ON Economic Fundamentals 2008-09

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0908DAJX
Hunting for flood solutions

DURHAM -- Flooded Ajax and Whitby residents had politicians on their side at a recent works committee meeting, but questions over whether they can expect relief remain. On Aug. 11, torrential rains led to an influx of storm water overwhelming sanitary sewers, which backed up and flooded basements. For some residents, this was the third flood in eight years.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/ajax/article/107780

 

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0908DOSH
Port lands should go to Oshawa: Crombie

OSHAWA -- Six months after it was completed -- and three days before a federal election call is expected -- Transport Canada has released the highly anticipated Crombie Report. And it`s just what the City of Oshawa was hoping for.

The report -- written by former Toronto Mayor David Crombie in the hopes of ending decades of dispute over the future of Oshawa`s port -- says ownership of the port and surrounding lands should be vested to the City.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/oshawa/article/107538

 

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0908TNTO
Waterfront renewal`s slow drip

As John Campbell sits in his corner office overlooking Queens Quay, the numbers that spring to his lips are all impressively large, from the more than 800 hectares being redeveloped along Toronto`s central waterfront to the thousands of jobs created, the condos yet to be built.

But none is more jaw-dropping than the one he throws out next – $30 billion, as in the likely cost of doing all this.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/492229

 

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Ontario small towns update: 2008-08-31 and 2008-09-07

 

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0908ONTR
Corn and soybean auto parts growing reality in Ontario

Chances are, parts of your car are made from Ontario-grown corn and soybeans.

Didn`t know that?

Not many people do, but it`s a growing reality as auto parts makers look for cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative materials.

And local farmers are getting in on a piece of the action. "Our goal is to have 300 kilograms from agriculture in every vehicle," Gord Surgeoner, president of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, told the Western Fair Association last week.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...696966-sun.html

 

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0908BAOR
Residents won`t dock fears

Dock Road-area residents are clearly ready to rumble about building anything but single-family homes in their south-east Barrie neighbourhood.

For the second time in about three months, city officials should expect a wave of protest to development plans there.

A public meeting today will present plans to build a 30-unit townhouse development on the northwest corner of Dock and Tynhead roads.

But area residents don`t much like it, the same reaction they had in June to a proposed four-storey, 23-unit condominium across Dock Road.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1189164

 

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0908HAMN
Hamilton`s toughest race looks to be in the east

There`s no doubt about it: the most exciting race in the Hamilton area will be between a former mayor seeking a political comeback after being defeated by a whisker of votes and an incumbent MP who first got elected himself by a whisker.


Larry Di Ianni, the one-term Hamilton mayor defeated in 2006 by Fred Eisenberger by 452 votes, is running for the Liberals in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek. He is taking on New Democrat MP Wayne Marston, the longtime head of the Hamilton and District Labour Council who ran for the NDP a few times and finally won by knocking off Liberal cabinet minister Tony Valeri in 2006. He beat Valeri by 466 votes.

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/431466

 

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0908KWCG
Smart meter installation delivers a repair bill shock

WATERLOO REGION

Rene Bisson is facing a $520 bill for electrical repairs after a smart meter was installed at his home for no fee.

He thinks this is unfair and says Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro should cover the cost. But he got nowhere complaining to city hall about the utility Kitchener owns. "They basically refused to deal with me," Bisson said.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/411250

 

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0908KWCG
Redeveloping contaminated site to be discussed tonight

CAMBRIDGE

Plans for 103 townhouses on a former Appleton Electric factory site are up for discussion tonight at new city hall. Andrin Cambridge Homes proposes redeveloping the contaminated site, which is surrounded by single family homes in old Preston.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/411257

 

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0908KWCG
Wal-Mart expansion back at council with revised proposal

GUELPH

It`s d?j? vu all over again.

In July, councillors voted 9-4 against an application to more than double commercial space at Woodlawn Road and Woolwich Street, including expanding the Wal-Mart store. Hans Loewig, the city`s chief administrative officer, later said he would ask council to clarify what sort of development it wanted on the site.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/378006

 

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0908YMAR
Love-hate reaction to traffic calming

Traffic calming, Markham residents suggest, is a new oxymoron.

The re-engineering of Carlton Road, Village Parkway and Royal Orchard Boulevard, designed to tranquilize vehicle speed and flow, has had the opposite effect on neighbouring residents, drivers and cyclists.

The slalom of lane markers and benign mid-road brick bumps has Unionville Ratepayers Association president Richard Talbot as baffled as the majority of his membership.

“It’s perplexing, extraordinary,” he said. “There are two big issues. There are areas where the installations are causing danger and the cycle paths have been removed. If you wanted to change two roads to piss off the cycling community, they’d be Carlton and Royal Orchard.”

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Markham/article/80884

 

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0908YNEW
Residents prepared to defend Moraine

Newmarket is defending its portion of the Oak Ridges Moraine.

And Tuesday, it`s your turn.

An Ontario Municipal Board hearing is under way until the end of the month to decide if a large residential development should be built on the town`s only sliver of the environmentally sensitive moraine.

In two days, however, residents will be permitted to speak in front of OMB members and can submit a written copy of concerns.

"When are we gonna take a stand?" Newmarket resident Tom Janes asked, encouraging residents to show up and speak out against roads and homes being built on the protected area.

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Newmarket/article/80903

 

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0908DWTB
Whitby`s Abilities Centre gets $15 million from feds

WHITBY -- On the eve of a federal election call, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is lauding a $15 million windfall announced today for his home riding of Whitby-Oshawa.

The money is an investment in the Abilities Centre Durham, made through the Enabling Accessbility Fund (EAF), part of a $45 million commitment over three years made in the 2007 budget to expand opportunities for people with disabilities and improve accessibility across Canada.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/whitby/article/107824

 

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0908TNTO
City tax plan iffy: Study

Toronto council`s plan to stimulate economic activity through targeted tax incentives may not be the most effective way, says a study of similar programs in the U.S..

Lowering overall business tax rates and improving public services are more likely to encourage economic development, the report found.

Prepared by economic consultant Enid Slack for the Toronto Office Coalition and scheduled to be released today, the report says the city`s tax increment equivalent grant (TIEG) could end up putting financial pressure on other businesses that don`t get the tax break.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandg...706951-sun.html

 

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0908TNTO
Bike lane plan hits bump on road to 50 kms

Toronto`s bike plan has hit another snag, making it unlikely the city will reach its goal of installing 50 kilometres of new bike lanes and paths this year.

"It`s not as likely as it was yesterday," Daniel Egan, manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, acknowledged after yesterday`s public works committee meeting, where councillors deferred voting on 7 kilometres of new bike lanes.

So far this year, the city has installed about 10 kilometres of new bike lanes and paths. Egan expects that 20 more kilometres can be added to that list before year`s end, but that would still leave the city 20 kilometres short of the goal.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/495699

 

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0908ONTR
Vote Ontario, McGuinty urges

Striving to set the agenda for the Oct. 14 federal vote, Premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday urged Ontarians to exert their clout to demand a better deal for the province during the election campaign.

"We make up more than one third of the seats in the House of Commons and it`s time that we understood that and exploited that in the very best sense of the word," the premier told reporters at Queen`s Park. "Ontarians deserve a fair shake when it comes to federal funding for laid-off workers and health transfers and economic development."

http://www.thestar.com/FederalElection/article/495709

 

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0908ONTR
Plugging Ontario into the future

Ontario`s power authority began laying out a detailed case yesterday before the Ontario Energy Board for how the province should spend $60 billion over the next 20 years to expand and upgrade the electricity system.

The hearing is expected to last 28 days over seven weeks, and will involve cross-examination by environmental, consumer and industry groups eager to challenge the assumptions in the agency`s Integrated Power System Plan.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/495592

 

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0908LNDN
Seniors` complex eases void


A Kitchener firm will open a $100-million seniors` complex in London next year that could ease the pressure on local hospitals struggling with a backlog of patients needing long-term care. The development by Oakwood Retirement Communities on the south side of Southdale Road, east of Wonderland Road and opposite Andover Drive, features nearly 200 Health Ministry-funded long-term care beds and 400 private apartments and suites in four buildings.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...707911-sun.html

 

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0908CATH
Residents will get sidewalks they don`t want

Subdivisions are for people, not cars, St. Catharines councillors decided, voting to deny a request from a small Merritton neighbourhood to delete sidewalks on two streets.

A petition from 35 residents of Marshall Lane and Bluegrass Crescent -- two new streets off Moffat Street near Disher Street -- asked that the sidewalks proposed for their neighbourhood not be built.

Melissa Bourque, who submitted the petition, said the garages in the neighbourhood are too small to fit most large cars or pickup trucks.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article....aspx?e=1191256

 

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0908BAOR
Details scant about new jobs

Details are trickling in about gover nment jobs Patrick Brown has promised for Barrie, but Canadian Revenue Agency officials are still waiting to read the fine print.

The day before the writ dropped for next month`s federal election, the Barrie MP announced Saturday that 300 new government jobs would be coming to the city by September 2009.

Peter Delis, with the Canadian Revenue Agency, said yesterday there were few details about Brown`s announcement. The current Barrie office on Mulcaster Street employs 170 people.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1190469