Fall Fair Season Underway, Richmond Fair Begins Sept. 19

By Goldie Ghamari, MPP for Carleton

The fair season for the summer and fall of 2024 got underway in the Carleton riding as the Capital Fair took place on the grounds of the Rideau Carleton Casino Future Hard Rock.

From its beginning in 1975 as the four-day, Gloucester Festival of Friends at the Earl Armstrong Arena, the Capital Fair has continually grown and evolved. In 1984, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food Dennis Timbrell granted the event Ontario Agricultural status, creating the Gloucester Fair.

As the fair outgrew its original location, it was moved to the Rideau Carleton Raceway in 1998. This year, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fair being hosted in the Carleton riding.

Upcoming Fall Fairs

There are two more fall fairs coming up within the Carleton riding.

The 180^th Richmond Fair takes place Sept. 19-22. It is one of Canada’s oldest and largest rural fairs, and is highlighted by the Richmond Fair Parade that runs every year from South Carleton High School, up McBean Street and ends at the Richmond Fairgrounds.

Two weeks later, the 168^th annual Metcalfe Fair takes place at the Metcalfe Fairgrounds. It runs from Oct. 3-6 and is generally the last fall fair of the season in Eastern Ontario.

Fall fairs and the agricultural societies that run them are an important part of the rural landscape, both in the Carleton riding and throughout the Province of Ontario.

Ontario Students Going Back-to-Basics with Fewer Distractions This Fall

The Ontario government is implementing the most comprehensive plan in Canada to restrict student use of cellphones and ban vaping in schools. By removing distractions, students can focus their attention on academic achievement, which will include modernized courses in business and career studies, and technological education.

The new provincewide measures are taking effect on September 1, 2024 to directly counter the alarming rise of vaping and cellphone distractions in schools. The new rules will help combat the negative impact mobile devices, social media and vaping are having on academic achievement, mental health and physical well-being.

The government is supporting the implementation of the new rules, including:

• supporting the expansion of programs that offer direct supports for students who are at risk of substance use and addictive behaviours
• supporting School Mental Health Ontario to develop webinars and resources for parents and students to learn how to talk about the adverse effects of vaping and excessive cellphone usage
• supporting school boards to work with their parent involvement committees to enable parents and community partners to run grassroots campaigns to deter vaping and cellphone distractions
• Further, as announced in Budget 2024, $30 million to school boards for vape detectors and other security upgrades in schools

Beginning this fall, there will be a new graduation requirement and several new courses for Grade 9 and 10 students as the government continues to modernize the curriculum:

• Grade 9 students will be required to earn a Grade 9 or 10 Technological Education credit as part of their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. These courses will allow students to explore and apply fundamental technological concepts as well as the engineering design process.
• Two experiential courses in Business Studies for students in Grades 9 and 10 will help students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, learn the importance of taking initiative, find creative solutions to issues as well as learn how to start and run a business.
• For Grade 10 students, mandatory learning on mental health literacy has been expanded in the Career Studies course. Students will learn how to recognize the signs of being overwhelmed as well as where to find help locally when needed.

Quick Facts

• In April 2024, Ontario revised the provincial Code of Conduct to update the rules on the use of personal mobile devices and vaping and tobacco products in schools. These tough new measures are designed to remove distractions, improve student outcomes and promote healthy decision-making among students.
• In addition to explicitly banning e-cigarettes in schools and school-related settings, Ontario is responding to the popularity of vaping among students by strengthening existing mandatory learning on cannabis and vaping and digital citizenship, with an emphasis on the elementary curriculum.
• To increase awareness among Ontario parents about new cellphone and vaping rules in classrooms impacting their children this fall, the government has launched an advertising campaign. Visit Ontario.ca/SchoolRules for more information.
• The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023, which received Royal Assent in June 2023, ensures the province’s public education system focuses on what matters most: important life-long skills, like reading, writing and math.

Municipalities Get the Tools They Need to Get More Homes Built Faster

 The Ontario government is releasing a new set of land-use planning rules that will continue to provide municipalities with the tools and flexibility they need to hit their housing targets in a way that is responsive to local challenges and reflective of local priorities. Building on the government’s Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, the new Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) will help municipalities support growth by reducing and streamlining planning rules, simplifying approvals to build homes and eliminating duplication. It also gives municipalities additional tools and flexibility that will help get more homes built across the province.

The new PPS, which consolidates the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, streamlines land-use planning and cuts red tape by creating one province-wide land-use planning policy statement, which eliminates over 100 pages and 30,000 words of administrative burden and will save municipal staff an estimated 6,600 hours.

The PPS is a set of directions provided by the province that municipal planners, planning boards, and decision makers follow for land-use planning and development in Ontario. They use the PPS to make long-term plans for how their community will grow. This helps them, as well as the province, forecast and plan for which areas will be used for new housing, which areas will be used for industry, and which areas will be reserved for farming, parks and other greenspaces so that we will have the homes and businesses we need, while ensuring the protection of agricultural lands, cultural heritage and natural areas.

The new PPS promotes building more homes on underused low-density lands like shopping plazas and malls.

The new PPS also encourages building a broader range of housing options, including housing for students and seniors. It supports better and more integrated planning for future growth in a way that maximizes public investment by, for example, promoting better coordination between municipalities and school boards.

The new PPS is responsive to input from three rounds of consultations over two years, including engagement with Indigenous communities and organizations, and represents provincial land-use planning interests from 21 government ministries, such as the protection of agricultural areas, aggregates, and natural heritage and the planning for infrastructure such as roads and energy supply. The new PPS will come into effect on October 20, 2024.

Quick Facts

• Ontario is currently experiencing unprecedented growth, with more than 500,000 new residents in 2022 and projections forecasting an additional two million in the near future.
• Ontario is supporting standardized designs for housing, including for modular homes, and innovative construction methods, such as through upcoming changes to the Building Code to support the use of mass timber.
• Through the first round of investments from the province’s Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, the province is enabling the construction of more than 500,000 new homes by investing $970 million to help municipalities develop, repair, rehabilitate and expand drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

Inspiration for the week

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

• Dr. Seuss

Office Notice:

My office is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm. If you require assistance on any matter, please contact me at any time. My staff and I will be happy to assist. Even if it’s not a provincial issue, I’ll make sure to connect you with the proper office.

Goldie

Your voice at Queen’s Park