Region of Waterloo looks to change bylaw that could see Kitchener encampment residents out by April 1
The Region of Waterloo is looking to make some amendments to a bylaw it passed last spring regarding a homeless encampment on 100 Victoria St. N. in Kitchener. A public input meeting regarding the bylaw...
#homelessness #bylaw #encampment #Kitchener #RegionofWaterloo
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/region-of-waterloo-by-law-changes-victoria-street-encampment-9.7033655?cmp=rss
#RegionofWaterloo
WR RELEASES BUDGET FOR 2026
In November, the Region of Waterloo released its 2026 preliminary budget plan, which includes major allocations for local initiatives such as the Ending Veteran Homelessness Initiative and a tree-planting project by the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).
The budget lists federal grants among its revenue sources—a sign that recent funding from Ottawa may help support key projects in the region.
The 2026 budget draft proposes a 4.94 per cent increase in the regional tax levy, which would add around $96 per year to the average homeowner’s bill.
Meanwhile, the City of Kitchener’s draft budget includes a 2.2 per cent property tax increase, plus utility rate hikes, bringing the total estimated impact for the average household to $117. These increases reflect rising operational costs across housing and homelessness services, transit, infrastructure maintenance and other essential programs.
In 2025, the region spent $165.2 million on social housing and homelessness initiatives. Across 2024, total spending on affordable housing and homelessness programs reached $245 million, with roughly 23 per cent specifically dedicated to shelters and supportive housing. Without federal and provincial transfers, the Region of Waterloo warns that maintaining current service levels could require even higher taxes or cuts to critical programs.
“Federal and municipal programs play a critical role in supporting housing and food security locally,” Ke Cao, assistant professor of Strategic Management at Wilfrid Laurier University, said.
Cao also believes that only the governments can address the crisis we are facing.
“I teach in business school, and I told my students that the role of government is very important because it handles the business of the whole society,” he said.
The federal funding announced this year helps relieve some of this financial pressure. The contributions support the Ending Veteran Homelessness Initiative, addressing the gap in local housing services by providing support for veterans, along with other homelessness-response programs.
This funding helps sustain shelters, outreach teams, and supportive housing while reducing strain on municipal budgets. Additional funds support long-term initiatives such as environmental and infrastructure projects, including the WRDSB’s tree-planting program, which contributes to urban canopy growth and climate resilience.
According to the preliminary budget, the region plans to increase their spending in 2026 by $11.7 million for housing services and $2.7 million for homelessness-related programs. These increases reflect rising costs for housing and homelessness services, transit, infrastructure and other essential programs. Municipal leaders also welcomed federal contributions, noting that without them, residents would face significantly higher tax burdens and essential services could be reduced.
“We’re happy to see the $6 billion over 10 years through the Direct Delivery Stream to support regionally significant projects,” Dorothy McCabe, mayor of Waterloo, said.
In a 2024 public statement, McCabe warned that Waterloo is under structural financial pressure and stressed the need for stable, predictable funding instead of one-time grants to support long-term municipal priorities.
Advocates, including the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, repeatedly called on Ottawa to expand multi-year funding streams to help municipalities meet growing demands without overburdening residents.
Federal support combined with municipal budgeting decisions will determine whether services keep pace with community needs or whether tax increases and service pressures continue to rise.
Although the latest funding provides relief to the Waterloo region community, regional leaders explained that ongoing collaboration between federal, provincial and municipal governments will be essential to sustain programs, stabilize communities and advance long-term priorities such as housing affordability and environmental resilience.
The Waterloo Region’s annual budget process began on Oct. 22, and regional council plans to review the final 2026 budget on Dec. 16. For more information regarding the preliminary 2026 budgets, visit the Region of Waterloo’s Budget and Financial Statements page.
#2026 #Budget2026 #canadianMunicipalities #CityOfKitchener #directDeliveryStream #DorothyMcCabe #endingVeteranHomelessness #EndingVeteranHomelessnessInitiative #FederationOfCanadianMunicipalities #KeCao #localPolitics #municipality #preliminaryBudget #RegionOfWaterloo #SangjunHan #strategicManagement #waterloo #WaterlooRegionDistrictSchoolBoard #wilfridLaurierUniversity #WRDSB
ONTARIO WASTE COLLECTION CHANGES
On Nov. 4, 2025, Circular Materials released new details on the changes to curbside recycling in Waterloo Region. Circular Materials is the national not-for-profit which took over responsibility for managing recycling in the province in March 2024.
The changes are part of Ontario’s new recycling regulation that moves recycling programs to an extended producer responsibility (EPR) model. The new recycling program officially starts on Jan. 1, 2026 and is funded and operated by producers of packaging and paper products.
“The program takes the costs of and operational responsibility for blue box recycling away from taxpayers and municipalities. This means that residents will no longer be paying for recycling services as this cost will be borne by producers,” Jennifer Kerr, Director of Community and Media Relations at Circular Materials, said.
Under current recycling programs, each municipality decides what materials can be placed in blue bins. The change introduces a unified materials list that is the same across the province.
The new list includes previously unaccepted items, including hot and cold beverage cups, toothpaste tubes, black plastic containers and frozen juice containers. The complete list of materials is available on the Circular Materials website.
“The unified material list and new materials included are a great example of how extended producer responsibility advances innovation and improves environmental outcomes,” Kerr said.
March 2026 brings additional changes to curbside recycling. Recycling collection will shift to a bi-weekly, four-day schedule running Tuesday to Friday. To accommodate the change, Circular Materials is delivering two additional blue boxes to residents starting in January 2026.
“The new bi-weekly recycling schedule will alternate with the new bi-weekly garbage and organics collection schedule which is managed by the Region of Waterloo,” Kerr said.
While Circular Materials manages the program, each community is serviced by a different collection contractor. Miller Waste currently provides curbside collection in Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo.
Starting on Mar. 3, 2026, Miller Waste will provide collection service across all Waterloo Region communities, including North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich. Contact information for local collection services, along with the most up-to-date recycling details, is available at circularmaterials.ca/waterlooregion.
The move from municipally operated programs to a province-wide program is a major change. Kerr said the feedback from residents has mainly been on clarifying what the changes are.
“We appreciate residents’ and communities’ continued engagement and participation in recycling through this transition. Resident participation is vital to increasing recycling rates and advancing a more sustainable future,” Kerr said.
#AlexKinsella #Cambridge #CircularMaterials #jenniferKerr #kitchener #millerWaste #NorthDumfries #recycling #RegionOfWaterloo #waterloo #waterlooRegion #Wellesley #Wilmot #Woolwich
Measles clinics offered to 'priority' groups by Region of Waterloo Public Health as outbreak worsens
Region of Waterloo Public Health will offer measles vaccination clinics to priority groups. It comes after the province has expanded eligibility for the vaccine and as cases continue to rise.
#health #disease #outbreak #vaccine #RegionofWaterloo #News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/measles-clinics-region-of-waterloo-public-health-expanded-eligibility-1.7543766?cmp=rss
7.6: Abundance, Inclusion, Resilience: The One Million Neighbours Project with Sam Nabi
This episode, Ariel speaks to Sam Nabi about One Million Neighbours, a project bringing together the voices of local non-profits that envisions the future of Waterloo Region once the population has reached one million. Sam discusses the impetus for the project, providing a voice for the voiceless, the issue with grant applications, funding the future, being proactive instead of reactive to harsh policies, and much more. What might an abundant, inclusive, resilient (Ariel says: solarpunk) city look like on the human level? Who lives there, what do they value, and what are their daily lives like? And what does it look like to take action now at the regional/municipal level to ensure that utopian vision?
#solarpunk #SolarpunkPresentsPodcast #Episode #SeasonSeven #podcast #interview #OneMillionNeighbours @samnabi @dtkmelissa #VisionOneMillion #HoldTheLineWR #Nonprofits #neighbours #Waterloo #RegionOfWaterloo #Kitchener #KW #UrbanPlanning #transit #PublicSpaces
Today is Victoria Day in Canada, a national holiday, so I briefly considered waiting to post this until Tuesday but screw colonial measures of time; #notmyqueen lol
7.4: Enhancing the local values chain with community gardens feat. Doug Jones
In this episode, Ariel interviews Doug Jones from Waterloo Region Community Garden Network, and he discusses about how the Network was started, what it does, and the benefits of gardening for the health and wellbeing not only for you but for your entire community. We discuss gleaning, food insecurity, access to land, and much more; this is an episode you’re going to want to listen to, especially if rising cost of food and food security are concerns for you these days.
I (Ariel) have included some links to the local organizations he mentions, as well as some that expand on some of the topics we discussed, which you can check out in the YouTube description or on our blog.
#SolarPunk #SolarpunkPresentsPodcast #podcast #food #FoodProduction #LandAccess #CommunityGardens #CommunityGardening #FoodSecurity #Ontario #Canada #RegionOfWaterloo
In 3rd week of strike, union says Region of Waterloo 'continues to move the goalposts' on negotiations
Outside workers represented by CUPE remain on strike for a third week and they say they've offered a "fair" proposal to the Region of Waterloo but it was rejected. The region says on its website that it remains...
#labor #negotiation #strike #RegionofWaterloo #News #Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/week-three-region-waterloo-cupe-outside-workers-strike-1.7485868?cmp=rss
Regional council appoints runner-up Matt Rodrigues to fill vacant seat
Matt Rodrigues has been chosen to fill the vacant Region of Waterloo council seat. Rodrigues was the first runner-up in the 2022 municipal election.
#election #politics #government #RegionofWaterloo #News #Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-region-vacant-council-seat-matt-rodrigues-appointed-1.7474253?cmp=rss
Region of Waterloo workers on strike this morning
Region of Waterloo workers with CUPE local 1656 went on strike as of 12:01 Monday March 3.
#labor #strike #union #RegionofWaterloo #News #Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/region-of-waterloo-workers-on-strike-this-morning-1.7472881?cmp=rss
Region of Waterloo council approves 9.48% property tax hike in 2025
Region of Waterloo councillors have approved a $2.4 billion 2025 operating and capital budget.
#tax #budget #RegionofWaterloo #News #Canada #KitchenerWaterloo
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-region-2025-property-tax-increase-budget-1.7416605?cmp=rss
KITCHENER PAUSES AUTOMATED SPEED ENFORCEMENT CAMERA PROGRAM
On Oct. 28, 2024, the City of Kitchener paused the Region of Waterloo’s automated speed enforcement camera program until they could negotiate on certain aspects of the plan.
In 2021, the Region of Waterloo installed speed cameras in eight school zones.
“We started with just a few to see how it would go because we have a problem with speeding in many of the school zones,” Kari Williams, regional councillor for the City of Kitchener, said.
The speed enforcement cameras promote road safety by encouraging vehicles to travel at lower speeds at community hubs around school locations. The Region of Waterloo operates municipal speed cameras on regional and municipal roadways and installs them on behalf of some of the cities and communities in the region.
During a Kitchener council meeting on Oct 28, the councillors discussed the fines associated with the program.
“One of the issues was when we looked at this program in conjunction with the region. One of the things that we learned about was that fees will double,” Bil Ioannidis, councillor for Ward 7 in the City of Kitchener, said.
He said the Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener didn’t consult with Kitchener residents about this topic to help them form informed opinions. According to the Ontario Provincial Act, the newly implemented Municipal Speed Camera program must double its fines compared to current rates. Because of this, The City of Kitchener council is hesitant to continue the program.
“Because of economic times, such as we are experiencing now, we don’t feel residents get the message of the speeding when they get the fine on the normal rate with the province’s price range,” Ioannidis said.
“We feel like when they’re doubling the fines, it’s just a money grab,” he said.
Williams also said Kitchener had done a lot to physically put in infrastructure that would reduce speed in many areas.
“Cameras may not be effective in some instances,” she said.
Although the program is currently paused, they have no intention of cancelling it.
“We want to have a project. We want to make sure we can dictate the terms of service that we feel Kitchener residents will accept,” Ioannidis said.
“If the community doesn’t like these cameras, we’re going to get a lot of pullback, and the system won’t work,” he said.
Ioannidis wants to ensure that the community will agree with the terms of the program before continuing it.
Instead of the 24/7 surveillance and the expensive fines proposed by the Region of Waterloo, the City of Kitchener wants to implement a time limit for the cameras and install them in other locations where they would have greater use, such as areas with high collision rates and places requiring more traffic and pedestrian safety.
The City of Kitchener said although they are pausing the program they still want to implement it. They just do not like the terms and conditions proposed by the region for the speed camera program.
“We also never signed any agreements with the region or anything that involves revenue sharing,” Ioannidis said.
“I don’t believe in having a system like this. I believe in a system where the pay revenue is neutral,” Ioannidis said. “I prefer not to have a system where it makes money.”
Williams said the region focused on doubling the fines because of their focus on administrative penalties and the fines people will receive for speeding in the area.
“But we don’t have any control over that. That is the province that tells you what the fines are and what the schedule is,” she said.
Ioannidis said the City of Kitchener will continue to work with the region until they can make acceptable decisions about the program.
“The City is in favour of speed cameras, but some technical aspects get in the way,” Williams said.
The City of Kitchener is planning to look into their speed enforcement camera system. They also seek a third-party operator to help them with the camera system.
#BilIoannidis #KariWilliams #MunicipalSpeedCameraProgram #RegionOfWaterloo #regionalCouncil #SangjunHan #SangjunHanPhoto #waterlooRegion
An interesting new option (if you are flying Air Canada) is to take their bus from the regional airport to Pearson. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/routes-and-partners/landline.html
Volkstrauertag ceremony to honour the dead of the Two World Wars at Woodland Cemetery Kitchener #Volkstrauertag #LestWeForget #Germany #Kitchener #WWI #WWII #RegionofWaterloo #journalism #journalist #politics #Canada #Ontaeio #ceremony https://youtu.be/96jcR_8sLbA?si=ch5-zWJWs_rDJ7cn
Link to the petition for women’s shelters in Waterloo Region. There are currently zero shelters for homeless women in Waterloo Region according to a recent article by Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa
Please consider signing the petition if you live in the Waterloo area.
Another question for #RegionofWaterloo Council: if "[the destruction of the corn crop] appears to conflict with the goals in the Province's Grow Ontario: a provincial agri-food strategy," as stated in the motion, wouldn't the elimination of all future farming on this land also be in conflict with the Province's Grow Ontario strategy?
One of my questions for #RegionofWaterloo Council: if "[the destruction of the corn crop] appears to be in direct contradiction to the Region of Waterloo's Strategic Plan 2023-2027 Growing with Care vision," as stated in this motion, wouldn't the elimination of all future crops on this land also be in contradiction with the Growing with Care vision?
On Tuesday, August 13, the Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Development Committee of the #RegionofWaterloo Council approved a motion calling for a report on its role in destroying a corn crop on one of the farms in the Wilmot land assembly. The motion was not published in the agenda, and is only available on a video stream of the meeting. I've placed the text of this motion in the following document for ease of reference by advocates on this issue: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nKiB_6pZi25Jk0Jb1hV-FZ0hZujElcTlBcKt2QWrI4c/pub
Absolutely hypocritical of the Region of Waterloo Council to be aghast at the loss of a single year of crops, when their own support of the Wilmot land assembly has guaranteed that nothing will grow on this land ever again. This shows a complete lack of sincerity on the part of Council, and if they were seriously concerned about the loss of crops they would stop the #Wilmot land assembly and re-commit to protecting the Countryside Line. #RegionofWaterloo
WILMOT RESIDENTS FEEL BLINDSIDED WITH SALE OF FARMLAND
https://communityedition.ca/wilmot-residents-feel-blindsided-with-sale-of-farmland/
#AdrianQuijano #AlfredLowrick #DougFord #farmland #FightForFarmland #KarenRedman #MarkReusser #RegionOfWaterloo #regionalCouncil #WaterlooFederationOfAgriculture #waterlooRegion #WaterlooRegionalCouncil #Wilmot #WilmotLandowners
CAMBRIDGE RESIDENTS SPEAK ON PROPOSED BIKE LANES
https://communityedition.ca/cambridge-residents-speak-on-proposed-bike-lanes/
#bike #bikeLanes #Cambridge #KatarinaWex #RegionOfWaterloo #SangjunHan #waterlooRegion
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