ON Economic Fundamentals 2008-12

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1208HAMN
Market revamp sends stalls to mall

Clay Eborall is ready for a change.

After 20 years of running the Bentford Orchards stall at the Hamilton Farmers` Market, Eborall is prepared to shift to a new temporary location in Jackson Square.

The multimillion-dollar renovation that will be done while businesses are relocated will be key to helping the market survive, he said.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/478618

 

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1208KWCG
Architect has big plans for old tannery

KITCHENER

Decades before Roland Rom Colthoff started to bring new life to one of this city`s most historic buildings -- the Lang Tannery -- he wanted to become an architect who blended new elements into old urban fabrics.

After moving to Canada from Holland as a young boy, Colthoff grew up in Peterborough. He regularly walked past an abandoned warehouse near the railway that bisects Peterborough`s downtown.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/455665

 

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1208TNTO
City moves to calm sign war

Love them or hate them, Toronto`s signs elicit passionate views.

Some argue they are simply visual pollution, others that they provide a vital business function.

Fuelling the debate is a hodgepodge of rules that date from before amalgamation. That means signs sometimes permitted in old North York aren`t allowed a few blocks away in the old city of Toronto. Or what`s banned in Etobicoke would be permitted in Scarborough.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/550559

 

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1208TNTO
House prices to keep falling

The real estate market may be cooling, but the upside is that Canadian homes are getting more affordable even as the nation "no longer appears to be immune to a generalized housing downturn," says a report.

"The souring of economic conditions, eroding consumer confidence and, in several instances, past excesses are creating a glacial downdraft that the majority of Canada`s housing markets will be hard-pressed to resist," RBC senior economist Robert Hogue stated in the report released yesterday.

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/550529

 

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1208LNDN
Richmond Row parking to be expanded

The city`s environment and transportation committee endorsed plans to expand parking along London`s busy Richmond Row that merchants and residents say is a must. A year ago, city hall allowed on a trial basis paid parking on the west side of Richmond Street between Pall Mall Street and Dufferin Avenue after 6 p.m. on weeknights and all day on weekends.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...09/7682431.html

 

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1208LNDN
City to crack down on slumlords

No longer wanting to wait for complaints from scared tenants, London city hall is investigating ways to crack down on slumlords, including the use of blitzes. "We will look at a more pro-active approach," Orest Katolyk, the city`s bylaw enforcement chief, told politicians on the planning committee.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...09/7682371.html

 

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1208CATH
Stage set for downtown revival

The curtain is rising on downtown St. Catharines` cultural revival.

A packed house in city council chambers clapped and cheered Monday night as city councillors unanimously approved a new $101-million development that will include Brock University`s Marilyn I. Walker school of fine and performing arts and a new Niagara Centre for the Arts in downtown St. Catharines.

The city`s share of the cost will be $17 million, but city administrator Colin Briggs hinted there may be ways of paying for it without making too much of a hit on taxes. He said the city has a $2-million hydro dividend, a $6.3-million provincial grant and another hydro investment available to spend.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article....aspx?e=1336802

 

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1208WIND
Bridge denied permission to demolish house

City council again denied an Ambassador bridge company request Monday to demolish a vacant home on Indian Road.

It was the ninth unsuccessful attempt by the bridge company, which owns 83 properties in the area, to tear down a building despite a demolition control bylaw covering Olde Sandwich, pending a community improvement plan.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...35-a38688837829

 

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1208OTWA
Ottawa housing starts fall 36% in November

New housing starts fell 36 per cent in Ottawa in November, led by a big decline in townhouse units, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said yesterday.

Despite the big decline, housing starts for the year are still running 7.7 per cent ahead of last year as builders put shovels in the ground for developments that were sold prior to a big decline in new house sales this fall.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Homes/Ottawa+...0810/story.html

 

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1208OTWA
Talk cheap, hike not

Residents are facing a 4.9% increase in their city taxes after a surprise vote ended what was expected to be a lengthy week-long session of nitpicking through the 2009 draft budget. An omnibus motion moved by College Coun. Rick Chiarelli, with the backing of the majority of councillors, passed in the blink of an eye -- just moments after Mayor Larry O`Brien vowed to reporters to drag the meeting out as long as he had to in order to force debate.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndReg...679526-sun.html

 

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1208HAMN
Board scraps downtown centre, looks to Mountain

The joint family health and education centre -- celebrated as a victory for downtown -- is dead, and the Hamilton public school board`s move to the Mountain is revived.

School board staff label as "inoperable" an ambitious plan to redevelop its site at Main, King and Bay with a new headquarters, a McMaster University family medicine clinic and city public health.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/479227

 

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1208HAMN
Area house starts on rise

Hamilton`s home-building industry is bucking the national trend.

The latest figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show home starts in the Grimsby-Hamilton-Burlington Census Metropolitan Area rose 13 per cent in November compared to the same month last year.

For the January-November period, Hamilton starts are up 21 per cent from last year to 3,429. Much of the increase was attributed to a surge in townhouse starts in Hamilton and Grimsby.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/479131

 

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1208KWCG
Hespeler subdivision lifts housing start numbers

WATERLOO REGION

The start of a major subdivision in Hespeler helped push the region`s housing starts six per cent higher in November.

Across the Kitchener census metropolitan area, work began on 235 homes last month, up from 221 in November last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said yesterday. Of the 166 single-detached homes started last month, 114 are in Cambridge, mainly in Mattamy Homes` Mill Pond subdivision in north Hespeler.

http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/456105

 

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1208KWCG
Residents fight gravel pit plans

WEST MONTROSE

Residents of a picturesque village on the Grand River are trying to stop Guelph-based Capital Paving from establishing a gravel pit a short distance from a historic covered bridge.

Thousands of tourists visit this place every year to see the oldest covered bridge in Ontario, shop in local stores, stay in bed-and-breakfasts and soak in the pastoral landscape steeped in Mennonite culture and history.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/413798

 

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1208YAUR
New Shoppers part of south end revitalization

While much of the focus in Aurora has been on Yonge and Wellington streets and the development in the east end, make no mistake, there`s still a lot happening along the southern stretch of town. Among the more noticeable signs of revitalization in the south are some of the recent redevelopments in the area. The revamping of the Shoppers Drug Mart at the corner of Yonge and Edward streets is complete and the grand opening was Nov. 29. The store is billed as bigger, better and now open 24 hours per day.

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Aurora/article/85692

 

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1208DAJX
Ajax to review ward boundaries

AJAX -- When voters head to the polls in the 2010 municipal election, they may be living in another ward.

The Town is reviewing the ward boundaries in an attempt to even the population size of each ward. The existing Ajax wards have been in place since 1994 and have outlived their usefulness, Clerk Marty de Rond told council`s general government committee last week.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/ajax/article/114935

 

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1208ONTR
Ont. may have to provide interim aid to auto sector: McGuinty

An imminent bailout package in the United States is putting pressure on Canada to come up with its own interim relief for automakers soon after the U.S. finalizes its deal, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.

"I know there`s a real state of urgency here," McGuinty said as American officials hammered out the final terms of a $15-billion bailout for automakers.

"If Washington comes forward with an interim support package, a bridge to Obama as they`re calling it, there will be heightened pressure on us to respond with an interim package as well."

http://www.torontosun.com/money/2008/12/09/7685416.html

 

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1208ONTR
Ailing Nortel explores bankruptcy, report says

Nortel Networks Corp. is insisting it is "a viable partner for the long term," after a report it has hired legal counsel to explore bankruptcy court protection from creditors.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed "people familiar with the situation," said the move was made in case the Toronto-headquartered telecommunications equipment maker`s restructuring plan fails.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/551385

 

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1208TNTO
New tax helped sink housing market: Study

A controversial city of Toronto land-transfer tax implemented this year has had "significant negative effects on the housing market" by reducing sales and lowering prices of homes, says a study.

The land-transfer tax that took effect in February has caused the average price of a single family home in Toronto to decline by 1.5 per cent, or $6,400, according to a report released yesterday by the C.D. Howe Institute.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/551224

 

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1208LNDN
Port Stanley residents harbour new hopes

PORT STANLEY -- Residents have new hope for the village`s neglected harbour.

To combat economic woes, the federal and provincial governments plan to pump billions of dollars into public works. At the same time, there`s newfound local determination to resolve the problem of ownership of the best harbour on Lake Erie`s north shore. "Until the harbour issue is resolved, we can`t go ahead," said Ben Veel, a local resident.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...693766-sun.html