By Christopher Bird

Water rates are due to rise nine percent in the New Year. City officials also say that similar rate increases will probably happen every year until at least 2012 – the city’s water pipe infrastructure simply needs the money. For those wondering how this affects your “real” costs – a typical four-person household spent $429 on water in 2006. Assuming a nine percent increase every year, that means the same household will spend $720 in 2012. And that’s before the United States invades us for our freshwater supplies!
However, in related paying-your-bills news, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator says that electricity costs will be slightly lower next year. So that’ll help a bit, won’t it? I mean, large operators will save almost a million bucks each – so you’re sure to see at least a ten dollar reduction over the year!
Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the head of Elections Canada, resigns. Everybody says that it has absolutely nothing to do with Elections Canada’s recent investigation into whether or not the Conservative Party broke electoral law as regards party donations in 2005. I mean, when I think of Stephen Harper – well, “petty” is not the word I’d choose to describe a guy who conducts public feuds with the Ottawa press corps. Right? Right?
In Those Wacky Americans news: the FDA rules that some cloned meat is safe to eat, tentatively making it the first country to allow cloned food in stores. Mmmmmmmmmm. That’s some clone-o-riffic meat!
And there won’t be any free TTC service on New Year’s Eve. (Has there ever been free TTC service on New Year’s Eve? Seriously: I have no idea. New Year’s is about the only day of the year I always take a cab.)
Photo by undomestic from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.