ON Economic Fundamentals 2008-12

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1208KWCG
West River Road to get `speed cushions`

CAMBRIDGE

Lead-footed drivers along West River Road will be met with three "speed cushions" to slow them down, councillors decided this week.

The new-style speed bumps are part of a traffic-calming plan approved Monday for the south entrance road to the city from North Dumfries Township. The plan also aims to slow heavy traffic on Riverbank Drive, between Allendale Road and the Kitchener city limits.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/453800

 

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1208YMAR
Bypass still breathing, town insists

Is the Markham bypass a dead duck?

Not as far as Deputy Mayor Jack Heath is concerned.

"I have yet to see anything concrete to say it`s stopped," he said of the long-in-the-works proposed connection of the Donald Cousens Parkway to Scarborough`s Morningside Avenue and Hwy. 401 access. "It may be in hibernation for a while but the need for some kind of alignment in the east end is still there."

This comes after Scarborough-Rouge River MPP Bas Balkissoon said last week that the deal is "pretty well dead".

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Markham/article/85536

 

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1208YMAR

Traffic calming fix will wait till 2009: councillor

Several minor fixes are in the works for an unpopular Unionville traffic calming system, but major modifications to it will be decided on in the new year.

Ward 3 Councillor Joseph Virgilio said removing lane markers at the intersections of Carlton Road and Village Parkway, and Main Street and Carlton Road, as well as some modifications to a curve at Carlton Road and McKay Crescent, will solve some problems.

But he added "the more difficult issue now is what we decide with the rest of it".

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Markham/article/85534

 

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1208YVGN
Residents shout down new highrise

Vellore Woods residents had their say on Monday night, voicing loud opposition to the proposed construction of three highrise towers overlooking their subdivision.

A three-hour debate over safety, traffic infiltration, lack of appropriate entrances and overcrowding, to name but a few issues, was brought forward to council members by the Vellore Woods Ratepayers Association and area residents.

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Vaughan/article/85562

 

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1208DSCG
Scugog already plotting 2009 construction season

PORT PERRY -- While winter has yet to officially arrive, Scugog is already looking ahead to the 2009 construction season. At the request of Gene Chartier, the municipality`s commissioner of planning and public works, Scugog councillors endorsed a plan that will see a consulting firm hired to carry out engineering services that will eventually lead to reconstruction work on a segment of John Street next year.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/scugog/article/114534

 

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1208ONTR
Ontario sheds 66,000 jobs

OTTAWA–Ontario shed 66,000 jobs last month, leading the country to the largest decline since the deep recession of 1982.

The province`s losses pushed the unemployment rate to 7.1 per cent from 6.5 per cent the previous month. Overall, 70,600 jobs were chopped across the country.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/548923

 

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1208TNTO
Permits, housing resales tumble

While the real estate industry helped to pull the Toronto area out of the previous recession, bleak numbers released yesterday show the sector has cooled significantly and can`t be counted on to be an engine of growth as the economy stumbles.

Sales of existing homes in the Toronto area plunged dramatically in November, down 50 per cent from sales recorded a year earlier, according to figures released by the Toronto Real Estate Board yesterday.

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/548727

 

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1208LNDN
London developers win first round in woodland battle

London developers have won the first round in their bid to overturn changes that provided enhanced protections for hundreds of hectares of woodlands. Superior Court Justice David Little, in a written ruling, has said developers can appeal the changes to divisional court, writing there`s "good reason to doubt" a decision to uphold the changes by the Ontario Municipal Board.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...05/7643686.html

 

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1208WIND
Climate, housing deals draw seniors to region

If go-getters like Larry Duffield represent the face of Windsor and Essex County`s future as a retirement haven for aging baby boomers, then this region is in good hands.

The diplomat worked in Pakistan, Germany, Japan and elsewhere during a career spanning 36 years before retiring and moving to Windsor in 2004 with his wife, who has family in Detroit. He hasn`t stopped moving since.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...53-ffd3e36e55da

 

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1208OTWA
Panic in the east-end parks

Are the people in Rockcliffe and Manor Park seething about the proposed bridge across the Ottawa River near their neighbourhood? You bet. The National Capital Commission should build berms along the Aviation and Rockcliffe parkways, not to keep traffic noise down, but to keep the locals from disturbing the drivers.

The residents, suddenly uncharacteristically rowdy, fear traffic, particularly trucks, will ruin the bucolic pathways and river views in the neighbourhoods. And sure, there will be some of that. A few houses back on the Aviation Parkway -- and pity them, though you should never buy a house along a busy arterial route -- plus the road is a bit too close to the Montfort Hospital. But, for the most part, there`s quite a buffer.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/todays-p...4540/story.html

 

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1208ONTR
Canada may bear most pain in restructured auto industry

Canada may be unable to avoid shouldering a "disproportionate amount of the pain`` connected to any restructuring of the auto industry, as the U.S. government will tie any aid to a promise to protect U.S. jobs and the Canadian government lacks the clout to do the same, an industry analyst says.

"Canada has historically punched above its weight in the auto industry, and my concern is that may not happen this time because of the crisis in the U.S.,`` said Joe D`Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto`s Rotman School of Management.

http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/454270

 

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1208YRHL
Council votes to demolish Lions Hall

A wrecking ball will some day level the Lions Hall at the corner of Centre Street East and Pugsley Avenue, sealing its fate and halting the relationship generations of residents have had with the modest building for more than 50 years.

Its fate was sealed at the Richmond Hill Town council meeting on Monday night, as councillors decided in a close vote to declare the Richmond Hill Lions Hall as surplus, at the end of its life cycle, and fit only for demolition.

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Richmond%20Hill/article/85547

 

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1208DOSH
More layoffs for Oshawa`s GM car plant

OSHAWA -- The hits just keep on coming for local auto workers.

General Motors Canada announced last night it will temporarily idle the third shift at the Oshawa car plant starting the first week of February. The move will result in the layoff of about 700 workers.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/oshawa/article/114865

 

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1208DWTB
Residents target Whitby taxes, health care and growth plans at town hall meeting

WHITBY -- A resident`s claim Whitby officials aren`t doing enough to serve the interests of the Town was strongly refuted by Mayor Pat Perkins at a Town Hall meeting Wednesday night. Targeting council`s recent decision to expand the living lands in Brooklin from Columbus Road up to Brawley Road, Brooklin resident Shawn Williamson said Whitby is growing too quickly because councillors are making the process too easy for developers.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/whitby/article/114843

 

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1208ONTR
Understand your privacy rights

In the course of a real estate transaction, your Realtor will likely require information from you that is personal and/or property-related. Commonly referred to as the Privacy Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) has been in effect since January 2004, and it`s important for you to know how the real estate (resale) industry is working to protect your personal information and how this information is being used.

http://www.torontosun.com/resalehomes/2008...05/7648491.html

 

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1208ONTR
Is your home hot?

It`s the dirty little secret of the new-home construction industry. It infuriates honest builders, costs Tarion Warranty Corporation millions of dollars in unnecessary claims and burdens the provincial and federal governments with lost tax revenues and claims to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

http://www.torontosun.com/newhomesandcondo...05/7648016.html

 

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1208ONTR
Car makers driving for $6 billion rescue plan

The Canadian subsidiaries of the reeling Detroit Three automakers want a total of at least $6 billion in loans and credit lines from the federal and Ontario governments to stay alive, but won`t go into much detail on how they would spend the money.

General Motors of Canada Ltd., the country`s biggest automaker, is seeking $800 million by year`s end and $1.6 billion later, while Chrysler Canada Inc. is asking for $1.6 billion, according to sources familiar with the submissions.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/549428

 

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1208TNTO
Condo Critic: Sherbourne deserves some respect

If there`s a street that runs through the heart of the old inner city, it is Sherbourne. From Bloor south, it presents the very image of a city that has seen better days.

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/547369

 

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1208LNDN
City to raze Dundas drug dens

Five derelict houses that have brought nothing but drugs and prostitution to a stretch of London`s east end are to be torn down today.

The city-ordered demolition on Dundas Street East can`t come soon enough, say neighbours who live and work near the homes between Egerton Street and Kellogg Lane. "Everyone is feeling relief. It`s terrible -- crack cocaine, prostitution, just terrible," said neighbour Margie Veitch.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...653761-sun.html

 

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1208LNDN
Local home sales drop

The faltering economy finally bit the London area real estate market last month with a sharp drop in sales. The London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) said 386 homes sold in November, compared to 654 in the same month last year.

The slow market and a 22 per cent increase in real estate listings this year are also putting downward pressure on prices. The average price of homes sold in November was $206,504 compared to $208,328 in October and $213,668 in September.

http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=25...les&s=homes