St. Catharines councillors are on a shopping spree, with plans underway for a new $16-million pool and library facility and a new $101-million arts centre and school in partnership with Brock University.
They have committed to raising $30 million through a special 30-year hospital tax of $31 per house per year.
They are also drafting plans to improve or replace several fire stations, and to replace the crumbling Carlisle Street parking garage.
But that`s not stopping them from considering another project for the lower-level parking lot -- a 5,000-seat spectator arena.
Enrolment increases tied to a proposed health and wellness centre at Barrie`s Georgian College can be handled, says a recent housing report.
The survey says only 2,070 of the projected 3,000 students taking classes at the centre would need rental housing.
"Some of those students would live outside of the east end or at home," said Georgian president Brian Tamblyn, "so even fewer students would require new, off-campus rental accommodation in the vicinity of Georgian College."
LAKESHORE - The municipal tax increase in Lakeshore has been cut to 2.4 per cent from an initial 5.5 per cent after council finished the last of four budget sessions Tuesday.
But the most contentious issue at the end was whether to eliminate a $12-a-month special levy to replace rusty water pipes that`s been billed to some 12,300 water customers in the past two years.
1208OTWA Infrastructure improvements provoke 2.9-per-cent tax hike for Gatineau
The City of Gatineau has approved a $424.7-million budget that will increase taxes by 2.9 per cent in 2009 or about $60 for a house with an average assessment of $176,000.
Richard Côté, the chairman of Gatineau`s budget committee, said there will be few cuts in services to residents.
The city will spend $49 million on the $195-million Rapibus transitway in 2009 and start the construction of a $50-million sports complex, library improvements and a new development plan for downtown.
Ottawa`s employment forecast for the first quarter of 2009 is less than stellar, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
"The survey data shows that 15% of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter, while 12% plan to reduce their workforce," said Devon Rutherford of Manpower`s Ottawa office. Another 72% of the city`s employers expect to maintain their current staffing levels.
Even though the public school board is planning to build elsewhere, McMaster`s plan for a downtown health centre is as firm as ever -- perhaps even firmer -- says the dean of the university`s medical school.
"Our agenda has not changed one bit," said John Kelton, a university vice-president and dean of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. "Our big vision is to build a family health centre, and we want it in downtown Hamilton."
1208KWCG Swelling costs could put brakes on new seniors` housing
WATERLOO REGION
Regional council decides today whether to go ahead with a supportive housing project for seniors that is $1.3 million over budget.
Originally, the project, the first of its kind for seniors in the region, was to cost $7.5 million. The budget was later increased to add air-conditioning.
But now bids on the project have come in even higher. The lowest is $9.6 million, which means the region is looking at a shortfall of $1.3 million.
AJAX -- There needs to be more public input on a plan that will dictate how Durham Region grows over the next 20-plus years.
Ajax council on Monday unanimously approved a motion by Mayor Steve Parish that called for public meetings prior to Regional councillors considering the Growing Durham study. "There`s a great lack of any kind of public involvement," he said, noting in the two years of work on the plan, "there`s been little public input.
1208DBRK Regions wants to build to stimulate economy
Durham is planning on putting a rush on infrastructure projects in order to stimulate the local economy.
As part of his economic update, finance commissioner Jim Clapp recommended expediting projects which were to be included in the 2009 budget and are ready to be put out to tender.
Even if not all of the winning contractors are local businesses, they`ll still bring business to the Region, said Mr. Clapp. "Either way you`re going to help the economy, not only with the projects but with whatever spin-offs there are from the projects," he said.
The City of Mississauga won`t be selling Enersource.
In fact, councillors voted yesterday to buy out the 10 per cent interest minority partner Borealis owns in the hydro utility.
After mulling, for the better part of the year, over whether to sell its 90 per cent share in Enersource — and spending $440,000 on consultants` fees in the process — councillors finally shelved the idea.
Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti says tough times require a strong dose of empathy from politicians, and he`s proposing something GTA residential taxpayers haven`t heard for a while: a tax freeze.
"We want to send a signal that we are aware of what people are contending with," Scarpitti said. "We`re going to do what we can to lessen the burden to our businesses and residents in these troubled economic times.
"It`s not a wish – it`s a challenge to our senior staff and council to deliver a zero per cent tax increase for 2009."
Canada`s three struggling automakers must come clean on plans to cut jobs if they hope to win taxpayer support for the $6 billion in aid they`re seeking, Premier Dalton McGuinty says.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler submitted their restructuring plans to Queen`s Park and Ottawa last Friday but have yet to publicly reveal what would happen to their Ontario factories.
McGuinty signalled his patience is wearing thin with the companies, which employ more than 30,000 workers.
The argument over growth in Niagara is about to get intense.
Regional staff recommended a long-term growth strategy for Niagara Wednesday that calls for 95 per cent intensification in both St. Catharines and Grimsby over a 25-year period.
Intensification means higher-density housing -- infilling, redeveloping brownfields and squeezing more people into taller buildings.
In Grimsby, that means adding another 7,000 people and 3,325 higher-density housing units by 2031. It also means trouble, according to Grimsby Alderman Nick Andreychuk.
1208CATH Thorold mayor won`t support rental bylaw as proposed
It was supposed to be a bylaw to crack down on absentee landlords and student housing issues.
But, from Mayor Henry D`Angela`s perspective, Thorold`s draft rental-unit licensing bylaw has morphed into something else entirely.
That`s why D`Angela won`t support the proposed rules that many Thorold landlords say are akin to a dictatorship.
"I believe stronger enforcement of (existing) bylaws can achieve the results our citizens are looking for," D`Angela said. "A licensing system will become a bureaucratic nightmare with administration and enforcement."
The federal government expects to decide in the next six months whether the crumbling Chaudière Bridge has to be razed and a new crossing built in its place.
Pierre Vaillancourt of the federal Department of Public Works told a Gatineau news conference yesterday that the bridge is undergoing rigorous assessment by consultants who will advise the government whether it has to be replaced or can be rehabilitated.
An attempt to get the federal government involved in Ottawa`s transit strike died in the city council chamber yesterday.
Innes Councillor Rainer Bloess tried to introduce a motion to ask the federal government to have OC Transpo declared an essential service, to get the transit system running again and having the strike settled through arbitration.
1208HAMN GO Transit adds morning train for Hamilton
Hamilton is getting an extra morning GO train sometime early in the new year.
GO Transit announced yesterday recent track improvements will allow the Toronto-bound train that leaves Oakville at 7:58 a.m. to start its run from Burlington Aldershot at 7:32 a.m. on Jan. 5. This 12-car train will originate in Hamilton later in 2009 when the Hamilton train layover site is finished. The train will run as an express from Oakville to Union Station.
1208KWCG Growth in southwest tests Catholic parents
KITCHENER
Southwest Kitchener is booming, and with rapid development has come growing pains at the area`s schools.
At a public meeting this week, parents got a look at what a committee has been considering to balance enrolments at Blessed Kateri, Blessed Sacrament, John Sweeney, Monsignor Haller, Our Lady of Grace and St. Timothy Catholic elementary schools.
