Niagara Region says it is discontinuing recycling collection for businesses and other non-residential properties beginning next month. The change is part of the Region’s response to the Ontario government’s Blue Box Regulation, which is shifting responsibility for residential recycling to producers rather than government. The Region says about 4,375 non-residential properties across Niagara currently receive […]
Niagara Regional Council’s goal of holding the 2026 property tax increase to 3.5 per cent appears to be long gone as Council’s budget committee recommended accepting a Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) operating budget of $236.9 million, which would trigger a property tax increase of 4.55 per cent from the police budget alone. Chief Bill […]
The Ford government is proposing changes to Ontario’s bail laws and has the support of Niagara Regional Police Service Chief Bill Fordy. The new step being taken by the Ford government is to introduce legislation to require an accused person or their surety to provide a cash security deposit in the full amount ordered by […]
Taxpayers in Niagara-on-the-Lake and St. Catharines are both days away from seeing their respective local councils finalize their 2026 municipal budgets, with some of the lowest property tax increases in years. Meanwhile, Regional Councillors are grappling with how to try to meet their target of a 3.5 per cent tax increase, with pressures coming from […]
It turns out the Trudeau government really did look at Canada’s economy through rose-coloured glasses. Is the Carney government falling into the same pattern? New research from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy shows that federal budgets during the Trudeau years “consistently overestimated [Canada’s] fiscal health” when it came to forecasting the state of the […]
Niagara Falls and Welland rose in the rankings of Canada’s most expensive cities in which to rent, largely because of declining rent prices throughout most of the country. That’s according to a new Rentals.ca report. Overall Canadian rents fell by 2.2 per cent in October compared to a year prior. The monthly Rentals.ca National Rent […]
The new West Lincoln Memorial hospital is officially open to the public on November 24, 2025. This marks the culmination of a project that was first announced by the Ford government in November 2018. Shovels were in the ground beginning in May 2022 and construction was completed earlier this year. Premier Doug Ford, three provincial […]
Fixed election dates have no place in Canadian democracy. Late last month, the Ford government introduced legislation to repeal fixed election dates in Ontario. If passed, it would make Ontario the second province this year, after Nova Scotia, to scrap its fixed election dates experiment. Premier Doug Ford called Ontario’s fixed election date legislation, passed […]
Property owners in Welland now know what kind of a tax increase may be in store for 2026, as Mayor Frank Campion has presented his proposed 2026 budget. It includes a property tax increase of 3.57 per cent, which would fall below last year’s 3.95 per cent increase if the budget is not amended to […]
Ground was broken this week on a new critical water infrastructure project in the Township of West Lincoln. The upgrades will occur on Regional Road 20 and Wade Road, from South Grimsby Road 5 to the Wade Road pedestrian bridge in Smithville. The new project marks the beginning of essential watermain and sanitary sewer upgrades […]