R I C H M O N D H I L L’ S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 8 7 8
The LIBERAL
$1 /28 PAGES
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
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yorkregion.com
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FREEZING NIGHT ON STREETS — LITERALLY? ARTS AND CULTURE
Aidan Aird of St. Brother Andre and Pauline Kashtelyan of Aurora High School are just two teens who were homeless last night and preparing to sleep on the streets, despite impending freezing rain conditions. Some 30 students pledged to participate in the 360 Kids Young Leaders Night on the Streets to raise money and awareness for the 300 youth across York Region on any given night without a place to sleep. They started their experience at 8 p.m. from the 360 Kids Home Base in Richmond Hill and headed to various locations round the region, accompanied by 360 Kids staff and volunteers. They returned to base at 6 a.m. this morning for a hot breakfast and to talk about the experience. For more, go to yorkregion.com and look for social media posts by the participants.
Heritage Village Fest cancelled; BIA suggests new July event
PAGE 3 ENVIRONMENT
Want to be ‘citizen scientist’ and help protect wildlife?
STAFF PHOTO/STEVE SOMERVILLE
Big-spending budget gets mixed reviews in York BY LISA QUEEN
lqueen@yrmg.com
PAGE 8
While the federal Liberals are trumpeting their first budget as an investment in Canadians’ futures, critics complain the financial document, at best, fails to deliver on key promises and, at worst, leads the country down the road to ruin. In his budget, called Growing the Middle Class, Finance Minister Bill Morneau laid out a spending spree that will see the government spend $11.9 billion on infrastructure, bring in a child benefit that will lift thousands of children out of poverty and help middle-income families, and kick-start the economy.
York Tories outspent campaign opponents, but few won seats
see page 12
But the budget also made a laughing stock of an election promise to keep the deficit at less than $10 billion. This year’s deficit will hit almost three times that benchmark at $29.4 billion. And while Morneau hopes to balance the books in five years, he didn’t put that in writing. The budget reflects the message Canadians have given the government to help families and make investments in the future, he said.
Precision Pricing & Value at Wilson niblett
“What we’re also going to do is be prudent along the way,” he said. Investments in infrastructure include $3.2 billion for public transit, with $2.41 billion of that coming to Ontario and Quebec, $2 billion for clean water and wastewater and $3.4 billion for social infrastructure, such as housing, child care and recreation facilities. But although $1.48 billion is earmarked for affordable housing, Richard Lyall, president of Vaughan-based Residential ConstructionCouncil of Ontario or RESCON, doesn’t think the funding will make much of a dent in the lack of affordable housing in York Region. See CITIES, page 10.
10675 Yonge st, richmond Hill, just south of elgin Mills
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