In this edition:
- Chair Gale rules out budget cuts to Niagara Region’s social services, long-term care
- Inside the last days of the Royal George, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s century-old theatre
- Motion on non-essential Niagara Region hiring freeze gets cool reception
- St. Catharines–Lincoln Destination Partnership hosts first Annual General Meeting
- Canada to launch sixth green bond issuance
- Ontario ready to welcome commercial carbon storage projects
- Darlington refurbishment project completed ahead of schedule and under budget
- Robertson calls on provinces to boost funding for transitional housing
- Canadians sitting on $2 billion in uncashed federal cheques, Parliamentary documents show
- Focus on Canada-U.S. Business
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Picture credit: Regional Municipality of Niagara
Chair Gale rules out budget cuts to Niagara Region’s social services, long-term care
Niagara Region’s newly appointed chair, Bob Gale, says he expects to present his tax-cutting review of the upper-tier municipality’s half-billion-dollar budget to council on Feb. 12.
Gale listed four areas that are off-limits for further reductions — social services, public health, long-term care and homelessness — on Thursday during his first full meeting as chair.
Picture credit: Shaw Festival
Inside the last days of the Royal George, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s century-old theatre
On Saturday, the front doors opened for the last public entry into the Royal George before the careful work begins of taking apart the little theatre occupying a big place in the town’s heart — without, many hope, losing what it means to the people who made it their home for more than four decades.
Photo credit: Regional Municipality of Niagara / YouTube screenshot
Motion on non-essential Niagara Region hiring freeze gets cool reception
Councillors have set aside a motion for a hiring freeze on non-essential staff after Niagara Region’s chief administrative officer said he couldn’t add any new positions without council approval anyway.
“Any new positions are basically the discretion or the jurisdiction of council,” CAO Ron Tripp said during Thursday’s council meeting.
Picture credit: City of St. Catharines
St. Catharines–Lincoln Destination Partnership hosts first Annual General Meeting
Photo credit: Andrii Yalanskyi / Adobe Stock
Canada to launch sixth green bond issuance
The Government of Canada is launching its sixth issuance of Canadian-dollar-denominated green bonds this week, subject to market conditions.
For this issuance, the government plans to issue a new 10-year green bond. This follows the October 2025 issuance of a new $1 billion 30-year bond and the $1.5 billion re-opening of the 7-year bond that was first issued in February 2025, both of which saw robust demand.
Picture credit: witsarut / Adobe Stock
Ontario ready to welcome commercial carbon storage projects
Starting today, Ontario is ready to accept applications for commercial-scale geologic carbon storage projects. This technology has the potential to help energy-intensive industries cut greenhouse gas emissions by five to seven million tonnes annually, while creating over 4,000 jobs and reducing costs for Ontario’s industries by nearly $1 billion.
Photo credit: Ontario Power Generation
Darlington refurbishment project completed ahead of schedule and under budget
The Darlington Unit 4 nuclear reactor is now complete and will be returning to service four months ahead of schedule, the overall refurbishment project coming in $150 million under budget. Originally expected to return to power in August 2026, the unit has received approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to enter the initial power testing, which is expected to begin on February 12, and will be at full power shortly after.
Click here to read more.
Photo credit: Looker_Studio / Adobe Stock
Robertson calls on provinces to boost funding for transitional housing
The federal housing minister says he wants to see the provinces step up their support to get people off the street and into long-term homes.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Gregor Robertson said he’s generally happy with provincial and municipal support for Ottawa’s bid to ramp up affordable housing construction and double the pace of homebuilding across the country.
Photo credit: Backcountry Media / Adobe Stock
Canadians sitting on $2 billion in uncashed federal cheques, Parliamentary documents show
Canadians have left some $2 billion in funds on the table by not cashing millions of paper cheques mailed out by federal government departments.
Documents tabled recently in Parliament reveal Ottawa issued 3.9 million paper cheques to Canadians over the past four years that went uncashed.
Focus on Canada-U.S. Business
Tariffs are reshaping Canadian manufacturing, but not all workers are being impacted the same way
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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.
