Internet tax filing is increasing each year, and the programs that you buy to do it are also increasing in price. Here are two options for you. One is called Studio tax available at http://www.studiotax.com ,a free fully loaded/functional tax program, that unfortunately is only available for windows( and you must use the microsoft .NET framework..which you can get free from microsoft) Another alternative is called Cute Tax.Available at http://www.cutetax.ca . If your income is below 25,000 you can use this for free, if above one return is 10.00 and up to 15 returns is 25.00 .Both programs are recognized by CRA's NETFILE system.Cute Tax, is completely compatible with linux/mac/unix and also with most browsers. So go ahead..save some money!!

I thought ex-councillor Kirkland bought the old Wiarton school property to build an senior's home and daycare centre. I also thought part of the building was to be saved. Now I see in the paper that the town gets $450,000 and a Tim's is going in. Maybe I'm confused about the properties. Can someone explain what is going on?
kltpzyxm

Any existing suggestions or enough demand to bring in a new one? Does anybody have any recommendations for Sauble/Southampton local dialing termination providers. If not, how many people would be interested in having a Voip number in this area from one of the resellers. If there's enough demand, I'll approach a couple to see if anyone will provide termination for us. Why would we want it...good bye long distance. I basically want an extension of the business office up at the cottage but also to give local calling into my network from there and for family/friends long distance access.
I'm not looking for cable phone service or anything like that. This would be of benefit for anyone looking to put in their own voip pbx or like me, extend their office from outside the area.
Thanks

 read more »

I unfortunately learned of this year's TORC forum too late, and it's a shame because it was probably a good one: Envisioning a Future with Broadband Across Rural Ontario -- Developing Strategies towards Enhanced Connectivity, Growth and Utilization. I attended one of these about 10 years ago and it was fantastic. Real knowledge sharing by people just like us, as they say, all of us in this together, standing up and pooling our resources, and sharing what we know for free. Because it is important.

 read more »

Once upon a time the economy of the Lake Huron shoreline was so renouned for its copper, legends say St. Brennan himself may have come as far as Collingwood to find it. Today the easy-access copper is largely gone, as too the rich veins of cobalt, the iron and nickel, all squeezed out of the rock and pressed into the wires, cars, buildings and toys all around us. But what of the emergine 3rd world, of the rising middle class of consumers in India and China, where will they find the mineral resources?

 read more »

We've had some very invigorating discussions here lately, and I'm just beside myself with joy that it's happening here in the open 'net. Thank you all for all your contributions!

While I'm not really privy to a lot of solid base information one way or the other, Dodge recently raised a side-line point where I am, or was, deeply involved: The Future of Work.

in comments to Special Committee Meeting Dodge wrote ...
It seemed a bit of a paradox that there was such a local lobby for a wonderful school that would be supported with education taxes from cottagers who would never use the facility ...
The people who are buying properties here tend to have had their families. Retirees or folks within a decade of retiring don't need the school system ...
The next generation go to school where their parents live not near the family cottage. There are residents with families too and probably a growing cohort as work increases at The Point. Properties at Sauble are in good supply. Jaymor has approved plans for a subdivision that can go ahead. You are right the Board has too many classrooms and good money was wasted. We paid for a mistake of listening to promoters who were not good planners.

Or were we being smart ... in spite of ourselves?

We err in our judgement if we think every family who lives in a place like this must choose between low-paying tourism support roles, farm-hands and retail, the quarries, the trades or The Point. Sure there are some jobs there, but as a vital economic foundation, the statistics on the modern workplace no longer support that smoke-stack world-view.

 read more »

Following up on Mayor Noble's campaign comments on the Town having to pay back up to $350,000 in tax dollars in 2007 - just read and weep (that is if you're not a camper).....

Judge's Ruling Aids Canadian Campgrounds Trailers no longer considered "campground property" for purposes of property assesment taxes
(Source: November 7, 2006 Woodalls.biz)

A judge's ruling that trailers can't be assessed as part of campground property is expected to produce tax rebates of about $50 million (Canadian) across Ontario, Canada, for camp operators. According to the London Free Press, Ontario, the Superior Court of Justice ruled the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) acted unlawfully by assessing trailers as land in the case of Sauble Beach campground Carsons' Camp Ltd.

The decision, hailed by winning lawyer Peter Fallis of Durham as "bullet-proof" from appeal, is expected to apply to more than 1,000 private campgrounds around Ontario. They saw their assessments skyrocket in 2003 when MPAC decided to include seasonal trailers on private campgrounds in the calculation of property assessment upon which taxes are based.

The court ordered repayment of the taxes, plus interest, which across Ontario stands at about $50 million, said Murray Lembke of Ayton, chairperson of the RV Action Group.

"All you can tax is the land," said Fallis of the bottom line on the decision. MPAC had insisted trailers on the land were to be included in property assessments. "The government (MPAC) acted without the power of the legislature," he said.

 read more »

I'm not sure if this is political news, or just good advice in general, but the long and short of it is a new paper by NYU mathematicians who have methodically set out the recipies for truly fair ways to carve a cake:

a new 2-person surplus procedure (SP), which induces the players to be truthful in order to maximize their minimum allocations, leads to a proportionally equitable division of the surplus -- the part that remains after each player receives 50% -- by giving each person exactly the same proportion of the surplus as he or she values it.
For n > 2 persons, a new equitable procedure (EP) yields a maximally equitable division of a cake. This division gives all players the highest common value that they can achieve and induces truthfulness, but it may not be envy-free. The applicability of SP and EP to the fair division of a heterogeneous, divisible good, like land, is briefly discussed.
[ via Better Ways to Cut a Cake ]

Yes, it is typically academically dense and opaque, but vital conflict resolution fare nonetheless. If you'd really rather the executive summary, you can read the English Version here.

From today's TorStar, a sobering vision of our future glanced across my googling this aft, a snippet of a larger article on the terraforming of the once-rustic natural beauty of Port Severn brings us a side comment on the matter of fact of our own beachland future:

The [Richmond Hill-based Jaymor Group] real estate investment company, which owns 3,600 rental units, including oceanfront condos in Florida and North Carolina, has also purchased 480 lots in Sauble Beach.

[ via TheStar.com - Small and rustic may soon be large and luxurious ]

That's a lot of lots. Over in Port Severn it's translating into "60 or 80 condos with four or five storeys, a Muskoka kind of look" said to not just suit the retiring boomer crowd, but also their now-adult younsters who are also outward bound to the boonies.