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Weekend Newsstand: November 14, 2015
The news this morning: a 4K water bill, closed childcare, and environmental policy.
A Toronto homeowner is facing a $4,000 water bill for the house whose main floor she rents out. Avra Weinstein told CTV News that she didn’t discover any leaky faucets or running taps, and while the water pressure had been a bit of an issue, Weinstein didn’t think that should account for $4,000 over three months. The City of Toronto, having examined the bill and property, has concluded the bill was higher than logic would dictate but expects her to pay nonetheless. In November, the hydro bill began to drop off though there were no renos or fixes made to the house.
A Vaughan daycare has been shut down due to accusations of mistreatment including force feeding. “A staff member physically restrained infant children to feed the children lunch and forced food down the children’s mouths,” reads the court order. “The staff member also laid the children down flat on the staff member’s lap while she fed the children, causing a choking hazard.” The daycare was shut down Friday after a complaint was lodged Tuesday and the ensuing investigation was finished on Thursday.
Premier Kathleen Wynne is preparing for the United Nations climate change summit in December, and as part of that preparation provincial legislators are working on a new cap-and-trade system for cutting carbon emissions in the province. The provincial government released a 66-page list of options, but essentially businesses will have to curb their emissions to meet predetermined targets. If business A is very light on fossil fuel use, it can sell some of its unneeded carbon allowance to a heavier polluter (hence the “trade” portion of “cap and trade”). Critics claim this allows the larger companies, which are also often the bigger polluters, to use their more considerable muscle to get enough carbon credits that they don’t need to actually cut emissions. However, with Ontario aiming to get to 15 percent less pollution than the 1990 level by 2020 and 80 percent below by 2050, even the larger polluters will need to scale back on carbon usage.