1108YNEW Newmarket first to complete town`s future growth plans
You should not be paying for new growth but a looming deadline means we need to have plans in place soon, and then hope we can afford to pay for it later.
The province`s Places to Grow legislation directs GTA municipalities to concentrate growth that avoids sprawling further outward, but how we will pay for that growth remains unresolved.
Every local municipality needs to adjust its official plan to conform with the provincial legislation by June.
1108YTHL Centre island could solve King High Road Battle
They`re divided by a road that runs right through their community and there is no sign that divider will change anytime soon.
A one-year pilot project to shut down King High Drive in Thornhill has made the residents on that street happy, but it has drawn the ire of residents living on the streets around it.
The neighbourhood is in the Dufferin and Centre streets area of Thornhill and has seen new development over the past year that has increased traffic. But the problem has been ongoing for more than a decade, according to some Vaughan councillors.
1108YWSF Residents targeted in insurance phone scam
Three clients of Birkett-Hassard Insurance Brokers, and clients from another Stouffville firm were targeted by fraudsters pretending to be insurance industry representatives.
Luckily, none of the Birkett-Hassard clients gave out their confidential information, according to Rob McBeth, a broker with the Main Street company.
Hands off our farmland. Protect our water. And slow down before you wipe us all off the planet.
The message on urban growth from residents and environmentalists to Durham Region councillors was clear at a packed marathon meeting of the planning committee this week.
"Growth is our biggest enemy," said Pickering resident Michael Robertson. "If we don`t stop now, even our children may not be here in 50 years."
Road tolls will be forced onto the greater Toronto area`s agenda again today, as the provincial transportation agency for the region is asked to immediately start investigating tolls, taxes and other levies to fund its $50-billion, 25-year transit plan.
Metrolinx had planned to delay any toll debate until 2013, but board member Paul Bedford said Metrolinx "cannot afford to wait" that long to even discuss alternatives to government support.
Barrie and area commuters will soon see changes to Highway 400 as the Ministry of Transportation begins the inevitable widening of the roadway.
Broad stroke environmental approval has been given for the widening to 10 lanes from Major Mackenzie to Highway 11, just north of Barrie, according to MTO spokesman Will Mackenzie.
It`s part of the MTO`s Southern Ontario Highway Program.
Hundreds of Innisfil residents are concerned that council may endorse moving a GO station planned for Lefroy/Belle Ewart to an area south of Alcona.
About 350 residents have signed a petition, urging the Town of Innisfil to drop a recent proposal to move a planned GO train station from the 5th Line to the 6th Line.
Larry Hurd presented the petition to council on Wednesday night.
1108OTWA Why we pay for transit, and Toronto doesn`t
If you run a city that wants a lot of provincial money for transit projects, it pays to be small.
While Ottawa is nervously eyeing major borrowing to pay its share of a big new transit plan, transit builders in the Golden Horseshoe are pushing ahead with billions worth of transit with no contribution from area taxpayers -- because parts of those projects cross municipal boundaries.
More than 90% of Ottawa residents are proud of their city, according to the city`s annual 2008 citizen satisfaction survey.
The data for the survey, released this morning, was collected through telephone interviews by Harris/Decima with a sample of 1,128 Ottawa residents between October 9 and 22. The interviews were comprised of random samples of at least 275 residents from each of four regions that make up the whole of Ottawa (East, Central, West and Rural).
City councillors voted Wednesday to have staff consider yet another possible light-rail route for the capital.
Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Gord Hunter, who proposed the motion, says it makes sense for the city to consider taking light rail down the southeast Transitway from South Keys to Hurdman station. "It`s a better route. It`s a cheaper route and it`s faster," said Hunter, whose motion came at the end of the transit debate Wednesday night. The debate continues today.
It`s two steps forward and one step back at McMaster Innovation Park.
Excavation for the $60-million federal laboratory next door to the research park`s headquarters is expected to start in the next three weeks, and renovation work on the interior of the main building itself is about three-quarters done, with a major tenant preparing to move in.
The city`s top job will remain in the hands of Hans Loewig through the end of 2012.
The move announced yesterday was accepted by Loewig, the city`s chief administrative officer, and approved in-camera by city council. It is a major turnaround from when he accepted an eight-month interim position starting July 2007.
1108KWCG Agri-Technology centre opens doors in city
GUELPH
The first centre in Canada dedicated to commercializing new agricultural products opened its doors in Guelph yesterday.
Much is riding on the Agri-Technology Commercialization Centre, billed as one of the pillars of Ontario`s economic future.
The facility at 200-120 Research Ln. will be populated with agribusiness experts, legal advisers and mentors who can take good research, technology and new food products with global appeal and turn them into commercial products quicker and more successfully, pioneers of the centre said during a grand-opening ceremony.
DURHAM -- One hundred per cent of students who leave UOIT with a nuclear engineering degree have jobs when they graduate. "Everybody gets a job," said Dan Meneley, acting dean of the UOIT faculty. "In fact, if we doubled output I think that would still remain true."
All graduates who want a job get one -- a strong statistic in a weakening economy. That`s because the electricity sector is growing rapidly and can`t find enough employees to cover, according to recent statistics.
CLARINGTON -- People moving to areas abutting farms need to be more aware of the legality
of regular farming practices, like pesticide use, says Clarington`s
Agricultural Advisory Committee.
Not only that, but minimum separations should be enshrined in law, to help
buffer urban from rural, which are often at odds with each other on matters
like pesticides and odours, says a motion recently passed by the committee.
WHITBY -- A year-long wait for a new parking study appeared to bring more disappointment than relief for councillors at a planning and development meeting this week. Staff brought forth several recommended changes to the town`s parking standards, including an increase in the number of spaces in residential areas like townhouses and in non-residential places like community centres and retail establishments.
Despite warnings of a budget tsunami at London city hall, fears of massive tax hikes and slashed programs appear overblown -- at least until 2010.
Senior managers will present a draft budget in 11 days that protects every job and program. And by the time the budget process ends in February, managers expect taxes and charges to go up between four and 4.5 per cent, similar to the 2008 increase. That`s a far cry from the 20-per-cent hike deputy mayor Tom Gosnell warned about seven weeks ago. But it doesn`t mean there aren`t tough choices ahead.
