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06 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March i , 2000 IS YOUR GARAGE PROTECTING YOUR CAR BETTER THAN YOUR BARGAIN-RATE CAR INSURANCE? D on't trust just anyone to insure your car. see me: John Baumann 627 Lyons Line #308, Oakville 842-2225 Business To reach this section call 845-3824 Fax:337-5567 Restaurateur on a roll Bishara Arraf has expanded his local operation, other changes planned for Montfort group By Nancy Alexander SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER I M ontfort's B ishara A rraf: exp an d in g local operation. Photo by Peter J. Thom pson n the highly com petitive restau ran t business, the difference betw een success and failure often rests on one critical elem en t-- consis tent quality. It is this philosophy that has brought such p h enom enal resu lts fo r B ish ara A rraf, ow ner o f a series o f M o n tfo r t restaurants. B eginning seven years ago w ith a tiny 800 square-foot eatery in a plaza on Iroquois Shore Road, A rraf has built a sm all chain o f restaurants specializing in quality, m iddle eastern food. W ith lo c atio n s now th riv in g in O ak v ille, B urlington and M ississauga (plus a franchise outlet in B ram pton), A rraf is now concentrating on upgrading his current restaurants. T he result in O akville is a new ly designed and expanded M ontfort (tw o doors dow n from M a rtin 's b u d g et good new s for taxpayers The 2000 federal budget gave the Liberal governm ent the luxury o f dividing the financial surplus caused by a surging economy. Several spending initiatives were introduced, however two-thirds o f the anticipated surplus, or $58 billion, will go towards tax reduction. In summary, the federal budget offers investors some positive changes-but nothing too earth-shattering. The most significant part o f the budget was the elimination o f the automatic tax increases caused by inflation, known as `bracket creep'. In the past, when our incomes increased as a result o f inflation, we ended up paying more taxes. This was unfair. Investors were rewarded with an anticipated decrease in capital gains taxes. Previously, 75% o f capital gains were taxable and now, only two-thirds will be taxed. Be careful w ith this change because any capital gains earned earli er in the year will still be subject to the WATSON Dollars & Sense higher tax rate. Foreign property limits on RRSP and RRIF accounts increased from 20% to 25% for the year 2000 and 30% for 2001 and thereafter. My thoughts on this increase is...too little too late. M any investors have started to use the popular 100% RR SP eligible "clone" funds to legally exceed the foreign content limits. Clone funds usually cost approximately one half of one-per cent more to own, than the underlying foreign fund that they imi tate. Therefore, every investor should insure they use the full limit o f con PETER ventional investments to maximize their foreign content. A change in your RRSP can be made easily by contacting your RRSP investm ent firm and arranging to switch some of your Canadian invest m ents to foreign investments. Alternatively, you could make your year 2000 contribution and use the new funds to increase foreign invest ments. For the sm aller num ber of investors that hold segregated funds in their RRSP, they are not considered foreign content, regardless o f whether they are invested outside o f Canada. In 1996, the federal governm ent announced that the same rules would apply on segregated funds as other investments held within a registered account. T hat 1996 proposal has been extended a number of times and this budget extends the limit again to improved to make us more com peti tive with the United States. This has become an issue for many high-tech firms that compete with American firms for attracting and retaining highly-skilled employees. If a stock option that is received, results in a gain, meaning that the ini tial cost o f the stock is less than the current market price, the gain is taxed on a com parable basis to the favourable capital gains rate versus the higher regular income rate. O ne additional point is that employees can defer the capital gains tax, up to $100,.000 annually for pub licly traded shares, until the year of disposition o f those shares. The government has managed the delicate task o f spending, while start ing to lower our high tax rates. Peter Watson, MBA, CFP, RFP is the president of Peter Watson Investments -- an Oakville firm specializing in retire ment planning, RRSPs, and investment planning. Call 842-2100. 2002. Taxation o f stock options has been the old location w hich offers his custom ers a spacious, m ore com fortable and sophisticated place to dine. W ith the help o f d esig n er A ndrew L egault o f S heridan C ollege, M o n tfo rt has been given a totally new look w hich A rraf says is perfect to greet the new m illennium . C om bining clean, m o d em lines w ith hightech lighting and funky colours, M ontfort m an ages to achieve a sleek, d esig n er look w ithout sacrificing com fort. A nd alth o u g h the new M o n tfo rt is four tim es the size o f the o ld lo catio n , A rra f says custom ers can still co u n t on th e sam e fam iliar m enu and quality. O v er the years, A rraf has added extensively to his m enu w hile con tin u in g to offer the three big fav o u rites-- shw arm a, M o n tfo rt chicken and falafel. H e also tries to change his w ine list every three m onths, in addition to offering a full-selection bar and beer on tap from T rafalgar Brewing. "It's alw ays quality that brings people back," he stresses. "P eo p le in O akville d o n 't m ind pay ing a little bit ex tra for quality." In d iscu ssin g the reasons for his success, A rra f says p ro p er sta ff training is critically im portant, as w ell as an em phasis on keeping the cu sto m er happy. H e is a firm believer in the notion that "the custom er is alw ays right" . A rraf also acknow ledges the hard w ork and sup p o rt o f his w ife R abab, not to m ention his six year-old d au g h ter D alai w ho had lots o f ideas ab o u t w hat should go into the new restaurant. O ne o f those ideas w as to have "lots and lots o f ice cream " w hich A rraf has d ecided to pursue. C om e the nice w eather, h e'll be selling ice cream cones from a w indow at the front o f the restaurant. A s for the old M o n tfo rt location-- the place w here it all got started-- A rraf has decided to transform the old restau ran t into a quality fastfood outlet w here custom ers can stop in for burgers, fries and the like. H e expects it will be ready to open in tw o o r three w eeks. B U S IN E S S /P R O F E S S IO N A L Welcoming new business, professionals, and executives to Oakville. Gifts, greetings and information from the Town of Oakville and the business community. If you're new, we want to visit you! If you're new, we want to visit you! Call Wendy Budisavljevic at 849-6061 or call for m ore details regarding our exciting business sponsorship program m e. SEARS CORRECTION For our 28-page SPRING IS EVERYWHERE PRE-PRINT (sale dates: Feb. 28-March 5, 2000) (C031F500) The following items are not available through teleshop: PAGE 14 - Men's Arnold Palmer WhisperFlannel' Casual Pants & Men's R&R Classics Wrinkle-Resistant Sportshirts. PAGE 15 - All Men's Pierre Cardin Dress Pants. ELCOM E A G O N ltd. S in c e For our 40-page Sears FIRST LOOK pre-print (sale dates: Feb. 28-March 12, 2000)(V031V100) Jessica Sport Silk Coordinates will not be available for this promotion. 1930 I/Ve sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused Sears customers. Free long distance and Unlimited Internet Together, on th e same bill! Want to Quit Smoking? Design your own program! he Canadian Cancer Society know s most people can't just say, "I'm going to quit smoking now," then quit for good. But our smoking cessation program - One Step at a Time - can help change the way you think about your sm oking and provide you with tools to create the best way for you to quit. Take the first step to becom ing sm okefree. Call your local office of the Canadian Cancer Society, or the Society's toll-free Cancer Information Service, FREE Nights & Weekends anywhere in Canada $ 1 0 9 5 Add Unlimited Internet for... 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