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yorkregion.com Three people, including a 17-year-old male from Georgina, have been charged with human trafficking after York Regional Police responded to a 911 call from a victim in Georgina. Police received a 911 call March 12 from a female being held against her will at an unknown location for the purpose of prostitution. Officers were able to track down the location of the call and locate the victim. Three male suspects were arrested inside the residence and have been charged with several offences related to human trafficking, according to police. Contrary to common misperceptions that sex slaves are brought here from impoverished countries, 63 per cent of Ontario’s victims of human trafficking are Canadian citizens, says the organizer of a York Region awareness event on human trafficking. Females make up 90 per cent of victims, with 63 per cent ranging in age l See TRIO, page 2
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Steve Somerville/Metroland
Stephanie Jackson and Marianne Deeks mark their wrists with an ’X’, the symbol for the global End It Movement aimed at putting a stop to human trafficking.
NEWS
Region considering asking province for new taxing powers LISA QUEEN lqueen@yrmg.com
Steve Somerville/Metroland
York Region is contemplating new taxes and revenue sources.
If you already feel tax collectors have their hands in your wallet too much as it is, this won’t come as good news. York Region is looking at the possibility of asking the province to allow it to introduce new taxes, or "revenue tools," as bureaucrats and politicians prefer to call them. The region, which is talking to officials from other municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to see if they are in the same boat, is eyeing taxes Toronto is permitted to implement such as land transfer, vehicle registration, alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and billboard
dual challenge of servicing the tremendous amount of growth that we’re anticipating, and also making sure that our large and growing asset base (such as roads, water treatment facilities, social housing and paramedic services) is kept in a state of good repair so that we can do both those things in a financially sustainable way to continue to provide the kind of quality services that we provide to our residents." The region’s assets, not including land owned by the region, are now valued at $11 billion, Luo said. The region’s 10-year capital plan calls for $6.1 billion worth of investments, with more than 60 per cent required to accommodate growth.
taxes, Yi Luo, York’s manager of forecasting and policy, said. That is not to say council would choose to implement all those taxes, she said. At the moment, municipalities other than Toronto can only rely on property taxes, development charges on new growth, user rates such as water and wastewater fees and transit fares, and some minimal fines and penalties. A report outlining various fiscal pressures faced by the region and advocating for additional revenueraising powers is expected to come before councillors in April or May, Luo said. "The reason why we’re investigating the potential new revenue sources is that the region really faces the
The transportation master plan shows $22.1 billion is needed until 2041 for roads and transit infrastructure. "We’re basically only meeting a fraction of that need. When you look at the gap, it’s tremendous," Luo said. "Basically, what we’re saying is we’re a growing municipality, we have a large population. But when you look at the kind of tools we have to address these pressures, we have the same tools as a small town in Ontario. Our existing tools don’t have the capacity to allow us to address all of those problems." Council has made financially prudent decisions in l See REGION’S, page 2
NEWS
Yonge-Green Lane development headed toward OMB SIMON MARTIN smartin@yrmg.com The last corner to be developed at Yonge at Green Lane in East Gwillimbury appears headed toward the Ontario Municipal Board. The town clerk has received notice that Rice Commercial Group has filed an appeal to the OMB in regards to lands on the northwest corner. Rice Commercial Group came to council last year wanting to jump-start the process of developing the northwest corner. Its proposal would see a mix of commercial, high density, medium density and low density housing that would including 2,300 residential units. The only problem is
East Gwillimbury council didin’t appear interested until they were able to complete the ongoing Green Lane Secondary Plan. The town did give the Rice Group 60 days to try to change the region’s mind on the matter, but there was little appetite from council to move forward with the plan Rice presented so an OMB appeal seemed inevitable. The northeast corner of Yonge and Green Lane has the Lowe’s plaza, the southeast corner has SilverCity, the southwest corner has Costco and the northwest corner has a farm. It’s safe to say RCG has been waiting for some action on the corner for a long time. Back in 2012, RCG pre-
sented council with a plan that could include mixeduse retail and commercial, restaurants, hotels, pedestrian trails and a central community park for the area. Four years later in 2016, instead of waiting for the town’s secondary plan, Rice went forward and developed its own secondary plan for the area. That move didn’t sit well with the region, which wrote a letter to the town to say it cannot support the privately-initiated plan because it doesn’t fit with the comprehensive and collaborative manner the area should be planned with. While East Gwillimbury undertook site specific planning for the SilverCity
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Preliminary proposal from Rice Commercial Group for the last undeveloped corner of the Yonge Green Lane intersection.
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site many years ago, council said it wanted to have a secondary plan on Green Lane before hearing individual applications from developers. "We don’t want planning on a piecemeal basis," Coun. Tara Roy-DiClemente said. "We need to take a cohesive look at the whole stretch (of Green Lane)." Coun. James Young echoed that sentiment. "The whole thing needs to be looked at comprehensively," he said. In RCG’s secondary plan, the area would include 600 low density homes, 1,350 townhouses and 350 apartment units. The plan also forecasts
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