Proposed changes to family law in Ontario applauded December 18, 2009
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Proposed changes to family law in Ontario are a good first step, but some experts question how far they can go without new funding.
Attorney General Chris Bentley announced the long-promised changes Thursday, saying they should make divorce proceedings faster, less expensive and less combative.
The new measures don’t involve any new funds, but rather a redistribution of current resources.
“These are very emotionally wrenching situations,” Bentley said in an interview.
“You don’t want to pile on top of the emotion a long, protracted, bitter fight that studies all say is very bad for the kids, very bad for the parties and uses up whatever money you’re going to have to live on in the future.”
Philip Epstein, a veteran family lawyer in Toronto, says the changes show the government understands the system isn’t working.
He’s encouraged by a push toward more mediation and a streamlining of the court process, saying it could keep parents away from adversarial court battles that often harm children.
But Epstein says what’s really needed is a unified system across the province, as well as specialized judges well-equipped to handle tough cases.
Without any additional funding, he says, that’s unlikely to happen.
Bentley said the changes will mean a “much faster and clearer way” to resolve disputes.
“It will mean you’re going to get a lot more support early on.”
Free up court time
Under the changes, people will have more access to legal advice from the outset, as well as to options like mediation, arbitration or collaborative law, which are much less combative than the court process.
That will also free up court time for cases that must be argued through the system, although those will now have less paperwork and fewer steps so that people can get to a judge, and a decision, sooner.
“It takes the time and expense that we spend on cases that shouldn’t have that time and expense, and moves those resources to the cases that need more attention, helping them to be resolved faster and better as well,” said Bentley.
As part of the redistribution, some of the $150 million committed to legal aid over the next four years, for instance, will go toward providing more access to legal advice for people getting divorced.
The government has long promised to reform the province’s justice system, and has already worked to reduce the number of unproductive court appearances in criminal cases.
Last year, Bentley pledged to review the handling of child custody cases following the death of Katelynn Sampson, a Toronto seven-year-old who was allowed to stay in the care of a woman who had a criminal record for drugs, prostitution and violence.
A report from the Ontario Bar Association that same year found the province’s legal system had reached a “breaking point.”
Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler urged for a review of family law, saying there were only 17 dedicated family courts scattered in various pockets of Ontario.
Other top judges have complained they are faced with handling a high volume of child protection, custody and support cases.
They’ve also said there’s an increasing number of people who don’t have a lawyer, meaning judges are forced to spend valuable court time giving basic advice and help.
Georgina Carson, who chairs the family law division of the bar association, says one of the best ways to keep people out of court is to inform them about their options from the start.
She adds the changes announced Thursday will keep the parties from jumping directly into the court system.
The family law changes will come into effect on March 1.
The Canadian Press, 2009
Ontario to outlaw texting in traffic October 24, 2009
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Starting Oct. 26, using hand-held devices while driving in Ontario will be illegal.(Canadian Press)
It will soon be illegal in Ontario to text or talk on a hand-held cellphone or any other device while driving.
The new law comes into effect on Oct. 26.
The province’s Ministry of Transport pushed for the ban citing statistics that showed driver distraction is a factor in 20 per cent of traffic accidents.
The new law means drivers who use their fingers to dial cellphones or send text messages will be liable for a maximum fine of $500.
The province says it won’t start handing out tickets until Feb. 1 ? until then police will just be giving drivers a warning.
Toronto taxi driver Ravi Singh spends more than eight hours a day in his car.
He’s been driving the streets of Toronto for more than a decade and has seen his share of drivers distracted by technology. He says its easy to tell which ones are holding a cellphones while driving.
“Every time a person is trying to make a left with no signal, you know, that person is on a cellphone,” said Singh.
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The hand-held ban means Singh will have to upgrade his own cellphone so it’s compatible with hands-free technology, but he says he’ll gladly do it in the name of safety.
“That’s a pain in the neck, but you know what, you got to obey the law and the law is good. On the whole it’s going to benefit everybody,” he said.
For others, the change in the law has meant an increase in business ? especially stores that sell hands-free devices.
Bill Edmonds, who sells electronics in downtown Toronto, says the Bluetooth system which operates by using voice commands, is a popular item.
Over the past month, he says, they’ve been flying off the shelves.
“It’s just been insane the last three or four weeks,” said Edmonds. “We were selling a lot before but now there is a sense of urgency, people are saying I have to have this, not I want this anymore.”
Ontario now joins more than 50 countries and jurisdictions around the world that have banned cellphone use while driving ? including Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Similar legislation has been introduced in British Columbia.
Ontario discusses HST break for mutual fund industry September 30, 2009
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Dalton McGuinty says his government is talking to the mutual fund industry about a possible exemption from the HST.(CBC)
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday his government is talking to the mutual fund industry about a possible exemption to the harmonized sales tax.
There is no agreement now, but the Ministry of Finance is holding discussions with mutual fund companies and other groups to make sure the government “gets it right” on tax harmonization, McGuinty said.
In the March 26 budget, Ontario announced plans to merge the eight per cent provincial sales tax with the federal GST.
The move is aimed at reducing the cost of doing business in the province, but it would hike the cost of many items now exempt from the provincial levy onto the backs of consumers.
British Columbia recently signed a similar proposal.
Both laws are set to come into effect July 1, 2010.
Even consumers outside B.C. and Ontario would be affected if the companies from whom they purchase securities are registered in one of those provinces.
The fund industry, like many others, has come out strongly against the proposal.
“A harmonized sales tax could drain over half a billion dollars a year from the investment accounts of Ontario residents,” CI Financial Corp. Stephen A. MacPhail said.
The company estimates that for every $20,000 invested in a mutual fund, consumers would pay $52 per year to the HST.
CI is considering launching a separate set of mutual funds for Alberta residents, where there is no sales tax.
A TD Economics report earlier this month concluded HST legislation in Ontario and British Columbia would save businesses $6.9 billion annually, while shifting the tax burden from businesses to consumers.
McGuinty wouldn’t say whether he was sympathetic to the industry’s complaints about merging the eight per cent Ontario sales tax with the federal GST.
But his comments appear to put him at odds with Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, who has reportedly taken a hard line against the mutual fund industry’s complaints about the HST.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail earlier this month, the minister’s office has threatened to release a damning report on the negative impact of management fees unless the industry backs off.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says taxpayers should be outraged that the governing Liberals are bowing to big business instead of trying to find more exemptions for ordinary families for everyday items like home heating oil.
Conservative Peter Shurman says lots of groups have a case against the HST, and the tax needs to be stopped now before it’s implemented next July.
With files from Canadian Press (more…)
Ontario deficit $2.5B worse than expected September 26, 2009
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Ontario’s deficit for the last fiscal year was $2.5 billion higher than expected, driven by a 48 per cent drop in corporate tax revenue.
The provincial budget in March forecast a deficit of $3.9 billion in the 2008-09 fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.
But according to financial statements released Friday afternoon by the government, the deficit for the year stands at $6.4 billion.
Corporate tax revenues for the year totalled $6.7 billion, the statements show. In 2008, the government had pegged that number at $12.3 billion.
‘Difficult choices ahead’
“As I’ve indicated in the past when we had numbers, we were very careful to say that there is enormous volatility in the economy,” Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told CBC News. “Corporate taxes are historically the most volatile tax, and that volatility has come through.”
Duncan also hinted that the government’s projections for next year’s deficit may go up. In March, he forecast a $14.1-billion deficit in 2009-2010.
“It’ll depend on whether or not what we have seen up until March of this year continues on and it also depends on how quickly government revenues get restored to where they were,” said Duncan, when asked about a possible change in that projected figure.
“One thing we know is that both growth in employment and growth in government revenues tend to lag growth in the economy. That’s been the experience after every major downturn in the last generation.”
The Ministry of Finance has predicted Ontario’s GDP will contract by 2.5 per cent for 2009 before growing by 2.3 per cent the following year.
The government has some “difficult choices ahead,” Duncan said, adding he would elaborate during his fall statement, expected in October.
He would not say if the government would stick to its plan to eliminate deficits by fiscal year 2015-2016.
Opposition questions Liberal credibility
The Progressive Conservatives said “it was no surprise” the Liberals waited until Friday afternoon to release the public accounts.
“Premier Dalton McGuinty has lost all credibility when it comes to managing the province’s finances,” said Opposition finance critic Norm Miller.
“We fell faster and harder than other provinces in this recession.”
The New Democrats charged that the government was always playing politics with its budget forecasts and should agree to set up an independent budget office like the federal government’s.
“Ontarians should expect an impartial budget document, not one clouded by partisan political spin like we’ve gotten from the McGuinty government,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
“Each and every update out of the mouths of the premier and the finance minister was rosy. It turns out their spin was far from the truth,” she said.
The province’s debt grew this fiscal year by $14.7 billion, which included some accounting practice changes, to $113.2 billion, according to the documents.
But Duncan touted his government’s management of finances, saying spending growth was brought to its lowest level in eight years.
Total spending for the year stood at $96.9 billion, an increase of 0.37 per cent from the previous fiscal year.
With files from The Canadian Press (more…)
Rogers sues to block Shaw’s Ontario cable buy September 10, 2009
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Canada’s biggest cable company is suing its largest rival in a bid to block its attempt to move into what it deems its home turf.
At a hearing in Toronto on Wednesday, Toronto-based Rogers Communications Inc. asked a judge to put a stop to Calgary-based Shaw Communications Inc.’s purchase of Hamilton-based Mountain Cablevision Ltd.
Canada’s biggest cable company, Rogers Communications Inc., has gone to court to stop its largest rival from buying a small cable firm in Hamilton, Ont.(Matt Rourke/Associated Press)
In July, Mountain Cable agreed to sell its cable television operations to an affiliate of Shaw, subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Details of the sale were not revealed, but the price tag is believed to be roughly $300 million.
Rogers sees that as an encroachment on its business, and is seeking to stop the sale.
For most of the last decade, Rogers and Shaw have effectively agreed to divide the country in half, with Rogers being the dominant cable provider from Ontario east, and Shaw the largest seller west of Ontario.
Published reports suggest the dispute over Mountain Cablevision might just be the first battle in a war between the two as Shaw moves into Eastern Canada.
“Mountain isn’t a one-off deal,” Bloomberg News quoted Rogers lawyer Tim Pinos as saying. “Shaw intends to acquire further assets in eastern Canada.”
The report claims Shaw has rejected any deal restricting either company to a geographical area as illegal and unenforceable because it unfairly restricts competition.
New fronts
The legal action is the latest in a line of escalating brinksmanship between Canada’s communications firms, who are finding themselves competing in new sectors against new entrants across the country.
Officials at Rogers and Mountain Cablevision both declined comment when approached by CBC News.
“The judge has promised to rule on this expeditiously, so I don’t want to make any comment that might impact that decision either negatively or positively,” Shaw president Peter Bissonnette said.
Mountain Cablevision services more than 40,000 households with television service, and has nearly 30,000 internet and telephone customers.
Hard times not over for Ontario municipalities: economist August 18, 2009
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The recession may be just about over, but economic hardship could linger for some time, Ontario municipalities heard Monday.
“While we may officially declare the recession over in the third or the fourth quarter of this year, some of the variables that will hit governments, including at the municipal level, will drag on well into 2010,” said Don Drummond, chief economist with TD Bank Financial group during his keynote address to the annual meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Drummond said corporate taxes will be down for years to come, as businesses carry forward their losses. In addition, Canadian unemployment ? now at 414,000, with a “disproportionate” amount in Ontario ? is expected to hit 507,000, bringing the unemployment rate up to 10 per cent later this year.
“You don’t actually get your peak hit on welfare caseloads until well after employment even starts to go up,” he told the Ottawa conference.
That is a problem for Ontario municipalities because many social programs such as welfare were downloaded to them from the provincial government in the 1990s.
The Ontario government announced last October that it will take back welfare and court security costs over the next 10 years, starting in 2010.
Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson reminded municipalities of that Monday and acknowledged that the downloading should never have happened in the first place.
Stimulus slow to flow: councillor
Watson added that the provincial government is addressing municipalities’ issues by working with the federal government to get their stimulus money out the door.
Ottawa city councillor Georges Bédard, who was attending the conference, said it’s important right now for members of municipal council to “know what the economic future is for Canada.”
He wasn’t surprised by Drummond’s comments.
“It is always the case that the impact carries on,” he said, adding that is something municipalities have to deal with.
When asked if stimulus funds from the federal and provincial governments are helping, he responded, “When it gets rolled out and is in fact implemented, then obviously the impact is going to be very, very positive. Right now it’s slow getting to it.”
But he was understanding of the fact that due diligence must be done to ensure the projects funded are the right ones.
When Watson was asked about provincial funding for Ottawa’s proposed light rail project, he said he had nothing to report, as it would take the province months to study the project. The City of Ottawa has underestimated costs in the past, he added.
Provincial and Ottawa city officials are expected to meet next month about the project next month. Coun. Peter Hume said the city should have a better idea of the project’s costs by then.
Ontario pushes electric cars as auto-sector boost July 15, 2009
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The Chevrolet Volt is expected to cost about $40,000.(Illustration: Chevrolet)
Electric cars will become part of the Ontario government’s fleet and consumers will get up to $10,000 in rebates to buy one of the experimental vehicles, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.
But with a hefty price tag, the new electric-hybrid cars will be a hard sell.
McGuinty was undeterred, saying eventually “the price comes down.”
General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt is expected to hit the roads next year, but will cost as much as $40,000.
“Electric vehicles are the way to go in Ontario,” McGuinty said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “This plan helps get more people behind the wheel of a green vehicle to create jobs, reduce smog and equip Ontario for the 21st century.”
European car sales rose in June for the first time in over a year thanks to government “cash-for-clunkers” handouts, automakers said Wednesday.
Manufacturers’ group ACEA said sales were up 2.4 per cent to 1.46 million units, the first increase after 14 months of falling sales.
State incentives are credited with firing up car sales. Germans get $3,500 US in cash for swapping their cars. This has accelerated sales by 40.5 per cent in June in Europe’s biggest market and by 26 per cent for the first half of the year compared to 2008.
Sales also were up last month in two other nations with the programs ? in Italy by 12.4 per cent and in France by 7 per cent.
ACEA said the handouts for car buyers had cushioned tumbling sales in Spain, down 15.9 per cent and Britain, down 15.7 per cent.
Both countries have been hit hard by collapsing house prices, which have held shoppers back from big purchases.
Later, the premier told a news conference at a Toronto auto dealership that he wants electric cars to make up five per cent of all cars on the road by 2020.
In an effort to achieve that, McGuinty announced “rebates of between $4,000 and $10,000 for plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles purchased after July 1, 2010.
“They tell me that when they roll the first of these off the assembly line, they’re going to be expensive, relative to the traditional car powered by the regular internal combustion engine,” he said. “We want to help people buy those first cars.”
The province will buy 500 of the new cars for government use.
When asked why the government is handing out taxpayer dollars to subsidize the new line of autos, McGuinty said the idea is to help build a market for the vehicles.
“At some point, the price comes down … and you can take away the government initiative.”
Subsidy ‘won’t last forever’
McGuinty said the subsidy, which doesn’t begin for 12 months, will eventually be dropped. He just couldn’t say when.
“It won’t last forever.”
Not all electric or hybrid cars will be covered by the announcement. The rebate is restricted to cars that can travel on highways.
That rules out the Zenn car, which was designed for urban use and has not been approved for Ontario’s highways.
The government has cited safety concerns, even though two other provinces have approved the Zenn car for use on roads with speed limits below 50 km/h.
Analysts say the province is using the incentive as an attempt to boost its struggling auto sector and position itself at the forefront of the green technology.
The province also announced plans to expand recharging facilities and allow owners of the new cars to use carpool lanes.
With files from The Canadian Press (more…)
Ontario drops plans for 2 new nuclear reactors July 1, 2009
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Energy Minister George Smitherman says Ontario is shelving plans to build two new nuclear reactors at the Darlington power station.(Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
Citing ballooning costs and its responsibility to the taxpayers of the province, the Ontario government says it is indefinitely mothballing plans to build two new nuclear reactors at the Darlington power station.
“We still believe that in our energy supply mix to have new nuclear units to replace some of our aging fleet is very prudent for Ontario. But we will not purchase any such units at any cost. The cost must be right for the people of Ontario,” said Energy Minister George Smitherman on Monday morning.
The province’s Liberal government said three years ago it would spend about $26.5 billion to build the new reactors.
Three companies were competing for the contract: Areva from France, the U.S. company Westinghouse, and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Smitherman told a news conference at Queen’s Park that only AECL submitted a bid fully compliant with the request that it assume much of the risk for delays and cost overruns.
“However, concern about pricing and uncertainty regarding the company’s future prevented Ontario from continuing with the procurement at this time,” said a statement from the ministry.
Smitherman said the price was too high, though he refused to say by how much.
“I will answer your question this way — substantially. Certainly by a measure of many billions [of dollars]. We’ll know the right price when we see it — and we ain’t seen it yet.”
Smitherman said the ball is now in the federal government’s court. Ottawa, he said, has to clarify its plans to privatize AECL’s reactor division, and then get the price down.
According to NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns, “what the minister is asking for essentially is a massive bailout of AECL by the federal government, so that it has a price that’s acceptable for Ontario.”
The Organization of CANDU Industries said it is “extremely concerned” about how the move would affect more than 30,000 workers in the industry, many of them in Ontario.
“The member companies of OCI have invested heavily in this process, and this delay will cause some of them considerable financial difficulty, possibly even bankruptcy,” president Neil Alexander said in a statement.
Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for federal Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt, said Monday any discussions about costs rested with AECL, adding there was nothing that would push Ottawa to get involved at this stage.
There are currently three nuclear plants operating in Ontario: Pickering and Darlington east of Toronto, and Bruce on the shore of Lake Huron.
The nuclear reactor decision will have no effect on Ontario’s plans to get rid of coal-fired plants by 2014, nor will it change the energy mix in the province or the reliability of electricity, Smitherman said.
Smitherman would not say when the government would take a second look at building new nuclear reactors, but it’s not expected until at least after the next provincial election in 2011.
With files from The Canadian Press
Budget raises tax for 1 in 5 new Ontario homes March 30, 2009
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About one in five new homes built in Ontario will see a six per cent price increase next year because of the provincial government’s plan to merge the provincial sales tax and GST, says Mike Collins-Williams, policy director for the Ontario Home Builders’ Association.
The province and federal government have agreed to harmonize the provincial sales tax and GST into a single 13 per cent sales tax by July 1, 2010, the province confirmed in Thursday’s budget. The merged tax will replace the existing retail sales tax.
That would have the effect of boosting the tax on new homes (resales are excluded) by six per cent, the budget said.
For homes priced under $400,000, the province is proposing a rebate to offset the tax increase. For homes priced between $400,000 and $500,000, there will be a partial rebate. The details have not been released yet.
The government said the rebate would be worth about $1.1 billion a year to buyers of new homes.
Ontario new home sales 2008
Price Per cent of sales
Under $400,000 54.7
$400,000 to $500,000 22.6
Over $500,000 22.7
OHBA, citing federal statistics
Based on federal statistics for 2008, Collins-Williams said 22.7 per cent of new homes in Ontario sold for over $500,000, approximately the same number cost between $400,000 and $500,000, and slightly more than half were under $400,000.
But with the wide variations in home prices across the province, the effect will vary by community. In general, more homes in Ottawa and Toronto, where prices are higher, will be caught by the combined tax.
It is almost certain that more home sales will trigger the higher combined tax as time passes, because prices have gone up over the long term, the association said.
“Inflation and rising home prices will erode affordability over time as fewer and fewer new homes qualify for a rebate, making new homes priced over $500,000 among the most heavily taxed products,” association president Frank Giannone said in a news release.
Collins-Williams pointed to the example of the federal goods and services tax, introduced in 1991. When it began, houses priced under $350,000 were exempt, and those under $450,000 got a partial break. The federal government said those figures would be indexed, but “that hasn’t happened.”
Many more home sales attract GST today because prices have risen.
He said builders looking at a house with a planned sale price of $410,000 might cut its size or reduce the amenities to duck the tax. Likewise, consumers may adjust their behavior.
“You might be budgeting $399,0000 and no more.”
Outback Steakhouse leaves Ontario as bankruptcies rise March 25, 2009
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Ontario diners with a taste for pan-seared lobster-crab cakes or Ahi tuna chopped salad may have to make their own because they won’t be able to order it at the Outback Steakhouse any longer.
The Australian-themed restaurant is closing its nine stores in the province. The chain is part of the OSI Restaurant Partners group based in Tampa and has been in Ontario since 1996.
Outback Steakhouse Canada said in a statement its “decision to exit Ontario was a difficult one, and it was made only after considerable reflection and analysis.”
The business climate in the province has not been exactly vibrant lately; bankruptcies in January were up 23.9 per cent from a year ago at this time.
Across Canada, there were 10,755 bankruptcies in January, almost 21 per cent more than a year earlier, although businesses filed 567 bankruptcies, 9.9 per cent fewer than a year ago.
The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy reports that Canadians filed a total of 125,087 bankruptcies in the 12-month period ending in January, 14.5 per cent more than in the previous year.
