Most-read stories of the week: $140K developer dispute, Cambridge teacher accusations, Hwy. 401 construction

Ontario couple walks away from $140K after dispute with developer

The last year and a half have been an emotional roller coaster for engaged couple Joe Jennison and Alicia Murrell. Looking to buy their first home, the couple sought a new build in Guelph, Ont. but were unsuccessful in two lotteries by developer Fusion Homes.

“We tried when they released a detached and we didn't get, then we tried to do their semi-detached, we didn't get that,” Murrell said. “We finally got their townhome and we were like pretty excited about that.”

The couple says their relationship with Fusion Homes quickly started to sour not long after closing.

“It was probably a few months later they started releasing incentives because they weren't selling their homes,” Murrell said.

“Nothing like earth shattering but still very nice,” Jennison continued. “So we reached out to our sales lady and said: ‘Can we get in on any of this incentive?’ And she said: ‘No, sorry, we don't backdate anything, this is for new customers.’ So it sucked, but not the end of the world.”

According to the couple, by the time they were ready to move in, the incentives had reached $100,000 off the sale price and there were offers for around $100,000 in free upgrades.

Cambridge, Ont. teacher accused of inappropriate relationship with a student facing disciplinary action

WARNING: This story describes an alleged relationship between a teacher and a student. It includes graphic details of a sexual nature.

A teacher with the Waterloo Region District School Board is accused of professional misconduct over alleged sexually inappropriate behaviour towards a student.

A Notice of Hearing by the Ontario College of Teachers, issued on Oct. 21, recommends a hearing by the discipline committee to determine whether Lindsay Amber Eileen Dolson is guilty of professional misconduct.

The alleged incidents started at an unnamed school in Cambridge, Ont. in 2014 and continued until 2018. The notice doesn’t say how old the female student was at the beginning of her interactions with Dolson.

Here’s when Highway 401 through Cambridge will reopen

After nearly three years of construction, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) says Highway 401 through Cambridge is expected to fully reopen by the end of the year – but that won’t quite be the end of the project.

Work on the highway between Hespeler Road and Townline Road started at the end of 2020.

In the past three years, the province has widened the highway from six lanes to ten, replaced the Hespeler Road bridges and fixed the underpasses at Townline Road and Wellington County Road 32. Last month, traffic signal poles went up.

Construction on the 401 in Cambridge on July 2023. (Source: Morrison Hershfield)

Visit bustling 1967 Kitchener in this archival footage

It’s no secret – the City of Kitchener has changed drastically over the last several decades.

Whether is more skyscrapers, more businesses or more people, University of Waterloo archival footage from 1967 is visual evidence of how much Kitchener has transformed.

“The biggest [change] is of course this 38-storey [building], or however many floors it is, just here in the downtown area,” said longtime Kitchener resident Kenneth Boulter.

He’s also noticed the arts scene gain more prominence, along with a more diverse population.

“That mix is good,” Boulter said.

Bustling downtown Kitchener appears in archival footage from 1967. (Source: University of Waterloo Archives, Morgan Cameron Ross)

Waterloo student association, universities react to possible end of tuition freeze

Ontario’s colleges and universities are calling for a five per cent bump in tuition fees next September, as well as a 10 per cent increase in operating grants from the province.

But students at the University of Waterloo are already feeling a financial crunch.

“They [students] have already talked about cutting back on some pretty important things like skipping meals, things like working more hours, other things like taking on additional debt,” Rory Norris, President of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association, said. “So I worry that this is just another brick that is going to get laid on them that they’re going to have to sort of bare the burden with."

Norris said the student association does not believe now is the time to raise tuition fees. Instead, he applauds the recommendation to increase operating grants, feeling the province should be paying more to help the situation.

Student walk along a path on University of Waterloo campus on June 28, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn)