in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 4, 20 21 | 30 49% of Canadians give themselvesa grade of C or lower on howthey view their personalfinancial skills. Does that include you? Let'sTalk. 220 Randall Street Downtown Oakville 905-842-2100 peterwatsoninvestments.com PeterWatson MBA, CFP, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI JenniferWatson MBA, CIM® *Source: CPA Canada 2018 Canadian Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® 220 Randall Street, Downtown Oakville 905-842-2100 www.watsoninvestments.com Thinking of retiring someday? Let's Talk. Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. *Sour CIBC poll, February 2018 of Canadians don't have a retirement plan to achieve what they want in retirement.*90%Schedule a virtual meetingto review your wealthmanagement strategy. 905-842-2100 ext. 103 jennifer@watsoninvestments.com An Oakville man's big dream to create a tourist at- traction featuring tiny Ca- nadian cities is about to be- come a reality. For years Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer, founder of Our Home and Minia- ture Land, has been work- ing with his team to build a place where people can ex- perience this vast country in one afternoon. While the work contin- ues to progress, "Little Can- ada" is now tentatively ex- pected to open to the public in late spring, in the heart of downtown Toronto. Little Canada occupies 45,000 square feet at 10 Dun- das St. E., and features tiny recreations of Toronto, Ot- tawa, Niagara region, Que- bec City and the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which includes parts of Oakville. Future miniatures, which guests will see actu- ally being assembled after the attraction opens, in- clude Canada's North, the East Coast, the Prairies, the Rockies, the West Coast and Montreal. The level of detail and work that went into mak- ing these miniature cities is unbelievable. The miniature Toronto is about 2,000 square me- tres in size. Tiny EdgeWalkers can be seen on the outside of the CN Tower, which lights up with an array of colours every bit as dazzling as the real thing. A miniature Rogers Centre has a retractable roof and tiny spectators at the model Scotiabank Are- na get a better look at the game thanks to a function- al mini-Jumbotron. GO trains take passen- gers to and from Union Sta- tion while other computer- controlled vehicles help bring the little city alive. Even the tiny people have been designed to re- flect the city's diverse pop- ulation. Constructing this Little Canada has been far more than a hobby or a project for Brenninkmeijer, who previously worked in the private equity manage- ment field. He estimates that by the time the attraction opens, around 200,000 hours will have been spent creating these miniatures. Developing this attrac- tion has also cost around $30 million with Brennink- meijer putting up at least $4 million of his own mon- ey. "It's a passion," said Brenninkmeijer. "It's not work. I'm excit- ed every day to wake up in the morning and see the progress and move to- wards launch." COVID-19 and its result- ing lockdowns and restric- tions slowed the progress of Little Canada and forced Brenninkmeijer to lay off many of his employees. He said there is still no solid date for the opening of Little Canada because it is unclear when people will be willing or have the mon- ey to visit tourist attrac- tions again. Even so, Brenninkmeij- er looks to the future with a sense of optimism. "We have got a great team. They are all very dedicated. They all under- stand what impact we can make once we do open," said Brenninkmeijer. "Just to see the smiles on our guests' faces, espe- cially the children, when they do see it for the first time is going to make ev- erything we have been go- ing through now so worth- while." Little Canada will not only feature the miniature cities, but also a gift shop, an area where people can see future model cities be- ing assembled, a restau- rant and the Littleization Station. The Littleization Sta- tion is actually a 3D scan- ning centre where guests can be scanned to create a miniature figure of them- selves. This figure can either be taken home or added to a Little Canada exhibit. For more information visit little-canada.ca. BIG HOPES FOR TINY CONCEPT Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer is hoping to take his 'Little Canada' project public soon. Graham Paine/Metroland DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS LOCAL MAN AIMS TO OPEN 'LITTLE CANADA' ATTRACTION THIS SPRING play is resilience EXPRESSIONS OF SELF THROUGH CREATIVE PLAY. embracehealthfoundation.ca Happy International Women's Day