OSHAWA -- It`s a small sign but it carries a big message.
Instead of a standard "for rent" or "vacancy" card advertising the empty space within, the window of a Simcoe Street storefront in downtown Oshawa features a banner that reads "downtown opportunity."
David Tuley says it`s part of a slow but steady shift in the way people are thinking about the area.
Instead of looking at an empty building as evidence of decline, the City`s downtown development officer says many developers and entrepreneurs now see it as a chance to get a foothold in a downtown on its way up.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is spearheading a study this summer on ways to speed up trade and travel at the Canada-U.S. border so Congress can be ready with a plan for the next American administration.
Pelosi, a Democrat and the most powerful politician in the House of Representatives, met this week with Canadian politicians worried about tie-ups that are costing businesses money and frustrating travellers.
General Motors is eliminating nearly 1,000 jobs at one of its Canadian plants as part of a plan to further reduce its pickup truck output at four North American factories in response to lower sales due to the high price of fuel and slow economy.
A spokeswoman for GM Canada said Monday that about 900 hourly and 70 salaried workers are expected to lose their jobs after one shift at the Oshawa, Ont., truck plant is eliminated this summer.
Gary Wright calls himself an optimist. Just as well; as Toronto`s new chief planner, he will need to accentuate the positive at every opportunity. A 33-year veteran of the municipal civil service, Wright has been acting chief planner since last September, when his predecessor, Ted Tyndorf, succumbed to cancer.
Even before that, there wasn`t much he didn`t know about how the planning process in this city works – and how it doesn`t.
Though many Torontonians feel that process hasn`t kept up with demand, Wright isn`t among them.
Businesses look for light at the end of the tunnel
Small business owners in Ottawa`s core who wonder what life would be like during the construction of a downtown transit tunnel might find some answers in Vancouver.
The subject is bound to come up at the only downtown consultation on the transit expansion city staff have recommended, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Lansdowne Park Coliseum.
Just days after Dell Inc. announced it will lay off 1,100 of its 1,200 employees in Kanata and close its call centre operation, a small, new technical support company is setting up shop.
Its founder is a former employee of the call centre who recognized the writing on the wall in January during a first round of layoffs, and says he is loath to see an enormous pool of highly trained workers go to waste.
AMHERSTBURG - Town council voted Monday to spend a provincial windfall of infrastructure money on rebuilding four streets that are in poor condition.
The town got $495,000 of the $400 million the province announced as part of its budget, intended for municipal bridge and road projects. Amherstburg was one of 243 municipalities to get funding.
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. said Monday it would cut truck production at four North American plants in the coming quarter because of weaker demand for its full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
GM said it would eliminate one shift of planned production at each of the plants between July and September, cutting 138,000 light trucks from GM`s planned output for the year.
People who live in a new uptown condominium development won`t get free heat and air conditioning, but those costs will be essentially fixed for 30 years, and they can take pride in reducing their carbon footprint.
The Ironstone at Upper Middle Road and Appleby Line will be one of the first condos in southern Ontario to rely entirely on geothermal energy for heating and air-conditioning.
Canadian Autoworkers president Buzz Hargrove says the union and Ford have reached an agreement on a tentative three-year "master economics" contract offer.
The master contract will serve as the "centrepiece" for collective bargaining which is aimed at reaching a tentative agreement between Canada`s largest private-sector union and Ford of Canada, one of three major automakers that negotiate with the CAW.
A Mississauga real estate agent has been jailed for failing to file tax returns. Kenneth Calder was found guilty April 22 in Ontario Court of Justice in Mississauga on six counts of failing to file tax returns. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and fined $6,000. Calder failed to file his 1999, and 2001-05 personal income tax returns. The Canada Revenue Agency made several requests for the missing returns before serving him with notices demanding that they be filed. Failure to comply with these notices resulted in the charges.
The University of Toronto wants to reduce the number of undergraduate students attending the St. George campus but won`t add a fourth satellite site.
The university`s president says that means the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus will just get bigger and bigger.
"We believe we can be better at undergraduate education on the St. George campus if we just reduce the numbers," University President Dr. David Naylor told The Globe and Mail. "Right now we have an awful lot of undergraduate students relative to our faculty and staff."
Led by Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, council refused to return directly to taxpayers more than $850,000 of last year`s $8.9-million surplus.
Then council rejected a call by some to consider cutting next year`s budget target from a 4.1 per cent increase -- excluding water and sewer and assessment increases -- to a two per cent increase. A frustrated Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen lamented that Londoners have endured tax increases of 39 per cent since 2000 -- higher if water and sewer charges are considered.
If St. Catharines is serious about saving its downtown, it has to put some money on the line, says a consultant hired to develop the city`s downtown creative cluster master plan.
Building a new parking garage with ground-floor shops, building a new pedestrian link to the lower-level parking lot and investing in streetscaping - especially along St. Paul Street - will demonstrate to investors that the city is serious, said Elie Newman of Joseph Bogdan Associates Inc., the Toronto firm hired to prepare the creative cluster master plan.
A long-standing "symbol of despair" in Thorold could become a "powerful symbol of revitalization," thanks to $1 million in provincial funding, says the city`s mayor.
Henry D`Angela praised the provincial government for providing the funding for research that is expected to lead to the cleanup of the old Exolon plant off Highway 58.
"It`s a gateway into Thorold and you see it when you come through the Thorold tunnel," he said. "This will help revitalize the area and remove a prominent eyesore."
Brant County has enough land designated for new residential development to meet needs for more than seven decades, county councillors heard Monday.
"Current designated settlement areas ... have a roughly 74-year supply of designated land to accommodate growth," said Chris Tyrrell, manager of planning and environmental design with planning consultants MMM Group Ltd.
"There is a notable surplus of residential land in Brant County."
Feds committ $63 million; Announcement made on same day as panel releases report on waterway`s future.
It was a $63-million day for the Trent-Severn Waterway on Monday, as federal Environment Minister John Baird and Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton announced funding over the next five years for capital improvements to the system.
The announcement came as the Panel for the Future of the Trent-Severn Waterway released its report with 26 recommendations for the federal government.
"I`m just ecstatic," said Stanton, who was in Peterborough to make the announcement with Baird. "It follows on a year of really hard work on the part of the panel.... What the government and minister has done today is said we appreciate the work, it`s excellent, and now we`re going to act on it."
Councillor urges docks policy for lakeside properties
Orillia has no formal policy to regulate the location or size of docks by lakefront proper- ties, relying in- stead on senior levels of gov- ernment to make the call.
That leaves the city "help- less" when it comes to staving off un- wanted docks that accompany lakeside condominium projects, Coun. Tim Lauer argued Monday night.
"I`ve always been baffled by the way that we go about docks," Lauer said after the council committee meeting.
Local business, labour, education and political leaders will meet June 4 to create an action plan to help laid-off workers find new jobs.
While soaring energy prices, the strong Canadian dollar and the weak U.S. economy are out of local control, local governments can work together to help workers retrain or find local companies that are thriving, said Coun. Sean Strickland of Waterloo regional council.
.... Council has received requests from residents hoping to silence GO train whistles and horns, but those requests were denied during last week`s council meeting.
Under the Canadian Railway Operating Rules, there`s a requirement for trains to blow their whistles a quarter mile before every public crossing. It continues to blow until the train is past the crossing, to warn motorists and pedestrians to steer clear.
