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Good morning. This is the Thursday, May 18 edition of First Up, the Star’s daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.
Here’s the latest on Peel Region, the city’s limited green space and an energy-saving condo.
DON’T MISS:
Doug Ford will split up Mississauga and Brampton within three years
By 2026, Peel’s regional government will be no more, Robert Benzie reports. The Star has learned that Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet has already approved the move to separate Mississauga and Brampton, with legislation being tabled today. The development is a massive win for Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who had campaigned for independence from Peel region and noted her city’s residents pay 60 per cent of Peel’s costs while having half the say in the region. Here’s what the divorce could mean for Brampton and Caledon.
- Word from Queen’s Park: “I’ve always been for an independent Mississauga. You can’t have a city the size of Mississauga — close to 800,000 people and it’s continuing to grow — being tied into other jurisdictions,” Ford said.
- Word from Brampton: Mayor Patrick Brown has warned Brampton could lose $1 billion worth of shared infrastructure in Mississauga. “This needs to be addressed,” he said earlier this week. “Otherwise it is theft.”
Off-leash dogs. Feces on the grass. Holes dug in the field. Toronto schools are at their “wit’s end”
In St. Clair West Village, it’s hard to come by much green space — and Rawlinson Community School provides an oasis. But with signs posted to a fence outside the building, students have made one thing crystal clear: “this is not a plas for Dogs.” They’re right. Off-leash dogs are only allowed in specified areas of Toronto and schoolyards don’t make the list. But what do pet owners do when the next park — Cedarvale Ravine or Earlscourt — is a 25-minute walk away? Katie Daubs provides a closer look at why “schools are at their wit’s end.”
- Context: The issue has become even more contentious after a Rawlinson student was attacked last week by an off-leash dog in the yard.
- More: Some weeks ago, the co-chair of the school council, Shari Shaw, and school-board trustee Alexis Dawson met with Davenport Coun. Alejandra Bravo to discuss the issue. In addition to awareness efforts, they are exploring whether city bylaw officers would have jurisdiction to enforce off-leash rules.
This downtown Toronto condo defied the odds to save energy and money
“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” said a condo board member about her building’s new heat pumps providing heat and air conditioning to 160 units. “We didn’t have the space. We didn’t have the money.” Moreover, Marco Chown Oved reports, the project wasn’t headed by the government or a large corporation — it was a group of volunteer board members who “solved those problems” and established Canada’s first large-scale residential air-to-water heat pumps. “Desperate to decarbonize,” here’s how the board members stuck to their guns and defied the odds.
- Wait, what? The heat pumps, which use Ontario’s 90 per cent carbon-free electricity, could eliminate carbon emissions from virtually every apartment and condo in Canada.
- By the numbers: Natural gas heating is responsible for 54 per cent of Toronto’s emissions, according to the 2022 Climate Action Annual report. To reach the city’s goal of net zero emissions by 2040, every residence and office building will have to switch to heating with electricity when existing equipment wears out.
- Why it matters: “You’ve got to be part of the solution,” said board member Cathy Burrows. “I have great-nieces and nephews. Somebody’s got to go and do the right thing for them.”
WHAT ELSE:
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ICYMI:
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These money decisions will leave you full of regret — and maybe even divorced.
CLOSE-UP:
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SPACE: This newly-discovered exoplanet covered in volcanoes may have the potential to support life, according to Canadian astronomers and international collaborators. Here’s what else scientists know about LP 791-18d and how it compares to Earth.
Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca
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