COMMUNITY NEWS

Supporting Go Transit

As the County of Brant is expected to grow to a minimum population of 59,000 by 2051, the need for more transit options is quite clear Councillor Lukas Oakley put forth a resolution to send a letter of support for the City of Brantford’s proposal for Go Rail expansion to Brantford. The City of Brantford recently petitioned the provincial government to expand Go service to Brantford, giving area residents a closer option than the current Aldershot station. The County’s letter will be sent to Minister of Transportation MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria and shared with MPP Will Bouma, MPP Brian Riddell, MPP Ernie Hardeman and Premier Doug Ford.

Shortterm Rentallicensing Proposalturned Down

A recommendation to County staff to create a licensing system for short term rentals, in a bid to control the number of units on the short-term rental market was defeated at council.

Councillor Lukas Oakley put forward the recommendation, citing short term rentals make housing units unavailable for long term rentals, thus increasing the scarcity of long-term units. So, to shrink and control the short-term rental market, a licensing system that limits the number of short-term rentals and charges a licensing fee, plus a municipal accommodation tax, was suggested. Money from the licensing fee and tax would be contributed towards the county’s affordable housing fund.

Councillors Lukas Oakley, Jennifer Kyle, Steve Howes, Christine Garneau and John MacAlpine voted in favour. Councillors John Bell, John Peirce, Robert Chambers, David Miller, Brian Coleman and Mayor David Bailey defeated the recommendation.

DECLARATION OF GENDER-BASEDAND

The County of Brant Council declared Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) an epidemic in the County of Brant, following suit with more than 72 regions across Ontario As a result, Brant is lobbying the provincial and federal governments to also declare it an epidemic and enact the additional 85 recommendations from the inquest into the 2015 murders of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam in Renfrew County, Ontario, which provide a roadmap to preventing intimate partner violence from escalating to femicide. The County of Brant also wants provincial and federal governments to provide the necessary support to municipalities, regions and their emergency and social services to address the epidemic. County staff has been directed to complete a Community IPV Action Plan, which should include an awareness campaign and consider funding a dedicated rural outreach worker through Nova Vita, and bring a report back to council before the end of the year for possible inclusions to be considered for the 2024 budget.

This declaration follows more alarming data in Brant. Nova Vita answered over 4,500 crisis and support calls in 2022 and in the same year 648 women who were seeking safe shelter from family violence were turned away because the shelters had no bed space. The County of Brant OPP reported that as of September 2023, year-to-date domestic violence calls have increased by 4 3%