A selection of news and readings that informs issues in Hamilton, municipal news from elsewhere, and other readings of interest.
Current Calgary Mayor says business under investigation, not politicians: As noted in my last linkblog, the RCMP executed search warrants at the homes of former Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek and a sitting city councillor. On Wednesday, current Mayor Jeromy Farkas stated that it is his understanding the RCMP is investigating a business, and that the politicians are not the focus of the probe.
Calgary Council repeals city-wide permissive zoning: Follow a council meeting that stretched over three weeks, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas fulfilled his 2025 election promise to reverse city-wide permissive zoning. Over 300,000 residential properties across Calgary will once again be restricted to single-family detached housing. The vote was 12 to 3. As noted in my Feb 10 linkblog, permissive zoning enabled Calgary to have a record year in 2025 for both new occupancies and housing unit approvals.
Mississauga commits to collect recycling from places of worship and small business: The City of Mississauga will take over municipal waste collection from the Region of Peel on October 1, 2027. When the lower-city tier of approximately 780,000 people does, it will collect recycling from small businesses that do not qualify for provincially-mandated recycling collection by Circular Materials.
This differs from Hamilton, where Council decided to take the $11.1-million in local annual savings from the provincial uploading of residential recycling and applied it to the City’s structural budget deficit. Council originally voted to not continue recycling collection for Hamilton’s approximately 2,500 small businesses, which would’ve cost $2.3-million in 2026.
Following an outcry from Hamilton’s small businesses, which were each looking at a cost of $6,000 per year to arrange their own recycling, Council voted to “extend” the “transition period” and continue collecting small business recycling until December 31, 2026. Hamilton Council is blaming the provincial government.
Mississauga is the latest Ontario municipality to adopt a Hamilton-style municipal renoviction prevention bylaw: City of Mississauga public statement.
Sarnia looking at Hamilton-style renoviction prevention bylaw: Sarnia is seeking public feedback as they consider joining Hamilton in preventing bad-faith renovictions.
Ottawa staff recommend no inclusionary zoning at this time: CTV reports. City of Hamilton provided similar advice to our Council during the late March Planning Committee meeting. The reason is the same, current market conditions.
Winnipeg councillor charged with with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy: This is not the first time this politician has been charged with sexual assault. The 2018 charge was stayed. The councillor continues to attend meetings, despite calls for them to take a leave of absence. CTV News reports.
(Disclosure: I attended a political event they were at in mid-2004, and had coffee conversations with them multiple times. My last conversation with them was in 2009 when I was working for Macleans.)
Should people pay to be rescued? My own answer is the same as the Mayor of Georgian Bluffs, no. Some politicians have suggested billing a group of ice fishers who needed to be rescued in March when the ice they were on broke free and floated into Georgian Bay. Postmedia reports.
A similar debate occurred in Hamilton around decade ago, when escarpment rope rescues were a routine occurrence. The ‘no’ argument was that people would try to ‘self-rescue’ out of fear of paying rescue fees, they would end up getting themselves into a more dangerous situation, increasing the risks to themselves and rescuers, and this would ultimately result in fatalities.
Saskatoon City Council votes no to OVG deal for downtown arena district: An interesting decision, based on local circumstances, at a time when OVG’s takeover of the Hamilton Arena is enjoying strong early success. Local SK radio station reports.
Former CAO of Cochrane sues for $875,000: the former CAO was dismissed without cause following 27 years at the municipality. She is age 55. More details from CTV, and CBC.
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Published: April 9, 2026
Last updated: April 9, 2026
Author: Joey ColemanUpdate Record
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