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February 2010

Ally

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Toronto taxes and user fees are going up in 2010

Homeowners will be hit with a four per cent tax increase under Toronto`s proposed 2010 operating budget unveiled this morning, while businesses will see their taxes rise 1.3%.

Mayor David Miller said there will be no sale of city assets to balance the books, but the proposed budget includes $13 million in user fee hikes and new fees and $172 million in internal savings.

Miller said the average Toronto home, with an assessed value of $407,374 now pays $2,334 in property taxes (excluding school taxes). The proposed increase would add $93.

Users of city recreation programs will bear the brunt of user fee hikes. The "most controversial" new fee, said budget committee head Coun. Shelley Carroll, is a one-time $50-per-family fee to sign up for recreation programs effective May 1. The registration fee won`t be levied on families already signed up, she said.

Also, people were allowed to call in one false fire alarm with no financial penalty. Now, they`ll be hit with the fee of $350 per dispatched truck that was previously levied only on repeat offenders. And Enbridge and other companies that dig into city roads will be hit with $20-per-square-metre fee to repair them.

City officials said the cost savings eliminate 260 jobs, including 110 that currently have staff in them. But hiring in other areas more than offsets the cuts, meaning the budget will actually add 170 jobs to the city`s payroll.

Read the full article here.
 

Ally

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Ontario EI recipients decline

After crushing job losses in manufacturing, Ontario`s labour market is showing signs of moving in the right direction, according to a top economist with BMO Capital Markets.

"We have actually seen some pretty steady improvement in Ontario," said deputy chief economist Douglas Porter.

"Unfortunately, the reality is Ontario`s unemployment rate is still above the national average, which ... just reflects the depth of the hit to manufacturing during this downturn."

Porter was reacting to Friday`s Statistics Canada report showing the number of Employment Insurance beneficiaries in Ontario declined in December, down 16,900 to 251,400, or a decrease of 6.3 per cent from the previous month. Exhausted benefits for people who are still unemployed and people finding new jobs both likely contributed to the decline, he said.

That drop brought total declines across the province to 35,200 since June. A decline of about 500 beneficiaries was reported in October, making December the third-consecutive month of decline, but is not considered statistically significant, said a StatsCan analyst.

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Ally

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Retail sales `grind ahead` in 2009

In the end, recession-weary Canadians came out and shopped.

Retail sales finished the year up 6.7 per cent over last year, including a 0.4 per cent gain in the month of December, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The annual increase was driven mainly by sales of new cars and higher gasoline prices. Excluding those volatile items, retail sales ended the year 2.4 per cent higher, the federal agency noted.

"It was one of those okay, not great, years. But if we had been talking about it at the beginning of the year, we would have thought it was going to be a lot worse," said Maureen Atkinson, a senior partner with J.C. Williams Group, a retail consulting firm in Toronto.

Indeed, retail sales for the previous year fell 6.8 per cent as a slowing economy came to a sudden halt when the credit crunch hit in October 2008, sparking a global financial crisis.

In comparison, most of 2009 has been a story of gradual recovery.

The data for December show retail volume rose 0.6 per cent, slightly ahead of dollar sales. Both were in line with expectations.

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Ally

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New MLS policy won`t prevent tribunal

The Canadian Real Estate Board was about to propose key rule changes at its March annual general meeting that it hoped would satisfy the Competition Bureau and avoid a meeting with the Competition Tribunal.

As first reported in the Star on Wednesday, internal documents show substantial amendments to the rules. One of the big changes included the deletion of a controversial rule that said listings could not be posted without having a realtor represent the seller for the entire transaction.

The "mere posting" rule, as it was called, was controversial because it meant sellers could not simply list their property without paying for a fuller basket of services.

According to CREA, "A mere posting occurs when the listing agreement relieves the listing member of any obligations under the rules, including the obligation that the listing realtor remain the agent of the seller throughout the term of the contract."

Removing this rule would theoretically allow agents to post listings for a cheaper fee, as it did not require the agent to represent the seller through the entire process.

However, Commissioner of Competition Melanie Aitken said the changes didn`t go far enough.

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Ally

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Kitchener: City gives nod to developer for Centre Block

City councillors reached an important milestone Monday in their decade-long effort to redevelop a strategic parcel of land next to City Hall.

During a closed-door meeting councillors gave their final authorization to staff for an agreement between the City of Kitchener and Brampton-based Andrin Homes for the redevelopment of Centre Block with 385 condominiums, four new buildings, underground parking, a boutique hotel-spa and a parkette.

"It has been a long time coming, obviously," Mayor Carl Zehr said.

By 2000 the city had purchased almost all of the properties and buildings that wrapped around the western half of the block, which is bounded by King, Young, Duke and Ontario streets. So far the city has spent about $13 million on all of the costs associated with buying the land, buildings and businesses.

Andrin gets the 2.6 acre site and two heritage buildings for $3.1 million.

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Ally

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Toronto leads tight national housing market, Re/Max says

Toronto leads the country when it comes to a lack of listings on the real estate market, contributing to upward pressure on pricing, according to a report by ReMax Ontario Atlantic Canada released today.

There were 41 per cent fewer homes listed for sale in January of 2010 compared to a year earlier, says ReMax.

"The overall pressure on sales and price is significant across the board – and it`s not likely to subside until more inventory comes on stream," said ReMax.

Nationally, 81 per cent of markets surveyed showed a sharp decline in listings according to ReMax.

In second place was Saskatoon with 37 per cent fewer listings, followed by Kitchener-Waterloo in third place with 33 per cent fewer listings.

Victoria and Ottawa tied in fourth place, down 30 per cent, and Greater Vancouver, down 27 per cent rounded out the top five tightest markets.

A lack of supply means that buyers have less to choose from, creating a sellers market.

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Ally

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Toronto: `Massive` plan to revamp troubled Lawrence Heights

The troubled Lawrence Heights public housing project is about to get a makeover bigger in scope than the massive Regent Park redevelopment underway downtown.

A "preferred option`` for redeveloping Lawrence Heights – sometimes dubbed The Jungle – calls for creating a pedestrian-friendly community with nearly 10,000 units of mixed-income housing, new parks, retail and schools.

To be unveiled Thursday, the plan is part of a larger project to remake the neighbourhood around Lawrence Ave. W. and Allen Rd. – including revamping two subway stations, tearing down and rebuilding the Lawrence Square shopping plaza to make way for an extended road and new housing, and possibly covering a section of the expressway.

In total, the swath targeted for the Lawrence-Allen Revitalization covers 138 hectares, stretching from Bathurst to Dufferin Sts. and Lawrence Ave. W. to Highway 401.

The housing part of the plan mirrors the Regent Park revitalization, but fewer tenants would be affected. About 7,500 tenants lived in Regent Park before that revamp began, compared with 3,500 now at Lawrence Heights.

Read the full article here.
 
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