Whitevale residents oppose bridge plans
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1300026
February 21, 2012

GO Transit parking tickets double
http://www.thestar.com/printarticle/1132773
February 17, 2012

Pickering tax increase looks to future
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1298685
February 16, 2012

Average Durham household to pay $53 more on regional tax bill
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1298802
February 16, 2012

Durham Transit putting 23 new buses on the road
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1296574
February 15, 2012

Pickering residents could see 2.9-per cent tax increase
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1296335
February 13, 2012

No new cops for 2012, Durham police budget still up
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1293618
February 8, 2012

Durham Transit fares set to increase this summer
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1291120
February 2, 2012

‘Fasten seat belt’ for year ahead, Pickering politicians told
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1287897
January 30, 2012

No pay raise for Pickering councillors this year
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1285182
January 25, 2012

Anderson apologizes for incinerator groundbreaking party cost – Council rejects review of ceremony costs
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1251115
November 25, 2011

Striking a balance on municipal budgets in Durham
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1241485
November 11, 2011

Bill’s in for trash facility’s pricey private party
http://www.thestar.com/printarticle/1080356
November 3, 2011

Durham looking at 2.35-per cent tax increase
http://durhamregion.com/print/1225308
October 13, 2011

A hamlet on the verge of extinction
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/a-hamlet-on-the-verge-of-extinction/article2139581/
August 23, 2011

Pickering celebrates India Heritage
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1062548
August 21, 2011

Pickering council expenses up in 2010
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1010027
May 12, 2011

‘Group of Four’ always wins with block voting in Pickering
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/984955
April 1, 2011

Debated Pickering subdivision approved
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/985366
March 25, 2011

Budget battles in Pickering
http://www.durhamregion.com/articlePrint/173875
March 22, 2011

“No business case for an airport”
http://markholland.liberal.ca/media/business-airport-hollands-letter-constituents/
March 21, 2011

Would-be developers of disputed land invite Durham Region council to a game
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/03/18/17677531.html
March 18, 2011

Pickering to keep whittling away at proposed tax hike
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/985869
March 16, 2011

Durham to provide free copies of incinerator document
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/985898
March 15, 2011

Durham approves 2.42-per cent tax hike

http://www.durhamregion.com/print/986022
March 11, 2011

Battle Lines Drawn

Toronto Sun e-edition
February 22, 2011

Feds yield to pressure – demolition of Pickering’s heritage averted, for now
http://markholland.liberal.ca/media/feds-yields-to-pressure-–-demolition-of-pickering’s-heritage-averted-for-now/
February 14, 2011

Pickering politicians work to save heritage homes on airport land
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/989005
January 04, 2011

Pickering council off to shaky start
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/989525
December 16, 2010

Pickering council’s big spenders
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1115966
April 21, 2010

Durham’s planning war
http://www.thestar.com/printarticle/783029
March 22, 2010

Durham’s blinkered politicians have received a well-deserved slap from Queen’s Park in the form of an unequivocal rejection of the region’s sprawl-friendly growth plan.

The province had little choice. Durham’s renegade plan – which is at odds with the province’s overall plan for the Greater Toronto Area – was perceived as a test case. Had the provincial planners allowed Durham to defy Ontario’s priorities for development across the GTA, the wrong signal would have been sent to other municipalities.

To be sure, the dispute between Durham and Queen’s Park has not ended. The province’s rejection of Durham Region’s dubious growth plan is now being studied by municipal officials before a formal response is issued. And if past behaviour is any guide, Durham’s rogue politicians are unlikely to wave a white flag.

Durham councillors were the only ones in the GTA to openly oppose Ontario’s greenbelt legislation three years ago. And, true to form, when the province published its development goals under the Places to Grow Act, Durham officials insisted on going their own way.

Hoping the province would back down, the region put forward a plan that would convert about 3,000 hectares of prime agricultural land to employment and residential use. This would include 1,200 hectares northeast of Pickering with the potential to house about 30,000 people. To justify paving over more green space than sanctioned by Ontario, Durham officials set aside the province’s population and employment forecasts and insisted their region would have 25,000 more jobs than expected by 2031.

That would require suburban expansion on farmland largely owned or controlled by developers.

Some see a link between the developers and the municipal politicians. “Corporate financial contributions from the development industry dominate election financing in the rapidly growing 905 region,” says Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, an opponent of Durham’s plan to pave over that farmland.

“The after-effects of sprawl are well-known and a huge challenge,” explains Parish. “For municipalities, the costs to run and maintain sewer and water services, roads and transit increase dramatically with sprawl. For residents, there is little time for family. They are too busy or exhausted from commuting, cutting the lawn, shopping at a distant supermarket and driving kids from one `play date’ to another. The demand for more pavement is relentless. New wider roads, more drive-throughs! Traffic and speeding? Traffic calming will deal with it. Pollution. Isolation. Obesity. Stress.”

The province, then, has good reason for its stand against Durham’s plan. But Durham’s recalcitrant politicians might well continue to resist – playing for time, perhaps hoping for a change to a more pro-development regime at Queen’s Park following the 2011 provincial election. The best antidote to that might be a regime change in Durham in this fall’s municipal election.

Pickering Residents Ask For MPP Wayne Arthurs’ Help
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1117425
March 10, 2010

Changes to Election Financing Needed
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/article/120407
February 25, 2009

Airport ‘makes no sense’
http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1134091
February 02, 2009

Region won’t ask Province to look at campaign financing
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/article/120407
February 25, 2009