Ontario's Bill 23 could cost Region of Waterloo $530 million: regional staff
Ontario's Bill 23 could cost Region of Waterloo $530 million: regional staff
Region of Waterloo staff say sweeping new provincial housing legislation will cost the region and its seven municipalities an estimated $530 million over the next 10 years, and taxpayers could be on the hook to make up the difference.
Those fees pay for things like roads, sewers, transit, libraries and other city services and infrastructure.
“My concern is, of course, the impact this is going to have on our financials,” Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe told CTV News.
“We’re looking at, over the course of five years, potentially losing anywhere between $23 million to $31 million.”
Staff at the City of Cambridge estimate the value of the lost development charges at $18 million over a five year period.
Meanwhile, in Kitchener the cost is an estimated at $40 million over 10 years.
Local politicians say that means the cost of things like roads, sewers and parks that used to be covered by development charges could now be put on property owners.
“When people buy a home, they want to be able to turn a tap on, they want to be able to flush the toilet, they want roads outside their homes, these are all services municipalities provide,” Waterloo regional chair Karen Redman said.
“We know that we are going to have to supply those, and it shouldn’t be done on the back of homeowners.”
McCabe says it could lead to some very difficult conversations.
“We are going to have to have those trade-offs, and that’s going to be a very difficult conversation. What we may have to start looking at not being able to fund is important things like recreation, facilities, or parkland,” she said.
Many in the planning community are confused by the bill.
Mark Seasons, a professor in the University of Waterloo School of Planning calls it “perplexing” and says it runs counter to conventional and best practice in urban and regional planning.
“There is no conclusive evidence I have seen so far that development charges are the sole negative impact on the affordability issue,” Season said.
In fact, he says he’s not convinced Bill 23 will get any homes built faster and suggests the rationale behind the legislation may lay elsewhere.
“It may reflect a view of political perspective. There may be reasons that are opaque to me. The rationale for this is not really clear,” he said.
Meanwhile, Redman says the province has agreed to further consultation on Bill 23, and she’s hopeful an agreement can be reached that won’t leave municipalities and taxpayers holding the bag.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Bostwick Road has reopened following a serious crash on Wednesday evening. Around 7:20 p.m., emergency crews responded to the scene in south London for the incident involving two vehicles.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Following a suicide bomb blast that killed more than 100 people in a mosque in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar, community leaders in Windsor-Essex are reminding people these attacks are rare and should not be simply dismissed as a byproduct of living in that part of the world.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Ottawa ranks 45th out of 62 cities across Canada and the United States in a study on downtown recovery, with activity levels at 51 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
While crews have resumed operations in an attempt to open the Rideau Canal Skateway for its 53rd season, an NCC spokesperson says the canal will not open in time for the first weekend of Winterlude on Friday.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Canada's new special representative on combating Islamophobia has apologized for words that hurt Quebecers after leaders in that province called for her resignation.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
Changes to the amount of time the public gets to voice their opinion during Surrey City Council meetings has caused controversy among former councillors.
