GDP sees fastest rate of growth since March 2021, Moderna to open Canadian manufacturing site, new EV chargers for St. Catharines, and more.
In this edition:
Ontario invests in Welland school and child care
Municipal candidate nominations open
GO-VAXX bus in Beamsville May 6-9
Pelham receives $3 million for watermains
Port Colborne affordable housing strategy survey
Ontario Auditor General findings on Budget 2022
Niagara College launches Accessibility Hub resource
Ontario reporting no new COVID-19 deaths
Feds, Ontario invest $1B in Stellantis plants for EVs
Ontario invests $10.4 million in Welland school and child care
A $500 million investment package announced by the Govenrment of Ontario today includes $10.4 million for the Quaker Road Public Elementary School, a 331 pupil place elementary school and gymnasium, along with 49 licensed child care spaces addition in Welland.
The funding, provided through the Capital Priorities Program, will lead to the creation of 15,693 new student learning spaces and 23 child care centres with 1,502 new licensed child care spaces by building 24 new schools and supporting 13 permanent additions and renovations across the province.
Click here to read more.
Municipal candidate nominations and third party advertiser registration opens today
From May 2 to Aug. 19, 2022, candidates interested in running in the 2022 municipal or school board elections can file their nomination papers with the clerk of the appropriate municipality.
Nomination papers can be picked up at any municipal Clerk’s Office.
The Municipal Elections Act, 1996, includes rules for third party advertising.
Third party advertising is any paid advertising that supports or opposes a candidate running in the election. It can be in any format, including paid social media, website advertisements, billboards, signage, TV, newspapers and radio.
Individuals, corporations and trade unions may register as third party advertisers (TPAs) and may also make contributions to TPAs. TPAs must first register with the municipal clerk in each municipality that they plan to advertise in.
For more information about becoming a candidate or third party advertising, please visit the Niagara Votes website.
GO-VAXX bus in Beamsville May 6-9
The GO-VAXX Bus is coming to the Lincoln Community Centre in Beamsville May 6-9. The clinic will take place in the parking lot at the Lincoln Community Centre in Beamsville to administer the Pfizer for 12+ (First, second, booster, and fourth) and Pediatric Pfizer 5-11 (first and second). The fourth dose will be available to all clients that meet the criteria.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Appointments are required to guarantee service, and can be booked at Ontario.ca/bookvaccine, or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 (bookings begin two days before the scheduled clinic). Walk-ins may be accommodated based on vaccine supply.
Pelham receives $3 million for watermain upgrades
The Town of Pelham watermain system upgrade in Northwest Fonthill will be moving forward with the funding support from the 2021 intake of the Green Infrastructure funding stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).
The clean water project in Pelham, set to start the design phase in summer 2022 and be constructed in three phases with a December 2025 completion, will replace 2,908 m of cast iron watermain in northwest Fonthill and 19 fire hydrants.
The investment is being made through the Green Infrastructure Stream of the ICIP, a cost-shared, application-based infrastructure funding opportunity. The total project cost is $4,035,062.50 of which the Federal portion is 40% for $1,614,025 and the Provincial portion is 33.33% for $1,344,886.33 and the Town of Pelham contribution is 26.67% for $1,076,151.17.
Click here to read more.
Port Colborne residents invited to provide input for affordable housing strategy
The consultant hired by the City of Port Colborne to develop an affordable housing strategy is looking for residents to provide their input.
Open May 2 and closing on May 13, 2022, at 11:59 p.m., Port Colborne residents can complete a short online survey on housing needs and preferences.
Complete the Affordable Housing Strategy Survey here.
Residents that complete the survey and provide an email address to stay updated on the project will be entered to win one of three $25 grocery gift cards.
To learn more about Port Colborne’s Affordable Housing Strategy, visit our website.
Ontario Auditor General finds corporate tax estimates in budget’s Three-Year Fiscal Plan too low, contingency funds overly cautious
The Auditor General is required under the Fiscal Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability Act, 2019 to review the multi-year fiscal plan in an Ontario budget ahead of a provincial election. The Multi-Year Fiscal Plan laid out in Ontario’s 2022 Budget presents a reasonable forecast of the Province’s finances in the coming three fiscal years, except it underestimates corporate tax revenues. Further, it appears to be overly cautious about contingency funding, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk says in a Statement in her Review of the Pre-Election 2022 Multi-Year Fiscal Plan released today.
“In my opinion, the Multi-Year Fiscal Plan is a reasonable presentation of Ontario’s finances for the years ending March 31, 2023, March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2025, except for understated estimates of provincial revenue from corporate tax in each of the three years. As well, contingency funds recorded in Other Program Expenses appear to be overly cautious,” Lysyk says in her formal Auditor General Statement.
Click here to read more.
Niagara College launches Accessibility Hub resource for community organizations
Accessibility experts at Niagara College have launched a new digital Accessibility Hub for any community organization with an interest in equity, human rights, and eliminating barriers for people with disabilities.
The new, open-source resource was made possible thanks to a $230,000 grant from the Virtual Learning Strategy, an eCampusOntario-led initiative funded by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. The NC team developed over 55 articles, checklists, videos, and resources with straight-forward recommendations for those seeking to simplify the creation of accessible web content, learning materials, and experiences for students or anyone with a disability.
Click here to read more.
Ontario reporting no new COVID-19 deaths for first time in nearly a month
Ontario is reporting no new deaths linked to COVID-19 today for the first time since April 4 after reporting 17 new deaths on Sunday.
The province reports there are 1,423 people hospitalized due to COVID-19, up 13 from the previous day, but notes that more than 10 per cent of facilities don’t share data from the weekends.
There are 211 people in intensive care due to COVID-19, an increase of 24 from the day before.
The province reports 1,275 new infections today, but access to PCR testing is limited to certain higher-risk groups.
Click here to read more.
Feds, Ontario invest $1B to retool Stellantis plants to make electric vehicles
Canada and Ontario are jointly investing more than $1 billion to help Stellantis retool its Canadian auto plants to make electric vehicles.
Stellantis, the new company created a year ago by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s Group PSA, is investing another $2.6 billion to its electrification projects.
They include creating flexible assembly lines that could pump out battery-electric and hybrid vehicles at Stellantis plants in Windsor and Brampton.
Click here to read more.
Reading Recommendations
Young people ask for pay transparency in job postings, saying the deck is stacked against job seekers
CBC News
A recent survey from Bankrate.com, a personal finance website in the U.S., says young people are breaking the taboo around talking about money. Approximately 40 per cent of millennial and generation Z employees have told coworkers what they make.
That’s compared to 31 per cent of gen-Xers, those aged 42 to 57, but only 19 per cent of baby boomers, those aged 57 to 76.
Some companies have made salary disclosure a policy and been happy with the results.
Indeed Canada says that companies that post pay data receive up to 90 per cent more applicants.
In Canada, the practice of posting the information does happen organically. Indeed Canada, a job posting site, says 66 per cent of its listings contain some form of pay information.
But Sarah Kaplan, a business professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, says Canada hasn’t kept up with other countries when it comes to requiring the data.
Click here to read more.
A major recession is coming, Deutsche Bank warns
CNN
Deutsche Bank raised eyebrows earlier this month by becoming the first major bank to forecast a US recession, albeit a “mild” one.
Now, it’s warning of a deeper downturn caused by the Federal Reserve’s quest to knock down stubbornly high inflation.
“We will get a major recession,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a report to clients on Tuesday.
The problem, according to the bank, is that while inflation may be peaking, it will take a “long time” before it gets back down to the Fed’s goal of 2%. That suggests the central bank will raise interest rates so aggressively that it hurts the economy.
“We regard it…as highly likely that the Fed will have to step on the brakes even more firmly, and a deep recession will be needed to bring inflation to heel,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in its report with the ominous title, “Why the coming recession will be worse than expected.”
Click here to read more.
Update on Ukraine
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