Garth Turner to host Owen Sound Town Hall meeting

September 24, 2007

We received the following press release earlier in this week from Garth Turner, the Federal (~~conservative~~, ~~independent~~, liberal MP for the west GTA riding of Halton.

MP wants voter input on federal issues – Income trusts, economy, real estate, Afghanistan, the environment

Voters, taxpayers and constituents in the Owen Sound region will get a rare chance on Thursday September27th to send a message directly to Parliament when outspoken MP Garth Turner hosts a public Town Hall meeting locally. While residents are free to raise any topic they wish, the Conservative government’s decisions to tax income trusts, and raise personal income tax – breaking specific promises by Prime Minister Stephen Harper – are likely to spark a hot debate.

The income trust move is believed to have cost more than two million investors, most of them seniors, more than $20 billion in lost retirement savings. That is the greatest private loss ever to result directly from one government action, and came as a shock to voters after Mr. Harper promised repeatedly in the last election campaign that he would never impose such a tax.

Turner says many homeowners and investors are also concerned abut the real estate meltdown in the United States, and the potential for that to affect people here. He will address those concerns in a presentation, “What every Homeowner and Investors must know.”

MP Turner, ousted by Stephen Harper last fall for his opposition to several Conservative positions, has been a champion of jilted investors, and will bring an action plan to the meeting for those anxious to know what their alternatives are. Turner joined the federal Liberal caucus in February, after sitting as an Independent member of Parliament for four months, for the west GTA riding of Halton.

“I have heard from many people in Ottawa, and across the country, very unhappy that their Conservative MPs, like Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound’s Larry Miller, have refused to call such a meeting,” Turner says. “They seem only too happy to hide in Ottawa these days where Mr. Harper has rewarded severely muzzled his caucus and taken actions which seriously call into question his stated goal of having an open and accountable government.”

Turner says Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper need to explain to Ottawa residents not only why income trusts were taxed, but also why so many Canadian companies have been purchased as a result recently by foreign firms. Garth Turner, a noted personal finance author before going to Parliament, says he is also concerned by the government’s move to raise income tax and bring in an inflationary budget with record spending which has increased loan and mortgage rates later this year. He said that is endangering the economy, as the United States falls into recession.

Attendance at the Owen Sound meeting is free, and all are welcome to attend. Here are the details:

Thursday, September 27, 7 pm

Owen Sound Legion

1450 2nd Avenue

Owen Sound, Ontario.

A social ‘meet-&-greet’ event will precede the meeting, in the same location.

Share This

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Web Tools, The Area, Events, Community, Politics, theOwen

A little Tuesday morning humour

July 24, 2007

As you could imagine I spend a fair bit of time on the Internet. The following video caught my eye this morning and since Adam is taking a long weekend… here’s a little something to fill the void.

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

Share This

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Web Tools, Video, Internet

Sauble Beach Web-Cam

June 12, 2007

Sauble Beach Web-Cam Jack n Jill’s Surf Shop on Main Street in Sauble Beach has put web-cam footage of the water conditions at Sauble online and available to those of you with high-speed internet. We here at theOwen.com think that the site is a really great idea. The camera will be operating from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and for fifty seconds at a time, you can control what direction it faces and zoom it in and out. What an amazing idea, a Sauble Beach web-cam!!

In a happy side note, since writing this post it has been announced that Sauble Beach has again been awarded the Blue Flag certification. The Blue Flag is an internationally recognized environmental certification verifying that the water at Sauble meets very stringent quality standards, maintains a high level of environmental management, environmental education and safety and services. For more information visit the Sauble Beach Chamber of Commerce or The Sun Times.

theOwen.com would like to send out a special thanks to Gary at the South Bruce Peninsular for bringing this web-cam to our attention!! Much obliged Gary!

Share This

Written by adam · Filed Under Get Out, Sauble Beach, Web Tools, theOwen Features, Internet, theOwen

Take Part in Hick Tech

April 12, 2007

Things are as busy as can be around here and as a result the number of posts and the addition of new content has been very low as of late. This is directly a result of the work being completed for the next major release of theOwen.com which should take place around the beginning of May.

hicktech This is aptly timed of course to coincide with Hick Tech, the Rural and Modern Technology Forum. The conference is being organized by Emma Hogbin, a homegrown, and recently repatriated, local IT superstar. When she isn’t hard at work with conference planning Emma runs her own web/technology consulting business @ xtrinsic.com

I had the opportunity to interview Emma today about Hick Tech and what’s in store for the conference and why you should be there. Our conversation was rounded out with some more general discussion of the state of technological adoption locally and some of the challenges and and opportunities this presents.

The audio is around 20 minutes in length, you can listen in you browser with the play button below or you can download the mp3 file here (right click save as…)

Share This

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Podcast, Web Tools, Events, Internet, Audio

« Previous Page — Next Page »