1208ONTR Ottawa pledges billions to avert auto meltdown
Canada`s struggling automakers will get roughly $3.4 billion in emergency aid to "keep the doors open" – but only if the Americans put money on the table first, says federal Industry Minister Tony Clement.
The aid is also conditional on restructuring plans by the Canadian arms of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler meeting government approval, Clement told a news conference last night.
1208ONTR Every assembly plant in Ontario facing cuts
Tens of thousands of anxious workers in Ontario`s auto industry will be off the job during the next few months as plunging sales in the U.S. hammer production here.
Company and union officials confirmed yesterday a new round of production cuts for December and the first few months of next year that will hit every assembly plant in Ontario for some time.
Toronto`s still hot condo market is poised for a dramatic cool-down in sales in 2009, a recent Ontario Home Builders` Association forum heard.
"Right now, there are 20,000 unsold condominiums somewhere in the pipeline and it is worrisome with all that inventory," said Peter Norman, senior director at Altus Group Economic Consulting.
Norman told the economic forum that Toronto`s condo sector has boomed in recent years, but he sees things "falling off quickly in terms of new condo sales."
PORT STANLEY -- Chemicals linked to cancer are coursing through the harbour here, into the Lake Erie water system that supplies a wide area including south London, and observers fear more pollutants could join the toxic soup.
A toxic plume extending into the lake, sweeping past the water intake that supplies about 100,000 customers, is but one part of the environmental nightmare unfolding in the small fishing village. Transport Canada, which is trying to unload ownership of the harbour, is aware of the contamination, but has kept a tight lid on details about it.
1208BTFD City looking to clean up vacant commercial sites
A city councillor wants to find out if the city can make the owners clean up abandoned commercial properties that might also have some environmental contamination.
Coun. John Bradford has won support for a resolution directing staff to research the problem of properties that once supported commercial operations and may have chemical pollution.
A report is expected early in the new year.
Bradfield said the city has spent a lot of time funding programs to deal with 15 vacant industrial sites targeted for cleanup and redevelopment but is only starting to examine commerecial sites. Many of them once housed service stations and fuel depots.
1208OTWA Virtual data centre lands $4 million in real cash
An Ottawa startup making a splash in the hot data centre virtualization market has landed some real cash.
Embotics raised $4 million in new venture capital to drive technology that unclogs the information pipes in computer data centres by maximizing the use of capacity.
Terry Guilbault can at last see light at the end of his multi-million dollar tunnel at 90 George Street.
Ever since the Ottawa developer bought the old Caplan`s department store on Rideau Street 13 years ago, he has longed for the day when he would complete a handsome new condo, luxury shops and a restaurant on a prime piece of downtown land.
Q: We sold our home about three months ago. Since then, the purchasers` lawyer informed our lawyer that they would not close on schedule. They asked for an extension because of various mortgage, banking and accounting issues.
I need this money to purchase another home. Our lawyer has received a faxed copy of one of the closing cheques to show they are working hard to get the issues resolved. We would like to know, if in fact, these issues are common and what recourse we might have if the purchaser does not come forth with the balance of funds.
With the stock market decline in the last few months, we and our agent do not feel we could sell it for the same price if the house was put back on the market.
We also are paying monthly costs to keep the house going. What should we do? We are on pins and needles.
1208HAMN Don`t get nailed by reno scams, police warn
Hamilton has been hit by a surge in home renovation scams worth hundreds of thousands of dollars since the end of summer.
Police say seniors in particular are favourite targets of renovation and roofing scammers who demand cash advances and provide very vague contracts.
"The biggest one this year was close to $100,000 for an interior home renovation," said Constable Jim Greenwood, an east-end seniors` support officer, yesterday.
1208YAUR Councillors turn down fee deferral request
Amid tough economic times, Aurora is receiving more requests for a little breathing room.
A representative of The Rockport Group, the builder of the Ridgewood Condominiums on John West Way in Aurora, asked councillors Tuesday to defer more than $931,000 in development charges.
Developers usually pay such fees when their first building permit is issued. Finance director John Guttteridge said Rockport Group`s request is a first for him.
1208ONTR Looking at the recession as an opportunity
Richard Florida isn`t one to keep his grand ambitions quiet.
Within the staid and muffled world of academia, the Toronto-based urban theorist virtually shouts them from the rooftops. If not in leadership forums and media interviews, from the BBC to The Colbert Report, then on a wall-sized blackboard in his office that suggests, in big chalk letters, he has found the "Road to Global Prosperity."
Premier Dalton McGuinty would be satisfied with a more modest discovery: He has asked Florida and Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, to map the path to long-term economic success for Ontario.
Layoffs in St. Thomas have helped boost the rental vacancy rate in the London area to 3.9 per cent, up from 3.6 per cent in the same month last year. David Lan, an analyst with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), said the rental market in the City of London has been relatively stable, but outlying communities, such as Strathroy and St. Thomas, have seen significant increases.
Housing starts in London and area plummeted 40 per cent in November, further evidence the downturn is being felt throughout the region. It is the second round of bad news for the London economy in recent days -- last week Statistics Canada reported there are 3,000 fewer people working in the London area this year over last, driving the unemployment rate up to 6.9 per cent
Real estate transactions in Orillia have fallen off about 20 per cent from last year, but property values have not dropped, says the president of the Orillia and District Real Estate Board.
"Right now we`re comparable to 2005/2006 in terms of sales, said Dan Stoutt, noting that last year was a record year.
But despite the slowdown, the average sale price of a residential property in 2008 was $258,989, just slightly below the average of $260,279 in 2007, Stoutt notes.
1208BAOR Council looks to put cap on number of downtown bars
How many bars is too many in downtown Barrie?
The answer might just be one more.
"I have a concern that we are at or past the saturation point for bars in the downtown," said Coun. Jeff Lehman, who represents this area.
He will ask city councillors tonight to endorse a city planning staff probe into what`s available to restrict the number and/or size of new nightclubs and taverns in the downtown.
Hamilton transit will hit the jackpot Wednesday as the provincial agency Metrolinx arrives here to announce the biggest multicity bus purchase in Ontario history.
Chair Rob MacIsaac will be at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre to award three bus supply contracts that will stimulate jobs in Canadian manufacturing, operations and maintenance.
1208YKNG Like it or not, King, peaker plant`s coming
King doesn`t want to play host for the natural gas-fired peaking generating facility to serve the Northern municipalities, but it`s coming anyway, King Mayor Margaret Black said. The Ontario Power Authority announced it will sign a 20-year contract with York Energy Centre LP to design, build and operate a 393-megawatt electricity generation station on Dufferin Street in King Township, despite the municipality`s refusal of the facility.
