Funding cuts are eating away at national historic sites says a survey done in early 2008 for Parks Canada. The Environics survey found nearly 70 per cent of the 689 national historic sites not managed by the federal government are in fair or poor condition, or have elements that are in poor condition.
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Monthly Archives: November 2008
Alma College: What was lost, what was learned
By: Susan Gardner
Catherine Nasmith’s article in the May/June issue of the Ontario Planning Journal was a compelling call to action. “Who will save Alma College?” she asked. She referred to the fires, development pressures and weak municipal councils that continue to chip away at our stock of heritage buildings, despite strengthened legislation in the Ontario Heritage Act giving municipalities the power to stop demolition. In her closing, Nasmith warned that we may get the nightmare of watching Alma College reduced to rubble. These were chilling words—particularly chilling because that is indeed what happened.
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Former St. Thomas EDC manager has words for Daimler
Ian McCallum
Maurice Beaudry has a shoot-from-the-hip message for Daimler AG, the
parent company of the soon-to-close Sterling Truck Plant … you
screwed up and why should St. Thomas ratepayers suffer?
And Maurice knows of what he speaks, because in his former position
as manager of the Economic Development Corporation in the early
1990s, he played a leading role in convincing Freightliner to locate
in St. Thomas.
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MPP Steve Peters Writes to Minister of Culture Regarding Inaction on Ontario Heritage Trust Designation Recommendations
Dear Minister:
Please find enclosed e-mail correspondence and a copy of an Ontario Heritage Trust letter from Ms. Donna Moore, a London resident who has concerns regarding the historic Moore House located southeast of St. Thomas in the village of Sparta.
As you are aware, the Moore House was at risk last year after its owners applied to the Municipality of Central Elgin for a demolition permit so that they could construct a new home on the same footprint of the existing heritage structure. Built in 1823, the Moore House is one of the oldest homes in all of southwestern Ontario and there is a great interest within the community to preserve this heritage building.
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National Do Not Call List – Implications for municipal candidates in Ontario
The Do Not Call List and associated regulations will limit Ontario municipal candidates in their ability to
legally solicit voter support by telephone.
Background:
Effective September 30, 2008, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) launched the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). Canadians may register
on the List to reduce the number of telemarketing calls they receive. Businesses, organisations
and individuals wishing to make telemarketing calls are required to verify the numbers called do
not appear on the List and must comply with other restrictions. Exemptions from this restriction
apply for a municipal election but only if the calls are made on behalf of a registered political
party under provincial law. Continue reading
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The high cost of a good night’s sleep
The expenses submitted by the city’s three attendees to a conference two months ago in Ottawa is a study in contrasts and further evidence that fiscal responsibility is in short order.
Mayor Cliff Barwick and Ald. Lori Baldwin-Sands settled into the same, rather moderately-priced hostelry, however their accommodation tabs show quite a spread.
Ald. Baldwin-Sands submitted a bill for $426.17 to cover three nights, while the mayor stayed in Ottawa four nights but his total came to $745.80.
Ald. Bill Aarts, meantime, is a far more upscale guy and chose to bed down in the ritzy Westin Hotel for three nights to the tune of $850.50.
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Withheld Alma report may have saved college
BY IAN MCCALLUM
It may now be of little consolation, but if nothing else the report from the Ontario Heritage Trust to former Minister of Culture Caroline Di Cocco is a resounding affirmation of the veracity of those individuals who valiantly battled to preserve Alma College from the wrecker’s ball.
This corner has obtained a copy of the report, authored by the Honourable Lincoln Alexander, which Di Cocco and her successor Aileen Carroll withheld from the public for more than two years. Continue reading
