Ontario Economic Fundamentals 2008 Q2

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Councillors say Hwy. 427 plan falls short

Current plans to extend Hwy. 427 a few kilometres further north doesn`t go far enough to address the region`s long-term needs, Peel councillors told provincial planners recently.
Highway planners Michael Chiu and Dean Kemper provided councillors with an update on a strategy to expand Hwy. 427 along Peel`s eastern boundary.
The current blue print proposes to extend the highway along the western edge of York Region, from Queen Street East in the south (just east of Hwy. 50) to Major Mackenzie Drive in the north.
Although the project is only in the environmental assessment and planning stages regional politicians, including Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell, argued the plan not only falls short with respect to distance but also lacks a long-term vision.

http://www.thebramptonguardian.com/news/article/48585

 

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Road allowance remains public property

Mulmur council has abandoned its plan to close and sell a Third Line road allowance to a surrounding property owner.
"I haven`t been too impressed with Mulmur council, but I was impressed [with that decision]," Mulmur resident Carl Tafel, one of the several who opposed the sale, tells The Banner. "I was actually quite proud of them.... I think they did the right thing."

http://www.orangevillebanner.com/news/article/48673

 

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High-speed Internet, workshops coming to Dufferin

As work continues to bring high-speed Internet access to rural areas of Dufferin County, interest expressed by individuals, businesses and community representatives has been strong and provides a good indication that our citizens understand fully the benefits of having the ability to connect with each other and the rest of the world.

http://www.orangevillebanner.com/business/article/48122

 

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Couple could lose house in grow-op case

Federal prosecutors are attempting to seize the family home of a Toronto husband and wife with no prior criminal record if they are convicted of running a marijuana grow operation.

Tam Ngoc Tran and his wife Lien Thi Pham, both in their 50s, were arrested last year and charged with marijuana production-related offences, accused of having a medium sized grow-op in their modest home in the Jane and Finch section of the city.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/to....html?id=508547

 

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Good fences make good neighbours, but bad lawsuits

Back in 1915, poet Robert Frost penned the line "Good fences make good neighbours." Last year, in a bitter dispute involving the owners of adjoining cottage properties, Justice Joseph W. Quinn echoed Robert Frost in the first line of his judgment. "A good fence may make a good neighbour," he wrote, "but does it make a good lawsuit?"

The answer, of course, requires a reading of three separate court decisions, and depends on whether the reader sides with the plaintiff or defendant.

http://yourhome.ca/homes/article/422743

 

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Urban planning goes online

The city is going online with all major development applications in an effort to increase transparency and build public confidence in the planning-approval process.

As of tomorrow morning, citizens can go on the city`s website and see all current development applications and supporting studies for everything from zoning changes that allow taller buildings to site-plan applications that show exactly how a building project will be laid out.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/c...23-88ceccdbe536

 

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CAW`s talks with GM `tough`

Talks between the CAW and General Motors of Canada Ltd. continued all weekend without significant progress, union president Buzz Hargrove said late Sunday.

With formal contract negotiations with Chrysler Canada set to begin this morning, the GM talks were still some distance away from a settlement, Hargrove said.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...c0-64a3aa7515fa

 

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More bad news expected

OTTAWA - Canada`s manufacturing recession has deepened and will likely continue to do so, reports being released here and in the U.S. this week are expected to suggest.

"Canadian manufacturing remains stuck in recession with more challenging times ahead, given the slowdown in U.S. demand and a high-flying loonie," CIBC World Markets economist Avery Shenfeld said, projecting that a report Thursday will show factory shipments fell 0.5 per cent in March, ending two months of what most analysts agree were unsustainable gains.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/bus...29-27494d07ec89

 

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King William Street regal no more

"Everything dies baby, that`s a fact / But maybe everything that dies, someday comes back."

Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City

It was just a building. Wasn`t it?

The teenage brother and sister stood at the spot on King William Street at James, arm-in-arm, staring at it. Mom and dad joined them, angling their eyes up into the grey sky, a cool wind blowing through their hair.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/367583

 

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Online orders may be scams, retailers warned

Rose Kriedemann came in to her toy shop one Wednesday morning and found a nice, fat order from her website.

It came from a customer in New Zealand, an order totalling about $1,000 for four specialty collectible items that Bayshore Hobbies is known for.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/367452

 

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Coves plot hits market as city mulls land cash

A prized plot of floodplain along the Coves has hit the market, just as city hall considers a five-fold increase in what it pays for ecologically significant land.

Board of control is backing a staff plan to increase to $25,000 what the city is willing to spend per acre for land with special natural features -- a huge hike from the long-standing limit of $5,500. "To me, that ($5,500) is laughable," said Steve Ross, a lawyer representing the owner of the four hectares (11 acres) along Orchard Street that backs right to the east pond of the Coves.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...537796-sun.html

 

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Bids due for new hospital; Consortiums looking to build complex have until Tuesday to submit proposals

After thousands of hours of preparation by hundreds of workers over the past year and a half, it`s deadline time for three large companies vying to build a new hospital complex in St. Catharines.

The three international consortiums shortlisted to design, build, finance and maintain the health centre have until the end of the day Tuesday to submit final proposals.

But it will still take months - likely until the fall - for officials at the Niagara Health System and Infrastructure Ontario to finish poring over the bids and to select a winner.

"It takes time to go through, especially because there is a design component," Infrastructure Ontario spokeswoman Paulette Den Elzen said Thursday.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article...uth=PETER+DOWNS

 

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Water on city`s agenda tonight

The following is a tale of advocacy still in the writing. Tonight councillors will discuss the problem of overburdened, aging and ailing sewage treatment facilities in upstream municipalities discharging raw or partly treated effluent into the Grand River and its tributaries.

A Ministry of the Environment official will discuss the first reform measures the government has undertaken to deal with the problem: setting up a committee to devise best practices in dealing with the problem, and forcing offending municipalities to take ownership of it.

It`s a small but important first step, and it is due mainly to Brantford`s advocacy.

fed up

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...l-+Allan+Marion

 

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Region proposes hiking development charges

Durham -

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/breaking_news/article/98658

 

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Ajax investing in green sunlight


http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/ajax/article/98657

 

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Family business matters, matter

It`s an issue that confounds most family businesses -- whether to pass on a company to the next generation, or sell and let the younger generation begin their own business venture with the money raised.

Now, an area entrepreneur is shedding light on this intriguing dilemma, offering a down-to-earth way of resolving it.

In may cases, the best option is the latter, Thomas Dean said.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/Business/article/326271

 

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GM closing Windsor transmission plant

TORONTO -- In the latest blow to the country`s struggling auto industry, General Motors said yesterday it will close its transmission plant in Windsor by mid-2010 in a move that will affect 1,400 workers.

GM said the closure will occur when current production mandates expire for the four-speed automatic transmissions produced at the plant. "Despite efforts and discussions with GM`s labour and government partners, the company has determined that its North American market outlook and product plans, including the shift from four-speed to more fuel-efficient six-speed transmissions, do not offer replacement products for the Windsor plant in the 2010 time frame," the largest North American automaker said in a statement. "Accordingly the plant will close in the second quarter of 2010."

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...547606-sun.html

 

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Province proceeds with 402 widening

With a green light from the Environment Ministry, the province is going ahead with a $45-million, first-phase widening of Highway 402 at Sarnia to accommodate big rigs lined up for the border crossing.

A spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry confirmed yesterday planning is underway for the first three kilometres of two additional west lanes from the Blue Water Bridge to Indian Road. The trucks-only lanes eventually will stretch back 13 kilometres to Mandaumin Road, said Jennifer Graham Harkness, head of planning and design for the ministry`s regional office in London.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...547636-sun.html

 

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Council defeats motion to increase city payments

A plan to dramatically increase the amount London pays for ecologically significant floodplain land was defeated at city council last night.

The proposal, recommended last week by board of control, would have had city hall pay as much as $25,000 an acre for land that has unique natural features or a specific planning purpose. The long-standing city policy sets the limit at $5,500 an acre in all circumstances.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...547641-sun.html

 

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Hospital levy would add $30 to tax bills; Councillors to vote on staff recommendation

St. Catharines homeowners who thought they were getting off easy with a $30 property tax increase this year will most likely find out the amount they pay is actually doubled.

City councillors are set to add a $30 hospital tax to the average homeowner`s property tax bill - this year and every year for the next 30 years.

City staff made the recommendation in a report to council, which is scheduled to be debated at the next city council meeting May 26. The report sets tax, sewer and water rates for 2008, and includes a provision for a new hospital tax.

The tax is designed to raise the city`s share of $60 million, the amount of money the Niagara Health System says must be raised from municipal property taxes to pay the local share of the new hospital and regional cancer centre to be built in west St. Catharines.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article...MARLENE+BERGSMA