June downpour dampens basements, and spirits, of city residents

As fellow columnist Mr. Friday notes, “it’s déjà vu all over again.”
Such was the state of affairs in St. Thomas on June 25, when the region was inundated with about 60 mm of rain over the course of the dinner hour, resulting in flooded basements throughout the city.
The residents of Montgomery Road now have company.
Welcome to homeowners on Parkside Drive, Wawa Street, Chestnut Street and about a dozen other locations where an inflow of water was experienced.
In total, city staff received 32 calls.
A detailed report from Edward Soldo, the city’s new manager of operations and compliance, will be presented to council on Monday.

Plagiarism, penny-pinching or pure coincidence?

We have in our possession this week a copy of the Economic Development Corporation’s proposed game plan for the coming years, which examines “its current and future economic opportunities and positioning,” in a proactive fashion.
The executive summary of the economic development strategy is chock full of feel good vernacular like: “champion an action,” “supportive infrastructure and delivery model,” and our favourite, “programs must be augmented by service delivery tools.”

An improved Employment Insurance program would provide a better stimulus to the economy

OTTAWA – An improved Employment Insurance program would provide a better
stimulus to the economy than anything the federal government has tried so
far, says Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti.

He was responding to the release by Statistics Canada of labour force
figures for June 2009, when a net of 47,500 workers lost their full-time
jobs. There are now about 1.6 million unemployed Canadians, an unemployment rate of 8.6%. Fewer than half of the unemployed are actually collecting benefits due to rules, regulations and obstructions embedded in the EI system.

Lear Prohibited From Tapping Canadian Plants for Cash

July 9 (Bloomberg) — Lear Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. on July 7, was prohibited by a judge from tapping its Canadian plants for cash.

Lear, the world’s second-largest maker of automobile seats, owed its Canadian units about $82 million as of May 31, according to a report from the accounting firm RSM Richter, which was appointed information officer by the judge.

Lear’s Canadian operations “shall not make advances or transfers of funds to any of the applicants or any of their affiliates by way of loan or otherwise,” Ontario Superior Court Judge Sarah Pepall said in an order issued today that recognizes the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. She made an exception for payments due in the ordinary course of business.

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Future of Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant rests on talks

The fate of Ford of Canada’s St. Thomas assembly plant may not be known until after the automaker has completed its contract talks with the Canadian Auto Workers union, industry observers said yesterday.

Ford will not announce a plant closure, or what it will take to land a new vehicle, while it is seeking a concessionary collective agreement from the union.

“They are in the middle of labour negotiations and you do not announce plant closures in the middle of negotiations,” said automotive analyst Dennis DesRosiers.

Tony Faria, business professor at the University of Windsor and an industry analyst, agreed nothing will be decided until talks are completed, but those talks may give the plant a chance for a new lease on life — as long as the federal and provincial governments also pledge financial support to retool the plant, he said.

“The St. Thomas plant will be used as a bargaining tool, in one fashion or another,” to wrestle concessions from the union and money from government. “It serves Ford’s purpose in the short term to not announce a closing now.”
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Health risks of industrial wind turbines debated

The managing director of the company behind two Oxford County wind farm proposals suggested the speakers at a recent “Wind Energy Information Night” overstated the alleged health risks of industrial wind turbines.

Bart Geleynse of Prowind Canada Inc. said the speakers at the Hickson Central Public School meeting were claiming a causal relationship between wind turbines and health risks without any compelling evidence.

“I’ve seen nothing that leads me to believe that except anecdotal and quite emotive statements by people making a name for themselves,” Geleynse said.

But the speakers at the June 25th meeting didn’t share Geleynse’s skepticism. Both David Colling, an electrical pollution consultant, and retired pharmacist Carmen Krogh were adamant about the link between wind turbines and a number of adverse symptoms, including dizziness, nausea, headaches and tinnitus.

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Queen’s University study to determine health effects of turbines

By now, the residents of Wolfe Island, Ont., are getting used to the whirr and thump of wind turbines overhead. By next year, they’ll get a glimpse of whether those whirrs and thumps could be damaging their health.

Researchers at nearby Queen’s University have embarked on the first study to probe whether wind turbines built over communities can cause adverse health effects. The study measures residents’ health and well-being before the turbines arrived on the island, again when the turbines were built but not yet operational and again after they’d been operating for a few months.

People living close to turbines in other regions have reported nausea, headaches, dizziness, anxiety, sleep deprivation and tinnitus – an incessant ringing in a person’s ears.

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Lear files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Southfield-based auto supplier Lear Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, after it said it had received backing from a majority of its bank lenders and bondholders.

Lear and its U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in New York, becoming the latest in a string of troubled auto suppliers to seek court-overseen restructuring. On July 1, Lear said it planned to take the step after missing a key $7.2 million debt payment.

Lear’s 26-page petition lists $1.27 billion in assets and $4.5 billion in debts. Its largest owner is Vanguard Windsor Funds with a nearly 8 percent stake. Lear’s largest creditors are its lenders who are owed about $1.3 billion. It also owes an unspecified amount in pension obligations and $5.1 million to Johnson Controls Inc.
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CAW says Ford Canada wants to reach new labor deal

TORONTO (AP) – Ford has asked the Canadian Auto Workers to match recent concessions reached in labor deals with General Motors Canada and Chrysler Canada so the company can remain competitive, the union said Tuesday.
CAW negotiator Mike Vince said although the union’s current contract with Ford doesn’t expire until 2011, Ford management outlined why the automaker needs a new contract to remain competitive in its Canadian and U.S operations during a meeting last night.
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Heritage Canada Foundation Releases 2009 Top Ten Endangered Places and Worst Losses Lists

Posted by Ian:

It should come as no surprise the loss of Alma College to fire in May, 2008 tops Heritage Canada Foundation’s worst losses list for the past year. After all the historic school for girls topped the Top Ten Endangered List not that long ago. It was inevitable that destruction by neglect, the accumulative toll of the elements and ultimately the allure of the vacant hulk as a haven for vandals would bring the main building to its knees. However a fitting epitaph would read, “Alma succumbed because of a lack of will by elected officials at all levels and the crass indifference of its owners.”

OTTAWA, July 7 /CNW Telbec/ – The Heritage Canada Foundation (HCF) has
released its Top Ten Endangered Places and Worst Losses Lists drawing
attention to a total of 17 architectural and heritage sites in Canada either threatened with demolition or already lost.

Ford has no plans for St. Thomas plant after 2011

Staggered in recent years by layoffs and slumping sales, the Ford St. Thomas assembly plant has been dealt what may be its final body blow.

In a recent meeting with Ford of Canada, Canadian Auto Workers union officials were told all three vehicles made at the plant will be phased out — and no replacement vehicles are planned after 2011.

“You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. If we do not have a new product they will close the plant,” said Scott Smith, chairperson of CAW Local 1520 at the plant.

“There are a lot of people’s livelihoods at stake here and it is hard for people to hear what the reality is.”

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Group wants turbine buffer applied in Port Rowan

A group of residents in the countryside west of Port Rowan is looking for help now that the McGuinty government has conceded that wind turbines and people don’t mix very well.

The McGuinty government proposed last month that new wind turbines in Ontario be at least 550 metres away from the nearest residential dwelling. The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources are fielding input on the suggestion until July 24.

Now that the province has acknowledged that proximity may be an issue, a group of 15 have written a letter to Norfolk council and senior officials at Queen’s Park and Ottawa asking what they propose to do for those who live next door to wind turbines. The group shares its neighbourhood with the AIM PowerGen wind farm in southwest Norfolk, which features 66 1.5-megawatt turbines.
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Group fed up with Gerretsen’s lack of concern over wind-turbine health issues – Calls for resignation

The Coalition for the Protection of Amherst Island is so fed up with John Gerretsen’s lack of concern over the serious health problems being suffered by Ontarians living too close to wind turbines, that they have decided take out the advertisement set out below in the Whig Standard charging that Mr. Gerretsen, as Minister of the Environment, is ignoring the right of Ontarians to a ‘healthful environment’ as provided for under the Environmental Bill of Rights.

The advertisement also accuses the Ministry of the Environment of ruining people’s lives by allowing his Ministry to approve siting wind turbines too close to homes. Further, the ad. states that his Ministry has shown a chilling indifference to the harm caused by the 86 turbines now turning on Wolfe Island knowing that 266 dwellings would be located at or within 1 km of these turbines. The Coalition is calling for a moratorium on further construction of wind turbine farms while full independent medical and noise studies are conducted, and is asking Mr. Gerretsen how many more Ontarians may be put in harm’s way. The media are urged to seek answers to these questions.
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Navistar under scrutiny

The Ontario government will go after Navistar International Corp. if it has failed to meet obligations it made when the province gave it $30 million in assistance to keep its Chatham truck plant open six years ago, Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello says.

“They do have obligations with us and they’re going to have to meet those obligations,” she said. “We’re reaching out to the company now, and we know that’s important.”

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