INSIDE Property assessment appeal process deeply flawed

GBA
U PDATE
News and Information from your Georgian Bay Association
Vol. 16 No. 2, Summer 2006
Property assessment
appeal process deeply flawed
INSIDE
by David Stager
GBA weighs in on
property assessment
6
7
Good housekeeping:
The water comes first
The Environmental
Commissioner reports
on GBA’s concerns
15
Join our cruise
to Killarney
PM # 40038178
8
“Never in the 30-year history of this office have so many complaints been received
in so short a period about a single public agency.”
F
ollowing a five-month investigation of 3,700 complaints about property assessments, the
Ontario Ombudsman, Mr. André Marin, found that MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation) had failed to ensure property owners were provided with sufficient and timely
assessment information to help them understand and challenge their property assessments fairly.
He also found that MPAC had undermined the integrity of the Assessment Review Board (ARB)
process. The ARB is an administrative tribunal under the authority of the Ontario Attorney
General, established to hear appeals on property assessments levied by MPAC.
MPAC’s board of directors has representatives from municipal councils and commercial
owners, but none from residential property owners. In his report, Getting it Right, the
Ombudsman presented 22 recommendations that would:
• increase taxpayer access to MPAC’s information;
• improve the accuracy and consistency of property assessments; and
• improve the fairness and integrity of the appeal
process.
The Ombudsman stated sharply that, “there is
one fundamental flaw in our assessment system:
if a property owner challenges his assessment in
a formal appeal, the
onus of proof is on him.
Challenging the state’s
assessor is a David vs.
Goliath mismatch - this
is not a match-up, this
is a slaughter…Putting
the onus on the property
owner is anachronistic,
GBA has challenged the inappropriate application of one or two sales to
unfair and just doesn’t
cottages with widely differing characteristics. See this UPDATE page 6.
make sense.”
The Ombudsman emphasized that MPAC has to accept that, “appraisers are in the guesstimate
business”. He therefore recommended that the Ontario government require MPAC to justify its
assessments when a property owner makes an appeal to the Assessment Review Board.
Second, the Ombudsman asked the provincial government to review whether the public interest in MPAC’s secrecy about its computer program and database outweighs the public interest in
full transparency and disclosure. Several submissions had shown that MPAC has resisted sharing
information about the computer program and data that it uses in determining its appraisals.
The Ontario government pledges to implement 16 of the recommendations immediately and to
study the remaining four.
Continued on page 6, “GBA’s submissions to the Ombudsman”.
BEAR WISE
Are you attracting bears
to your neighbourhood?
Bears thrive in the wild on
berries and nuts, but when
their natural food supply runs
low, bears will venture out to
residential areas. Drawn by
the smell of other foods and
garbage, bears will follow
their noses – right to your
neighbourhood. Once they find
a source of easy food, they will
come back again and again.
Garbage
You can help keep bears out
of your neighbourhood by
correctly managing those
things that attract them.
Pet food
왎
왎
왎
왎
왎
Put garbage out on the morning of garbage day, not the night before
Store indoors until morning of pick up or trip to the dump
Keep meat scraps in the freezer until garbage day
Place garbage in containers that have tight fitting lids
If eating outdoors, put wrappers and scraps in the garbage, not
on the ground
왎 Frequently clean garbage and recycle containers
Bird feed (including seed, nectar and suet)
왎 Feed birds during winter months only
왎 Feed pets indoors
Fruits and vegetables
왎 Avoid landscaping with trees, shrubs or plants that produce foods
To report bear problems call:
known to attract bears (some examples include crab apple trees,
mountain ash, beech, and oak)
왎 Remove vegetables and fallen fruit from the ground
왎 Pick all ripe fruit from trees and bushes
1 866 514-2327
Outdoor grills
(1 866 514-BEAR) TTY 705 945-7641
왎 Thoroughly clean grills and barbecue pits after every use
For information visit our website:
Composters
In an immediate emergency call
your local police or 911.
bears.mnr.gov.on.ca
왎 Keep meat, fish or sweet food (including fruit) out of your composter
This ad is paid for by the Government of Ontario.
Ministry
of Natural Resources
2
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
President’s Message
Spreading the word south of the border
by Scott White
GBA President Scott White met his McGregor Bay
neighbour, Wayne Kohn, at the Cleveland Briefing.
B
efore I was in Georgian Bay, I was
in Ohio. That’s because I was born
there. I returned to my home state
this past April, along with a number of colleagues from GBA and the GBA Foundation,
for the first ever Cleveland Briefing.
The event was a smashing success.
Harvey Mieke, a GBA board member, and
Bill Prior, a member of GBA’s aquaculture
committee who has a cottage at Pointe au
Baril, organized the event. We had hoped 40
or 50 people would come out. More than 125
showed up.
Cottagers from nine GBA local associations turned up to hear environment chair
Mary Muter talk about the many projects
her committee is involved with, including
water levels and water quality.
GBA boating chair Stephen Murch gave
an update on the outside channel project.
Bill Bialkowski, chair of our renewable
energy committee, gave a detailed presentation on wind power and how cottagers can
conserve power. Jim Bolton, a member of
the aquaculture committee, discussed the
impact caused by open netcage operations
in Georgian Bay.
After cocktails and a wonderful buffet
dinner, Dr. Pat Chow-Fraser of McMaster
University delivered the keynote address on
her wetlands work, in particular, how low
water levels are impacting these ecologically
sensitive areas.
Pat’s funding from the Ontario government for her wetlands work has been cut, so
this year, the GBA Foundation is footing the
bill. It’s important work and if we waited for
government to take it on, it might never be
done.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
That was the theme of my remarks: downsized governments have meant that GBA
has had to adopt a quick response strategy,
monitoring and reacting rapidly to new
government policies.
We have now evolved that strategy to
something more complex. The Baird report
on the outflow of Lake Huron and its impact
on Georgian Bay water levels – in which the
GBA Foundation raised $250,000 to hire scientists to do work once done by government
– has become the new normal. If we want
something done, we’d better do it ourselves.
My thanks to Bill Prior and his staff at
Kinetico Inc. for hosting the event and to
Harvey Mierke and his family for organizing
the day and the wonderful brunch the next
morning.
John Birnbaum is retiring
After 25 years of service to the Georgian Bay Association, GBA Executive Director John Birnbaum has
announced his plan to retire in 2007.
John has given the GBA board of directors plenty of notice to allow proper succession planning and a smooth
transition of duties to maintain our high level of service for all GBA member associations and our fellow
stakeholders.
John was a GBA director for 11 years before becoming the organization’s first executive director 14 years ago.
His affable manner, effective problem solving and comprehensive Rolodex has made John the face of GBA for
many years.
John will officially step down at next year’s annual general meeting in April. We’ll have more to say about
his outstanding GBA work in a future issue of UPDATE.
In the meantime, work has already begun on finding a successor. A search committee of the GBA executive
committee has been formed under Mary Lee, our executive vice-president. If anyone has any suggestions or
ideas for the search committee, please feel free to contact Mary by email at [email protected].
GBA Update is published by the Georgian Bay Association
19 Edgecombe Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5N 2X1; tel: 416-486-8600
President: Scott White,
email: [email protected]
Editor: Penny Pepperell,
email: [email protected].
Executive Director/Advertising: John Birnbaum,
email: [email protected]
Webmaster: Andy Betterton,
email: [email protected]
GBA website: www.georgianbay.ca
3
GBA’s submissions to the Ombudsman
“Comparable Properties” is almost a fiction in Georgian Bay
by David Stager
G
BA does not involve itself directly in local
municipal taxation issues. Any such problems
are for local cottage associations to resolve with
their local councils. But property assessments are a
provincial matter, with serious consequences for cottage
and other recreational property owners.
The Ombudsman received an avalanche of
complaints from owners everywhere who believed that,
despite a red-hot real estate market, increases in their
property assessments were
excessive, especially for
so short a period, namely
June 2003 to January 2005.
This was especially true for
property owners along the
eastern shore of Georgian
Bay.
For example, in Carling
Township the average
assessment increase was 34
percent, for the Township of
Georgian Bay it was 40 percent, and for the Township of The
Archipelago 44 percent. These were only the averages —some
property owners faced increases of 100 percent or more. By
comparison, the average increase in the City of Toronto was 12
percent; for the province as a whole it was 13 percent.
The most daunting problem facing owners who challenge
their assessments is to discover how these values are determined. What comparable and recent sales were used? What
are the assessments on similar properties? And GBA members
know that “comparable properties” is almost a fiction in Georgian Bay, where there are relatively few sales and where every
cottage, point and island is different.
How can cottagers determine the assessed value
of comparable properties?
The GBA submissions emphasized that, “The most serious problem that is directly relevant to our members is the
substantial inequity imposed on property owners whose
properties are not on a street grid system. That is, an owner in
a city or town can insert a street and number in the [MPAC’s
information] retrieval system and determine the assessed
value for comparable properties. But an owner of property
on a shoreline or island (which is the case for so many GBA
members) cannot obtain assessment values on neighbouring
comparable properties unless he/she knows the assessment
roll number, which is most unlikely. Instead, the template
for seeking assessment information on the MPAC site should
6
provide for insertion of the
name of the property owner,
in order to retrieve assessment
information.”
Moreover, GBA continued,
“These data are in the public
domain, and should be freely
available to all users.” They are
generated by MPAC staff, not
provided by property owners,
and are not therefore private
information. The Ombudsman
seemed to agree with this position when he asked the provincial government to review the
secrecy that MPAC casts over its data.
Although an owner can obtain all assessment property
information at the township office where the assessment roll
is on display, this is not convenient for cottage owners who
are at a considerable distance from their township offices.
MPAC responded that it might be possible to create a mapbased search tool that would allow access to information
about comparable properties. This approach might be used in tandem with
a name-base search, and so GBA will pursue this suggestion with MPAC.
At the same time, GBA will be writing to the Ontario government in strong
support of the Ombudsman’s recommendations.
Are computer-generated assessments
“adjusted” by appraisers?
GBA also referred to the statistical model that MPAC uses to generate
assessment values. But MPAC does not provide any information on the
content and structure of the model, nor on how its staff use it. Property
owners therefore do not know whether the assessment values are adjusted
by the intuition and experience of appraisers. This makes it especially
difficult to challenge one’s assessment. The Ombudsman’s report does
give detailed attention to this issue; if MPAC responds accordingly, owners
should have much more rigorous information on how their assessments
are determined.
The GBA submission emphasized the scarcity of recent market sales in
many cottage areas, and the inappropriate application of one or two sales
in a neighbourhood to cottages with widely differing characteristics. In
these areas, MPAC will need to increase its staff so that more on-site visits
can be made to observe such differences, rather than to rely on computergenerated assessments.
The Ombudsman’s report, Getting It Right, is available at
www.ombudsman.on.ca or by telephone at 416-586-3300.
The MPAC website is www.mpac.ca; the ARB site is
www.arb.gov.on.ca.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
Property assessment and your taxes
Why your
property assessment
is important
by David Stager
A
n increase in your property assessment does not
necessarily lead to an increase in your
property tax. But property assessments are used
to distribute the burden of municipal expenditures, and
thus unfair assessments can lead to unfair burdens.
Theoretically, if every property assessment increased by,
say 20 percent, and if the municipality did not increase
its budget, there would be no increase in anyone’s tax
contribution to the municipal budget.
But education tax is a different matter. The province
requires a municipality to collect this tax revenue,
which is then distributed across the province according
to an education-funding formula. The provincial government sets a standard education tax rate that applies
to all municipalities across the province. This rate is
reduced following each assessment period to offset the
province-wide average increase in assessment. But since
assessment increases for most GBA members exceed
the provincial average increase by a wide margin, the
education tax portion of your property tax will itself
be increased—regardless of the local council’s budget
plans.
So if for no other reason, it is important to reduce
your assessment to reduce the education portion of
the property tax. (There are other avenues for your
charitable giving to education!) The education tax
rate for 2005 was .00296, or $2.96 for each $1,000 of
your assessment. For example, on a $300,000 property,
the education tax component was almost $900. So for
each $10,000 reduction that you might achieve in your
property assessment, there would be a reduction of $30
in the education tax, as well as another $60 to $75,
depending on the municipality.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
GBA’s Cottage Tips
Good housekeeping:
the water comes first
by Penny Pepperell
Use less water. Your septic system or leaching pit can handle only so
much. If you’re thinking of buying a new washing machine, the front loaders
use a good deal less water and they clean better. Try and space your loads out
over several days.
Try no soap for a change. Have you ever noticed that when you turn
on the washing machine, your clothes are sudsy before you’ve added soap? So
put them through a cycle without adding any more and get rid of that residue
that is dulling your clothes and wearing down the fibres.
Change your clothes less often. We assume most children spend
their summers in bathing suits and little else. This is good. Grownups should
change their clothes when company’s expected (underwear excepted).
A homemade cleanup solution. Mix up some vinegar and water
in a spray bottle for minor cleanups before succumbing to the store-bought
remedies.
Non-phosphate products are best when they are also
chlorine free and bio-degradeable in less than one month.
Look for the Environmental Choice logo to be sure your purchase has passed important certification tests.
Septic systems Septic tanks should be inspected and/or
pumped out each three to five years. While they are effective in controlling
bacterial pollution, they cannot be relied upon to prevent nutrients such as
phosphates from making their way to the water. Unfortunately, most of the
phosphate in your septic system is probably human-generated.
No flushing tampons, pads, dental floss, cat litter, band-aids, condoms
and wrappers down your toilet, because they can build up and block either
your septic drain or the drain field itself. This could lead to a diversion of
septic water away from the drain field, to the leeching of contaminated sludge
into your drain field or to a complete blockage. Never put toxic or hazardous
wastes such as paints, thinners, waste oils down the drain.
No pink and perfumed toilet paper Conduct your own test of
septic-friendly toilet paper: put a sheet in a glass of water and see how quickly
it breaks up. If it begins to disintegrate within 20 minutes then it’s a good one
for your septic system.
Pet wastes represent a significant source of phosphate pollution. So if
you can find the little pile put it in the garbage.
Batteries Batteries should go back to where you bought them or to a hazardous waste dump. Although the mercury levels in them have been greatly
reduced of late, battery use is on a huge upswing.
Pharmaceuticals Return unused and out-of-date medications to your
druggist for disposal.
Pesticides and fertilizers Please don’t. It’s too easy for them to run
off into the water. Besides, they’re outlawed in many townships.
7
GBA’s 2006 AGM Keynote Address by Gord Miller, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
Gord Miller reports on aquaculture, leachate and cormorants,
pills and population projections
MNR stalls on setting
aquaculture standards
Gord Miller, the Environmental Commissioner for Ontario (ECO) began by noting
that, after four years on the environmental
registry, after drafting policies for ten
aquaculture related issues, MNR has still
left undone the most important issue of
all, devising transparent and accountable
processes for approving netcage operations.
He also characterized the Ministry of the
Environment’s (OMOE) review of the impact
of aquaculture on water quality in Georgian
Bay as “not only inadequate, but somewhat
embarrassing, how poorly it represented the
significance of phosphorus contamination.
It was also condescending to GBA, whose
arguments were very sound.”
Question: We’re often told not to
worry about Georgian Bay because it’s a
helluva lot better than Cherry Beach off
Toronto Island. We’re concerned about
how to change this thinking from it-won’tkill-you-to swim-in-this-water to preserving the natural state.
“This is a real problem. This is the race
to the minimum standard. But I have to
caution you that the present clean state [of
Georgian Bay] is dynamic. It won’t stay the
same, but you should keep it within the
healthy parameters of biological quality.”
Externalizing a waste problem
in Georgian Bay
“It’s not acceptable for OMOE to just
meet the standard. This is the essence of
the cage culture debate: the Ministry takes
the position that ten micrograms per litre
[the allowable limit for total phosphorus
in the Great Lakes compared to Georgian
Bay’s natural 3-5] is acceptable. But it’s not
acceptable to externalize waste treatment
Claudette Pintwala, ECO Gord Miller and Scott White
at the AGM showing off a GBA boat bag.
in Georgian Bay. It’s a matter of ethics and
environmental philosophy.
“Speak loudly [GBA]. This is not the
Toronto you grew up in. It’s a much more
urban Toronto, and most of the people in
this city haven’t been to a cottage. They
didn’t grow up with frogs.”
“Speak loudly [GBA]. Most people haven’t been to the cottage.
They didn’t grow up with the frogs.”
8
MNR has developed good rules
for wind power
“MNR has developed a system
whereby companies can go and test
for wind, evaluate sites and then go
through the process to lease the sites
with public consultation and all the
necessary checks and balances: a
good piece of work by MNR, creating
certainty, order, transparency and
accountability.”
The ECO’s annual report
notes that approximately
87 percent of the provincial
land base is owned by the
Crown. Thus, MNR’s policy
opens a vast land area for wind-power exploration and potential development, which will
assist the government in meeting its renewable energy targets. (GBA has concerns with
MNR’s legislation that the Commissioner did
not address.)
Treating leachate from landfill sites
in sanitary sewers
The Commissioner noted that 30 municipalities in Ontario have been directing
leachate from landfill sites to their sanitary
sewers, where its toxins can pass untreated
into the local water body. “OMOE was clearly
aware at least 12 years ago of the shortcomings of co-treating leachate with municipal
sewage,” reads the ECO’s report. Leachate
from landfills may contain a variety of carcinogenic chemicals as acutely and chronically toxic as the leachates from hazardous
waste landfills. “Leachate may also kill the
bacteria in the sewage plant and interfere
with its functioning,” Mr. Miller added.
Species at risk legislation:
inflexible and punitive
“If you screw around with the land
where there’s an endangered species, we’ll
whack you over the head or throw you in
jail. It’s very punitive, which was very good
in the '70s when people were trying to kill
endangered species, but here’s the problem
we have now. If you own land and there’s an
endangered species on it, but there’s not on
your neighbour’s land because he cleared
the bush, whom do you think we’ll be leaning on, you or him? MNR needs the tools
and the flexibility to do sensible things.”
Double-breasted cormorants:
don’t shoot ’em
“They’re undergoing a huge population
surge. But you can’t shoot them. You can’t
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
by Penny Pepperell
The Environmental
Registry
by Claudette Pintwala
from Claudette’s introduction to the Environmental
Commissioner Gord Miller at GBA’s AGM
control them either. They will adjust eventually. They haven’t got the parasites
and diseases built up in their colonies to control their numbers yet. However,
when this species actually threatens a heritage feature in a provincial park,
we’ll shoot them. Outside the Park, live with it. Eventually, there’ll be fewer.”
Pharmaceuticals in the water:
the worst possible pollutant
“We’re a pharmaceutical-popping society and we do a number of things very
wrong. We pour pharmaceuticals down the toilet. Don’t do that. It goes straight
into the natural environment. We know it’s causing biological effects in fish
and amphibians, and we’re detecting it in raw drinking water. There are no
human medical impacts at this time that anyone’s been able to describe, but
you shouldn’t do something until it starts causing human medical problems.
“A medicine has certain characteristics. You have to take a lot of it because
it rushes through your system. It has to be really chemically stable. It has to
be a very small molecule to pass through the intestinal wall. It has to be water
soluble, and it has to be extremely biologically active. Can you think of a worse
pollutant? So please, take your leftover pharmaceuticals back to the pharmacist
and ask him to send them to a disposal company.”
Population projections:
get them right
“So I asked a developer why he was building so many houses and he referred
me to the regional municipal growth projections. I asked the regional municipality where they got their numbers from, and they said Municipal Affairs and
Housing. I asked Municipal Affairs and Housing where they got their numbers
and they said the Minister of Finance. I asked the Ministry of Finance and
they referred me to the Department of Immigration trends table, but then they
added that these numbers should not be used for planning purposes!
“We’ve got four million people now [in GTA] and the population is projected
to add four million more
people. Or maybe six, over
the next 25 years. If we
increase the population by
50 percent, that’s going to
have significant environmental consequences.
“Maybe we should have
some consultation about
these population projections
because there is none.
“Right now we haven’t
decoupled ourselves from
the environmental impact
of growth. But I think that is
Professor Pat Chow-Fraser updated the AGM guests on
where we have to go.”
her wetland research. Check out GBA’s website for audio
transcripts of her and the Commissioner’s remarks.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
T
he Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) is
one of the most significant environmental
laws of the last 25 years. Its mandate is to
protect, conserve and, where applicable, to restore
environmental integrity. It upholds the right of
Ontario residents to a healthful environment. It
recognizes that the people of Ontario have the
right to hold government ministries accountable
for their decisions and that citizens have the right
to participate in those government decisions.
One of the tools of the EBR is the Environmental Registry, an easy-to-use internet database
where the public can review and comment on
the environmentally significant acts, regulations,
policies, proposed projects and applications that
provincial ministries are required to post for up to
90 days. www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/
ebr/english/ebr_info/introduction.htm. The
ECO and his staff monitor the public comments
and ministry responses very closely.
One of the hats I wear for GBA is my EBR hat,
whereby each week I check the Registry for proposals or notices that may apply to any number
of issues of concern to our membership. If I hit
upon a posting that pertains to Georgian Bay, I
send it to GBA Environment Chair Mary Muter or
Executive Director John Birnbaum.
In February 2003, GBA submitted, under the
Environmental Bill of Rights, a formal application requesting a review of the regulations and
policies pertaining to open netcage aquaculture.
Mr. Miller sent it on to three ministries. We heard
quickly from two. The Ministry of Agriculture
and Food, and the Ministry of Natural Resources
declined our request for a review.
The third, the Ministry of the Environment,
agreed. However after two full years our struggle
is no further ahead. The OMOE acknowledges
that as this industry grows, its potential environmental impacts may warrant ongoing assessment. In the meantime, there are no Ministry of
Environment standards and regulations specific
to cage aquaculture.
Yet in every annual report since 2000, Mr.
Miller has warned of the negative consequences of
intensive fish farming in Georgian Bay.
9
Report from your Georgian Baykeeper
U.S. Senate and House vote
$25 Billion for the Great Lakes
and finally, some good news from Ottawa
by Mary Muter
I
am pleased to tell you that the U.S. has approved $25 billion for
Great Lakes restoration work over the next five years. This is the
result of hearings in mid-March as part of Great Lakes Week on
Capitol Hill. I was there, representing GBA, which is a member of
the US-led Healing Our Waters, a non-government agency coalition.
From what I could pick up from the several meetings I attended,
I’d say that, although the American political system is much more
complex than ours, it is more open to public involvement. Good for
them.
Funding for the Great Lakes under the Canada Ontario Agreement
had been slashed from eight million dollars down to less than one
million, but now it’s being renegotiated by MNR, Environment
Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. We’re keeping
our fingers crossed. There is much at stake. The middle Great Lakes
are experiencing serious declines in their diaporeia and alewife
populations, the fundamental foodstuff of the ecosystem. We need
to know why. We have been told to expect an announcement of the
renegotiated funding level “soon”; that would be for 2007.
Unfortunately, there’s still a funding shortfall for this summer,
2006, and so, the GBA Foundation will bridge the gap between the
funding provided under the Canada Ontario Agreement and what
is needed to get Georgian Bay wetlands classified according to MNR
protocols.
Canada coming to its senses
Canada has been humming and hawing but finally is coming
to its senses in another department as well, approving funding for
the IJC’s Upper Great Lakes Study. We expect an announcement of
a funding decision by mid-June in time for the Great Lakes Mayors
meeting in Parry Sound.
GBA has been on a roller-coaster ride as far as this Upper Great
Lakes Study is concerned. First we lobbied for years to get the IJC to
pay attention to Georgian Bay, in particular, declining water levels.
Finally the IJC took it on. Then the backsliding began. (The IJC can’t
authorize funding no matter how necessary. Only governments can
do that.) GBA started lobbying, again. Eventually, we convinced
six senior ministers in the previous Martin government of the need
for the St. Clair River work, but then it all fell away without the
support of the Prime Minister himself. This left the U.S. section of
the International Joint Commission funding Canada’s portion of the
IJC’s study of erosion in the St. Clair River.
(This was more than unacceptable and embarrassing. It was
dangerous. If Canada wasn’t going to contribute, the U.S. could
have decided to do the work according to its own priorities, and then
Canada would have been in a weak position to protect its interests.)
10
Then we learned that there was a chance that the U.S. government
might stop funding the St. Clair River study if Canada wasn’t
going to pull its weight. This was the situation (we feared) when
Government Relations Chair John Pepperell and I met in Ottawa
with the newly installed Minister of the Environment, Rona Ambrose
and M.P. Tony Clement. (Thanks Tony for arranging this meeting.)
And so we learned that Canada is going to put itself back in the
picture as far as funding the study of erosion in the St. Clair River.
We’re hoping funding will be approved in time for the Great Lakes
Mayors conference in late June. Both Ministers will be in attendance.
Water takings:
five million gallons a day
On the Annex Agreement signed last December, the U.S. states
are one by one introducing bills to enact its terms into legislation.
Michigan under Governor Granholm has taken the high road and
reduced the unregulated water takings from 5 million gallons per
day to 250,000 gallons per day. But word has it that the other states
are under pressure from industry to weaken the Agreement: that
would mean higher water takings, a bad idea.
Ontario has been quiet on Annex for several months now,
but I expect a meeting soon of the Annex Advisory Panel. At our
last meeting we urged Ontario to introduce legislation banning
intra-basin transfers. I hope their legal staff is busy drafting that
legislation.
Graduate student Titus Seilheimer doing wetland work in Georgian Bay
last summer.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
GBA’s Cottage Tips: monitoring energy use and boats
How to read your meter
by Bill Bialkowski
T
o show you mean business and intend to reduce your energy
consumption, you need to document progress. To do that,
you need to know how to read your own hydro meter and
record the results.
Hydro One provides you with your electricity usage numbers
every quarter on your electricity bill, but you should know that
typically there is only one “actual” reading taken usually in April.
For the other quarters the readings are assumed based on past
usage. If you relied on this method, it would take over a year for
you to know what you had achieved.
Reading your meter reliably involves
a few simple tricks.
Shown here is a typical hydro meter. There are five clock dials
with black pointers to be read from left to right with the answer
being in kilowatt-hours. On some meters there are only four clock
dials, but there is a label above which says “Multiply x 10” – so
same thing.
What is confusing is that each pointer rotates in a different
direction from its predecessor. Dials one, three and five rotate
clockwise while dials two and four rotate counterclockwise. The
first rule is, always record the lower number when reading each
dial. This is easy when the needle is clearly between two numbers
as it is on the first dial. (The reading here is 3.) It is much trickier
when the needle appears to point directly at a number as it does
on the second dial.
The numbers on the dials are fairly crude and therefore reading them can be tricky. Is the right answer 7 on the nose or is the
actual reading a bit above or below 7? Meter reading rule number
two: look at the next dial to the right to determine the reading on
a previous dial when the answer is ambiguous. Thus, if the second
dial reading is actually 7, dial number three should be a very
low number, because clearly we are just over 7. However, in our
hypothetical case, the third dial shows a very high reading (over
9). Therefore, you know that the second dial must be just coming
up to 7 and so the correct reading is 6.
Dial number four in our example is straightforward. The answer
is 4, the lower number. On the final dial, you take a specific reading, using a decimal point to account for the actual position of the
needle (in this case 1.8). Thus, the correct answer for our sample
dial is 36,941.8 kWh.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
Six quick tips for safe
and hassle free boating
by Stephen Murch
Use your lifejackets or PFD’s Accidents happen when you
least expect them, and the statistics are clear; floatation devices
save lives. They’re no longer uncool or uncomfortable, and they’re
available in all shapes and sizes and tailored for specific activities.
Get your Pleasure Craft Operators Card, now! You
need a PCOC to legally operate a powerboat if you were born
before 1983. In addition, all operators of boats less the 13 feet 1
inch in length, including personal watercraft, require an Operators Card. Otherwise you don’t have to have a PCOC until 2009.
But why wait? A credible training course will be good refresher on
boating safety and navigation. And new measures will soon be in
place that will make it more challenging to get your PCOC.
Pick up the Safe Boating Guide, the new edition, available at most marinas or marine outlets. You’ll need it to make
sure your equipment meets current standards.
Spend some money on flares. Even the mid-price flares
are much more effective than the minimum standard flares. They
fly higher, last longer and are brighter for better night and daytime visibility. Generally a combination of aerial and handheld
locator flares is recommended. Flares should not be ignited in a
non-emergency situation, even for training, and must be disposed
of properly. Most OPP detachments will accept out-dated flares for
disposal.
Boat registrations and licenses are now being handled
by Services Canada. This is supposed to be more convenient by
allowing boat owners to register a new boat or transfer the registration of a used one through any of Services Canada’s 320 offices.
In practice, wait times can be long and not all Services Canada
agents are familiar with the process as yet. But don’t overlook this.
There is a $250 fine for not having a properly registered boat and
a copy of your registration form on board. Keep a plasticized copy
in the boat and the original in your files at home.
For our U.S resident cottagers, if you have a boat registered in the U.S. but it’s “principally maintained” in Canada, you
are required to carry Transport Canada approved safety equipment. According to OPP, boats that are in Canada for more than
45 days require the TC-approved equipment. You may want to
contact your local OPP detachment for more information.
11
GBA’s Cottage Tips
Critters: good and bad
by Penny Pepperell
Invasive species
Bilge water invaders Boat bilge is a
perfect medium for transporting invasive
species, so take special care that you’re not
transporting unwanted guests.
Check bait buckets Prevent the
introduction of invasive fish species or other
organisms invisible to the naked eye by
never releasing baitfish or dumping the
contents of bait buckets into the Bay. Anyone
finding a suspect is asked to remove and
freeze the critter, and call the Invading Species Hotline toll-free at 1-800-563-7711.
Learn to identify invasive and
non-bait species by visiting www.
invadingspecies.com
Use only local firewood. The
movement of firewood has directly contributed to the spread of the Emerald
Ash Borer. Firewood may contain insect
pests and plant diseases that could easily spread to other forest locations.
Wildlife
Bears are beautiful. Do not leave
garbage or pet food outside; thoroughly
clean outdoor barbecue grills after use;
fill bird feeders only during the winter;
do not put meat, fish or sweet food like
fruit in your composter; keep meat
scraps in the freezer until garbage day.
Don’t vegetable garden. Bears particularly like tomatoes. For a bear emergency:
contact your local police force or dial 911.
To report bear problems: contact 1-866-514BEAR (2327) (TTY) 705 945-7641.
Turtles and snakes are attracted to
roads in the spring and the fall. Turtles like
the gravel as bedding for their eggs and
snakes are looking for a warm clearing in
which to sunbathe. Drive carefully. You can
very gently help a turtle across the road in
the direction it’s going. Don’t return it to
where it came from. It will simply set off
again.
12
Bats Take a slow walk around your cottage, all 360 degrees, and look for any openings of one-quarter inch or more. Repair
and seal them, except if they bear signs of
urine stains and guano (looks like mice
droppings). These are primary bat ports and
you should not attempt to seal them from
mid June to September as young bats may be
trapped inside. If they cannot exit, they will
find openings that give them access to inside
your cottage. It helps to install a bat house.
They need to be placed in an area that will
be hot and free of branches. After the bats
have gone, you’ll find guano; precautions
should be taken when cleaning it up as it
may contain a fungus causing the disease
Histoplasmosis. Check out www.billbatboy.ca or contact MNR in Parry Sound or
Bill Scully at [email protected]
or 705-746-5521.
Snakes Wear protective footware that
cover the ankle, especially at night and take
along a flashlight; poke with a stick before
reaching into brush, under rocks or other
places where snakes may be hiding. If you
hear a rattlesnake, determine the snake’s
location and move slowly away.
Massasauga rattlesnake bites A
massasauga rattlesnake’s striking distance
is limited to half its body length. The fangs
and venom glands are quite small and not
likely to penetrate boots or loose clothing. If
a rattlesnake does bite, there is a 25 percent
chance that no venom was injected, or only
a very small amount.
If someone is bitten, call emergency
services. Ensure the injured is lying down or
at least inactive while waiting for help. This
will slow the circulation of the venom. Wash
and clean the wound. Remove any jewellery
in case of swelling. Loosely splint the limb
to reduce movement. Always seek medical
attention. Never apply a tourniquet or ice,
cut the bite area or apply suck. Never try to
catch or kill the snake. This is unnecessary,
dangerous and illegal due to its protected
status. www.massasauga.ca
Deer mice and
hantavirus Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is spread
by infected deer mice.
Symptoms include fever,
chills and muscle aches,
respiratory distress,
shortness of breath,
nausea, vomiting, and
abdominal pain. The
deer mouse is the main
carrier, although all
wild rodents should be avoided. It’s about
six inches long to the tip of its tail, grayish
to light brown on top, with a white belly,
large ears, and a furry tail that is white on
the underside. A person may be exposed
by breathing dust after cleaning rodent
droppings or disturbing nests. Be careful
trapping mice and other wild rodents. Use
spring-loaded mousetraps. Wear gloves and
spray with bleach and water solution before
handling dead mice. If you use poison bait,
follow the directions carefully. Disinfect or
throw away used gloves.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
Help us protect Georgian Bay
Join the growing number of GBA Corporate Members
Supporting our Bay Projects
GBA CORPORATE MEMBERS
Company Name
Location
Contact
Description
EcoEthic Inc.
Throughout
Canada
1-888-436-3996, [email protected]
www.ecoethic.ca
Eco certified MullToa waterless composting toilets from Sweden. Biodegradable, phosphate-free cleaners and septic maintenance products.
Honey
Harbour
1-877-727-2297, 705-727-2297
[email protected], www.bbys.ca
Nordic Tugs; Great boats for the Great Lakes, Rosborough Boats
- built for discriminating boaters, perfect for serious cottagers
705-739-7310
[email protected]
Providing labour law advice and support to
employers.
Honey
Harbour
705-756-3333
www.southbaycove.com
Full service marina and home of the Top of the Cove
Restaurant.
Pioneer Handcraft
Furniture
Hwy 400,
Waubaushene
1-800-567-6604, 705-538-9989
www.pioneerhandcraft.ca
Makers of classic cottage furniture, wicker & wicker restoration,
custom cushions and other cottage furnishings...since 1946!
Walter Page’s
Georgian Bay Store
Hwy 400
Port Severn
1-877-WALTER4, 705-538-4229
www.gbay.ca
Specializing in cottage-related products – furniture,
gifts, books, watersports & wintersports items.
Pointe au Baril
705-366-2581
[email protected]
Exclusive Ontario distributors for Grady-White, Key
West and Pilot Boats and featuring Honda outboards.
Throughout
Canada
416-366-8386, [email protected]
www.fasken.com
A leading national business and litigation law firm
in Canada.
Toronto
416-445-5850, [email protected]
www.kelk.com
Specialists in the design and manufacturing of stateof-the-art electronic measuring equipment.
Port Washington,
Wisconsin
262-235- 6000, www.allenedmonds.com
[email protected]
Manufacturers of men’s quality leather shoes and
accessories in Wisconsin and Maine.
Cloud Air Service
Port Carling
1-800-990-1199. [email protected]
www.cloudair.com
Freedom is just a flight away! Float plane charters to
and from your cottage.
Kinetico Canada
Caledon
1-866-351-8722
www.kinetico.com
Since 1970, water solutions for your residence and a
changing world.
Sun Volts Unlimited
Parry Sound
1-800-558-7939, [email protected]
www.sunvoltssolar.com
Est’d 1987 - solar & wind electrical power systems
and products for your home and cottage.
Open Storage Solutions
Throughout
Canada
1-800-387-3419
www.openstore.com
High performance data storage and data protection
specialists.
Bay Breeze Yacht Sales,
South Bay Cove Marina
James E. Bowden
Barrister & Solicitor
South Bay Cove Marina
Desmasdons Boat Works
Fasken Martineau
George Kelk Corporation
Allen-Edmonds Shoe
Corporation
Corporate Memberships
To become a corporate member,
simply go to the GBA website
www.georgianbay.ca under
“members” to download the
application form.
Here’s what you will receive:
• A listing in each UPDATE, which is circulated 3 times a year to over
10,000 readers
• A listing on the GBA website www.georgianbay.ca
• Membership mailings and e-mail briefings
• Invitations to attend GBA’s AGM, workshops, and environment showcases
• And most importantly corporate members will be supporting a great
Canadian organization, our hundreds of volunteers, and helping to
protect one of Canada’s greatest assets … Georgian Bay.
THE GEORGIAN BAY ASSOCIATION
Your help is appreciated and very much needed to champion projects for the Bay
ED Notebook
by John Birnbaum
Upcoming Events
GBA’s annual meeting with Ontario Provincial Police
Vessel noise was the major focus of our time with OPP Chief Superintendents Al
Dawson, North East Region and Ken Smith, Central Region, plus senior marine officers
and detachment commanders from the four Georgian Bay detachments. Encouraged by
us, OPP has developed a training video for officers on vessel noise enforcement and the
various muffling devices in use. We continue to be disappointed about the very modest
reduction in noise that the revised small-vessel regulations have produced to date. GBA’s
boating and safety committee is already pursuing other approaches.
Once again, opportunities for OPP to monitor the Georgian Bay coastal water traffic
for operating infractions and detection and enforcement of black water discharges were
explored. The latest idea would be a “Georgian Bay air force” of volunteer pilots and
planes, trained by OPP and accompanied by officers, to incorporate patrols as part of
their regular recreational flying during the boating season.
Cell phone enhancement
Following a May meeting with Rogers Cellular and our member associations, GBA is
encouraged by Rogers’ interest in investing in enhanced cell phone coverage (with email
retrieval) for our member communities and for the 20,000 boaters travelling along the
coast. As a result, service should be upgraded in many areas as early as 2007. Once Rogers has built the facilities, Bell Mobility is expected to follow quickly to share in them.
Dock Talk is back again
Phosphorus readings are up in several communities. As a result, GBA Foundation’s
Dock Talk program will be expanded to five hot spots: Sturgeon Bay, Deep Bay, Twelve
Mile Bay, Cognashene Lake, and North Bay of Honey Harbour. New this year, Dock Talk
will be promoting composting toilets and explaining how to safely remove and dispose of
their dried organic waste as opposed to possibly letting it run off into the water.
Celebratory Outside Channel
Cruise to Killarney - Tuesday
July 18th - See the cruise ad on the
opposite page and check out GBA’s
website for details and registration. The extension of the outside
channel is sponsored by GBA, GBA
Foundation, Great Lakes Cruising
Club, Canadian Boating Alliance, the
Canadian Coast Guard, the Canadian
Hydrographic Service, the Ontario
Marina Operators Association and
many GBA cottage associations. For
more information on the outside
channel, read the feature article in
the Fall 2005 issue of UPDATE, which
you can find on GBA’s website.
Although the response of the boating and cottage communities has
been extremely positive, the funds
necessary to maintaining the markers are still outstanding. So, please
consider a donation to the GBA Foundation. See the ad on page 4 and 5 of
this issue of UPDATE.
Forest plot monitoring looking for volunteers
Forest Plot monitoring will continue with help from GBA Foundation’s summer
students. Ozone samplers will be set out again and Marthe Scott will be looking for
volunteers. Please contact GBA director Marthe Scott at [email protected]
if you want to help.
Annual GBA Fisheries
Workshop: Saturday September
30th, 9 a.m. at the Kelk Corp offices
in Toronto.
GBA’s aquaculture committee presented at Sudbury conference
Aquaculture committee chair Claudette Pintwala, committee member Jim Bolton,
Mary Muter V.P. and UPDATE editor Penny Pepperell spent two days in Sudbury attending
“Freshwater Cage Culture Environmental Forum”. In his presentation, Jim noted that
aquaculture contributes more
nutrients to the Bay than the
sewage treatment plants in Parry
Sound, Collingwood and Owen
Sound combined. Mary spoke
of the impact of the recent large
(200,000) escapements on the
native fishery.
Botanist Sheila McNair, Claudette Pintwala and a fellow
GBA’s board of directors recently
lost a member of its family. Cliff
Beatty, a long-time board member
representing the Manitou Association,
died suddenly on March 8. It was
a shocking loss for us all. Cliff was
a tireless volunteer who even at his
last board meeting, was offering to
take on new responsibilities. He will
be missed. Our thoughts are with his
wife Lenore, son Stephen, daughter
Karen and his extended family.
attendee at the aquaculture conference in Sudbury.
14
GBA/GBA Foundation Environment Day: Monday, July 17th,
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pointe au Baril
Community Centre. Get updated on
environmental issues and energy
conservation for cottagers. Everyone
welcome. Check out GBA’s website for
details.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
The Georgian Bay Association is a volunteer umbrella group
representing 22 resident associations and approximately
18,000 residents on the eastern and northern shores of
Georgian Bay and the adjacent lakes and water bodies. GBA
relies on donations to the GBA Foundation to fund research
and education in support of GBA issues.
Patrons of GBA and GBA Foundation:
The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
John Ralston Saul, C.C.
GBA Mission Statement:
“To work with our water-based communities and other
stakeholders to ensure the careful stewardship of the
greater Georgian Bay environment and to promote the
quiet enjoyment of its diverse and finite spaces.”
GBA UPDATE is published by the Georgian Bay Association
Published under Canada Publication Mail Sales Agreement # 40038178
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO:
Mailing list and
Distribution
services:
GBA, 19 EDGECOMBE AVENUE
TORONTO, ONTARIO M5N 2X1
Tel: (416) 266-4432
e-mail: [email protected]
— 2006 PUBLICATION SCHEDULE —
Issue
Date available
Spring
March
Summer
June
Fall/Winter
October
GBA UPDATE is mailed to executives of all GBA member associations, to “friends and
stewards” and to other stakeholders and interest groups. Bulk copies are made available to
full member associations to include with their mailings. Material may be reprinted in GBA
member association newsletters provided that the source is acknowledged. Letters to the
editor are welcome. Please send address corrections and changes to address above.
It's a privilege for KELK to support the important work of the GBA by providing workshop and
educational meeting room facilities.
www.kelk.com
The Georgian Bay Association wishes to thank the partners and staff of the legal firm
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP for their generosity in providing to us a boardroom
large enough to accommodate our GBA board
and guests throughout the year. The provision
of this venue for our Board meetings is much
appreciated.
This publication designed and layout by
This issue of GBA UPDATE printed by
Helping you to achieve your vision
(416)
536-6156
on 50% recycled, post-consumer paper with vegetable dyes.
GBA UPDATE – Summer 2006
705-636-7319 – www.jcldesign.ca
15
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F t is !
es Bay
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225
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TOURNAMENT 185
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Box 70, Pointe au Baril, ON P0G 1K0
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Proud to be a GBA
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Phone (705) 366-2581
Fax (705) 366-2716
Email [email protected]
www.desmasdons.com
Visit Desmasdons Boat Works in Pointe au Baril on Central Georgian Bay.