April 2014 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Barrie eyeing 9% water hike for next year





Tonight, Barrie councillors will discuss raising your water rate 9 per cent next year.





Coupled with that hike is a proposed 5-per-cent rise in the wastewater rates.





They come on the heels of this year`s increases of 2 per cent for water and 12 per cent for wastewater.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Will LRT change the way Ottawa works?





A few years from now, Bernie Myers will be able to see the entrance to Ottawa`s Lyon light-rail transit station from Morguard Corp.`s regional office on Sparks Street.





`It`s going to be great,` says Mr. Myers, Morguard`s top executive for Eastern Canada, who manages a commercial property portfolio of five million square feet ` one of the city`s largest. Not only will rapid transit get buses off the streets, he says, but it will bring new opportunities to people who want to work downtown.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

The new way Toronto condo developers are saving space





RealNet Canada Inc. released its latest stats for new condos in Toronto last week, and the numbers showed that the average size of a unit has shrunk to about 797 square feet, from closer to 900 square feet five years ago.





`The size, if it gets much smaller I can`t imagine how,` Bryan Tuckey, chief executive officer of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) told reporters on a conference call.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Residents worry new GO station will destroy quirky neighbourhood





At least one building owner is worried the new $44-million GO station on James Street North is being built to change her way of life.





Lori James, whose building on James Street North is occupied by a Mennonite thrift shop, is concerned all the talk of residential and business development around the station does not bode well for her.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Real estate bidding wars heating up Toronto





Toronto's real estate bidding wars are reaching a fever pitch.





Some of Canada's largest banks are offering low mortgage lending rates, and many people looking to move from condos and rentals into family homes in the city are capitalizing on fixed agreements.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Condo hell





Elizabeth Dyke`s blissful experience with condo ownership lasted for 13 years, right up until her upstairs neighbours ripped out their carpeting and installed hardwood floors. `The very next day, I could hear somebody walking in high heels right from my master bedroom, through the living room, down the front hall and to the door,` says Dyke, a Toronto employment lawyer who had enjoyed condo life so much, she bought a second unit in her building to use as a home office. Nuisance turned to nightmare when Dyke`s neighbours moved out and rented their condo to a dancer, who turned the unit into her full-time dance studio. `It sounded like a jackhammer on your head,` says Dyke. `That`s when I thought, `I`m a reasonably successful lawyer and I`m living like this? What`s wrong with me?` `





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

OpenText to create 1,200 jobs in Waterloo






The Ontario government is pumping $120 million into Waterloo, Ont.-based OpenText to buttress a $2 billion company investment expected to create 1,200 jobs, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Friday.












`I am thrilled that OpenText decided to carry out this expansion in Ontario . . . I`m pretty sure there were other places you could have gone,` Wynne told a news conference, saying this growth will not only affect the Waterloo Region but also Toronto, Richmond Hill, Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa.





Read the full article here.