In this edition:
- Provincial disaster team arrives to help St. Catharines flood victims
- Grimsby expands waste collection after more than 100 mm of rain
- Niagara Falls issues $121,000 in penalties against illegal vacation rentals
- $253,000 gift will create an affordable St. Catharines home
- Port Colborne ordered to pay $80,000 over endangered-species habitat damage
- Ontario proposes streamlined permits for routine natural-resource activities
- New York City offers Canadian travellers 30 per cent discounts
- Shaw Festival preview program distributes $8,500 to local organizations
- Focus on Municipalities
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Picture credit: City of St. Catharines
Provincial disaster team arrives to help St. Catharines flood victims
A provincial emergency response partner is being deployed to help vulnerable St. Catharines residents clear flood-damaged homes. More than 260 people had joined the city’s assistance registry by Wednesday, while municipal staff continued seeking additional financial and physical support.
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Photo credit: Town of Grimsby
Grimsby expands waste collection after more than 100 mm of rain
Grimsby is temporarily increasing curbside collection limits and waiving disposal fees for flood-damaged material. After 102.6 millimetres of rain fell Sunday, the town will also review stormwater infrastructure and an after-hours telephone system that disconnected residents during the emergency.
Photo credit: Andrii Yalanskyi / Adobe Stock
Niagara Falls issues $121,000 in penalties against illegal vacation rentals
Niagara Falls issued 121 penalties totalling $121,000 following 30 new complaints about suspected illegal vacation rentals. Five properties have since complied with municipal rules, while officers continue investigating others. Unlicensed operators can receive daily fines of $1,000.
Picture credit: Habitat for Humanity Niagara
$253,000 gift will create an affordable St. Catharines home
Barry and Linda Coutts have donated more than $253,000 to renovate a Junkin Street property into an affordable home. Habitat Niagara is accepting homeownership applications and will offer 15 build days for individuals, organizations and corporate teams to support the project.
Picture credit: Rstanton13 / CC BY-SA 4.0
Port Colborne ordered to pay $80,000 over endangered-species habitat damage
Port Colborne must pay $80,000 to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority after construction of a Nickel Beach parking area damaged an endangered Fowler’s Toad habitat. The city was also fined $1 following its conviction under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act.
Picture credit: S… / Adobe Stock
Ontario proposes streamlined permits for routine natural-resource activities
Ontario is consulting on reforms to 13 natural-resource permits covering routine fish, wildlife, forestry and public-land activities. The province estimates the changes would eliminate nearly 12,715 days of administrative work annually while retaining environmental and public-safety requirements.
Picture credit: Dietmar Rabich / CC BY-SA 4.0
New York City offers Canadian travellers 30 per cent discounts
More than 85 New York hotels, attractions, restaurants and shows are offering Canadians 30 per cent discounts from Aug. 18 through Labour Day. The campaign follows a $3.3-billion decline in Canadian travel spending in the United States during 2025.
Picture credit: Shaw Festival
Shaw Festival preview program distributes $8,500 to local organizations
Nine Niagara-on-the-Lake organizations are sharing $8,500 raised through the Shaw Festival’s Town Preview program. The funding will support programs including patient transportation, youth music, museum expansion, children’s activities and services for seasonal agricultural workers.
Focus on Municipalities
Resilient communities need more than GDP growth
Abigail Jackson, Policy Options
Earlier this summer, we were in Estevan, Sask., for a conference on rural innovation that started us thinking about what it means for a community to be resilient, how it can capture new opportunities and what needs to happen for innovation to thrive.
Estevan, one of 10 communities profiled by the IRPP’s Community Transformations Project, has made it clear the city wants to play a bigger role in shaping its own economic future and building a resilient local economy. But what does that mean in practice?
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.
