canadian home construction takes a plunge in the...

CANADIAN HOME CONSTRUCTION TAKES APLUNGE IN THE MIDDLE OF A POPULATION BOOM

JACQUELINE FERNANDEZ YAMI GAUTAMKAREENA KAPOOR KHANALIA BHATT

CANADIAN FLEET MARKET KEEPS2 MILLION ANNUAL SALES INREACH, SCOTIABANK SAYS

MOUNI ROY

Air pollution leads to millions ofasthma attacks annually worldwide

FATIMA SANA SHAIKH, KIARA ADVANI, MOUNI ROY AND NUSHRAT BHARUCHA PUT THEIR BEST FOOR FORWARD AT THEAWARDS FUNCTION. THE GORGEOUS LADIES WERE NOTHING LESS THAN A TREAT TO THE EYES

VOGUE WOMEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2018

Canada's housing market slowdown, which began with a dropin sales, is now spreading to home construction. Housingstar ts in Canada have fallen steeply in recent months as the

country's developers react to a slowdown sales brought on by risinginterest rates, tough new mor tgage rules and historically poor levelsof home affordability.But the timing is wrong: Population growth has accelerated, and wemay now not be seeing enough construction to keep up with demand.The number of new housing star ts fell to an annual rate of 188,700 inSeptember, according to data released Tuesday by Canada Mor tgageand Housing Corp. That's the lowest in nearly two years and a drop of23 per cent since June, when the country clocked a rate of 245,000housing star ts, annualized."The slowdown in building has coincided with moves toward morerestrictive mor tgage rules and higher interest rates," CIBC economistRoyce Mendes wrote in a client note.The decline was led by steep drops in British Columbia and Alberta,where home construction star ts have dropped by 43.3 per cent and34.8 per cent, respectively. Central Canada bucked the trend, withhousing star ts up 21.3 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively.While it's common for this data to swing wildly from month to month,this slowdown comes as Canada's population is accelerating.

Recent estimates from Statistics Canada show the country's popula-tion grew by more than 518,000 over the past year, to 37.1 million.That's the fastest rate Canada has seen since the late 1980s, and thefastest rate of any G7 country.

Canada’s auto industry is tracking the wrong number when it comesto new-vehicle sales, Scotiabank Economics warned in a repor t pub-lished Tuesday. The financial institution still projects two million newvehicles will be sold in Canada in 2018 — down from the record 2.04million a year ago. But, there’s a caveat.“The headline figures, however, mask a pronounced fall in retail autosales in comparison to rising, low-margin, fleet sales,” ScotiabankEconomics Global Auto Report says.New-vehicle sales are down 1.1 per cent through the first 10 monthsof the year, according to the Automotive News Data Center in Detroit.September’s 6.4-per-cent drop marked the seventh consecutivemonthly decline. Scotiabank Economics breaks down the total salesnumber and says new-vehicle purchases by households have de-clined by around 2.5 per cent year-over-year while fleet deliverieshave climbed by roughly five per cent during the same period, therepor t says. Citing proprietary data, Scotiabank Economics only re-por ts fleet and retail sales changes by percentage not total numbers.

LONDON: Air pollution may be to blame for up to 33 million emer-gency asthma attack visits to hospital every year, with half of thevisits estimated to occur in South and East Asian countries, notablyIndia and China, a global study has found.Asthma is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease worldwide,affecting about 358 million people, said researchers, including thosefrom the University of York in the UK.Countries like India and China may be harder hit by the asthma bur-den because they have large populations and tend to have fewerrestrictions on factories belching smoke and other sources of pollu-tion, they said.The findings, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspec-tives, suggest car emissions and other types of pollution may be asignificant source of serious asthma attacks.“This is the first global study of the potential impacts of air pollutionon serious asthma attacks that cause people to visit emergency roomsin hospitals around the world,” said Johan Kuylenstierna, Policy Di-rector or the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) based at York.

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MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 l i f e s t y l e

THIS IS HOW AIR POLLUTION DAMAGES

CHILDREN’S HEALTHAir pollution is the new tobacco and the simple act of breathing

is kills 7 million people a year and harms billions more, saidDr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the

World Health Organisation (WHO) in an interview with The Guardianon Saturday.An estimated 91% of the world’s population is exposed to air pollu-tion, which is the world’s biggest environmental health risk, causing4.2 million deaths from poor outdoor air and 3.8 million from house-hold exposure from dir ty cookstoves each year.In India, pollution kills 1.1 million people, according to the Stateof Global Air 2018 repor t, which links air pollutants to 10.6% of alldeaths in the country. Apar t from asthma other respiratory dis-eases, pollution causes deaths from stroke, chronic obstructivepulmonary disease, hear t disease, lung infections, and trachea,bronchus and lung cancers.For children, the risk begins in the womb and continues throughthe newborn and early childhood periods, which has prompted

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the WHO to put the spotlight on air pollution and children’s healthin a new repor t being released on Monday, two days before theworld’s first Global Conference on Pollution and Health on Octo-ber 30- November 1.With the air quality in nor thern India deteriorating rapidly leadingup to the Diwali, when the level of PM2.5, a fine dust that causesand exacerbates respiratory and lung diseases, was in Delhi lastyear 16 times more than the national standard and 40 times higherthan the international safe limits of 20 microgram per cubic meterfor PM10 and 10 microgram per cubic meter for PM2.5. Delhi has38 real-time and 10 manual stations, compared to a handful inother major metros, where data is inadequate.The mother’s exposure to polluted air has been linked to adversepregnancy outcomes, including premature bir th, low bir th weight,abnormal bir th length and head circumference, and small size forgestational age. Children’s developing lungs are the most sus-ceptible to injury because they are breathe in faster, are more

active, spend more t ime out-doors, and have immune sys-tems that are still developing.Children exposed to pollut ionhave lower maximal lung func-t ional capacity and are moresusceptible to infect ions andthe toxic effects of air pollutantsas adults, leading to more ex-acerbations of chronic lung dis-eases , such as as thma andcystic fibrosis, and increasedhospitalisations.Smog, the toxic mist producedwhen airborne dust, carbon par-ticles, noxious gases and ozonereact chemical ly in the pres-ence of sunlight, prevents ultra-v io l e t B range reach ing theear th’s sur face, leading to vi-tamin D-deficiency weakeningbones in children. The humanskin needs cover ts 7-dehydro-cholesterol to cholecalciferol(vitamin D3) on exposure to ul-traviolet B from the sun neededto build strong bones and pre-vent bone-loss (osteoporosis)in later life.

Pollution leads to lower memory and IQ, with infants being themost vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the first 1,000 days afterbir th when most of the brain’s development happens. It also causespsychological and behavioural problems, development delays byage three, a four-point drop in IQ by age five, said a Unicef repor treleased in 2017. Even exposure to traff ic noise is l inked tobehavioural problems. Sleeping in rooms exposed to sound ofnight-time traffic makes children hyperactive, sleepless and raisestheir blood pressure.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018l i f e s t y l e

EAT THESE 5 FOODS TO PREVENT AND CURE

A HANGOVER THIS WEEKENDYou look forward to the weekend all week. And then, you attend a late night

par ty on Friday and end up nursing a bad hangover all weekend. Soundsfamiliar? The good news is you don’t need to feel guilty for hanging out with

friends and having a good time. By making small changes to your diet, you can avoid messyhangovers. Here are 5 foods that you need to include in your pantry now:* Eat fatty foods: While normally, a high-fat diet is not considered to be healthy, ifyou plan to booze, you may want to eat a high-fat meal. Eating a burger asopposed to a salad, for instance, before drinking can ensure that the alcohol isabsorbed slowly in the bloodstream and causes less of a hangover.* Drink water: Drinking water instead of alcohol is, of course, a better idea toprevent a hangover. But, even if you end up drinking too much alcohol, water isstill what you need to get through. Alcohol can cause dehydration and causeheadaches and fatigue. Sip a glass of water in between drinks and have a glass ofwater before going to sleep to see the difference.* Have a heavy breakfast: The day af ter, wake up and even if you feel queasy,ensure you eat a good breakfast. Hangovers can cause low blood sugar, and leadto headaches. Eating a good breakfast brings your blood sugar levels in check andhelps you recover faster from a hangover.* Get a dose of Vitamin C: Before you hit the club, ensure you have an orange orlemon juice, which helps to detoxify your body and gives you a generous shot ofvitamin C as well. It can reduce the impact of the hangover and help your bodyprocess the alcohol smoothly.* Have a spinach salad: Spinach is a good source of magnesium, whichalcohol consumption tends to deplete. Spinach is also an anti-inflammatoryagent. Have it with a healthy salad full of nuts, avocado, and cheese and youare all set for happy hours.



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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 l i f e s t y l e

TOOTH LOSS LINKED TOMALNUTRITION

WORLD STROKE DAY: SIGNS, CAUSES AND

TREATMENT FOR THE DISEASE

A stroke refers to a lack of blood supply to par ts of the brain,which causes brain cells to die or leads to extensive damage. It can affect mobility and speech, among other as-

pects. Strokes are responsible for more deaths annually than thoseattributed to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined and yet itremains a silent epidemic (Source: World Stroke Campaign). October 29 marksWorld Stroke Day, which aims to raise awareness about the condition. Here’severything you need to know about it:* One of the key factors that minimise the damage is early detec-tion. Watch out for certain signs that indicate a potential stroke:Is one side drooping? Are the arms of one side weaker than theother? Is the speech jumbled or slurred? If you see any of thesesigns, then immediately connect with a medical exper t.* Strokes are treatable if detected in time. If you treat it as anemergency and head to the stroke unit, the damage from the strokecan be minimised.* The usual form of treatment includes clot-busting drugs thatbreak blood clots. If given earlier, it shows greater benefits. An-other treatment is to remove the clot to improve survival rate and

‘October 29 marks World StrokeDay. Every six seconds, someonesomewhere around the globe diesfrom the disease. Here are somequick facts you need to knowabout its symptoms and how toprevent an attack.

reduce disability if the stroke is caused by an ar tery blockage.* Bear in mind that there are greater chances of another strokeamong survivors (one in four are likely to suffer from anotherstroke). Treatments to prevent another stroke will include drugsto lower blood pressure and cholesterol, antiplatelet therapies,anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation, and surgery or stenting.

WASHINGTON: According to a new study, older adults withtooth loss are at higher risk of both impaired oral healthand malnutrition.The study, which appeared in the Journal of Aging Researchand Clinical Practice, analysed the health records of 107community-dwelling senior citizens treated at the RutgersSchool of Dental Medicine clinic between 2015 and 2016.The results showed that more than 25 per cent of the pa-tients had malnutrition or were at risk for malnutrition. Theresearchers saw a trend in which patients with 10 to 19teeth were more likely to be at risk for malnutrition.Those patients classified as having malnutrition had higherrates of weight loss, ate less and more frequently repor tedthat they suffered from dementia and/or depression andsevere illnesses than those who had a normal nutritionstatus. "The mouth is the entryway for food and fluid in-take. If its integrity is impaired, the functional ability of anindividual to consume an adequate diet may be adverselyimpacted," said lead author Rena Zelig, director of theMaster of Science in Clinical Nutrition Program at RutgersSchool of Health Professions.According to Zelig, the findings showed that dental clinicsare ideal locations to per form nutritional status screen-ings as they can identify patients who may not regularlyvisit a primary care provider and who may be at risk formalnutrition.Â "Clinicians also can provide patients with referrals toRegistered Dietitians and community assistance programssuch as Meals on Wheels to prevent fur ther decline innutritional status," she added.This was the first par t of a mixed-methods grant to re-search the associations between tooth loss and nutritionalstatus in older adults. The second par t of the grant built onthese results and qualitatively studied the eating experi-ence and eating-related quality of life of community-dwell-ing older adults using qualitative interviews.



CERTAIN TREATMENTS FORDIABETES MAY LEAD TOKIDNEY COMPLICATIONS

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ELITEATHLETES TURNING VEGAN?

‘From improved stamina andincreased lung capacity tospeedy recovery from injuries,experts say that there areseveral reasons why athletes,such as Virat Kohli, are turningto veganism in their daily lives.

What’s the one thing that binds together world class athletes,including cricketer Virat Kohli, tennis players Serena andVenus Williams, Novak Djokovic, boxer David Haye, and

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton? They are all vegans.Not long ago, most athletes swore by the notion that in order to achieveoptimum fitness, you ought to swear by dairy and meat. However,these dominating athletes are changing the narrative.Kohli, who turned vegan a few months back, stated that turning veganhad made him stronger as it increased his digestive power. He alsoclaimed that veganism has made him calmer. American basketballplayer Jahlil Okafor claimed that switching to veganism helped himdeal with an inflated knee.Top vegan athletes from across the world claim that being vegan hasmade them fitter. Here’s what the exper ts have to say:Increases digestive capacityWhen you are consuming fruits, whole grains and a ton of vegetables,your stomach gets cleaned; you can think that it gets a good workout.The fibre in the fruit increases the power of the digestive system andminimises bloating, which is a hindrance while training. “And, sinceyou are not consuming animal products, you don’t have to worryabout your cholesterol levels rising or your ar teries getting choked.Your internal system is clean and functions optimally. And this pro-vides explosive strength to athletes, making them agile”, says fitnessexpert Sapna Khanna.Improves cardiovascular healthA plant-based diet is low in saturated fats and cholesterol, which isgood for hear t. “This ensures that an athlete can run longer, jumphigher, and train harder with quick recovery times between work-outs,” says nutritionist Kavita Devgan.

Boosts immunityVery of ten, intense athletic activity can lead to mildly suppressedimmune function, “which may increase the susceptibility of the ath-letes to infections. Vegan diet can help boost their immune systemsubstantially,” says Devgan.Reduces inflammationA vegan diet is high in antioxidants, which helps to neutralise freeradical formation and reduce oxidative stress. “This offsets the dam-age and inflammation caused by intense physical exercise. It alsohelps to improve blood flow and aids in recuperation from torn musclesand tendons”, says Khanna.Ease of maintenanceA vegan diet is not loaded with saturated fats, making it easier tomaintain your physique. “Once, you have managed to achieve a cer-tain level of physique, you can sustain it for a lengthy period, as lackof saturated fats means that weight gain is not easy” says Khanna.Who can follow it?According to exper ts, sustaining a vegan diet for a regular fitnessenthusiast is not so easy. “The first thing you need to understand isthat one can’t just wake up one morning and decide to turn vegan. Ittakes work, effor t and understanding. Being a vegan needs easy ac-cess to good quality produce. So my advice is, before taking the leapmake sure it fits in with your circumstance and situation. Those whogo vegan need to pay more attention to the nutritional adequacy oftheir diet than the average person. They need to look out for the nutri-ents such as omega-3s, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, vitamin D, andvitamin B12,” suggests Devgan.Exper ts also state that athletes on vegan diet need to constantly bemonitored and micromanaged. “As a vegan athlete, one requires toensure that they get adequate protein through quinoa, hemp, veganprotein shakes etc. And for athletes such as Virat Kohli, it’s easier,because they have the means to employ chefs to micromanage theirlifestyle. However, for many people, it’s just not sustainable,” saysKhanna.

WASHINGTON: According to a new research, attempts tonormalize blood pressure and cholesterol may have nega-tive long-term effects on kidney health in adults with type 2diabetes who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.The results, which appeared in the Clinical Journal of theAmerican Society of Nephrology (CJASN), will be presentedat ASN Kidney Week 2018.Type 2 diabetes greatly increases the risk for both cardio-vascular disease and chronic kidney disease. Therefore, itis especially impor tant to protect the hear t and kidneyhealth of patients with type 2 diabetes.In these patients, aggressive control of blood sugar, bloodpressure, and cholesterol has resulted in conflicting shor t-term effects on kidney health. To determine the long-termkidney effects of these interventions, Amy K. Mottl, Timo-thy E. Craven, and their colleagues examined informationon more than 10,000 par ticipants in ACCORDION, which isan extension phase of the ACCORD trial, a multifactorialintervention study in people with type 2 diabetes at highrisk for cardiovascular disease.The team found that intensive blood sugar control aimingfor normal average blood sugar (hemoglobin A1c target<6%) reduced the risk for macroalbuminuria (a highamount of protein excreted in the urine) over an aver-age follow-up of 7.7 years, but it had no impact on moresignificant kidney outcomes such as serum creatinine dou-bling (a marker of worsening kidney function) or the needfor dialysis or transplantation.Intensive control of blood pressure or the use of fenofibrate to lowercholesterol increased the risk for doubling of serum creatinine but didnot increase the need for dialysis or transplantation.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


ON NATIONAL AYURVEDA DAY 20185 easy ayurvedic substitutes for a healthy lifestyle

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Playing Tetris may helpsooth your worried mind

‘Sitting on the ground while eatingand using a datoon instead of atoothbrush once a week are simpleways of inculcating ayurveda inyour everyday life.

If you haven’t star ted leading an ayurvedic way of life tillnow, today would be a good day to star t. The thought ofmaking a change in your lifestyle, even a small one may

sound daunting, but once you star t, you will be pleasantlysurprised at the positive changes that you shall experience.Here are some simple ayurvedic substitutes to begin livinghealthy.1. Datoon: Mark any one day of the week as a no-toothbrushday. On this day, use neem twigs to brush your teeth. Neem isantibacterial and actively prevents plaque formation, bad breathand cavities. The bitter taste cleanses your pallet and improvesthe sensitivity of taste buds.2. Copper water bottle: Substitute your plastic bottles withcopper water bottles. Tamra jal boosts brain health, is helpful instrengthening hear t functions, improves immunity, promoteshealthy skin and is known to help in slowing down the effects ofageing.3. Ayurvedic tea: Replace your regular tea that containscaffeine, with Ayurvedic tea. Ayurvedic teas are very versatiletonics for the hear t, brain and liver. They are also rich in anti-oxidant proper ties, which is helpful in lowering cholesterol

levels and warding off several diseases.4. Sit on the ground: Substitute your dining table with a cot onthe ground for your meals. Sitting on the ground has multiplebenefits. It assists the process of digestion; improves circula-tion and overall body posture.5. Herbs: Replace chemicals with herbal substitutes. Usehomemade ubtans and leps. In place of liquefied paraffin wax inlotions, use natural sesame or almond oils to nourish your skinand hair.Ayurveda recommends being close to nature to stay healthy.Whenever you have to make a choice, take it as an oppor tunityto introduce ayurveda in your life.

LOS ANGELES: Playing the classic game of Tetris can helpsooth the mind when you are awaiting uncer tain news — such asmedical test results or outcome of a job interview, a study has found. The venerable video game was used in a recent experimentto create a state of flow — the term psychologists use todescribe a state of mind so engaged it makes the rest of theworld fall away, and time pass more quickly.Researchers from University of California (UC) Riverside inthe US have found that state of per fect disengagement mayimprove the otherwise-emotionally unpleasant experienceof waiting for uncertain news.In place of Tetris, in which blocks are flipped every whichway and stacked into rows, one can substitute flow activi-ties such as rock climbing, carpentry, playing chess, orswimming, researchers said."Flow — if it can be achieved — incurs benefits. And videogames are perfect for flow as long as it's a game that meetsand slightly pushes the skill level of the player," said KateSweeny, a professor at UC Riverside."Flow is most readily achieved with activities that challengethe person somewhat, but not too much; have clear, achiev-able goals; and that provide the person with feedback abouthow they're doing along the way," Sweeny said. For theresearch published in the journal Emotion, 290 undergradu-ate students were told the study would be about physicalattractiveness. They filled out a questionnaire, after which aphoto was taken of them. They were then told that studentsin another location would rate their physical attractiveness.While they were ostensibly being rated, the students werethen asked to play Tetris for 10 minutes.The game was introduced at varying levels: one level was"low challenge," ie, easy; the second was "adaptive," chang-ing in difficulty as par ticipants' abilities increased; the thirdwas "high challenge," or difficult.After the game, they completed a survey measuring flow,worry, and emotion. Finally, the study's research assistantsexplained the true nature of the research.



High carbohydrate diet mayinduce obesity in some

THIS COMMON SKINCARE MISTAKE MIGHT BE

DAMAGING YOUR FACE

‘According to dermatologists, howyou pat your face dry matters morethan you think. Here’s why you mustensure you’re using different towelsfor your face and your body.

Most people have a skincare routine that they stick to out ofhabit. But what if their skincare habits are wrong? Forinstance, how do you dry your freshly-cleansed face? Is it

by using the same towel to dry both body and face? Well, it’ssomething probably everyone has done at some point, if it’s notsomething they do every day. But according to Dr Amitabh Kumar,skin specialist, Max Hospital, Delhi, your face towel matters morethan you think.He says you should use a separate towel for your face than the oneyou use to dry your body af ter a bath. “Your facial skin is delicateand sensitive, and none of the products you put on your body, suchas, moisturisers, fragrances, and hair products should be trans-ferred onto your face,” says Dr Kumar.But he is not the only one advising against this practice. “Thebacteria left on your skin — arms, legs, shoulders — have somespecificity to those areas of the body, and if you use a towel on yourbody and then your face, you can transfer those bacteria, virusesand fungi onto your face,” says Dr Sanjay Aggarwal, a general

physician at Holistic Healthcare Centre in Delhi. “These can clogpores, increase breakouts and some could even cause irritation orrashes,” he adds.Dr Kumar says it’s impor tant to not only have a separate towel setaside for drying your face, but to make sure that it stays clean, meaning youshould wash it or replace it with a fresh one every couple of days. If you’re proneto acne and pimples, you might want to get a fresh face towel even morefrequently. “Aside from regularly changing them, keep your towels bacteria-freeby making sure they dry completely between uses,” says Dr Kumar.

NEW YORK: Researchers have identified a DNA mutationcommon in animals that may explain why a diet high incarbohydrates induces obesity and diabetes in some butnot others.The study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, showeda surprising difference between two sets of the fruit flieswhen feeding with alternate diets high in protein and highin carbohydrates.Fruit fly larvae with a noted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)mutation showed a pronounced increase in developmentwhen eating high carbohydrate diet of banana, but stag-nated on a high protein diet of passion fruit, Xinhua newsagency quoted the study as saying.Conversely, fruit fly larvae without that mutation thrivedon the high protein diet, but dropped in frequency whenput on carbohydrates, the repor t said.The six-year collaborative study by Australian, Americanand Spanish researchers challenged the neutral theory ofmolecular evolution in which changes in species at themolecular level are random, not caused by natural selec-tion and provide no benefit or disadvantage to the spe-cies. According to lead author Bill Ballard from the Uni-versity of New South Wales, the research was a rare dem-onstration of positive selection at work in evolution.Given that humans share 75 per cent of the same genesas fruit flies, and have the same mtDNA genes, it is likely,according to the study, that the same mutation inherited inhuman mtDNA may metabolise carbohydrates in a simi-lar way. “But, the news is not all bad for people harbouringthe mutation,” said Ballard.“You would need to manage your carbohydrate intake whenyou are younger, but if you are unfor tunate enough to de-velop Parkinson’s Disease, a high carbohydrate diet willhelp you maintain weight,” Ballard added.

CAN CREDITORS GET INTO MYBANK ACCOUNT TO COLLECT?

One of the most frightening jolts you can get financially is to go into a bank account to see if you have enoughto cover off a payment only to find a zero balance. You're in financial hardship; you're juggling payments tomake sure one doesn't get too far behind; you're trying to pay as best you can and in one fell swoop, you're left

with zero and you don't know if you're going to be able to pay the rent or make the car payment. What happened?In all cases, it's because one of your debts is to your bank (a mortgage, loan, credit card or line of credit) and they have the rightto take what they can to pay off some or all of the amount owed to them, even if it leaves your bank account empty. And pleadingyour case won't do you any good because their payment is more important than all the other payments you may have.When you borrow money, there are two types - secured and unsecured. Secured debt is a loan that is borrowedagainst some property - a house, a piece of furniture or a car, for example - and the creditor has the right to seize yourproperty and (with notice) sell it off to pay off your debt. A mor tgage is the best example of a secured contract - if youdon't make your payments, the bank can repossess your house and sell it to pay off the amount owed. A financed carpurchase is another example, where the dealership technically owns your car until the last payment is made.A credit card is unsecured debt. Even though you fill out an application that indicates you have a mortgage (maybewith the same bank) and/or a car, the credit card company can't seize your house or your car to pay off the amountoutstanding to them. What they can do, is take money directly out of an account you may have with that bank.And if you get wise to this and don't leave any money in that account until such time as it's needed to make otherpayments, they may get wise to your ways and garnishee (or freeze) your account, in which case deposits areallowed but withdrawals are not (whether those are cash withdrawals or automatic transactions).Banks don't have to notify you before this happens because they don't have to get permission from a court to do this.Neither do government agencies (if you owe back taxes or suppor t), but other creditors have to sue you in order togain access to your accounts.They usually send you notice that they are considering the action and if you don't act on it, they will file a suit to recover whatis owed, including gaining access to your accounts. If you are sued, you have to go to court in your own defence and ifjudgment is awarded to the collector, you will have to pay all fees and costs, in addition to the debt and related penalties.It should be noted that there is a statute of limitations on owed debt, which in Ontario is two years after the lastpayment was made. If you have unsecured debt and haven't made a payment in two years, and your creditor hasn'tsued you to recover the money, the threat of a claims suit is not valid. If they do attempt to sue you, you may still haveto go to court in defence and plead the expiration of the limitation on your unsecured debt.It is impor tant to note, though, that if you make a payment (regardless of whether it's a bluff) - even a small one - thetwo-year clock resets and they can then initiate a suit for all the money owed. In case of you have credit issues visitwww.gtacredit.com or call 416 650 5800.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


NOW OPEN, MATTAMY OFFERS NEW WAYS TOCONNECT YOUR FAMILY WITH BRAMPTON

Mattamy Homes has built and planned some of Brampton'sfinest communities. Mount Pleasant Nor th has long beenrecognized as a place where families can enjoy an array of

new home styles in a setting that combines natural beauty with usefulneighbourhood features.Mattamy's newest phase, NOW OPEN in Mount Pleasant Nor th willpresent families with a se-lection of contemporary Townhomes and30'& 38' Detached Homes. You can connect with Brampton whetheryou are looking for an affordable first home or a detached home ofgrace and elegance. And each of these homes is crafted with careand 40 years' experience.To make sure you get the home that suits your family's rhythmsand style, Mattamy offers vari-ous f loorplans, an Architect 'sChoice program and a Design Studio, to help you create a home

that reflects your personal tastes.Mattamy has built more homes in Brampton than anywhere elseand have long been recognized as an integral par t of the amazinggrowth of this wonder ful city. Mount Pleasant Village and MountPleasant Nor th have become par t of the fabric in Brampton.And now in Mount Pleasant Nor th here's what you can expectwhen you step outside your front door: Green spaces, walkingpaths, playgrounds and natural spaces. Five minutes away inMount Pleasant Village, you'll find retail shopping, a Library, pub-lic transit and a GO station, a reflecting pool in the summer thatbecomes a community skating rink in the winter. There are estab-lished schools and a state-of-the-ar t recreation facility.Mount Pleasant Nor th is one of Brampton's finest examples ofintelligent planning. There is a green corridor running alongside

the community which offers 185 hectares of scenic beauty and aprotected wildlife preserve. A morning or evening walk or bikeride is truly inspiring and is a per fect demonstration of Mattamy'sability to master-plan the community to the benefit of all wholive there.Since 1978, Mattamy Homes has been building homes and com-munities of distinction. They are now Nor th America's largestprivately-owned homebuilder. Over 90,000 families enjoy life ina Mattamy home in hundreds of communities. The company re-cently earned Builder of the Year from BILD, an unprecedented8th win of this prestigious award.For information on the latest phase of Mount Pleasant North, pleasevisit:mattamyhomes.com

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