Boxed in and frustrated Caledon councillors have voted to send a hail mary motion to the provincial government, to put major planning decisions in the hands of local council, instead of the Region of Peel. On January 19, Caledon Ward 2 Councillor Johanna Downey tabled a motion asking Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark to create a new sub-area chapter under the Places to Grow Act for Peel. The motion, and its supporters, suggests the move would allow Caledon more autonomy over broad planning decisions that are normally subject to regional approval. Places to Grow is the legislation that sets out population density and other targets for Southern Ontario, to manage the ongoing influx of new residents who settle in Canada’s largest region every year. Since it took effect 15 years ago, Caledon has been criticized for failing to conduct its growth planning in a smart and sustainable way, instead choosing a haphazard approach to development, which regional councillors have fought against. The excessive costs of Caledon’s planning, which allows subdivisions to be built in the middle of nowhere, are largely borne by Mississauga and Brampton taxpayers. Regional council and Caledon council have disagreed fiercely about how Peel’s largest geographical municipality, with a fraction of the population, should grow in the coming decades. Council members from the two cities have accused Caledon of eschewing smart-growth principles under the provincial legislation in favour of policies driven by developers and other political interests. Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson has been criticized for pushing planning decisions that will cost taxpayers excessive amounts because the lack of infrastructure around proposed developments means underground and other utilities, roads and services such as paramedics, policing and public health have to be spread out across far flung areas. Thompson sold his own family land in the isolated southwest corner of Caledon to a developer for more than $9 million and has aggressively pushed approval for development in the area, despite little infrastructure and services to support it. Instead, the Region of Peel and its council members have stripped Caledon of some local planning authority and have pushed for denser growth that is adjacent to existing development where infrastructure already exists and would therefore cost far less. This is generally how planning is done across the GTA. During last week’s town council meeting, Downey said that “political decisions” were hampering Caledon’s planning. “I think we have seen inequity and, quite frankly, undue influence at the regional table when it comes to our planning matters,” she said, suggesting recent regional moves were blocking Caledon’s potential for smart growth. In the past, the Town has been warned by its own planners, officials at the Region, provincial experts and appeals tribunals that it cannot keep planning for unsustainable sprawl that does not fit regional and provincial policy. In 2015, Caledon members at the Region walked out of a council meeting when Mississauga and Brampton councillors first attempted to strip the smaller municipality of authority over its own planning, after many expressed concern it was not following the Province’s growth plan. On another issue, equally incompatible with smart growth, most Caldeon council members including Thompson, support the Province’s plans to resurrect the GTA West Highway. The massive 400-series corridor was scrapped in 2018 by the Liberals, after an expert panel found it would do almost nothing to solve congestion and risked propagating further environmentally devastating sprawl. Advocates determined to save the Greenbelt, which the highway would encroach upon, are trying to force the Doug Ford PC government to drop its current plan to build the highway along a route it approved in the summer. It’s another controversial planning issue most Caledon council members have taken a stand on, raising questions about their commitments to smart growth and environmentally sustainable development. In July, frustrated after it lost another regional vote, Caledon was granted a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) by Clark to move forward with the ROPA34 development, for lands around Chinguacousy Road and Mayfield Road. The move circumvented the will of Peel Region in favour of Caledon, which once again pushed development that made little sense to Peel’s policy makers. Meanwhile, Mississauga and Brampton taxpayers will have to pay for the lion’s share of extra infrastructure costs. Less than half-a-year later, Caledon again wrote to Clark. A vote that led to the Town losing two seats at the regional table, giving them to Brampton, caused consternation among local councillors who asked the Province to extend the review period for the Region’s decision to restructure council composition, which was constrained by the timing of the next provincial and municipal elections in 2022. Brampton, with a population of 650,000, had argued it deserved more than seven seats and that Caledon, with about 90,000 residents, should not have five seats. Clark responded and granted Caledon’s request to extend the time period to make the decision on regional council composition, but Peel councillors proceeded anyway prior to the new year and made the move to give Brampton nine seats at the Region, while Caledon will only have three. The decision sparked anger among most Caledon members who characterized the move as a political ploy to strip the town of authority. Last week, Caledon councillors again asked Minister Clark, who oversees 444 separate municipalities, to give them a hand. The approved motion for a special planning designation was built on a precedent set in 2012, when the Province created a sub-area chapter in its planning legislation to deal with Simcoe County. A series of specific circumstances were set out to govern how Simcoe would grow and where new settlements would pop-up in an area dominated by relatively small towns.. At the time, the Simcoe move was met with opposition from environmentalists, who suggested it went against the principles of Ontario’s smart growth aspirations. Environmental Defence and Friends of the Greenbelt both suggested the plan would be problematic and lead to costly sprawl, including leapfrog development. They feared far-flung new settlements would create more car-dependent communities and the need for roads across sensitive land. “In terms of conflicts with the Growth Plan, the Simcoe strategy essentially proposes the creation of employment areas along Highway 400 in locations that are not adjacent to existing communities,” Ray Tomalty (Ph.D.) and Bartek Komorowski (MUP) wrote in a 2011 paper published by Friends of the Greenbelt. “Creating employment areas away from residential uses and other services run counter to the Growth Plan’s emphasis on creating complete communities.” In Caledon, the Town’s tri-nodal approach — planning growth in three separate areas of the huge municipality simultaneously — could be characterized in the same way. Physically larger than Toronto, critics have pointed out that growth planning in Caledon set for the southwest corner, the east around Bolton and close to the middle, makes no sense. Disconnected infrastructure including utilities, municipal services and other needs have to be provided in each area, instead of building around one dense, urban centre, which would cost far less and would prevent long travel times even for the most basic tasks, such as shopping or visiting the doctor. Caledon’s sprawling, disjointed approach, makes everything from transit planning to the construction of schools and healthcare a major headache. GO Transit services, for example, can’t be built in each of the three areas, but they could be expanded around Bolton, the only urban area in Caledon, and the place where planners have tried to direct future growth. Instead, it means three geographically distant places all require significant investment to support new housing and employment. Exactly what the Town actually wants from its most recent request is unclear. Supporters and critics of the motion agreed last Tuesday it was vague and that they didn’t want to copy the Simcoe sub-area chapter, just the process. “The Simcoe-sub area chapter also does not provide lower-tier municipalities with explicit authority on growth management over the upper-tier municipalities,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing told The Pointer, making reference to the “unique circumstances” around the Simcoe sub-area. “Lower-tier municipalities are required to conform with the official plan of the upper-tier municipality.” Caledon Ward 5 Councillor Annette Groves called the motion “premature” and described it as putting the “cart before the horse — again”. She pointed to the lack of financial studies done by staff and limited comparisons to the Simcoe situation. Her Ward 1 colleague, Ian Sinclair, also raised key questions about the motion. In each instance, staff were only able to provide vague answers about the thrust of the move, not specifics. “I don’t understand how this proposed maneuver under the Growth Plan is going to help us,” Sinclair said, pointing to the detail in the Simcoe plan and its unique collection of small municipalities. “The motion talks about the quality and control of local planning matters, but I don’t know what you mean by local planning matters. Does that mean community design? It seems to be silent on the big issue of servicing costs and major roads.” Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie expressed her disapproval of the motion in response to questions from The Pointer. “This is completely counter to the Regional Planning system outlined by the Province,” she said. “The motion also leaves critical questions unanswered, most notably whether Caledon would still expect the Region of Peel to pay for necessary infrastructure such as roads, water and wastewater treatment. I know my residents wouldn’t be happy having to help pay for Caledon’s infrastructure expenses without Mississauga elected officials having a say in how that community is planned and developed.” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown did not respond to a request for comment. An archived portion of the Province’s website contains a series of frequently asked questions about the Simcoe sub-area amendment. It explains that the process toward creating a sub-area began in 2010 to provide “more specific direction for municipalities in Simcoe County and the cities of Barrie and Orillia, to implement the Growth Plan.” A year later, in November 2011, the Provincial Development Facilitator, who mediates when complex local planning issues arise, provided advice on the sub-area, after 59 meetings with representatives of Simcoe’s 16 municipalities. The provincial spokesperson described the process as involving “extensive consultation” and added that “policies related to the Simcoe sub-area are intended to eventually transition sub-area municipalities towards applying the general A Place to Grow policies as they developed and strengthened their internal processes and capabilities.” The comments suggest a significantly different situation when comparing Simcoe and Peel. Despite its frustrations, Caledon has benefitted from overrepresentation at the regional table for years. Even with its reduced seat number of councillors, Caledon remains overrepresented per capita in Peel Region. It also benefits from pooled regional tax dollars that contribute to roads, wastewater, drinking water, public health, paramedic services and other services. When Mississauga tried to separate from the Region of Peel in 2019 it was Caledon and Brampton that opposed the move. “Quite frankly, this motion plays right into the hands of Mississauga,” Groves said Tuesday. “I think we have to mount a very serious campaign against this,” Mississauga Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish told her city colleagues last week. She said Wards 3 and 4 Councillor Martin Medeiros, who is chair of Brampton’s planning committee, was pushing the same rallying cry in Brampton. “Is the Caledon motion a cry for help? More the dramatic continuation of a theme,” she told The Pointer. “They have been consistently building the case at Queen’s Park that they are being bullied by Mississauga, in particular, and Brampton as well. So this reinforces the damsel in distress theme.” Parrish said she was disappointed to see the move come after attempts to increase Caledon’s voice during the Region’s official plan review. “My particular disappointment with Downey’s motion comes from the fact that, as Chair of Regional Planning, I have bent over backwards to ensure Caledon has equal representation on the newly formed Planning Committee,” she added. With the motion passed by Caledon, the decision is now in the hands of Minister Clark. A Peel Region meeting Thursday will focus on the 2021 budget, meaning it is unclear if Parrish, Medeiros or any Caledon councillors will raise the issue. “We might as well go on our own,” Groves added. “We might as well tell the Region, tell the Province, that we don’t want to be part of Peel Region anymore.” Email: isaac.callan@thepointer.com Twitter: @isaaccallan Tel: 647 561-4879 COVID-19 is impacting all Canadians. At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories relating to the pandemic and those of public interest to ensure every resident of Brampton and Mississauga has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you. Isaac Callan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer
Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting
Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.
In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.
“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.
There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.
Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.
Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.
In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.
Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.
New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.
The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.
Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.
Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.
“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”
McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.
But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.
The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.
He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.
“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.
“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.
McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”
McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.
He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.
“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
