacturing and financials, is taking the brunt of the U.S. fallout. While our banks are strong, we cannot allow financial pressures in the U.S. to swamp our banks here in Canada. We must protect our financial system from collateral damage. Similarly, many jobs in Ontario are tied to the auto industry; we risk grave consequences if it were to go belly up. A government that provides loans to the auto sector is at the top of a slippery slope of loan requests and handouts. Where does government draw the line on providing financial assistance to troubled sectors of the economy? Governments cannot borrow large sums without creating major inflation. We are facing years of inflation due to past decisions, and every month we keep interest rates down to simulate the economy creates more pressure for higher rates. If governments don't draw the line on who to help, there will be a protracted period of high interest rates to rein in resulting inflation and a risk of hyper-inflation and the joy of carrying your wallet in a wheelbarrow. So, governments face a conundrum. They must provide grease to the economic wheel, but keep help under control, so our recovery from recession isn't worse than the recession. It means trying to arrange a shallower recession with fewer economic consequences, but accepting a longer one as consequences are stretched out to reduce their impact. It's a very fine balancing act. No matter what the approach, things cannot remain as they were. In order to save jobs, some wage and benefit packages will have to be reduced and some jobs will be lost. In order to survive, some ways of doing business will have to change. Surely, if taxpayers' money is involved, the government should have some level of oversight. I'm not suggesting that governments have a say in how restructuring of the auto industry is conducted, however, a timetable of payments contingent on the industry hitting agreed upon benchmarks, seems a reasonable first safeguard of the public's money. So far, the McGuinty Liberal's have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer handouts to the auto industry without extracting any guarantees or oversight. That has to change. Sadly for Ontario, our exposure to this economic storm is in part due to our past economic success. Financials and manufacturing have long been the foundation of our prosperity. As demand dries up, especially in the United States, and real money becomes scare, the resulting job losses will spiral our economy into difficulty. Certainly it is true that much of the rest of Canada will not have it as bad. And it is little comfort that other places will have it much worse. The McGuinty Liberals appear almost afraid to take on this balancing act. They have certainly avoided any action for months now even though my colleagues and I, as well as news accounts, have been pummelling them with economic reality day after day. Government must act. However, it's not good enough to know that every government action provokes a reaction. The people in charge must accurately predict what that reaction will be before they act. IAN OLIVER Group Publisher 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 I RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Visit with Santa NIKKI WESLEY/ OAKVILLE BEAVER MAKE A WISH: Nine-month-old Saverio Furgiuele has his photo taken with Santa Claus at Busy Bodies Indoor Playground on Thursday morning. During the Christmas season Busy Bodies were taking pictures of kids with Santa on Tuesdays and Thursdays in exchange for donations to the Make a Wish Foundation. This just in: sky is not falling on Chicken Little's Christmas I am in heaven. Or, at very least, I feel like I can touch the sky. I'm standing at the window of our room on the 30th floor of the downtown Toronto Hilton. The sun is slowly setting on the city and the view is postcardperfect, impressive and inspiring. We live in the country, way west and a bit north of The Big Smoke. For us to drive downtown -- to grapple gridlock and badmannered drivers and, on this day, some blustery weather that the meteorologist on the radio has taken to calling "snow streamers" -- takes pluck and patience. If I weren't such a calm, centered, Zen-soul, the drive would be all stress. As I stare out the window, watching the bustle below and noting landmarks as the sun dips from sight and the city lights up for the night, my wife hands me a glass of wine. Winding down from a long day. Winding up for my wife's office Christmas party. Within a few sips we're feeling like we don't particularly want to leave our room, our cocoon in the sky, we don't particularly want to leave its warm, welcoming coziness to venture out into the cold night. But we remind ourselves just how much fun we always have at this soiree, oh, and that my wife co-owns the company. To hunker down in our pajamas, polish off that wine, order room service for dinner and maybe catch a movie on pay-per-view is apparently not an option (I know, I asked). Dressed to the nines, we head out into the night. Dressing to the nines is always a dicey proposition for me. My wife, a public-relations practitioner, is forever dressing up for work and work-related events. While, as a writer, I typically work at home. In a pair of Andy Juniper paint-splattered shorts, or paint-splattered sweats when the weather's particularly wintry and the house's heating can't keep up with the cold. Which means that I tend to only get really dressed up for weddings and funerals. Which means that my wardrobe ain't half (or a hundredth) of what my wife's is. Which means that I'm without certain pieces of finery that might come in handy on occasion. The walk from the hotel to Far Niente, the restaurant hosting the party, is only 10 minutes. But the temps have plunged precipitously and a predatory wind is whipping up and down the streets. I spend the 10 minutes regretting not ever having purchased an overcoat and trying not to expire prematurely of hypothermia. The party is a blast. Wonderful wine, fab food. But everyone knows that what truly makes or breaks a party is people. We feel fortunate to be surrounded by such fine folks, getting caught up with some of them for the first time since last year. At 1 a.m. we say our goodbyes and grab a cab back to the Hilton. We stay up for an hour reliving the party. In the morning we wake to sunshine. We let that sun pour over us as we sip strong coffee and read the morning newspaper. We feel grateful, having had this reality respite. We feel rejuvenated. Admittedly, in past weeks we'd been caught in the snare of doom and gloom, beaten up by the prevailing sentiment that the sky is falling. On this morning, I'm in heaven. And, from my vantage point on the 30th floor, I could kiss the clouds and I could touch the sky. And I can tell you first-hand, dear readers, despite what Chicken Little's been saying, the sky is not falling. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. And I'll see you in the New Year! -- Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.