Hydro Ottawa customers will see their residential bills climb by 0.6 per cent this year as the utility bumps up its distribution rate to cover the cost of building and maintaining its electrical system.
Affordable housing can`t be built on LeBreton Flats until the city figures out how to serve the new neighbourhood with transit, says Neil Malhotra, vice-president of the company responsible for the first phase of development.
An agreement between the City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission, which sold LeBreton Flats land to Mr. Malhotra`s Claridge Homes, required that 25 per cent of the housing on the property be "affordable" for people with lower incomes.
Two roads -- Red Rock Road and John Street -- have been closed by rising waters from Round Lake, said a spokesman for the Township of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards.
Don Wrigglesworth said the lake water level is very high and is affecting mostly cottages as well as some permanent homes.
Officials have been unable to reach the affected areas to assess the damage, Mr. Wrigglesworth said. The township is about 150 kilometres west of Ottawa.
OTTAWA -- Americans are shooting themselves and Canadians in the foot with their array of security measures at the Canada-U.S. border, according to the head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
They are not only adding to the costs of doing business across the border, and putting at risk millions of jobs on both sides, but are actually undermining the security of the U.S., Perrin Beatty says in a prepared speech to be delivered today to the North Carolina Technology Association in the state capital Raleigh.
A local home inspection company is helping area residences take advantage of a federal-provincial government-funded program that can assist them in making their residences more energy efficient while at the same time helping make for a cleaner environment.
Green Home Energy Audits is one of the first companies with an auditor that has worked in the field of energy upgrades. Owner and operator Daniel Misur has worked for SX Heating and Cooling and continues to have an excellent relationship with them as their in-house auditor.
Toronto-Economists at C-I-B-C World Markets are warning motorists to get used to high
prices at the pump.
A forecast from the investment banking division of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
says national average gasoline prices will top $1.40 a litre this summer, and $2.25 by 2012.
C-I-B-C World Markets chief economist Jeff Rubin was one of the first to predict 100
dollar-a-barrel-oil, which he did three years ago.
Angry Flamborough residents are plotting a tax revolt after council reaffirmed a controversial decision to take away the suburb`s subsidy.
In an 8-7 decision, council voted last night to share $4 million in slot revenue instead of keeping it in Flamborough. The move means a tax increase of up to 9.8 per cent in parts of Flamborough -- more than double the rest of Hamilton.
SIMCOE — Normalrovincial police in Simcoe are urging merchants and their employees to be wary of $100 bills.
Norfolk OPP say they have received two counterfeit $100 bills from banks in recent days. One had the serial number BFK2487576 while the other had the serial number BDJ1038609.
There have been other reports of $100 bills with these serial numbers being used elsewhere in other OPP jurisdictions, police said.
Flooding "horrendous"; Many properties around Lake St. John damaged by water
Sheba Drive resident Cathy Howes leans over the deck of her home to grab the rope of the motorboat neighbour Vic England has just piloted all over what used to be her back, front and side yards.
There are five pumps running constantly in her basement trying to keep Lake St. John from making headway there. Except for a small patch of grass with sandbags around it to protect the family`s septic bed, everything else is water.
Howes estimated the gar- age that sits near the back of the property has three feet of water in it.
Roads plan rushed; Priority list would let township act quickly if funding opens up.
Township roads are proving to be a tough issue for Ramara council to travel, especially when it comes to long-term planning.
Differences in opinion during budget deliberations led to council approving a two-year capital forecast for road projects, instead of the preferred 10-year plan.
At the general committee meeting of April 14, council passed a motion to set aside a full day to look at the municipality`s strategic plan and 10-year capital forecast, excluding roads.
Residents of a west Galt neighbourhood could not persuade regional council to keep Grand River Transit off their streets.
"I am really disappointed," Debbie Dokas said. She asked council on Tuesday to keep a bus off Westcliff Way, saying her street is too steep for safe bus travel.
Displaced by a new Cambridge subdivision, Silverheights students learn school options
CAMBRIDGE
Which is better: to be bused to Elgin Street Public School or to a rebuilt Ryerson Public School?
These are the options being considered for children in the Mattamy-Townline subdivision just south of the Can-Amera Parkway.
The children now go to Silverheights Public School but are being displaced because a new subdivision is going in near Silverheights and the school is already overcrowded.
A delegation of Wellington County officials was unsuccessful yesterday in convincing their Puslinch Township counterparts to reduce the bill for a contentious drain.
County CAO Scott Wilson said he spoke at a "court of revision" made up of Puslinch councillors, but the county`s financial share of the Carroll Pond municipal drain project is unchanged.
Dell Canada is closing its Ottawa call centre after only two and a half years in operation, putting 500 out of a job immediately and laying off the remaining 600 employees at the end of June.
Many were told the news officially at a meeting after arriving for work yesterday morning, but most said the writing has been on the wall since at least January, when Texas-based Dell announced it would close its Edmonton customer call centre and lay off 900 people.
Two landlords granted exemptions from housing bylaw, others will be done case by case
OSHAWA -- Council has decided to give some wiggle room to two Oshawa landlords who renovated their student rental homes before the City`s tough new licensing bylaw was created -- but they`re staying away from a blanket exemption policy. On April 8, landlords Jeff Gauthier and Danny Karakolis asked council`s finance and administration committee for an exemption from the bylaw`s four-bedroom limit, because both had renovated their rental properties before the change and are now stuck with rooms they`re not allowed to rent out.
Gardening is a multi-billion-dollar a year business
OSHAWA -- The gardening industry is booming now that spring flowers are blooming.
New gardener Jennifer Millikin of Oshawa spent a whole weekend outside redoing the landscape of her house with her fiance.
"We just bought the house and the gardens were so overgrown. We had to do an overhaul," she said. Ms. Millikin and her fiance spent $60 on gardening supplies on the weekend, including shrubs and pansies and plan to spend another $100 this season.
BROOKLIN -- The Town urgently needs to make a plan for property at Winchester Road and Baldwin Street, says planning director Robert Short. It needs to be dealt with quickly because the proposed route for Hwy. 407 runs through the area and the plan for the interchange there would significantly impact access to the land, he said.
While some commuters and politicians are mourning the province passing on building a Bradford Bypass, others are saying good riddance to the much discussed thoroughfare.
Laura Bowman of the York-Simcoe Naturalists is just one such person who said governments at all levels need to think less about roads and more about sustainable solutions for transportation and congestion.
Call it the little guy on the hill tackling the big boys downtown.
Svend de Bruyn is taking on the proposed York Region power plant, and he`s not going down without a fight.
The Whitchurch-Stouffville resident and owner of Detronics, a company that designs, installs and services renewable energy systems, said Ontario Power Authority`s proposed 350-megawatt gas turbine is too big, and is not the answer to providing energy to York Region residents.
rovincial police in Simcoe are urging merchants and their employees to be wary of $100 bills.