Congratulations To The Ambassador Bridge Company

They must be thrilled. Finally! 

The people involved in working for the Ambassador Bridge Company for so long to get approval to build a new cross-border bridge between Windsor and Detroit--the Moroun family, Dan Stamper and Mickey Blashfield-- have to be so happy about what has just happened. 

As I am sure that you know now, dear reader, the Government of Canada has finally agreed to allow the Ambassador Bridge Company to build their 2nd bridge between Windsor and Detroit.  Nevermind the advantage that this will provide for the economy of Canada and the United States as a whole. It will be tremendously advantageous for the economy of our area! That is truly fantastic for us and will be another reason why our economy will grow significantly. 

I am NOT going to go into a very long discussion in this article about what has happened and what some of the issues still are. The reality is that what has just been announced is something that will allow our area to be able to prosper so much better for so much longer.  

As you know I am sure, I have not written a lot for quite a bit of time about Bridge Company matters involving the various Governments. I found it all quite tiresome. As I wrote too long ago: 

"Seriously, why should I do any writing on this topic since it is obvious, at least to me, that in this area the only group that can build a 2nd border crossing bridge legally is the Ambassador Bridge Company. As far as I'm concerned, that is the legal relationship between that Company and the Governments… 

In fact, in my opinion, it is so obvious. The Governments have not really built anything for so many years with respect to another border crossing notwithstanding the apparent need to do so… 

…considering that the volume of trucks crossing the border has dropped significantly by a huge percentage. Only the Ambassador Bridge Company project makes any sense of being built because of the financial costs involved. For the Ambassador Bridge Company project, the dollar cost is around $500 million. For the Government Bridge, it can be over $4 billion based on some numbers given out previously! If volumes have gone down so much and costs have gone up so much, then please tell me why the Governments are looking at building a bridge at all.  The Government Canada who would be paying for just about everything would lose a huge fortune considering that it will have to put up a good chunk of the costs which may never be recovered." 

Instead of playing more silly games over this, the Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company need to sit down and work out together NOW what needs to be done for the future transportation requirements in this region. 

When that happens, who knows! All that is important today is to give to some Ambassador Bridge Company people our best wishes.  And have them get their project started already.

Another Flood Story

This is NOT a very enjoyable time in the year it seems.  I just saw a note of mine that said that we had some heavy rain in 2015 around this time. Last year around these days in August, of course, there was a huge flood and now this year, severe flood damage was done once again. 

The rain this time around, as we finally were told, was quite severe: 

"Few areas of the city were untouched by the storm. 

“The flooding was really city wide,” says Dilkens. “It wasn't localized to any given ward or any given street." (CTV Windsor,August 30, 2017) 

Oh sure, we have seen the comment made about this storm being a "1 in a 100 year" event but I hardly believe it when we have had such heavy rain over 3 years in the same timeframe. Are we now going to be facing more similar flood situations in future years around this period of time? 

I really wonder if any significant action has been taken since last year by our Governments at various levels to take steps to prevent this kind of flooding causing damage. I would like to know what was carried out if anything. Clearly, some significant action will have to be taken to prevent further damage over the next few years or else we will see more disasters. It would seem to me that Governments will have to act pretty quickly now or who knows what may happen in another horrific storm. 

I am not sure that I want to write a story about what has happened so far the way I might have done it in the past. Rather, there is an interesting number of matters that I thought I should talk about and give you my impression of what has gone on so far. 

By the way, I may as well get experience in writing these kind of stories. I may have to do it time and time again after reading this from our Mayor in a Tecumseh news release: 

"Tecumseh experienced another unprecedented rain event overnight on August 28, 2017. Initial estimates indicate that the Town received approximately 150 mm in six hours. In comparison, the storm event in September 2016 saw 175 mm over six hours and 195 mm over 12 hours. During the July 2010 flood event, 89 mm of rain fell in a 24 hour period. A 100 year storm event equates to 87 mm over six hours…

“Unfortunately these extreme weather events are a new reality and municipalities cannot install the types of systems required to handle this high volume of rain,” says Mayor Gary McNamara. “The Town is doing its best to improve infrastructure. This includes investigating impacts and potential improvements to the current system, planning for the future and implementing systems to store the rain water that falls at extreme rates. We also encourage our residents to take preventative action on their properties to protect themselves from flooding.” 

I must say that I was shocked by how many main streets were damaged this time around. I think it was even worse than the storm last year. Take a look at this comment: 

"Windsor police urged the public not to drive “unless absolutely necessary,” as many road surfaces had become submerged in several inches of water. Across the city, highly trafficked streets were rendered impassable. 

According to Supt. Brendan Dodd, at least a dozen major routes were affected as of 4:30 p.m., including the E.C. Row Expressway, Jefferson Boulevard, Riverside Drive East, Tecumseh Road West, Dominion Boulevard, most of College Avenue, and more." (Dalson Chen, Windsor Star,August 29, 2017)  

Who has the faintest idea about how many times more it may happen that would result in the terrible conditions we have seen last year and now this year once again? Just as importantly, does this mean that, under our systems now, we can do nothing further in the future to protect ourselves? If so, I would have thought that immediate action was required for fear of what would happen again if this took place next year: 

"We're drying out now but it certainly was not a good one," said Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain. Bain said the municipal systems are simply not designed to handle the massive amount of rain that pummeled the region in such a short period. 

"Our systems were all based on the 1-in-100 year storm and now we have to go back and take a look," said Bain. "We've had two such storms within two years so we've got to go back now and see if we need to change that design system." (CBC News, August 30, 2017) 

In going through my files again, I noticed that my first email to my contact in our Condo management firm took place at about 2:55 AM in the morning when the disaster hit. In that email, I set out what had happened since I woke up a few hours earlier. I let her know about all the things I had done since 12:30 AM and all the people that I had called. As I said before, I had learned from the last flooding how quickly I had to act in order to get people to come and resolve any problems I might have had before they received tons of new requests for assistance. I was just not prepared to wait for weeks or months for help and fortunately, because of the quick action I took, I did not have to do so. 

One thing that I find astounding and cannot explain is how buildings close to each other have different things happen to them.  Apparently, a number of units in our complex had a bit of water damage in the units but a lot of them did not. The same thing happened where my daughter lived. She too had a small bit of water enter into her Condo unit but not enough to cause any major damage. Unfortunately, according to a comment that I saw someone make on Facebook, other units in the same complex had a huge flow of water going into their basements causing substantial damage. How can that be?

The same thing in streets next to each other. How can the homes in one street have so much water damage done to them while houses in another street nearby have none at all? I just don't get it. I also saw that the main street near me seemed to have a lot of water being gathered up in the roadway as the water came down, just like in the last storm.  But it all disappeared quickly for some reason when it seemed that the sewers on the street opened up to allow the water into them. I do not understand that either. 

I have to admit that I did a little bit of research last time around about putting in a backwater valve to protect the condo unit from water entering it but decided not to do so. After all, I never expected another major storm and did not want have to pay out so much money for nothing. What a mistake that was! I should have done what a number of our residents did after the last mess: 

"Since the September 2016 flood event, the town says that more than 500 residents have received funding to install a backwater valve and/or disconnect their foundation drains from the sanitary sewer system and install a sump pump. The subsidy program is still available and residents are encouraged to apply. The program pays up to $800 of the cost to install a backwater valve." (Kevin McQuaid Jr., Windsorite.ca, August 29th, 2017) 

There is no doubt that I am going to look seriously into doing something ASAP because I am concerned about more rainstorms coming to hit us in the next few years. I think our weather conditions have changed to the worst.  

What is going to happen now with respect to the $3 million to be spent on Christmas lights for Jackson Park? Is Windsor going to ask that the money be spent instead to help people with their flooding problems or is it going to argue that it should be spent for the big event that is going to happen at the end of the year? Mayor Dilkens and Councillor Marra take different positions: 

"Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens defended his decision to vote in favour of the expendiure saying he believed it to be a good legacy project. He said through good financial planning and prudent budgeting the city is in a position to be able to consider these type of projects.  

“Everything in politics is about timing,” Dilkens said. “We’ve been working on this for a couple of months and we just happened to vote on it before major flooding happened in Windsor. It’s easy political fodder for a lot of folks and they can throw it my way. I’m a big guy. But at the end of the day was it the right thing to do? Yes, I believe it was.” (Kelly Steele, Windsor Star, August 30, 2017) 

Here is what the Councillor said, which may help if he decides to run for Mayor in the next election if people do not agree with what the Mayor said: 

"Coun. Bill Marra voted against the expenditure and has signed the petition. Marra pointed out he’s not “opposing the concept, but the process.” He said normal practice for a expenditure as big as $3 million is for it to be tabled until budget deliberations which usually take place in November.  

“The whole process was flawed,” he said. “It should have be subjected to budget deliberations. We didn’t even have a return on our investment plan.” 

He said when the storm hit on Tuesday what it did was “underscored” that there are other priorities in our community that should be considered. 

“I’m not surprised at the outrage of the community,” he said. “This validates that it didn’t fall within the high priority of our community. The storm just brought more outrage.” 

I just wonder if Mayor Dilkens is going to run again anyway. Would this specific event hurt him badly if he does do so and perhaps cost him the election? 

Speaking of Mayor Dilkens, I found his reaction to what happened rather surprising. Take a look at these excerpts to see what I mean.   

At first, who could be worried about anything in Windsor given this quotation:

"Windsor fared far better than much of Essex County, with flooding reported at 59 homes. City Engineer Mark Winterton says anyone who had flooding in their home and has not reported it yet, should call the 311 Call Centre."  (Adelle Loiselle,Blackburn News, August 29, 2017) 

It seems that the Mayor did not take things seriously even though the number that he mentioned was just over 5 times higher.  Apparently, at first, he did not think it was an emergency situation and I don't know if he does even now. Here is what he said first: 

"The Mayor of Windsor is urging people to use caution as the city deals with street flooding he says is significantly worse than the deluge that swamped the city nearly a year ago…  

Dilkens said there have been 310 basements flooded in Windsor - just a fraction of the 3,000 basements that were flooded during the storm in September of 2016."  (Chris Ensing, CBC News,August 29, 2017) 

One just has to wonder how the Mayor could make such a statement when the number of flooded units seems to have grown rather large:   

"Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens is calling for help from the provincial government after the ‘largest single flood event’ in Windsor’s history. 

Dilkens says the numbers are up to 3,793 homes flooded after heavy rain hit the city Monday night and Tuesday." (CTV Windsor, August 31, 2017) 

Here are some different numbers that I saw they came from the Mayor as well: 

"The cry for help comes after a record-breaking rainfall doused Windsor-Essex Monday and Tuesday, flooding thousands of homes for the second time in less than a year. Windsor's 311 line received more than 4,074 reports of flooded basements by 4 p.m. Thursday, and that number is expected to rise. More than 500 basements were flooded in Lakeshore and about 105 basements were flooded in Tecumseh, while about 20 homes were hit in LaSalle.

"This is horrible," said Dilkens. "I'm not going to sugar-coat it. This is the worst flooding in the recorded history of Windsor." (CBC News,August 31, 2017) 

Strange though. I have not seen the City of Windsor declare an emergency the way it was done last year.  I just wonder if an emergency has been declared because I do not recall seeing this being done this time around. If not, to be direct about it, why should the Province get involved to help out City residents who may suffer horrific damages: 

"Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is calling on Ontario's premier to create a provincially supported insurance program for residents who can no longer get flood insurance… 

When pressed for details on what he was hoping to see from the province, the mayor said he wants the government to step up and create a program for people unable to get coverage because their home has flooded multiple times." 

I must admit that I would have thought that the Mayor might be asking for some Provincial financial assistance now to help out citizens. 

As you will see, there are a number of interesting issues about which I have written. Clearly, there are all kinds of matters that need to be resolved. 

Just to remind you, dear reader, there was a crisis like this back in 2011.  I just happened to read a story about it the other day. There were 3 storms at that time that caused damage to many homes. It just happened again. What can we do to make sure finally that it never does take place again!

A Short Story On The Latest Flooding Disaster

I do not intend to write anything very long on this topic in this article. It is another horrific event that has caused misery to my family once again! To be honest, I find it so difficult to deal with especially because I have been involved again in this horrible situation so soon after the last event that we suffered. In my 72 years of life on this planet, I have only suffered this kind of disaster twice: last year and now this year around the same dates too. 

I am fortunate to what happened in our condo this time.  We only had a  small amount of flooding that appeared in our basement this time that certainly did not turn into the massive flooding that happened the last time to us in our new home.  It all started around 12:30 AM when I was woken up and taken to the basement to see the small stream of water that entered our basement by that time. Of course, I knew nothing about the rain when I was awoken since I usually go to sleep so much earlier because of the severe illness that I suffered before that almost resulted in my death. 

To be blunt about it, I was terrified that what happened before was going to happen again and that our house would be inundated with water one more time.  If you will recall what I wrote, I went down to my basement back then early on and saw no water in the basement at all. Yet, a short time later, I heard some water trickling I thought and entered our basement again. This time, so much water had entered that I could not believe it. We started experiencing major flooding! Obviously, when I went down to the basement this time around and saw so little water this time, I immediately remembered what happened in the past and was so worried about it happening again.  To be honest, I had difficulty coping with the situation. 

In the end, I stayed up about 6 hours overnight and then slept for about another hour. I got up again and stayed up most of the day dealing with this entire situation. I did a whole lot of telephoning in the early morning to the outside providers of services to us under contract to get their help. I gave them all notice of what happened and asked for people to come in immediately so they could see what took place and then provide the assistance they were required to give to us under our contracts with them. 

I was very fortunate that all of the people representing my service suppliers were fantastic! I dealt with the right parties. They all contacted me right away and discussed what had happened to my premises and arranged to have their people come over to check out what had taken place or to call me as quickly as possible. This included those who provided insurance coverage, who looked after my furnace, water heater and air conditioner and who had responsibility to clean up any disastrous mess in my basement caused by the water flooding. 

This time around, unlike the last disaster situation, I was not one of the first people to call them because many people apparently were already suffering problems with their homes and had been in contact with them in the night hours when I was asleep. Nevertheless, I must have chosen the right people to deal with because they all handled my situation so quickly and so wonderfully.  To be direct, if you would like to know the specific party that I dealt with that you might be interested in dealing with, feel free to contact me by email and I can provide you with some information about them. 

I am not going to go into all the situations other than to tell you that everything turned out quite well. People came to our condo unit quickly to examine our situation or we spoke in great detail over the telephone with relevant people. We were so fortunate that the actual damage that had happened in our place did not expand as quickly as before nor did the water that came in already cause severe damage to the equipment in the basement that had to be replaced as happened in one case previously.  We were assured that after our condo meetings/telephone conversations there were no significant concerns whatsoever that required them to be involved. 

That is all that I want to talk about today, dear reader. Obviously, based on what has been reported so far, there are some things that I want to write about that I am hoping will be helpful to you. However, after what we have gone through in our circumstances during and after the storm, I just need to take it to be easy right now and spend some time thinking about what has happened and what needs to be carried out subsequently. 

Do not worry, I will be writing about this topic some more.

Even More Stories

I must admit that the Eclipse event the other day just did not seem to be as dramatic as possible, at least where I lived, because, while darker, the sky in my area did not seem to darken as much as I expected.

In fact, my daughter posted this photograph on Facebook.  It was one of the earliest and most dramatic Eclipse photos that she took that day:

Now that was a funny one because of the name of that vehicle.

She did luck out yesterday afternoon. Here is a picture from a CTV video taken of her and her fiancé, Bill, sitting down at the site where they stayed for the Eclipse event later that afternoon that was shown on CTV Windsor News television:

Here now are some stories that I saw in the news media that I thought I would present to you.

BE CAREFUL TAKING THESE KIND OF PHOTOGRAPHS

This story seems to be a Windsor matter because I don't recall seeing something similar being discussed in other areas of the Province.

I have to admit that I think that the Police must have some reason for making the comments that they did. Could it be that there have been many other near-accidents that have already taken place over the last little while when people were taking photographs using their portable cameras from their cars as they were going by accident sites?

Take a look at this:

"While attending to a six-vehicle collision on Highway 401 last month that killed two, the OPP says motorists used cell phones to take photos and video of the scene, which were then uploaded to social media. They say one motorist was live-streaming the scene.

…drivers who use cell phones to take photos at collision scenes can be charged with distracted driving. The OPP says the fine for distracted driving is $490, which includes a victim surcharge and a court fee, and three demerit points."  (Tamar Harris, Windsor Star, August 18, 2017) 

Here is another comment that I saw:

"Police say drivers using cellphones to take photos at collision scenes can be charged with distracted driving.” (Canadian Press Staff, August 18, 2017) 

There is probably something that may be going on but so far there have not been any accidents. The Police seems to want to make sure that none do happen and is prepared to give the warnings of significant charges in advance to wake people up!

CAN YOU AFFORD TO BUY A TORONTO HOME

House prices have gone up significantly in Toronto, and other areas surrounding that City according to stories in the newspaper. And to pay for them, a lot of money is needed these days. Here is one story that I saw recently that helps explain this: 

"You’ll need six figures to buy almost any GTA home, report says 

It takes a six-figure income to afford virtually any Toronto area home — even a condo — and that expense is presenting a considerable financial challenge to an important cohort of millennial consumers… 

It takes a household income of more than $200,000 a year to carry the $1.15 million cost of the average detached house in the Toronto region, according to a report from TheRedPin brokerage. 

Even the average condo, costing $576,000, requires an annual income of $92,925 to afford a $1,933 monthly mortgage, plus taxes, utilities and condo fees, according to the report. 

Meantime, 59 per cent of those aged 25 to 30 in Ontario would like to own a detached house in the next five years, but only 30 per cent think they will be able to afford one, according a new Royal LePage report based on findings by Leger research. 

According to TheRedPin, buyers need more than $150,000 a year to cover the cost of a home in half of 22 Toronto area municipalities." (MetroNews Staff, Torstar News Service, August 18, 2017)  

While that might seem quite a change in price, dear reader, it really is not all that significant to me. I really cannot believe that the price increase in the Toronto area is all that high. 

As you may remember, I was born in and lived in Toronto for many years before I moved to Windsor about 30 years ago. My wife and I bought and lived in several different homes in Toronto before we came here. I must admit that our house prices changed rather significantly over a relatively short time frame on several occasions.  Just to give you one example, our first home was a Condo in an "apartment" condo building in Toronto of over 260 units.  What was interesting about that place is that it literally almost doubled in price within several months after we started living there together. Then, the Government introduced legislation that effectively killed the marketplace and the price of the unit dropped almost back down to the price at which I bought it! It fell that quickly and that much.

Our last residence in Toronto before we moved to this area was a house that we lived in for less than 10 years and when we sold it a few years after we moved in, we luckily were able to sell it significantly higher than what we paid for it. The Toronto market was increasing dramatically once again. It was an unbelievable sales price for us. Of course, a few months after we sold it, the Toronto market crashed again and house prices dropped quite a bit one more time. 

What I found interesting is that the price in Toronto today for a house like the one I owned there seems to me to be very high, a lot higher than when I lived there.  But in my opinion, it is NOT really a whoppingly high increase.  What it means to me is that the price went up quite a bit from what I received but that took around 30 years to achieve! It is hardly that great a real estate increase when I look at it that way. 

Of course, it is a significantly higher price than a comparable house in our area today but not all that much more considering how long it took the Toronto price to rise. The homes in our area where I live in Tecumseh have risen quite nicely over a relatively short period of time recently.   

It should be interesting to see what happens to my Condo unit price and whether it stays at the level it has increased to now or goes back down to its market value of about a year ago. Just to let you know, dear reader, I do not believe that we will see a significant drop here if the economy keeps improving. I am actually hoping that it's condo value increases but I have no intention of selling it now even if it does.

A Bunch Of New News Stories

I have to admit that I still like writing stories on my website. I am not really sure now how many readers I have because I find it difficult to get proper numbers these days. No problem. It does not matter how many that I have because the reason that I write the articles is for me to express my point of view.  

Here are some new events which I would like to present to you about how I feel. 

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME RECENTLY 

Believe it or not, my computer had some problems that impacted rather dramatically my access to the Internet. For the reason that I did not know at the time, my online speed dropped significantly from as high as over 2 Mbps to as low as 50 Kbps. It really was that slow! For me, it seemed that it was just going to be a matter of a very short period of time before the whole service declined completely so that I would not have access any longer to the Internet. 

It meant that I needed someone to figure out what was wrong with the system and then repair it. 

Naturally, I contacted my provider of Internet service to find out if they knew how to fix what seemed to be wrong even though I had no clue about what was wrong. On the phone, over a couple of days, we tried a number of different repair techniques to see if my system could be fixed. Regretfully, none of them worked at all. My speed was still terribly low. Accordingly, they agreed to send over one of their technicians to take a look at my system and repair it if possible. 

The fellow who came over seemed to be knowledgeable about problems with the Internet service and how to fix them. Provided of course, that the problems were Internet connected. He tried a number of different "fixes" to improve the speed. None of them worked at all. Unfortunately, for me, he had to tell me that the problems I was having with my computer and the Internet were not related to their service but rather required a technical person to come over to figure out what had happened and then to fix it. In other words, there was nothing more that he can do to help me out. 

Luckily, I found a company that said they had the ability to fix my issue based on the experience they had to solve problems that seemed to be happening to me. In having our phone conversation at first, it was suggested that it might be one of 3 different technical messes that could be impacting my system. Obviously, their service representative would have to identify what was wrong and then, hopefully, be able to fix it. 

It must be that I was a very lucky person. One of their technical people who was scheduled to come over at 8:30 AM the next morning had over 20 years of experience dealing with major Internet issues similar to mine. It was such a pleasure to hear that someone so experienced was going to come over and try to fix everything so unbelievably quickly as possible. 

Without going into all of the details about what he did to identify the problem and, after discovering it, fixing it, I am thrilled to say that he did a fabulous job. There were a number of technical matters that he had to fix up in order to restore service and had to make significant changes with the equipment that was providing the connections. He did such a fabulous job that we now have exactly the download speed of 3 Mbps for most of the time. I have to say that in all the years that I have been online it has been very rare to my download speed ever to be at that number for most of the time! It always seemed to be lower. 

So I am now back online and happily at a very nice speed to suit my needs. 

IT BETTER STAY OPEN 

I would strongly suggest to the owners of the property that the Canadian Club Brand Centre remain open. If not, then I wonder how many people will continue to buy their products. Not many I expect. 

I cannot understand why a deal between the City and the Owners has not yet been completed. Why would it take so long to finalize a transaction? Here is the latest on this matter: 

"Mayor Drew Dilkens tells CTV Windsor they are still talking to the owners about keeping the centre open. 

“We’re on track and the conversations have been very good” says Dilkens… 

“Hopefully we will have a meaningful outcome in very short order” says Dilkens." (CTV Windsor, August 12, 2017)  

Oh well, perhaps everything will finalize during the height of the sale of alcohol, say around the Christmas and New Year's time period. 

WINDSOR SPENDING COMMENTS 

I just found these comments from City of Windsor politicians interesting about the spending of money.   

"On Tuesday, council approved spending $6.7-million for upgrades on Ouellette Avenue from Wyandotte to Elliott Streets. 

The tender is 21 per cent over the original budget of $5.6-million. 

“Would I have preferred that the project come in on budget on the estimate that we were given? Absolutely,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens." (CTV Windsor,August 9, 2017)  

Notwithstanding the increase over the budget, the spending was approved. 

This comment came after another one that was made earlier: 

"A construction price 57 per cent over budget and the pleas of residents and downtown merchants failed to dissuade the majority of councillors from trading retail space for ground-floor parking in the Pelissier Street parking garage… 

Bortolin, who represents the downtown, initially made a motion to “note and file” the tender for the Pelissier Street garage and direct staff to look into leasing out the space commercially again. But he was defeated. 

“We’re about to spend three-quarters of a million for 43 pretty parking spaces,” despite the fact the parking garage is never full, Bortolin said, citing statistics showing Windsor has more parking per capita than almost anywhere else in the country.  

“All the numbers keep showing we just don’t need it,” Bortolin said. “This will do nothing but hurt the area.” (Brian Cross, WindsorStar, August 9, 2017)  

Another case in which the over-the-budget spending was approved. 

WILL THERE BE A CITY TAX INCREASE IN WINDSOR THIS YEAR 

Perhaps there will be no need for a municipal tax increase in the City of Windsor or, perhaps only a very small one. Here is an interesting document that I just read about: 

"The federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF) is a permanent source of funding provided up front, twice-a-year, to provinces and territories, who in turn flow this funding to their municipalities to support local infrastructure priorities. Municipalities can pool, bank and borrow against this funding, providing significant financial flexibility.  

Every year, the GTF provides over $2 billion and supports approximately 2,500 projects in communities across Canada. Communities select how best to direct the funds." (Infrastructure Canada) 

 Do you want to know how much the City received? Here is the answer: 

"Municipalities across the region now have more money in their coffers. 

That's because the federal government has paid out the first installment of the federal Gas Tax Fund. 

Windsor received $6.4-million last week, half of the $12.8-million the City will receive from the Trudeau government this year… 

The funding is in addition to the provincial gas tax fund that is shared by Ontario municipalities." (CTV Windsor, August 8, 2017) 

That is a lot of money for the City to receive. I wonder if that will be added in to the City's budget for 2018 so that a decision can be made whether there must be a tax increase or not.  The following is supposed to happen in Windsor and when: 

"Windsor city council is getting ready to discuss 2018 budget priorities… 

Councillors are expected to get the draft budget on November 17. 

It will be released to the public on November 20 with deliberations beginning the week of December 11." (Rob Hindi, CKLW, August1st 2017) 

More Interesting Stories

Writing stories on the Internet about matters that interest me is something that I have been doing for many years and what I still like to do.

I have to admit that I do want people to support the positions that I have set out in so many articles that I have written. Fortunately for me, I think that a lot of people like a lot of what I write. However, there are a number of instances where I know that people are opposed to what I am saying and that there is very little that I can do about it. No matter what I write that I think is persuasive I cannot convince certain people to change their minds.  No problem. It is fun debating with others about matters that are taking place in this area and elsewhere.

Here are some issues that interested me in writing about them.

SO MUCH FOR THIS TOURISM MARKETING PLAN

Here is what was proposed a very short time ago:

"Windsor businesses have teamed up for one of the region's largest marketing campaigns that aims to draw more American visitors to the region.

The $70,000 More Windsor campaign is a partnership of eight business improvement areas from throughout Windsor and Essex County.

Earlier this month, officials rolled out their strategy, which highlights some of the hot spots to visit, including the region's best eateries, shopping centres and tourism attractions. A big part of the campaign tries to capitalize on the low Canadian dollar.

"Windsor is not cheap, it's a bargain," said Greg Plante, chairperson of the Pillette Village BIA. "As the name states, people can get more for their dollar over here, and we want to take advantage of that." (CBC News, July 17, 2017) 

Well, that plan may now be becoming nothing more than a waste of an incredible sum of money. You won't see anyone in a tourism business saying anything about it that might be so concerning, at least not right now. That is what the big increase in the Canadian dollar may be doing to the tourism business:

"Soaring loonie could dampen Windsor tourism industry

As the Canadian loonie soars to heights not seen in two years, Windsor tourism officials will be keeping a close eye to see just how much of an impact the stronger dollar will have on the region's economy.

Officials from Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island target American travellers who keep track of the exchange rate before planning visits to the region. Though the Canadian dollar continues to gain on its American counterpart, the tourism bureau's president Gordon Orr isn't panicking.

"If it goes to par, it's a whole different ball game, but right now it's still hovering at the 80 cent mark," he said. "They're still getting 20 cents on their dollar." (CBC News, July 26, 2017) 

WERE ALL CANADIAN MAYORS ON VACATION

I saw a very interesting story where a "Binational Cadre of Mayors Throw Support Behind NAFTA."  I thought that would be very helpful for our economy except for one thing: no one from Canada participated in this session where this decision was made:

"SAN DIEGO (CN) – A coalition of mayors from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border signed a trade resolution Thursday, showing support for continued strong economic ties and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

More than a dozen mayors from around the Southwest border gathered for the 6th annual Binational Summit of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association, hosted by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Tijuana, Mexico, Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum. The region’s mayors signed a resolution pledging support for international trade and the renegotiation of NAFTA." (Bianca Bruno, Courthouse News, July 28, 2017) 

Thankfully, someone else understood how serious the absence of Canada's mayors and those of US cities near us, was:

"Noticeably absent from the meeting – and conversation on NAFTA – were any mayors from the U.S.-Canada border, who Border Trade Alliance board of directors chairman Russ Jones suggested should be part of the conversation.

“We should do a lot more in integrating those conversations on Canada. Perhaps at the next conference, invite your northern and Canadian colleagues,” Jones said."

Clearly, there is a competition between Canada and Mexico over what ultimately will happen with whatever changes are made to the NAFTA agreement and presumably each of the 2 countries will want to have a partnership with the US to help out their position.

WILL A GERMAN COMPANY SET UP AN OPERATION IN WINDSOR

I wonder how long Mayor Dilkens was in Germany. Was it a day or 2 or perhaps even a week or so? Just curious, that's all.

It appears as if several areas are trying to get a new German plant built, one of which is Windsor.

"Windsor city council upped the ante in its bid to convince a major German auto parts supplier to expand its manufacturing operations in the region.

The politicians agreed Friday afternoon to offer up a piece of land for an attractive price aimed at sweetening the deal and making Windsor a more appealing option than two other communities vying for the same deal." (CBC News, July 28, 2017)

To be honest, I am not sure how competitive the City of Windsor is considering what at least one of the other cities is offering:

"Other regions are offering plenty of incentives, such as free land, which Dilkens has said he is not prepared to offer. Windsor already has a community improvement plan that waves property taxes for up to 10 years."

I am sure that one would support what Windsor's Mayor would like to do. Who wants to throw away so much taxpayer money for a project. Nevertheless, that may well be what has to be done considering what the competition is prepared to do to get the business in their region. 

One wonders how successful Windsor will be competing against another Ontario company and one from Alabama.

WHY DOES CHRYSLER WANT TO GET RID OF COMPANY JOBS

I saw this story which is quite amazing to me. Why would it be done at this time:

"Fiat Chrysler's second quarter profit triples to $1.35 billion

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said today it earned $1.35 billion (1.15 billion euro) in the second quarter, up a whopping 207% over the same period a year ago as gains in several of the company's global regions helped the company overcome slower sales in North America…

Higher revenues in the automaker's global regions helped offset a slower pace in North America caused by product launches and production changes at some plants." (Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, July 27, 2017)

One would think that Chrysler is doing very well. Yet, here is something they want to do that presumably would help them even more. But not necessarily help the people involved:

"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has given Unifor Local 444 until mid-August to present the company with cost-savings proposals to preserve 285 trucking jobs at the Windsor Assembly Plant that had been slated for outsourcing.

It buys the union time to come up with a new proposal and “figure out how to save the department long-term,” he said.

FCA Canada has threatened to outsource the transportation of parts used at the Windsor plant where the Chrysler Pacifica, Pacifica Hybrid and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans are built.

That would affect 285 Unifor members, including skilled-trades workers, clerks, management and drivers. The company’s outsourcing plan didn’t affect the jobs of those who transport the minivans." (Tamar Harris, Windsor Star, July 30, 2017)

Was this issue discussed at all during the strike talks? If not, why not? Would this have become a strike matter issue that would have had to have been solved at that time? Is this nothing more than to get an agreement on these employees by this approach to "renegotiating" rather than settling it during strike talks? If so, one would think that the Union would never allow this to happen again next time the parties get together to discuss a settlement.