In this edition:
- Canada doubles loan limit for secondary suites to $80,000
- Niagara Health announces new Chief of Staff
- CUPW says it met with Canada Post for first time since mediator suspended talks
- GTHA traffic gridlock leads to $44.7 billion per year in lost productivity
- National rent prices decline year-over-year to 15-month low
- Focus on Technology
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Canada doubles loan limit for secondary suites to $80,000
Today, ahead of next week’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, announced an increase in the loan limit for the Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program to $80,000. The program is set to launch in early 2025.
By doubling the loan limit from $40,000 to $80,000, more homeowners will be able to access the low-interest financing they need to add a secondary suite to their home. This will make it cheaper for homeowners to do so through 15-year loan terms at a low-interest rate of just 2 per cent.
In addition to the Secondary Suite Loan Program, starting January 15, 2025, homeowners will also be able to refinance with insured mortgages to help cover the cost of adding a secondary suite.
Picture credit- Niagara Health / niagarahealth.on.ca
Niagara Health announces new Chief of Staff
Niagara Health is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kevin Chan as Chief of Staff and Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs, beginning February 3, 2025. This strategic position on Niagara Health’s leadership team reflects our commitment to providing exceptional healthcare services to our community.
Dr. Chan has worked in large, multi-site organizations with complex and academic cross-appointed teams. Most recently at London Health Sciences Centre as Vice-President of Medicine (CME), Research and Academics and six months as Acting CEO, Dr. Chan is a proven physician leader who has established himself as a partnership builder with Boards, Medical Advisory Committees, Medical Staff Associations, executive colleagues and partners.
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CUPW says it met with Canada Post for first time since mediator suspended talks
The union representing Canada Post workers says it met with the Crown corporation on Monday, the first time the two sides have convened since a federal mediator suspended negotiations nearly two weeks ago.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) shared its revisions to the latest proposal from Canada Post, which was submitted on Friday.
Outlining separate demands for its urban and rural and suburban mail carriers, the union said it made the following combined demands for both groups:
- Wage increases of nine per cent, four per cent, three per cent and three per cent over four years.
- A cost-of-living allowance.
- Ten medical days in addition to seven days of personal leave.
- An increase in short-term disability payments to 80 per cent of regular wages.
- Improved rights for temporary workers and on-call relief employees.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Canada Post said the Crown corporation is “extremely disappointed” with the union’s latest offer.
Picture credit: ingalin – stock.adobe.com
GTHA traffic gridlock leads to $44.7 billion per year in lost productivity
A new report commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) and the Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) finds traffic gridlock in the GTHA negatively impacts the region by $44.7 billion per year due to lost economic productivity.
It also leads to 88,000 fewer jobs and the reduction of commuter’s quality of life due to stress, health issues and time lost.
Provincewide, it reveals the overall impact of congestion was estimated at $56.4 billion in 2024 and cost Ontario’s economy $12.8 billion annually, with 112,000 fewer jobs “due to stifling job growth and reducing productivity.”
There is also the quality-of-life impacts, the report notes, due to stress, health and time lost, which is valued at $43.6 billion.
Picture credit: bakerjarvis – stock.adobe.com
National rent prices decline year-over-year to 15-month low
A new report says average asking rents fell nationally on a year-over-year basis to $2,139 in November, marking a 15-month low.
The monthly report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation finds average asking rents across Canada were down 1.6 per cent from the same month last year, as rents dropped for the second month in a row after more than three years of increases.
The report says that despite those declines, average rents in Canada are still 6.7 per cent higher than two years ago and 18.8 per cent higher than three years ago.
Did you know?
Starbucks’ round tables were created specifically so customers would feel less alone.
Focus on Technology
Google unveils ‘mindboggling’ quantum computing chip
Robert Booth, Guardian
It measures just 4 cm squared but it possesses almost inconceivable speed.
Google has built a computing chip that takes just five minutes to complete tasks that would take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years for some of the world’s fastest conventional computers to complete.
That’s 10 septillion years, a number that far exceeds the age of our known universe and has the scientists behind the latest quantum computing breakthrough reaching for a distinctly non-technical term: “mindboggling”.
The new chip, called Willow and made in the California beach town of Santa Barbara, is about the dimensions of an After Eight mint, and could supercharge the creation of new drugs by greatly speeding up the experimental phase of development.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
