Stifling heat sparks concerns in Toronto-area schools without AC

A Mississauga parent is keeping her two children home until Wednesday because of high temperatures in their classrooms.

Mariola Fik-Izydor said when she picked up her daughter from St. Basil Catholic Elementary School last Thursday, she noticed the child had developed a heat rash on her chest and back. She then attended the school's barbecue that night and experienced the warm conditions for herself.

"It was already really hot and not comfortable at all. I couldn't even imagine how bad it was during the day," she said.

In Brampton on Monday, a second-floor classroom in a elementary school reached a temperature of 30.2 C before 11 a.m. Matthew Jackson, president of the Peel Elementary Teachers' Local, said the heat in the room was stifling.

A heat warning was issued on Monday by Environment Canada for Southern Ontario, as temperatures were expected to be in the low 30s with humidex reaching 40.

"It's hard to keep the kids engaged. They wilt as much as we do, if not more," Mr. Jackson said.

"You're trying to teach them a curriculum at the same time as you're trying to make sure that no one is dehydrated and at risk of any health concerns," he said.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) issued a news release on Monday asking the provincial government to address "unbearable conditions" in classrooms without air conditioning.

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"Schools found themselves in the same situation one year ago. Our changing climate is sending a strong message that the Ministry of Education needs to take action. Too much student learning will be lost the longer the Ministry delays," ETFO president Sam Hammond said in the statement.

The release asked the province to act on the motions the ETFO made at its annual meeting in August: ensuring all schools have plans to cope with heat, setting an indoor temperature limit and supplying all elementary schools with a form of air conditioning.

"We understand the concerns that have been raised by students, parents and teachers with regard to the impact that this warm weather is having in the classroom. We fully recognize that when the classroom is too hot, it can make it uncomfortable for staff and students," said Richard Francella, spokesman for Education Minister Mitzie Hunter.

"That's why, starting this year, we're providing schools across Ontario with an additional $1.4-billion so they can make investments in building upgrades such as air conditioning," he said. This investment was first announced in June.

"We want local school boards to have the autonomy and flexibility to be able to use this money on local needs as they see fit."

The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act doesn't currently include a maximum temperature acceptable in the workplace.

In the Peel District School Board, there are seven elementary schools without any air conditioning; 167 Peel elementary schools have air conditioning in some areas of the building and 34 are cooled completely.

Twenty-seven Peel secondary-school buildings have full air conditioning; 11 have air conditioning in some areas of the school.

A weather plan outlines how to cope with a heatwave, and has been reissued to Peel schools, Mr. Jackson said.

In Toronto, similar guidelines exist for staff, said Ryan Bird, spokesman for the Toronto District School Board, where out of 584 schools in the board, only 125 are fully air conditioned.

Protocols for schools in both boards with partial or no air conditioning include closing blinds, using fans and turning off lights. Where possible, students will relocate or cycle through to cooler areas in schools. Strenuous gym activities may be reduced and schools may decide to reduce time outside in cases of extreme heat.

"We do our very best to keep people as cool as possible. We do know it's going to be hot, but we try to minimize it wherever we can given the circumstances," Mr. Bird said.

Over the next five to seven years, the TDSB has plans to cool large areas, such as a gym or library, in schools that do not have full air conditioning, so students can access them on hot days.

Mr. Bird said the cost to install complete air conditioning in all schools currently without it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, not including maintenance and operation costs.

Andy Lomnicki, president of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto union, said that if the government heeds its own education from the community and union, they'll see the need to invest further into school facilities including air conditioning.

"In a few weeks or months we'll have the same conversation about heating. People aren't looking at a five-year solution being helpful or realistic. I think we have to start getting our heads around making that more immediate," Mr. Lomnicki said.

"There's no magic answer for that. It's got to be through funding."

Superior Propane Acquires Canwest Propane

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Sept. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Superior Propane has completed the acquisition of Gibson Energy's retail propane business Canwest Propane, which includes Stittco Energy. The transaction was subject to completion of closing conditions including regulatory approvals, which have now been obtained.

Together with Canwest, Superior Propane will be the largest propane distributor in Canada with approximately 200,000 customers, 1,700 employees across Canada and more than 250 combined distribution locations to efficiently service customers.

"I am excited to officially welcome Canwest, its people and its partners to the Superior Propane family. The combination of these two Canadian propane companies creates a strong platform and reflects the hard work and contributions of many employees from both organizations," said Greg McCamus, President of Superior Propane. "We look forward to implementing our industry leading digital strategy to provide Canwest's customers with an improved service offering to enhance the great customer service previously provided by Canwest."

In addition to digital innovations like SMART Tank™ sensors and mySUPERIOR online tools, the combined business will provide significant benefits to customers such as a greater distribution footprint and security of supply as well as more access to complete propane solutions and industry expertise.

Integration activities will commence immediately, however, most of the work will be completed after the upcoming winter heating season in order to minimize disruption for the businesses and respective customers. As part of Superior's integration plans, a new Western Operations Centre will be established to support the combined business and customer base. Until then, both companies will continue serving customers from existing locations. There are no planned changes for Stittco's brand or operations.

About Superior PropaneSuperior Propane is Canada's only national provider of portable fuels, equipment and service delivered locally to residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial customers in over 10,000 communities nationwide. In business since 1951, Superior is headquartered in Mississauga, ON and is part of the Energy Distribution division of Superior Plus Corp. Superior Propane employs more than 1,000 Canadians and delivers over 1.2 billion litres of propane annually.

Mississauga councillor combats scorching temperatures in apartments

Coun. Carolyn Parrish plans to bring forward a motion during Wednesday’s council meeting to address landlords turning on the heat in Mississauga apartment buildings.

The move comes in the wake of apartment tenants across the Greater Toronto Area facing scorching temperatures in their units. Citing municipal bylaw requirements, landlords turned on the heat in spite of temperatures reaching as high as 31 C during September’s unprecedented heat wave.

“We have been sweltering,” said Betty Godzwon, tenant of a Bromsgrove Road apartment building in Mississauga, adding her apartment is reading 35 C.

Tenants of a Darcel Avenue apartment building in Mississauga are also dealing with the heat blasting in their units, relying on fans and outdoor pools to keep cool.

Property manager of the Darcel Avenue building, Q Residential, claim they are following the city’s bylaw to provide adequate heating in buildings by mid-September.

“It’s a bylaw issue, not a landlord issue,” said Lorne Stephenson, corporate affairs for Q Residential. “Councillors should be dealing with it.”

“That’s a totally ridiculous comment,” said Parrish. “The bylaw addresses a need for heat and in no way suggests a sensible management with even half a brain has to turn heat on in 40 degree C weather.”

The bylaw states landlords must provide “adequate and suitable heat” of 20 C between Sept. 15 and June 1. City staff confirmed there is no requirement that the heat be on; only that the landlord provide adequate and suitable heat to keep the unit at 20 C.

The Ward 5 councillor’s motion requests that the city bylaw be updated to delay landlords blasting the heat in apartment units until Oct. 1, and ensure air conditioning is provided by May 15.

“Those buildings charge more for rent to provide heat and air centrally and there’s an expectation that the temperatures dictate when the conversion occurs,” she said.

Stephenson told the News it takes several days for the HVAC system to be switched from heat to air conditioning. When complaints started to trickle in last week, the company approved the switch and as of Monday, the air conditioning was fully operational.

“We just want to understand what’s being asked of us (by the city) so we can comply,” noted Stephenson.

City council will debate the motion at the Sept. 26 meeting.

House Prices Fall Again in Mississauga and Beyond

Anyone who's been house hunting (or just anxiously keeping track of real estate prices from afar) knows that houses aren't cheap.

That said, they aren't quite as bad as they were earlier in the year.

A recent report by Better Dwelling revealed that Canadian real estate prices have fallen for the third month in a row. The report notes that Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) numbers show 2017 is the first-time in years we've seen national prices decline.

CREA says that markets that made the largest gains over the past year, are seeing the largest monthly drops (which is good news for Mississauga buyers and somewhat disappointing news for sellers looking to downsize and/or move to municipalities with more affordable houses). At the same time, cities that did not boom over the past year are starting to see prices inch higher.

To be clear, house prices are not down year-over-year (so there's no arguing that that detached house wasn't slightly more affordable in September 2016). Instead, they are falling month-over-month, a trend that hit Ontario in the spring after the provincial government announced a few price cooling measures (namely a proposed 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers and speculators) and is seemingly persisting into the fall.

According to the report, the aggregate price across all of CREA is down from the month before, but still in positive territory. The aggregate benchmark price (meaning the price of a typical home) across the country's urban centres reached $602,400—a 0.77 per cent decline from the month before.

That said, this represents an 11.25 per cent increase when compared to the same time last year. The report notes that the last time aggregate home prices saw a monthly drop was in 2013. In 2017, price declines have been observed three months in a row. To be clear, this doesn't necessarily imply a "crash" is happening. Most experts believe that the market is, if anything, coming back into balance after intense and unprecedented climbs.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) for us, the largest price drops have been observed in Toronto and Southern Ontario. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), detached houses in the 905 were selling for $906,592 in August (slightly down from $910,348 in the previous month). Semi-detached homes were selling for $635,669 (slightly down from $636,844), townhouses for $582,953 (a little up from $581,541) and condos for $416,081 (a tiny bit down from $418,191).

CREA says Toronto saw the composite benchmark price reach $755,400 in August, a 2.28 per cent decline from the month before. Guelph (a city some GTA residents are eyeing more and more) saw the benchmark drop to $411,600 in August, a 1.98 per cent decline from the month before.

Where are prices climbing in Canada?

CREA says the largest monthly price increases were in the prairie province of Saskatchewan. Saskatoon saw the composite benchmark drop to $316,700 in August, a 2.29 per cent increase from the month before (although this represents a 0.28 per cent decline from the same time last year).

"Real estate markets across Canada are cooling down, coming off of a record year. Multi-month prices drops are never great, but prices rose so high, they have a little room for consolidation," the report reads. "Although now a price drop of only 10 per cent would drop prices back to last year. Just a 17 per cent decline would wipe out the greatest real estate boom in Canadian real estate history."

Grade 4 kids left without a classroom

A French catholic elementary school in Mississauga is being forced to use their library as a makeshift classroom after the city refused to send an inspector for final review of two brand new portables.

“It’s disappointing to hear that sometimes they’re eating lunch on a milk crate or on a bench, instead of a table where they can get their lunch out properly”, says Tracy Neil, a concerned parent.

Her son is among the 45 grade four students at ÉÉC Saint-Jean-Baptiste who have to hit the books in the library.

The school has grown by over 50% over the past 4 years and just installed 2 brand new portables over the summer – fully set up with new desks, air conditioning and a smart board.

However, the city can’t send an inspector for final review until it receives the proper documentation and permits from the French Catholic school board Mon Avenir.

“As soon as they submit the proper documentation, the city will do everything that they can to fast track this” says local Coun. Matt Mahoney.

“I’ve committed to that as well, we want to get them in those classrooms where they belong”

CityNews contacted Andre Blais, Director of Education and the Secretary for the French Catholic school board Mon Avenir. He says he’s been in contact with Coun. Mahoney and is working on the matter saying he hopes to get at least temporary permits for the school.

“I’m not going to play the name game…we were under the impression that everything was properly submitted”

However, it turns out there were 2 outstanding issues – certain sections of the plan weren’t properly legible and there was an issue with the parking lines.

In the meantime, the school’s principal is trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

“My number one priority is to make sure the kids are safe and learning” said Vicky Marcotte.

It isn’t the first time this has happened at the school. A similar scenario took place two years ago, when students were attending class in the library till December.

Parents and teachers are hopeful this matter won’t take nearly that long and that it will be resolved soon.