1008TNTO Public transit a key election issue in Toronto suburbs wooed by Tories
It is lurking just below the surface of the big campaign talking points, such as the economy and the environment. And it`s a vital concern in the Toronto-area suburbs the Conservatives have been wooing so fervently in this election.
But public transit, like a lot of key issues, has been overshadowed in a campaign that focused more on party leaders` personalities than policy, says Michael Roschlau, president of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.
ACAPULCO, Mexico–With two Mounties in tow, Premier Dalton McGuinty launched Toronto`s official bid to host the 2015 Pan Am Games with a glitzy presentation, showcasing the region`s readiness and eagerness to welcome the two-week athletic event.
In a surprise twist, just as the initial bids were getting underway yesterday afternoon, Caracas, Venezuela suddenly dropped out of the race, leaving only two other cities – Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru.
London`s jobless rate has nudged higher, as job cuts in the manufacturing sector continue to drive down the number of workers in the city and region.
Meanwhile, the Canadian economy created a record 107,000 jobs last month. The massive number -- the largest since Statistics Canada began tabulating labour statistics in the current manner in 1976 -- shocked economists who had forecasted a modest gain in the 12,500 range.
1008CATH
Airport flies into political storm over funding announcement
Niagara District Airport has flown into a political controversy after announcing potential new government funding in the midst of the federal election.
An airport official announced Thursday it received "first-phase approval" in June from the federal government toward its $13.1-million application to the Building Canada fund.
No federal official has confirmed the details of the announcement.
Airport officials said the announcement wasn`t meant to influence the federal election campaign, but one St. Catharines riding candidate and some municipal politicians question the timing.
More people would ride transit if buses could avoid traffic jams. Making this happen is expensive.
Consider the latest transit plans for Highway 8 between Kitchener and Cambridge.
Traffic is often stop-and-go. Grand River Transit buses regularly detour to local roads to avoid highway congestion. It doesn`t help much. Heavy traffic often delays intercity express service by up to 10 minutes.
1008KWCG Councillor wants traffic plan for large retail development
WATERLOO
Waterloo Region`s biggest retail and office development, planned for a site along Ira Needles Boulevard, will be chaotic when it comes to traffic, Waterloo Coun. Karen Scian says.
Scian says she`s particularly concerned with pedestrians and how they will get around in the busy retail areas of the city`s westside.
She voiced her concerns this week at a meeting where there was discussion about a smaller development proposed at Ira Needles Boulevard and Erb Street West. "We need a comprehensive plan," Scian said.
1008KWCG Local housing market weathering fiscal uncertainty
GUELPH
Good economic news has recently been hard to come by, but there is some coming out of Guelph.
The city`s diverse economy and stoic housing market appears to be weathering the storm of fiscal uncertainty swirling around the globe. Area home builders say the declining Canadian dollar should help boost the sagging manufacturing sector, which relies heavily on exports to the United States.
The ongoing power struggle in Aurora may have just taken a very different turn.
Depending on where the Ontario Power Authority decides to put its proposed 350-megawatt peaker plant to serve northern York Region, Newmarket Hydro may build a transformer station similar to the Holland Junction in King on land it owns on Pedersen Drive in Aurora.
"The OPA had identified the possibility of needing another transformer station in the northern York Region area and we are holding the land until a decision on that is made," Newmarket Hydro president Paul Ferguson said. "If the site doesn`t ultimately pan out as a suitable location for a transformer station, then we sell it. It`s as simple as that."
After nearly 20 years at the corner of Yonge Street and Langstaff Road, Tony Pacito is philosophical about having to uproot his business.
"I started with two acres, now I have 11-and-a-half," he said.
Despite the history of growth, Beaver Valley Stone will move to Vaughan, likely within five years.
In its place, just south of Hwy. 407, condominiums and a new mixed-use community, housing as many as 30,000 people, will rise.
All along Langstaff, and certainly along Yonge, are strip malls and other businesses set to go the way of the dodo, paving the way for a new vision for what the region`s main street could be.
Real estate slump has sellers getting creative to ink deal
Soft market, hard sell.
That could be York Region realtors` mantra du jour.
A tentative economic climate, skittish buyers, reluctant sellers and housing market doldrums have prompted our real estate professionals to get creative.
In the buoyant new and resale housing and condo market of the not-so-recent past, it wasn`t odd to have bidding wars on properties.
Last month, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board, sales were 6 per cent behind September 2007 figures and, so far, in 2008, there have been 14 per cent fewer transactions.
PICKERING -- Two years after San Francisco By the Bay got the go-ahead, developers were back before Pickering councillors on Oct. 6. This time it wasn`t about residents upset with the Bayly Street development, but in regards to the more than $500,000 the City is requesting from SRandR Bay Ridges Ltd. in parkland payment.
UXBRIDGE -- A proposal to rezone buildings on the Uxbridge museum property to allow commercial uses has been tossed out after a volunteer of a group organizing events at the site pleaded her case against the move. Councillor Pat Mikuse on Oct. 6 pitched a request to her fellow councillors to rezone the museum`s schoolhouse and Orange Hall. "As you all know, there has been considerable pressure for this site to start generating revenue, and while programs have produced greater exposure for the museum, we would certainly like to consider looking at some commercial use at this location," noted Coun. Mikuse.
DETROIT–For General Motors Corp. to acquire Chrysler LLC and all of its warts, GM would have to get desperately needed cash as part of the deal. Lots of it, according to industry analysts.
With both automakers struggling to survive amid slumping sales, a slowing global economy and an unprecedented credit crunch, it`s unclear whether Chrysler`s majority owner, Cerberus Capital Management LP, would be willing to pay up, or whether Washington might even get involved to save one or both struggling automakers.
PICKERING -- The Duffins Creek Watershed is one of the last in the GTA that hasn`t been ravaged by development and it has to be saved, says Bernadette Zubrisky. The ecologist and Sierra Club volunteer is quite familiar with the watershed since her father grew up on a farm just next to Duffins Creek, and although she lived in Toronto, they`d visit it each weekend. There her father would teach her the importance of preserving the natural habitat that`s home to many species of birds and fish. The watershed covers 283 square kilometres in Pickering, Uxbridge, Ajax and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
1008 TNTO Layton pushes to pick up Toronto-area Liberal seats
TORONTO - NDP leader Jack Layton stayed grounded for the final day of the campaign, choosing a bus tour of Toronto-area targeted ridings, instead of the cross-country marathons of past elections.
He began the final day of the campaign alongside Ed Broadbent, the man who helped the NDP to its greatest election success 20 years ago.
In Oshawa, Mr. Layton said this election is about families and jobs.
The City of Hamilton is thinking of licensing landlords.
Staff suggest it as a way to protect the health, safety and general welfare of tenants who are often reluctant to complain about substandard housing for fear of being evicted.
But they warn it could also raise rents and scare away landlords.
General Motors Corp. confirmed two more plant shutdowns Monday, but a top Canadian union official says the reeling automaker has not indicated any plans for an early closing of the GM truck plant in Oshawa.
GM told workers it will close an assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., in December and a metal stamping operation in Grand Rapids, Mich., by the end of next year in moves that will eliminate more than 2,500 jobs.
