July 2011 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

How Mississauga's waterfront got ahead: By learning from Toronto's mistakes




Within a generation, a huge swath of industrial land on Lake Ontario will be transformed: Canals will run alongside streets with sidewalk cafes; mid-rise condominiums will put the neighbourhood's urban design head and shoulders over the forest of impersonal glass towers sprouting elsewhere across Greater Toronto; a deep-water heating-and-cooling system will use the nearby lake to cut the area's carbon emissions.





It sounds like something a metropolis such as Toronto might plan for redeveloping its derelict port lands, but this is actually Mississauga's vision for the site of the former Lakeview Generating Station east of Cawthra Road.




While Mayor Rob Ford and his allies cast aspersions on both the city's strategy of using public investment to transform the lakefront into a series of urban, mixed-use communities and on Waterfront Toronto, the agency charged with implementing it, Mississauga is lauding that very model and seeking to emulate it.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Driving the Recovery





Some economists are warning the world about another economic crisis as Greece burns, gas prices soar and the job market slows. Only this time instead of pulling down the global economy, the auto sector may actually jump-start the recovery.







Jason Kirby from Macleans Magazine author of "Car Maker Comeback "

on Macleans.ca tells 570's Gary Doyle that things are getting better in the auto sector adding 0.5% additional growth to economic gdp which is a complete contrast to what we saw a few years ago.







He also says that the increase in foreign car makers building new plants in the U.S is adding to the demand of parts, increasing the Ontario auto part manufacting sector. As a matter fact we see an increase in "traditional manufacturing industries" because of the low U.S dollar.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Ottawa city council unanimously approves new LRT plan



OTTAWA ` A unanimous city council voted for the revised light-rail plan Thursday afternoon, moving ahead with the $2.1-billion plan to run a 12.5-kilometre line between Tunney`s Pasture and Blair Road via a downtown tunnel along Queen Street.





`We have a population of a million,` said Mayor Jim Watson, clearly pleased after the vote. `That`s about where Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver were when they began such projects. It`s time to take the next step.`





City staff put some meat on the bones of Watson`s announcement last week that they`d found a way to keep the price tag of the line to $2.1 billion despite four years of inflation, largely by digging a shallower tunnel under downtown that follows Queen Street rather than going `cross-country.` City treasurer Marian Simulik assured councillors that if light rail is treated as the city`s No. 1 transportation project, the City of Ottawa has the fiscal capacity to pay for it and numerous other transit improvements until 2048.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Hamilton calls off non-essential LRT work




City manager Chris Murray is putting the brakes on the city`s LRT plans.




In a letter to council sent last Friday and obtained by The Spectator and other media outlets Monday, Hamilton`s top bureaucrat told senior staff to only do the work it`s required to do by the province, which gave $3 million to the city to study LRT.




At the same time, Murray says he has directed a senior city staffer `to lead a staff team to aggressively pursue all-day GO Service (from Toronto) to a station on James St. N.`







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Waterloo Region ranks second among Canada's urban economies



TORONTO ` Waterloo Region has the second best performing economy among Canadian urban centres, according to a new report from CIBC.





The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area trails only Toronto in the latest Canadian Metropolitan Economic Activity Index rankings from CIBC World Markets. The index measures economic momentum.





Waterloo Region ranked fourth in the previous index, the bank said Monday.





The improvement `reflects a very strong labour market, healthy population growth, relatively high quality employment and a low level of business bankruptcies,` the bank said in a news release.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Toronto condo market surfing the heat wave, June sales up 62%






TORONTO, July 19, 2011 /CNW/ - The high-rise condo market in the Greater Toronto Area is mirroring the heat wave that is currently gripping the City with sales of new-build condos rising 62 per cent in June compared with June 2010, the Building Industry & Land Development Association revealed today.




Combined with a 40 per cent increase in sales of single-detached, semi-detached and town homes, total new home sales in June were up 53 per cent compared with the previous year.




According to RealNet Canada Inc., who have independently tracked the GTA housing market for decades, the last three- and six-month periods represent the best second quarter and first half ever for high-rise condominium sales. On a year-to-date basis, sales of high-rise condominium suites are up 39 per cent over the first half of 2010, while total new home sales are up 20 per cent.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Dwight Duncan's strange 401 trip




Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan visited the National Post editorial board last week. The backroom work-over we gave him must have seemed like a real bare-knuckle bruiser of a session, because Mr. Duncan is now firing back with what he obviously thinks is a dandy comeback.




Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mr. Duncan said the Post, along with other Ontario newspapers, are part of what he described as an intellectually dishonest, right-wing, Rupert Murdoch, conservative cabal.




Mr. Duncan, whose Liberal party faces what looks like a tough election this fall, had just been asked questions about Ontario's alleged decline into "have-not" status. For some reason not explained, this line of questioning triggered a bizarre critique of Ontario's newspapers and media: "The intellectual dishonesty, particularly of the right wing in this country, and the right-wing media, is they don't tell the truth. It's kinda like Rupert Murdoch."





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Waterloo Region ranks second among Canada's urban economies




TORONTO ` Waterloo Region has the second best performing economy among Canadian urban centres, according to a new report from CIBC.




The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area trails only Toronto in the latest Canadian Metropolitan Economic Activity Index rankings from CIBC World Markets. The index measures economic momentum.




Waterloo Region ranked fourth in the previous index, the bank said Monday.




The improvement `reflects a very strong labour market, healthy population growth, relatively high quality employment and a low level of business bankruptcies,` the bank said in a news release.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Not fair to characterize Ontario as 'have-not' minister says





TORONTO ` Despite the fact that his province has received $2.2 billion in equalization this year, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan insists Ontario is not a have-not.







"It's not a have-not province," Duncan told reporters Wednesday. "That is dishonest. That language is intellectually dishonest. And anybody who uses it isn't telling the truth."







The minister's statement is another sign the McGuinty Liberal government is getting prickly over equalization ` and possibly other issues ` ahead of the Council of the Federation meeting of provincial and territorial leaders in Vancouver Thursday.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Ontario liberals can't have it both ways on equilization




With an election in October and their party down in the polls, it`s easy to understand why Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his finance minister, Dwight Duncan, would want to get in front of the media as often as possible to defend their government`s record. It would be helpful for Ontario`s Liberals, however, if the Premier and Mr. Duncan could better co-ordinate their messages, so they could avoid this week`s embarrassing gaffe, where both men argued opposite sides of the same issue within a 24-hour period.




On Wednesday, Mr. Duncan told reporters that he rejects Ontario`s status as a have-not province. Ontario, long the economic engine of Canada, received its first equalization payment of $347-million in 2009-10. It received $972-million in 2010-11, and this year is set to receive $2.2-billion in equalization transfers. Mr. Duncan, however, denies that Ontario is a have-not province. `It`s not a have-not province. That is dishonest. That language is intellectually dishonest. And anybody who uses it isn`t telling the truth.`




`Equalization has nothing to do with strength of the economy,` Mr. Duncan said. `Equalization has everything to do with a formula that has been gerrymandered.` He called the formula that sees Ontario receive these payments, soon to exceed a total $3.5-billion since the transfers began, `absolutely crazy.`





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Dwight Duncan joins lunatic fringe




If you were placing bets on which Ontario politician would be the first to raise name of Rupert Murdoch in the context of this province`s economy, Dwight Duncan wouldn`t be top of list.





The Liberals have any number of crazy, off-the-wall fruitcakes who are far more likely to run off at the mouth than he is.





In the past, I`ve jokingly accused the roly-poly finance minister of looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy. But I`ve never thought of him as a fruitcake. Until now.





His bizarre rant Wednesday about the `right-wing media,` naming the Toronto Sun and papers in our chain as being `intellectually dishonest,` demonstrated he has surely become a fully paid-up member of the lunatic fringe.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Mississauga-Brampton corridor plan wins national award





Mississauga: Planners from the cities of Mississauga and Brampton have won top honours from the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) for their work on the Hurontario/Main Street Corridor Master Plan. The award was presented to Karen Crouse from the City of Mississauga at the CIP`s annual conference in St. John`s, Newfoundland on Monday, July 11, in the category of Transportation and Infrastructure. `It`s a great honour for us to be recognized by our national planning colleagues for this fantastic city-building initiative, said Ed Sajecki, Mississauga`s Commissioner of Planning and Building. `This master plan is a key element for achieving many of the aims of Mississauga`s Strategic Plan and new Official Plan, and will help us to serve the people of Mississauga and Brampton by connecting our communities to each other, and to transit systems that serve communities across the region.`



`This plan is a very important one for Brampton and for our ability to better serve residents through transit,` said John Corbett, Planning, Design and Development Commissioner for the City of Brampton. `We are so honoured to be recognized for this initiative in partnership with Mississauga, and we look forward to seeing the benefits for both communities.`




The Hurontario/MainStreet Corridor Master Plan developed by the team will create a more people-friendly street with light-rail transit (LRT). A light rail system stretching from the waterfront in Port Credit, to downtown Mississauga and into downtown Brampton is the cornerstone of the master plan. According to the plan, the proposed LRT would have up to 32 stations along the 20-kilometre route, reducing travel times and improving connections to GO Transit and the 403/Eglinton Bus Rapid Transit line now under construction. The $1.3 billion LRT project ranks as one of the top priorities of Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for prioritizing and funding transit projects in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Be careful when renting newer condo or home




Nov. 1, 1991, is a very important date for rental properties in Ontario.




If your home, condo or apartment was built after that date, rent review does not apply. So, instead of the maximum increase of 0.7 per cent permitted in 2011 for most rental units, there is no limit on how much a landlord can increase the rent after the first 12 months of your tenancy.




Let`s say you rent an apartment in a building constructed before Nov. 1, 1991, and your rent is $1,000. The maximum your landlord can raise the rent this year is $7, to $1,007.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Mega-project permits soar in London




Institutional mega-projects propped up London building permit numbers in the first half of the year, despite a slump in residential construction.




The City of London issued building permits worth $432 million from January to June this year compared to $399 million in the same period in 2010.




Peter Kokkoros of the city's building department said building permits in the institutional sector soared to $193 million, up from $69 million last year.




Those projects included permits worth $40 million for the new Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and $51 million for construction and renovation projects at the London Health Sciences Centre





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Auto manufacturing jobs jump after six-year slump




Canada`s auto sector added more than 15,000 jobs in the first half of the year as many manufacturers bounced back from the deep recession, industry statistics show.




Vehicle and parts manufacturers, a key cog in the Canadian economy, jacked up employment levels by 13.3 per cent or 15,300 jobs to a workforce of 130,100 because of growing North America demand for vehicles in the first six months from the same period last year, according to figures from Statistics Canada and DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.




The hiring increase breaks a six-year decline in employment levels for the industry that included its worst downturn since the Great Depression.




Parts producers, which took a huge financial hit during the recession, accounted for most of the job gains. Hirings and layoff recalls shot up 21.3 per cent, or 13,700 jobs, to 78.400, the statistics showed.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

$344 million expansion for MaRs will create 4,000 jobs




There is life on MaRS.




Research and Innovation Minister Glen Murray has announced the MaRS science complex at the corner of University Ave. and College St. will double in size after a $344.5 million expansion.




`It will make it arguably the largest innovation hub in the world here in Toronto,` Murray said Tuesday.




Hailing `some very creative leasing and financing arrangements with the private sector,` the minister said the 20-storey addition will create 4,000 construction jobs and enlarge MaRS to 1.5 million sq. ft. of offices and laboratories.





Read the full article here.