Among the myriad economic perversions created by Ontario’s Green Energy Act one of the more intriguing, and possibly treacherous, is the creation of a financial marketplace for municipal favours. The McGuinty government was noisily criticized when it laid low government regulations and environmental protections that enable intermittent electricity generators to move their wind and solar [...]
The Gold of Troy” is a collection of artifacts excavated from a site in Turkey thought to be the ancient city of Troy. In the latter half of the 19th century a German, Hienrich Schliemann, became gripped by Homer’s description of the city, believing he was reading a historical account rather than fiction. Using crude [...]
County property owners are being asked to come up with $26,398,270 this year. That’s 7.7 per cent more to be paid in property taxes this year compared with last year. User fees on everything from water to garbage are also up sharply again this year—expected to carve more than $11 million from residents’ wallets this [...]
Electricity rates are going up in May—between five and eight per cent depending on usage. Small potatoes really. Rates for electricity have been rising sharply since Dalton McGuinty came to office. Most household hydro bills are more than double those of 2002. There is no letup in sight—a couple of years ago McGuinty predicted electricity [...]
It was mostly thumbs up, as a committee of council reacted to a new economic development proposal unveiled last week. Broadened to embrace environmental and social nurturing alongside the County economy, the proposed new approach is being rechristened as Community Development. Both CAO Merlin Dewing and his appointed steward of the file, Deb Williams, stressed [...]
For more than a decade Prince Edward County was, and largely continues to be, a model for spurring and nurturing a rural economy. Certainly the County began with some key advantages: stunning natural beauty; surrounded by water both rugged and inviting; a rich storied tradition and history; as well as proximity to about 12 million [...]
Jamie Forrester is becoming impatient waiting for massive wind turbines to begin sprouting on County horizons, powering his toaster and humming in the breeze. The councillor from Athol insists those who object to the transformation of this community, environment and economy must get out of the way. For Forrester and others, the industrialization of the [...]
It is all a bit disheartening. Resignation is beginning to creep into the voices of some council members after just their second kick at the budget. Some, though not all, seem ready to concede that a double-digit wallop of a tax increase is now unavoidable. Those with the sagging shoulders seem to be calculating that, [...]
A couple of Sundays ago, Ontario paid $1.46 million to Michigan to take excess electricity off our grid. The wind was blowing, temperatures were unseasonably warm and hydro turbines were spinning vigorously, pushed by the snow runoff in the northern reaches of the province. In one hour we spent $214,582 to our American neighbours to [...]
I didn’t know Steve Koning well—but the part I knew I admired, immensely. Steve was a collector of stamps and for years we had set aside incoming envelopes to feed his pastime. He would tell me about folks with whom he traded. Some aspired simply to acquire a stamp and post mark from every postal [...]