OPP Warns North Bay Residents over Continuing CRA Scam

Ontario Provincial Police in North Bay is issuing a warning to residents in the north of the province about a public aware scam. The con sees fraudsters pose as a representative from the Canada Revenue Agency, with numerous examples of the scam reported so far.

The so-called CRA scam is targeting vulnerable victims where criminals pose as the revenue agency and contacts victims via telephone, mail, text message or email. Through the communication, the caller pretends that the CRA needs important information such as credit card number, band account details, identification numbers, or social insurance number.

Ontario police are warning that any caller pretending to be the CRA and asking for overly-personal information should be ignored and reported. If ever in doubt, do not respond to such calls and ask for information regarding the caller, or even call back the CRA to check the call was legitimate.

OPP says the criminals apparently want identification and sometimes ask for customers to pay false outstanding taxes that need to be covered through a credit or debit card. Consumers are warned that the CRA would not demand such payments over the phone in this manner, so any calls demanding payment on the spot should be reported.

Some victims report that the callers use excessive language to make customers think that they simply must pay the money or risk legal action or even prison.

“If you believe that someone is posing as a Canada Revenue Agency official, hang up and contact your local police service. You can also file a complaint through the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or online at tipsubmit.com.”

Policing Costs Unsustainable in Northern Ontario

The cost of policing across North Bay and the municipality is increasing to an unsustainable level, according to the federation of North Ontario Municipalities (FONOM).
abstract empty asphalt blurry road and sunlight with space
Al Spacek says that costs are spiraling and that the budget created for policing in Northern Ontario needs to be modernized. Until that happens, FONOM says there will be continued to be problems with policing in the area and law enforcement will be stretched. He added that all municipalities (100) that are represented by the organization are worried by the situation.

“It keeps resurfacing because it’s become such a significant issue for municipalities to deal with,” he said.
“Policing costs have gone from being a negligible part of a lot of budgets to being, if not very significant, to the most significant cost for some municipalities. The municipalities have come to the conclusion that it is not sustainable and taxpayers cannot continue the kind of exponential increases that they’ve seen over the past 10 years. Something has to be done.”

The Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) has launched a policing modernization report, which was published in 2015. The key point of the report is that policing in Ontario is more expensive than anywhere else in Canada. With the highest population in the country and the largest cities, that is not surprising per se.

However, the scale of Ontario’s policing costs is increasing beyond sustainable levels and the result is a struggle for communities in Northern areas in the province.

“When I became mayor of Kapuskasing 10 years ago, our policing contract was about $1.2 million per year. It is now in excess of $2.4 million,” he said. “A one per cent tax increase in Kapuskasing brings in about $100,000, so, you do the math.”

North Bay Getting Fire Response Facility through $9.5 Million Province Investment

The government of Ontario has announced that it is investing in the North Bay area with the construction of Fire Response Facility within the city limits. The province will create the facility in a bid to improve forest fire protection infrastructure in the Northeastern Ontario region.

The new Fire Response Facility will require an investment of $9.5 million from the government, and will offer greater protection to residents in the region. The work will include relocating the current North Bay Fire Management Headquarters and modernizing the facilities and adopting new technology. The government’s webpage describes the new plans as state of the art, and that construction the facility will begin in April, when Spring breaks.

As well as placing a brand new firefighting facility in North Bay, the project will be responsible for creating at least 120 new construction jobs. The new facility will come with:

• 1,149 square metres for seven FireRanger crews, as well as fire management support staff
• State-of-the-art energy efficient building design
• Consolidated Fire Management Headquarters facility at the North Bay airport, with warehouse, aerial operations and crew alert areas
• Dedicated aircraft parking for up to two CL-415 water bombers, two bird-dog planes and two helicopters
• Barrier-free access to provide employment and client service to those with restricted mobility.

The government points out that the project is part of the overall $160 billion infrastructure investment that has been earmarked for Ontario over the next 12 years. It is the biggest restructuring effort in the history of the province and will create 110,000 jobs that will be supported throughout the term of the investment.

Petition to split Northern and Southern Ontario finds more support

2032px-Canada_Ontario_location_map_2.svg_-263x300A recent petition that proposes Ontario be split into two separate provinces, Northern and Southern Ontario, has gathered more pace in recent days and now has over a thousand names assigned to the cause.

Of course, the idea of splitting the province is not a new one, and has been mooted by groups representing Northern Ontario for decades. It is those groups that a new grassroots movement is taking its inspiration from, with the petition founder, Trevor Holliday, saying he has been inspired by historical Ontarian separation movements, especially the 1970s’ Northern Ontario Heritage Party and other Northern Ontario separatist movements.

The petition is currently online at Change.org and has been open since Jan 1. 2016, with Holliday saying:

“I would want Northern Ontario to become its own province. That way it can be run by the people of the North for the people of the North, so that all the money from the North isn’t taken and given to the south and then we’re just left to whittle away.”

Disgruntled residents of Northern Ontario have often complained about the bias shown to southern parts of the province, with the north typically underfunded in comparison. The idea behind the new movement is for the province to be split into two separate entities, and Holliday and his supporters say Northern Ontario is more than self-sufficient enough to get by on its own.

Southern Ontario is home to Canada’s most populated city, Toronto, and other major municipalities that are the focus of government spending. Supporters of an independent Northern Ontario say there is a lack of infrastructure spending in the north and traffic spending is mostly reserved for the Greater Toronto Area.

“This idea goes back to the beginning of Northern Ontario and I’m reading reports in 1905, 1906 of rallies to separate and it usually goes in waves when there seems to be a growing imbalance,” said MP Charlie Angus (NDP — Timmins-James Bay).

“I think there’s a great deal of frustration in Northern Ontario right now when we see the policies that are driven from the south and when we see the complete imbalance in political representation between the issues of the North and the urban south. I understand why people are frustrated.”

OTLA study shows drivers pay more than they should for insurance

Car insurance policyThe Ontario Trial Lawyers Association recently published the results of a study that found drivers in Ontario pay more for their auto insurance than they should. While the study mostly affects more populated regions, Northern Ontario and North Bay drivers are also overpaying for their auto insurance coverage.

The OTLA found that between 2001 and 2013 consumers overpaid for insurance policies by $3 billion to $4 billion, with each year over that 10 year period seeing drivers pay more and more. It culminated in 2013 when vehicle owners overpaid for auto insurance to the amount of $840 million, according to the study by Fred Lazar and Eli Prisman, professors at the York University Schulich School of Business.

One potential reason for this is the fact insurance companies may be overcompensating for Ontario’s notoriety as the insurance fraud capital of Canada. This fact already results in the highest auto insurance premiums in the country and it seems drivers are being hit harder by overpaying.

“Auto insurance companies in Ontario have had a relatively free ride during the past 20 years,” Lazar wrote in the report.

The study shows that insurance providers could afford to cut their premiums by as much as 7.9 per cent and still make profit to see a return on their investment. The paper was also critical of how the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) regulates auto insurance and how the body dictates how insurance companies calculate premiums.

Lazar pointed out that the auto insurance industry in the province is profitable and that companies could half equity returns to half the current amount, to 5.7 per cent. The OTLA study looked at 18 of the major insurance providers in Ontario and found that those major industry names had 17.5 per cent equity return, higher than the guideline amount stipulated by the province. Any thoughts that this is just a cycle the industry is moving through are inaccurate as auto insurance premiums have been rising for 20 years.

A spokesman for Ontario’s Minister of Finance said the province is still committed to reducing auto insurance rates, but that “reviewing the financial statements and economic activity of private companies is not within the Auditor General’s mandate.”

Ontario Provincial Police clamping down on seatbelt use

Closeup of young man fastening seat belt in the carDrivers in North Bay and across Ontario are being encouraged to buckle up as Ontario Provincial Police is clamping down on drivers who are not wearing their seat belts.

So often such initiatives are focused on drivers, but the police have said they are also targeting passengers in cars this time around.

“Adult seat belt use is the most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in motor vehicle collisions,” says OPP Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair. “Yet thousands of adults still do not wear their seat belts on every trip. Not wearing a seat belt can be a fatal decision even on short, familiar journeys and at low speeds.

“We know that enforcement of seat belt laws does make a difference in getting more people to buckle up, so OPP officers will be diligent during this campaign.”

Drivers can now expect a fine of $240 and two demerit points on their license for seat belt infractions, while passengers of 16 year old or over must also buckle up or face a fine. OPP said that parents should also make sure that passengers under 16 years of age are properly secured with a belt, booster seat, or other appropriate equipment considering their age, height, and weight.

Road accident deaths where a vehicle occupant was not wearing a seat belt reached 42 so far this year, which is up from 34 through the same period in 2014. Between September 7 and 13, seven people were killed in Ontario who were not wearing a seat belt.

Young drivers are especially at risk as the 16 to 24 age group tends to be more negligent about wearing a seat belt. You drivers represent 13 per cent of all drivers on the road, but manage to account for 24 per cent of all fatal deaths on the roads. There is a direct link between auto accident death and an occupant not wearing a seat belt, with 45.5 percent of all drivers killed on the road in Canada through 2014 not wearing a belt.

Fallout from North Bay Hospital Job Cuts results in Protests

North-Bay-Regional_CroppedThe fallout from Wednesday’s announcement that 158 jobs and some 30 beds will be cut from the North Bay Regional Health Centre has been sizeable and swift. Some are taking the chance to batter the liberal government for its failings, while the Canadian Union of Public Employees is planning protests today that it describes as “massive.”

“We need to protect these jobs and we need to rally all coalitions and area residents against these cuts,” claim Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “We are planning three days of massive action and one of the days will be in North Bay.

“We will be heard. We will have thousands of people who will be heard all the way down to Queen’s Park.

“Right now, North Bay is being battered with cuts and privatization. These cuts are the worst in all of Ontario. This city has lost 360,000 hours of patient care in the last few years.”

The protests come in the wake of the news of huge cuts from the North Bay hospital, which has been underfunded and now sits with a $14 million deficit for the year. Attempting make up that cost has meant many full-time staff have lost their jobs, while numerous beds have also been lost. While hospital president Paul Heinrich attempted to put a positive spin on the cuts, saying they would improve patient care, the general consensus is that the opposite is true.

However, while Heinrich is guilty of optimism in front of a bleaker truth for patient care, the blame is largely being placed at the door step of the liberal Ontario government.

It is not just the main Health Centre that will be impacted either as Heinrich confirmed that of the 30 beds being slashed, 16-18 will come from the hospital’s satellite location on Kirkwood Drive in Sudbury. Those beds are specialized rehabilitative mental health units.

“What we told staff today is that we will be working with partners from the Sudbury area to develop a high-support housing — there’ll be social workers and therapists, and even nurses,” he said. “We’re going to transition those 16 beds into a complex, to be developed in Sudbury… We’re establishing a better quality of life. Our vision for mental health care is to respect people, and to (nurture) choice and independence.”

Government steps in to bring clarity of Ontario Ombudsman search

OmbudsmanAndré Marin, the departing Ombudsman of Ontario, can finally step down as the search for a replacement has reached a resolution after the Liberal government in the province stepped in. The government decided to take action as the selection process has been mired in bickering and partisan infighting.

Marin’s term actually ended on May 31st, but he was given an extension until September 14th as a search for his replacement was sought. As that cutoff date approached the Ontario Legislative Assembly looked to have another extension put in place but it was blocked. In response to that and the consistent inability to appoint a new Ombudsman the government stepped in.

The result was Barbara Finlay, currently the deputy ombudsman, has been brought in to an interim post while a new full time ombudsman is found.

Of course, it is ironic that this search has been dogged by petty infighting and has worsened into a mess that the government had to sort out. After-all, it is the ombudsman who is supposed to protect North Bay and all Ontarian citizens from convoluted government bureaucracy. The Ombudsman of the province is supposed to be impartial and work independently and with integrity, so does the inability to find a new chair for the post mean the Ontario Legislative Assembly is struggling to find someone who meets those criteria?

That’s unlikely, but it is certainly something some citizens will be asking as the search for a replacement for Marin continues. In his ten years as Ombudsman of Ontario, André Marin has been considered to have done a good job, pushing through reforms for provincial systems, although he has also courted controversy on occasion. He has also been outspoken against the liberal government, comparing the leading office in the province to a “banana republic”.

Marin is interested in keeping his post and has said he will put his name forward during the search, but thinks the government is committed to getting rid of him. “It does not appear they were interested in the best person for the job,” Marin told reporters.

Limited locations for proposed casino in North Bay

A proposed casino in North Bay could be hampered by limited locations within the city to house such a project, according to Mayor Al McDonald.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has already revealed the providers for Eastern regions in the province and is now pushing forward to find a provider for casinos in the Northern parts of Ontario. The province is seeking a single provider and it is thought one of the locations for a casino will be in North Bay.

However, Mayor Al McDonald says there is a sizeable stumbling block as locations large enough to house a casino are limited in the small city, which has a population of 64,000. He claimed any of the limited sites within the city that are big enough are not owned by the city, which means privately owned land would have to be negotiated for.

However, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp is seeking city managed land and needs at least 10 acres to be free for development. Areas that currently meet that exact criteria are limited, with McDonald saying he can think of three suitable locations, such as Pinewood Park Drive, across from the North Bay Regional Health Centre and within the Gateway Industrial Park. He said it is unlikely that a casino provider would be willing to buy land and bulldoze any current developments.

North Bay fits criteria for a casino according to OLG, which says the city is eligible to house 300 slot machines and 120 live table gaming seats. However, until the provider is selected OLG is unprepared to discuss potential locations within the city.

It has seemed that North Bay was destined a casino since the local government voted in favor for the project in 2012, although OLG did not need specific authority and was just gauging public opinion. Approval by the city was dependent on community benefits, jobs, and confirmation of a private sector provider for the casino.

McDonald has been a supporter of the project and said it would mean an economic advantage for North Bay, with a casino expected to draw $2 million for the city. The project would also become a sizeable job provider, with 200 new workplaces created with a pay grade between $40,000 and $50,000 per year.

“Today’s announcement of the service provider for the East Gaming Bundle marks an important milestone in OLG’s modernization and the future of our organization,” said OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti. “We have evaluated the submissions to the RFP, done our due diligence and have now selected Ontario Gaming East LP as the service provider.”