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February 2015 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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News articles for February 2015.
 

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Anyone see correlation between elections & this graph as Ontario:
Gouging tomorrow’s taxpayers for today’s


Many Ontarians have likely heard a horror story or two about their government’s growing debt and the resulting strain on public finances. You can’t blame them. Sources of evidence abound.

Consider the sobering comparisons with California, once the poster government of fiscal imprudence, showing Ontarians carrying over five times more debt per person. Or take the damning analysis contained in the government’s own Drummond Report, calling for no less than 360 reforms to simply balance the budget within five years. And most recently, alarm bells were sounded by the provincial auditor general, warning of a credit rating downgrade and ever more tax dollars syphoned away to simply pay interest on existing debt.

Read the full article here.
 

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How oil terminals popping up in obscure US towns could be Canada’s
ticket to becoming a global energy broker


While the debate intensifies over whether TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline should be approved, traders are quietly setting up alternative routes to ship Canadian oil from U.S. ports.

At least five rail-to-marine projects have been proposed in the state of Washington that would allow the export or domestic shipment of more than 500,000 barrels a day of oil. A terminal in Oregon is operational already and is being upgraded to handle vessels that carry more than 300,000 barrels of crude.

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Toronto Waterfront set to unveil innovation centre

An innovation centre that is estimated to create nearly 2,000
jobs will be unveiled on the city’s waterfront Friday.

The announcement, set for 11:30 a.m., is being billed as a “major new
economic development” on Toronto’s waterfront. A press release issued Thursday
says the project will be led by a “preeminent” Canadian real estate development
firm and designed by a “world leader” in architecture. In a statement to QMI
Agency, Mayor John Tory was coy about the project details.

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Toronto Waterfront innovation centre to house 2,000 people



Peter Menkes believes Toronto’s waterfront will serve as a draw for creative and technology sector employers, and that’s why he’s planning on building a glittering new complex there.

As president of commercial and industrial for Menkes Development Ltd., which built the Telus building at 25 York St., spurring development in the South Core, Menkes says he is seeing demand growing for space that caters to businesses that do not want to be in traditional downtown office towers.

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Unemployment jumps in
January in Ottawa, Gatineau


Nationally, a surge in part-time work last month helped pack on 35,400 net new jobs, a change that nudged the unemployment rate down to 6.6 per cent.

The number of new jobs reported by Statistics Canada was much higher than estimates but included a loss of 11,800 full-time positions, offset by a gain of 47,200 part-time jobs.

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Led by steel products, Port
of Hamilton moves record volume in 2014. Creating jobs jobs jobs


Led by steel products, Port of Hamilton moves record volume in 2014.

Hamilton is becoming the gateway to North America for international shippers.

The latest cargo tonnage figures from the Hamilton Port Authority (HPA) show the volume of foreign cargo flowing through the harbour rose 39 per cent last year over 2013, its highest annual overseas tonnage in a decade.

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Price gap between condos,
houses swells to record level in major centers. Dirt worth more


For many first-time homebuyers, condominiums have been the easiest way to get a foothold into the housing market, a pit stop on the way to a dream home.

But a flood of new high-rise condos and fierce bidding wars for urban detached houses has caused a widening gulf between the price of condos and houses, which last year reached a record high.

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Realtors scrambling after threats by board to cut access to MLS

The Toronto Real Estate Board is threatening to cut off a vital lifeline — access to the Multiple Listing Service — for realtors who continue to push the information envelope by offering sold data of homes on public websites.

The move is largely seen as aimed at a new, tech-savvy generation of realtors who believe that all MLS data — and especially sales histories of homes — should be readily accessible online, as it is on popular U.S. sites like Zillow.com and Trulia.com, which allow folks to do more of their own research.

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The rise of the
"Low-Rise' in the GTA. Hey @reincanda Members, you knew this was coming


For the first time in nearly a decade, the GTA will see an increase in low-rise home activity this year, as builders jump the Greenbelt and launch projects in areas farther afield where land is more readily available.

That’s the prediction of market analyst and broker Andrew Brethour, who invited Epoch Times to sit in on a real estate review at the North York headquarters of his firm, PMA Brethour Realty Group.

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Secondary Suites and
student housing on discussion in #Barrie as Housing strategy gets green light


Barrie's affordable housing strategy is being built.

Councillors gave initial approval to it Monday - to change city policy documents and adopt bylaws to encourage the development of more affordable housing, provide financial incentives, protect existing housing stock and discourage condo conversion.

"I don't want this strategy to sit on a shelf," said Mayor Jeff Lehman. "The most important thing is that it actually happens."

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The life, death, and rebirth of BlackBerry's hometown

It’s a little after 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, and I’m sitting in a freezing rental car outside the BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, looking for signs of life.

Five years and several billion dollars ago, these buildings would have been full, and the windows would have been dotted with busy silhouettes. But today, it’s a ghost town. The lights are on inside the main entryway, but there’s no foot traffic at the turnstiles, no workers visible in the first-floor hallways, no smokers huddling by the side exit. Night is falling, and the iced-over parking lot is so empty that you could hold a hockey tournament on it. For a moment, I wondered if I’d accidentally visited during a Canadian holiday, or a bomb scare.

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Ontario’s wood-frame
construction change could 'spark' new type of condo townhome


There’s big news for Ontario’s building industry that could have a major impact on how townhomes and midrise condos are built. Since Jan. 1, revisions to the Ontario building code allow wood-frame construction for residential and office buildings up to six storeys in height.

The building industry has been pushing for this for quite some time, with the allure of a 10 to 15 per cent price advantage over traditional construction costs and a much-needed boost to Ontario’s sluggish lumber industry.

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Hamilton wants to fill 20
vacant planning positions. A GREAT sign of coming growth


Councillors are fretting about a plan to add 20 new city planners to help reduce the workload and speed up approvals.

The staff budget request comes as billion-dollar building permit years are piling 30 to 40 active files on each planner's desk.

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Alberta Energy minister
warns it will be two years before $70 oil returns


Energy Minister Frank Oberle says it could be two years before crude prices make any significant comeback, but there is a “silver lining” for Alberta’s oilsands in the low-price environment.

While oil prices recently rallied after a breathtaking plunge since last summer, the price for West Texas Intermediate settled at $50.02 US a barrel Tuesday.

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Greater Sudbury population holding steady: Stats Can report



A new report from Statistics Canada shows Greater Sudbury's population is very stable.

While other Canadian cities went up and down last year, Sudbury held steady at 165,000.

The Stats Can report shows people did leave last year — but just as many came in.

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In a story that surprises
no one: Spadina subway extension to Vaughan could face delay again


The Toronto Transit Commission has signalled that the Spadina subway extension could be delayed once again, but it will likely be late March before it’s known exactly how much longer you’ll have to wait to ride the rocket from Vaughan into Toronto.

Two reports — examining budget challenges and scheduling issues, among other things — are slated to be presented to the transit agency’s board of directors March 26, according to TTC spokesman Brad Ross.

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Here they go again:
Ontario’s really bad pension scheme


The province of Ontario is soliciting comments on its proposed Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP). A government consultation document raises several issues about the proposal, but none got to the key one: is this pension plan needed at all?

The proposal is for Ontarians to ‎pay a payroll tax of 3.8% of earnings up to $90,000, half shared by the employer. The plan will provide 15% of earnings after retirement. For example, at $20,000 in income, payroll taxes annually would total $627 with a pension payment of $2,848 (or $238 per month) after 65 years of age. The ORPP payment will affect income taxes and income-tested benefits.

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Guelph seeing changes to student rental housing

When the Guelph Police Service unfurls its annual plan to make sure off-campus merrymaking on St. Patrick's Day stays moderate this year, it might be the last time the scheme is put to the test.

That's because by March 17, 2016 — next year's St. Patrick's Day — the off-campus housing pattern for students will be considerably altered.

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GTA realtors release mid-month resale housing figures



TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Feb. 18, 2015) - Toronto Real Estate Board President Paul Etherington announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported a 14.9 per cent increase in the number of sales entered into the TorontoMLS system during the first two weeks of February 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. There was a total of 3,120 home sales during the first 14 days of February 2015.

The number of new listings entered into the TorontoMLS system was also up on a year-over- year basis, but by a lesser annual rate of 3.5 per cent.

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