The Mississauga News: Low Canadian dollar costly for Mississauga budget

The Mississauga News: Low Canadian dollar costly for Mississauga budget

By Rachael Williams  |  November 30, 2015

Council Chambers at Mississauga City Hall. / Staff photo by Rob Beintema

The declining Canadian dollar is costing the city of Mississauga close to half-a-million dollars a year, according to its 2016 operating budget.

Felt predominantly in library services, the low Canadian dollar – now just $0.75 to the U.S. dollar – is having much more of an impact than budget committee members expected.

At Monday’s meeting, Mississauga’s library board presented its budget and business plan for next year, which included an increase of $427,000 to the collection materials budget to offset the impact of the U.S. exchange rate.

Fire and emergency services also took a hit of $5,000 for the purchase of parts from across the border.

This is in contrast to a November 23 budget presentation by CIBC economist Andrew Grantham, highlighting how Mississauga was “well-positioned” in the current national economic climate.

“You talk about the weaker dollar and the impact and potential there may be, but it’s having a huge impact on our own budget,” said Ward 9 councillor Pat Saito to Grantham.

According to city staff, 80 per cent of the library’s material comes from a U.S. publishing company. Only a small percentage of library material across Canada comes from local publishers.

“Through the tendering process we have established relationships with our vendors. Because of the size of the library system and size of expenditures, on some things we do receive discounts, but its not enough to offset the loss of buying power we would experience (if we waited until the dollar improved),” said Rose Vespa, director of library services.

Grantham said the impact to the budget, however, is minimal compared to the increase in business a low dollar brings in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI).  Although the growth isn’t coming from the manufacturing sector as predicted, more jobs are being created in related services, such as research and development.

“Just because the goods aren’t here doesn’t mean we won’t get a lift… Our labour is skilled enough to do the background work into the design of certain things that are being manufactured. And that’s where we could have a boost,” Grantham explained to the budget committee.

Two-thirds of the city’s population has a post-secondary education. The city ranks third in the country in life sciences, finance, insurance and real estate, employing a combined 89,000 people, and it attracts foreign investment from nearly 1,300 multinational firms.

Its geographical location doesn’t hurt either; Home to Toronto Pearson Airport, the city offers non-stop service to 180 destinations in 60 countries around the globe.

Despite Grantham’s positive predictions, the city continues to struggle to pay its bills.

Mississauga’s debt currently sits at $110 million, with an additional $37 million to be issued in 2016.

“We can do better,” said Ward 2 councillor Karen Ras, who ran on a platform of fiscal conservatism.

“We continue to try and find efficiencies, but having said that, we haven’t done service reviews in a few years. So there might be opportunities to look at to reduce the budget,” she told The News.

Ras wants to look into whether or not the city needs to be in the golf business. It currently operates BraeBen and Lakeview courses, with $90,000 allocated for maintenance and $175,000 for golf cart replacement.

“Maybe this is something a golf course management company can look at.”

She also pointed to the overlap between Peel Region services and city-run services. For instance, Safe City Mississauga, a registered charity that works with Peel Regional Police and the city to deliver programs and awareness campaigns, receives funding from both the Region and the city.

“What can we do to minimize those overlaps and duplication of services to the taxpayer, (it) only has to do it once,” said Ras.

The budget comes with a 2.6 per cent overall tax hike for residents, or $121 added to a property tax bill for a house valued at $535,000.

From: The Mississauga News

GatesNotes.com The Best Books I Read in 2015

GatesNotes.com The Best Books I Read in 2015

By Bill Gates  | December 7, 2015

I just looked over the list of books I read this year, and I noticed a pattern. A lot of them touch on a theme that I would call “how things work.” Some explain something about the physical world, like how steel and glass are used, or what it takes to get rid of deadly diseases. Others offer deep insights into human beings: our strengths and flaws, our capacity for lifelong growth, or the things we value. I didn’t set out to explore these themes intentionally, though in retrospect it make a lot of sense since the main reason I read is to learn.

Below the video are short reviews of some of the best books I read in 2015, in no particular order, with links to longer write-ups. As usual with my year-end lists (see 2013 and 2014), not all the books came out this year. I hope you find something to your liking. And feel free to share your own favorites in the comments section below.

The Road to Character, by David Brooks. The insightful New York Times columnist examines the contrasting values that motivate all of us. He argues that American society does a good job of cultivating the “résumé virtues” (the traits that lead to external success) but not our “eulogy virtues” (the traits that lead to internal peace of mind). Brooks profiles various historical figures who were paragons of character. I thought his portrait of World War II General George Marshall was especially enlightening. Even if the distinction between the two types of virtues is not always crystal clear, The Road to Character gave me a lot to think about. It is a thought-provoking look at what it means to live life well.

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, by Randall Munroe. The brain behind XKCD explains various subjects—from how smartphones work to what the U.S. Constitution says—using only the 1,000 most common words in the English language and blueprint-style diagrams. It is a brilliant concept, because if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t really understand it. Munroe, who worked on robotics at NASA, is an ideal person to take it on. The book is filled with helpful explanations and drawings of everything from a dishwasher to a nuclear power plant. And Munroe’s jokes are laugh-out-loud funny. This is a wonderful guide for curious minds.

Being Nixon: A Man Divided, by Evan Thomas. Former U.S. president Richard Nixon is often portrayed as little more than a crook and a war monger. So it was refreshing to see a more balanced account in Being Nixon, by author and journalist Evan Thomas. I wouldn’t call it a sympathetic portrait—in many ways, Nixon was a deeply unsympathetic person—but it is an empathetic one. Rather than just focusing on Nixon’s presidency, Thomas takes a cradle-to-the-grave approach and gives you sharp insights into the inner workings of a brilliant, flawed, and conflicted man.

Sustainable Materials With Both Eyes Open, by Julian M. Allwood, Jonathan M. Cullen, et al. How much can we reduce carbon emissions that come from making and using stuff? Quite a bit, according to the University of Cambridge team behind this book. They look closely at the materials that humans use most, with particular emphasis on steel and aluminum, and show how we could cut emissions by up to 50 percent without asking people to make big sacrifices. Although the topic can be dry as a desert, the authors keep it light with lots of colorful illustrations and clever analogies without sacrificing clarity or rigor. I learned a lot from this thoughtful look at a critical topic. (You can download it free on the authors’ site.)

Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever?, by Nancy Leys Stepan. Stepan’s history of eradication efforts gives you a good sense of how involved the work can get, how many different kinds of approaches have been tried without success, and how much we’ve learned from our failures. She writes in a fairly academic style that may make it hard for non-experts to get to her valuable arguments, but it’s worth the effort. You come away from it with a clearer sense of how we can use the lessons of the past to guide future efforts to save lives.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck. This book first came to my attention a few years ago during an invention session on education with my friend Nathan Myrhvold. It’s been an important influence on the foundation’s education work. Through clever research studies and engaging writing, Dweck illuminates how our beliefs about our capabilities exert tremendous influence on how we learn and which paths we take in life. The value of this book extends way beyond the world of education. It’s just as relevant for businesspeople who want to cultivate talent and for parents who want to raise their kids to thrive on challenge.

Honorable mention: I read one book this year that definitely deserves a spot on this list, but I haven’t had time to give it the full write-up it deserves. The Vital Question, by Nick Lane, is an amazing inquiry into the origins of life. I loved it so much that I immediately bought all of Lane’s other books. And I jumped at the chance to meet Lane and talk to him about his research last September, when both of us were in New York City. I’ll post more about his fascinating work when I get the chance.

From: GatesNotes.com

Crain's: To Address Income Inequality, Start with Libraries

To address income inequality, start with libraries
The city's additional investment this year has already paid off in myriad ways, according to a librarian in one of Brooklyn's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods

December 2, 2015

By Edwin Maxwell

This week, New York City’s three library systems testified before the City Council about how they are spending the significant increase in operating funds granted in the current budget. The underlying question is: Was this a wise investment?

I am a librarian in East New York, one of the highest-crime neighborhoods in New York City. Improving the quality of life in this community can seem like an impossible feat. Yet in less than a year, the infusion of city and private funds into our library branch has done just that. The past year has shown that funding for libraries is a down payment on fighting income inequality—a small investment with a major return, and one that we must continue to make.

Here in my end of Brooklyn, nearly 40% of children live in poverty. About three-quarters of households don’t earn enough to feed their families without food stamps. Our seniors struggle as well, with 39% living at or below the poverty level. There are no fewer than seven homeless shelters in our neighborhood.

When we look at these statistics, it’s clear that addressing poverty in our community is not simple. But public libraries have the ability to truly transform lives by serving people at all stages of their lives, in a variety of ways, for free.

At the New Lots branch in East New York, I see this every day. We lend books that open people’s minds and hearts. We help new immigrants become citizens and learn English. We assist people in finding jobs, getting health care, learning new technology skills, or simply connecting to the Internet if they can’t afford it at home. Seniors come here to find community, and children to read their first words. For teens, it’s not just a place to get homework help—it’s a safe space to escape the sometimes dangerous world outside our doors.

We are our community’s extended family. When a mother had to escape domestic violence and enter a homeless shelter last year, our library was there to help. We watch out for her kids while she’s at work. They are all engaged in age-appropriate programming at the library after school. She can be confident her children are in a safe, learning environment while she works to improve their situation.

Libraries are our city’s unsung heroes. We do a lot with a little—but we can do a lot more when given the resources we need, whether from the city budget or private benefactors. That’s why the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Charles H. Revson Foundation launched the NYC Neighborhood Library Awards, to recognize and reward public libraries for all they do to uplift their communities. Through December 18, New Yorkers can nominate their library for exceptional service, and the winning branches will each receive $20,000 to put back into library programs and upgrades.

I’m proud to say that our branch was one of last year’s winners—and even prouder to say that, with our $20,000, we provided much-needed resources to support our community. We turned our auditorium into a full-fledged community room, with a new screen, projector, speakers and chairs. Building off our successful investment and financial-literacy courses, we created an entrepreneurship series to empower teens.

We brought in more authors for free lectures, added programs to our adult-learning center, and offered more Storytime sessions to toddlers. We purchased shelves for the mini-collections that we set up in homeless shelters, schools and even barbershops around the neighborhood, so people have more access to our resources and another reason to stop by the branch.

What about the mayor and City Council’s increased investment in public libraries? Well, New Yorkers have already seen that investment pay off. At New Lots, we can now stay open seven days a week, meaning there is a safe, educational space available to our community every day. Libraries across the city are now open longer, so parents, students, and working people can visit on weekends and evenings. Libraries used the extra funding to hire more children’s librarians and other key staff. As a result, additional educational programming is now being offered to those who need it most.

But our work is never done—as crucial as this funding has been, we still have more demand for our services than we can meet.

There’s no single investment that city government or private philanthropies can make to address all the ills that plague our poorest communities. But the evidence clearly shows that funding public libraries is one of the smartest ways to tackle income inequality and create more opportunity for struggling New Yorkers. Let’s celebrate our public libraries by nominating the best of the best to win this year’s $20,000 award—and let’s continue to increase funding for these vital institutions as they work hard to serve our communities.

Source: Crain's New York