Police bust huge marijuana grow-ops; NRP say 15,000 plants found have a street value of $15 million
An organized crime ring used sophisticated technology and several sites to engineer the biggest marijuana drug operation in Niagara`s history, Niagara Regional Police allege.
In a series of sweeps that began Wednesday evening and continued Thursday, police netted at least 15,000 plants with a street value of $15 million at five locations spread throughout Jordan, Thorold and Wainfleet.
On Thursday, police were still dismantling the massive indoor marijuana-grow operation sites - which included a former church and a grapevine growing greenhouse - and say the tally is likely to increase.
Police recovered an estimated $200,000 in hydroponic grow equipment during the busts, the culmination of a six-month investigation.
Wainfleet giving `mixed messages`: Betty Konc; Councillors questioned why expansions are approved in boil water advisory area
Two public meetings held to discuss rezoning Wainfleet properties from resort residential to resort residential-special, to allow additional lot coverage, received mixed reviews in township council chambers Tuesday night.
Betty Konc, chair of the Wainfleet Ratepayers Association, asked members of council why they are considering allowing homeowners to add garages to their properties when the area they live in continues to be under a boil water advisory.
"You appear to be giving mixed messages ... You`re going against what the region is saying - buildings are too big on lots," Konc said.
Welland`s mayor explains water/sewer rate increase; Damian Goulbourne says city is planning a special meeting to discuss water billing
"There`s no conspiracy here," says Mayor Damian Goulbourne.
There`s just complex accounting - at least when it comes to water and sewer rate increases.
Although the city approved a 4.48 per cent increase to its water and sewer budget this year, some residents who have water meters have seen substantially higher increases on their water bills.
The problem, the mayor said, is that it`s a transitional year.
Highway 406 expansion, transit expansion needed; Regional chair Peter Partington gives state of the southern tier address
The region`s top priority is to have Highway 406 expanded to four lanes to East Main Street and eventually to Port Colborne.
Regional chair Peter Partington received a round of applause when he told more than 100 at Casa Dante Lodge in Welland that he will push the province to start that expansion in 2010.
The lunch, sponsored by the Welland-Pelham Chamber of Commerce, as well as by the Port Colborne-Wainfleet and the Fort Erie chambers of commerce, was an opportunity for Partington to update business leaders on the state of Niagara`s southern tier.
City hopes to flip derelict property; Former Raycon site on Fares Street is in tax arrears to the tune of $101,681
The city hopes to have a buyer for a derelict building on the city`s east side - but first there is the matter of an $80,000 lien with the Business Development Bank of Canada.
The city will also have to write off $101,681 in tax arrears dating back to 2003.
The building and property at 227 Fares St., formerly owned by Raycon, is currently boarded up and bushes around the property are overgrown.
Torontonians at the busy intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets were treated to an unusual sight yesterday as a tracked excavator officially began demolition for the 80-storey 1 Bloor condominium and hotel development.
Onlookers - about 800, according to police estimates - thronged Bloor Street to watch the vehicle take a ceremonial chunk out of a low-rise building that will make way for the project by developer Bazis International.
The sheer size of the 1 Bloor tower and the considerable publicity surrounding its launch, including a multi-day lineup of buyers before the opening of its sales office, have made it one of the most visible symbols of the city`s building boom.
BRAMPTON - Just as Peel Region paramedics voiced concerns that ambulance crews spend far too much time cooped up in emergency departments, Queen`s Park has announced it will set aside $109 million to help speed up patient flow in hospitals.
"You cannot have a good performing emergency room so long as the ER (emergency department) can`t admit patients to hospital," said Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman.
"These changes will free up our emergency rooms to do what they do best— treat emergencies."
An "aggressive" effort has been launched to expand the Orangeville trails system. Town council adopted a long-awaited trails master plan this week. "One of the challenges moving the trails forward is having a plan," commented Mayor Rob Adams, an active trail user.
Officials from Creekbank Properties are calling plans for new condominiums in the Lyons Lane area an exercise in environmentally friendly elegance. The developer unveiled its proposal during a Wednesday night Town Hall meeting that was only attended by the developers themselves and The Oakville Beaver.
CAW bid to boost St. Thomas plant lauded - but unlikely
The Canadian Auto Workers union has won praise from industry observers for pursuing a Mazda vehicle for the troubled Ford St. Thomas assembly plant.
But it`s an idea fraught with barriers and it`s unlikely the Japanese automaker will assemble a car at the plant, the observers say. "I would be very surprised if the St. Thomas plant got a Mazda vehicle," said Tony Faria, business professor and automotive industry analyst at the University of Windsor. "I do not think Ford has long-term plans for the St. Thomas plant."
The Gardiner Expressway is a garish, dirty, pigeon-excrement-covered concrete eyesore. And I love it.
I love how this expressway moves traffic. I adore how it provides an east-west corridor into and out of the city. I`m tickled pink by the fact that its very existence surely drives Mayor David Miller round the bend.
QUEBEC CITY–Canada must invest billions in its infrastructure to remain competitive on the world stage, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion told the Federation of Canadian Municipalities this weekend.
McCallion, who has tangled with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in a bid to persuade Ottawa to pay cities more money for infrastructure and other needs, had sharp words for Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper`s government.
Canada is missing the "vision that built the rail lines across this country,`` she said.
Economics often drives city planning, expert warns
Ottawa residents who want to protect neighbourhoods from over-scaled and ugly development must roll up their sleeves and get involved in the political and planning process, says a longtime Montreal urban activist.
"Do not think that it is the city-employed planners who are going to negotiate with the developers a development project in the public interest," says Dimitri Roussopoulos, founder and CEO of Urban Ecology, a think-tank on sustainable urban development.
June 2, 2008 03:29 PM - More than 250,000 new workers will be needed across Canada by 2016 to meet the growing demand for construction and expansion of hospitals, schools and other key facilities, a report released today at Trillium Health Centre Mississauga says.
The Construction Sector Council`s fourth annual forecast of labour market trends, called Construction Looking Forward, was unveiled at a press conference held on a construction site at the Mississauga hospital, where Mississauga`s EllisDon Corporation is building a major addition to Trillium.
General Motors Corp. is shutting down its Oshawa, Ont. pickup plant as part of a sweeping strategic shift into cars and crossover utility vehicles as high gasoline prices kills demand for its biggest vehicles.
Production at the Oshawa factory just east of Toronto will be stopped some time in 2009, likely mid-year, resulting in the remaining 1,000 unionized workers there losing their jobs. Three other truck plants in Ohio, Wisconsin and Mexico will also see a production decline.
General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner on Tuesday may outline his plan to build more fuel-efficient cars and rely less on trucks as he seeks to end three years of losses amid record gasoline prices.
Mr. Wagoner, 55, plans to discuss his strategy for coping with soaring fuel costs at GM`s annual meeting on Tuesday, people familiar with his agenda said. It will be the eighth time Mr. Wagoner has addressed shareholders, whose GM stock has lost about three quarters of its value since he took over in June 2000.
Ontario residents are learning to live better with less electricity, says a report to be released today.
Consumption is dropping faster than at any previous time and the province is ahead of the conservation target it set three years ago, Peter Love, chief energy conservation officer with the Ontario Power Authority, said in an interview.
"We`re getting there, but there`s a long way to go," he said.
QUEBEC - Quebec and Ontario are rebranding themselves as "Central Canada," with plans to work more closely together that include a Quebec City-to-Windsor high-speed train as a green alternative to a new Highway 401 linking the two provinces.
"It`s called Central Canada and it`s time for us to assert ourselves, once again," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the end of the first joint Quebec-Ontario cabinet meeting in Quebec City`s historic Ch`teau Frontenac hotel.
