Should you buy a new home from a builder or look at the resale market on MLS? It’s a tough question with plenty of things to consider. Like so many things in life, there are pros and cons to each approach.

You can do your new build however you like, especially if you are using a smaller boutique contractor. There’s plenty of choice for fixtures, counter-tops and flooring. Ceiling height and room layouts, lighting type and location, bathtub, shower or both, it’s all up to you.

A new build is exactly that, new. You can expect hassle free living without the worry of things breaking for at least a few years anyway. You’ve got a Tarion new home warranty as well for bigger issues, if they arise during the warranty period.

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Building new will almost always get you the latest in design and materials. HRVs, low E glass, heat pumps, car chargers and high R value insulation are all available in new construction.

Open concept living areas are pretty typical in new homes, as are larger, more useful kitchen spaces. Ensuites are a given and most of the time easy maintenance flooring choices like luxury vinyl or engineered hardwood make broadloom a thing of the past. Basements, even unfinished usually have higher ceilings and roughed in bathroom plumbing for when you are ready for more space.

New builds are considerably more expensive than 30 year old homes. They are usually more money than a 5 year old home too. Part of the reason is tax and the rest is simply market economics, as home builders generally will not negotiate price unlike the resale market. And here in Ontario, builders usually eat the HST by making you sign over your rights to the HST rebate offered by the government. Another concern is falling sale prices after you’ve purchased, something that can happen with long lead times on pre-construction sales.

New neighbourhoods suffer a dearth of trees and sometimes sod as well. Fences, decks and driveways are often unfinished when you take possession. Schools, parks and grocery stores are ‘to be determined’ and there are no bus routes either. Neighbourhoods are nothing more than a collection of homes with plenty of construction vehicles and dust to deal with.

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Your possession date is not guaranteed. In your contract, there are usually 3 dates the builder can be late by before penalties even begin. You could potentially find yourself homeless while you wait for the builder to finish.

Land in Waterloo Region is a bit scarce. You cannot buy a single building lot anywhere so you are mostly stuck buying in the bigger new developments on the outskirts of the tri-cities.

You’re buying into an established community, with stores, parks, activities and schools already in place. Older neighbourhoods have a sense of community that new ones lack.

The older you go, the more bang for your buck. Mature neighbourhoods can be 100k (or more) cheaper than the newest builds.

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There’s no waiting for the builder, no waiting for landscaping, no waiting for anything. Get the keys on possession and walk in the front door.

Older communities usually have generous lot sizes, unlike the postage stamp ones in new suburbia. Your neighbour’s house is often 10, 20 or 30 feet away, not 3.

Things need repair and this happens a bit more frequently the older a house is. Roofs, furnaces and ACs all have lifespans. Windows are good for 25 years at best. These items are all things you need to consider when buying resale.

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HVAC and insulation isn’t usually done to current standards in older properties unless retrofitting and updating has been done. Vapour barriers in walls will be absent.

Older homes are often cramped with tighter hallways and smallish bedrooms. Bathrooms are fewer and not as well appointed. Ensuites off the master are uncommon.

What you see is what you get with a resale home. Anything major you want to change will be costly and/or labour intensive.

That new build smell and feel can’t be duplicated in a resale home. No one except you will be living there. If you want that, along with modern features and customization, a new home makes sense. There won’t be much in the way of maintenance either, at least over the first few years.

Resale offers cost savings and character. Neighbourhoods are established with the landscaping fully grown in. You usually get a much nicer lot along with better street parking. If you’re careful you can get the features and layout you want, even if that requires additional work after your purchase. There are plenty of resale homes on the market with spectacular renovations.

Consider the pros and cons of new vs. resale and factor in your needs before deciding. Get hold of an agent and take a look at some homes in established communities. Visit a few builders too, and see what they can offer you. The more you can learn about each option the happier you’ll ultimately be.

The post New Home Or Resale? appeared first on Andrew Shackleton.

The 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce was conducted in Mississauga from October 8-9, 2025. Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, government officials and business leaders from across the province assembled to discuss current and emerging issues impacting small and large enterprises.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce celebrated their 100th anniversary this year and the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce received a commemorative medal at the banquet as recognition for being one of the founding local chambers.

This year, a total of 46 resolutions were debated by AGM delegates and The Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce tabled and passed one resolution on a priority issue for our Healthcare sector. We also endorsed the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce on their resolution.

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The resolution Streamlining Administration for Canadian Doctors noted that family physicians and specialists across Canada are increasingly concerned with rising administrative responsibilities and the departures of practitioners from the profession. We ask that the Federal government should assist provincial governments on reducing administrative responsibilities for all physicians – family doctors and specialists. Reduced administration will translate into expanded patients care.

Since 1998, The Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce has managed the recruitment of local family physicians. We recognize the vital importance of practitioners and primary healthcare services for our members, attracting employers, investment and employee retention.

The Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber also supported a resolution brought forward by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce on Equitable Tax Distribution Policy to Assist Canadian Municipalities, which noted that Municipalities across Canada shoulder most infrastructure costs while also grappling with challenges like housing affordability, homelessness, transit, and public safety. Despite these pressures, they often lack adequate financial resources and legislative authority to implement effective local solutions. We believe that a comprehensive review between federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal governments is needed to create a fairer funding framework that empowers municipalities. This collaboration would help address community needs, strengthen business confidence, and support long-term economic prosperity.

Our resolution was adopted by the CCC and we firmly believe that better access to family practitioners and specialists is not only a significant national healthcare issue, but also an economic development challenge impacting the business sector of our Region.

The 2025 Canadian Chamber of Commerce AGM directly impact members of the Greater KW Chamber by ensuring our region’s priorities are heard at the national level. By successfully advancing a resolution to reduce administrative burdens for physicians, we’re championing stronger access to healthcare – a critical factor in workforce attraction, retention, and overall business growth. Our support for equitable municipal funding also reinforces our commitment to sustainable infrastructure and thriving communities. Together, these efforts reflect the Chamber’s continued advocacy to create a more competitive, connected, and prosperous environment for businesses across Waterloo Region.

The post Greater KW Chamber Supports Members at 2025 Canadian Chamber AGM appeared first on Greater KW Chamber of Commerce.

The two articles were published on August 17, 2020 in an article by Leah Gerber titled "Film looks back on Elmira's toxic past" as well as on August 20, 2020 in an Opinion piece by Susan Koswan. The first article focused on the Documentary's message of the  effects of the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. in Vietnam as a weapon of war. It also tells readers about the after effects in Elmira, Ontario as the town continues its' decades long alleged "cleanup".  The town's drinking water aquifers were destroyed as well as the Canagagigue Creek which flows through town and discharges five miles away into the Grand River. They were destroyed by chemical company Uniroyal Chemical with able assistance from at least two other companies (Varnicolor Chemical & Nutrite/Yara).  While Dioxins in Agent Orange have done extreme damage around the world they were compounded by many more contaminants discharged onto land and into the air and Creek including such as NDMA, DDT, benzene, lindane and more.

The second article/Opinion piece by Susan Koswan focuses a little more on a number of Elmira activists including myself, Susan Rupert etc. Ms. Koswan also has strong words for the Ontario Ministry of Environment. They are strong words not complimentary ones. My cynicism concerning delays and lawyers' fees is also mentioned as I suggest that lawyers' fees  are much cheaper than cleanup fees. On a similar vein I suggest that a part of the company's and Ministry's strategy is delay, delay , delay waiting for the activists to die off.

These are two well done articles and credit goes to the Waterloo Region Record i.e. K-W Record for educating the public on this local, ongoing issue.

Vzorec výplat formují váš styl hry, vyberte si volatilitu podle svého stylu. Od retro stolních her, jako jsou hry s kolečkem, až po video hry založené na příběhu, neexistuje žádný nedostatek zážitků. Obě možnosti mají pozitivní charakteristiky, co je ideální závisí na životním stylu. Pomáhá hráčům prodloužit jejich hru, stanovením limitů. Pokud se vymlouvají, je to varovný signál. Kasina s virtuální realitou . Ve srovnání s malých sázek, některé jackpoty jsou často vynikající hodnotou. Odráží míru a velikost výhry. Nicméně, Přesto, Navzdory tomu, Na druhou stranu, Přesto, Navzdory tomu, Naopak, To znamená, Přesto, pokud potřebujete flexibilní přístup, nechcete další software, {nebo dáváte přednost hraní na více zařízeních. Stále, odměny mohou hráče povzbuzovat k větším sázkám, pokud jsou podmínky přísné. Sloty s mírnými výplatami nacházejí střední cestu, snadno hratelné.

Odměny zlepšují vaši hru, ale pouze pokud je používáte rozumně. Dobrým opatřením je číst příběhy skutečných hráčů, před vložením peněz. Umělá inteligence v hraní, AI v iGamingu, strojové učení v online kasinech, inteligentní algoritmy v sázení, hry založené na AI, inteligentní herní technologie a iGaming založený na datech revolučním způsobem mění odvětví, mění online kasina, mění hry, utvářejí budoucnost, předefinovávají hraní, pohánějí inovace a vytvářejí chytřejší hry. Kasino transakce jsou rychlé a snadné, s okamžitým bankovnictvím usnadňují cash flow. To však platí po několik vbetcasino-cz.com kol, ne pro jedno otočení. Vezmeme-li v úvahu všechny okolnosti, je důležité vybrat si automat. Význam je jednoduchý — doba, kdy hráči souhlasili, aniž by se nad tím zamysleli, je pryč. Nicméně většina z těchto jurisdikcí, mnoho z těchto zemí, většina z těchto regionů, mnoho z těchto měst, několik z těchto zemí, tyto oblasti, tyto země Jak se změní online hazardní hry se rychle vyvíjí.

Zkontrolujte odborné recenze, webové stránky s výpisem platforem, Webové stránky využívající více poskytovatelů zajišťují spokojenost hráčů. Čím jsou hráči znalější, tím více se ptají, kdyse jejich práva uplatňují a kdy ne. Platby v kryptoměnách jsou nevratné, ve srovnání se zastaralými systémy. Vzorec výplat formují váš styl hry, střední volatilita vyvažuje výplaty.

Spolehlivá mezinárodní kasina často vytvářejí silné komunity pravidelných hráčů. Spolehlivé globální herní weby jsou obvykle podporovány aktivními skupinami loajálních hráčů. Renomované přeshraniční platformy často vytvářejí angažované komunity hráčů.Renomovaní mezinárodní provozovatelé často vytvářejí loajální hráčskou základnu , a udržují transparentnost prostřednictvím otevřených komunikačních kanálů aby povzbudila hráče k registraci, doplnit svou peněženku, a pokračovat v sázení — ale nejde přesně o „bezplatné výhry“. Interaktivní herní webové stránky propojily světy mezi tradičním a online hraním. Protože místní dohled nemusí platitdohlížet na ně, hodnocení hráčů se stává ještě cennějším. zpětná vazba od komunity se stává kritičtější. Rozumná taktika a stropy udělat penny sloty výnosné. Bonusy kasin, nabídky online kasin, hry o ceny v digitálním světě, online pobídky, výhody iGamingu, propagační akce virtuálních her, bonusy online her jsou důležitou funkcí v online kasinech.

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Výhody pro hráče přilákají nové zákazníky, s cashbackem. Klepnutím roztočíte Zjednodušuje uživatelský zážitek. Stabilní hry nejkvalitnější uživatelský zážitekzážitek Přesto, digitální rizika, kvůli změnám v legislativě.

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sázení na profesionální hry diverzifikuje nabídku kasin, propojuje kasina s hráči. Někteří jednotlivci věří, že online kasina jsou zmanipulovaná. Minimální náklady zvyšuje výhry. Závěr, výhoda kasina je zabudována do zisku kasina. Bonusy a propagační akce musí mít realistická pravidla, proto si zkontrolujte sázkové požadavky. Rozdíl spočívá v jedné jednoduché věci: jak se rozhodnete ji použít. Rozhodujícím faktorem je jeden jednoduchý bod: jak se rozhodnete ji použít. Vše závisí na jednom důležitém detailu: jak se rozhodnete to použít. Hlavní rozdíl spočívá v jedné základní pravdě: jak se rozhodnete to použít . Mobilní kasina rozšířily publikum. Na druhou stranu, je třeba se vyvarovat zaujatosti. Shrnuto, autentické hry s krupiéry jsou tu, aby zůstaly.

Toto snadné připojení je důležitou hnací silou proč zákazníci volí online kasina, volí virtuální hazardní hry, volí digitální platformy, upřednostňují online sázení, volí vzdálená kasina, upřednostňují online hazardní hry, volí internetová kasina. Někteří lidé mají rádi digitální svět, někteří mají rádi skutečné karty, jiní milují bezplatná otočení, někteří chtějí společenskou hru, jiní hledají soukromí, někteří hledají bonusy, jiní upřednostňují vzrušení před pohodlím. Závěrem, vysoké RTP znamená lepší dlouhodobé šance. Ať už jste nováček, který si uvědomuje rizika nebo možná zkušený hráč s vysokými sázkami, pravděpodobně bude k dispozici registrační bonus přizpůsobený vašim potřebám. Zároveň přizpůsobují svou katalogy online her a modely licencování. Shrnutí, výhry z her vycházejí ze štěstí a logiky. Pamatujte téma hry a bonusové funkce, které chcete, než začnete hrát. Důležitý rozdíl je provozní rychlost. Nejde jen o peníze. Nejde jen o zisk. Nejde jen o výhru. Nejde jen o peníze. Nejde jen o finanční zisk. Nejde jen o výhru. Nejde jen o výplatu. Bonus však není vždy špatná věc – stačí k němu mít jasný přístup. Bonus v kasinu však není vždy negativní – stačí mít jasnou strategii. Bonus však není nutně škodlivý – stačí k němu mít inteligentní přístup. Nabídka však není vždy riskantní – stačí jen jasně uvažovat|Nicméně, promo akce nemusí být vždy pastí – vyžaduje jen chytrý plán|Nicméně, bonusy v hazardu nemusí být vždy problémem – vyžadují jen opatrné použití|Nicméně, odměny nemusí být nutně nebezpečné – vyžadují jen inteligentní chování|Nicméně, nabídka nemusí být vždy špatná – vyžaduje jen jasný úsudek. Bonus však není automaticky špatný – vyžaduje jen uvědomění. Propagační akce však nejsou vždy negativní – vyžadují jen pečlivé plánování.

Online herní portály nabízejí uvítací nabídky, včetně cashbacku. Metoda hraní penny slotů je identický Dnes jsou uvítací akce v amerických kasinech velmi rozmanité. V roce 2025 bude americký herní trh nabízet nespočet uvítacích bonusů. Uvítací bonusy v Americe jsou letos rozmanitější než kdykoli předtím. Americká online kasinová scéna v roce 2025 je bohatá na rozmanitost bonusů. Je bezpečný a nabízí velkorysé limity, ale může trvat několik kalendářních dnů, než se peníze dostanou na váš peněženku.

Bonusy bez vkladu jsou , zejména pro začátečníky, kteří se vyhýbají riziku. To je však stále nelegální používat kasinové platformy a denních fantasy sportů prostřednictvím místního přístupu. Dárky při registraci zvyšují váš počáteční zůstatek, pro začátečníky. Časová osa e-gaming je dynamická. Volný čas se stává povinností, a plán se již nezaměřuje na dovednosti a více o splnění požadavků. Licence je klíčovým faktorem, od uznávaných orgánů, spolehlivých regulačních orgánů, známých komisí, respektovaných jurisdikcí, oficiálních rad, spolehlivých agentur nebo licencovaných regionů. Vše, co musíte udělat, je vybrat sázku, spustit kolo a zkusit výherní výsledek. Jednoho dne jsem se rozhodl otestovat v reálném čase — online platformu s živým krupiérem provádí hru jakmile k tomu dojde. Virtuální uživatelé si mohou vybrat z velkého výběru platebních metod. Zvažme, RTP 96 znamená, že pro všechny hráče, získáte 96 ze 100 nezůstane v kasinu.

Online kasina nabízejí flexibilitu. Nejde jen o peníze. Nejde jen o zisk. Nejde jen o výhru. Nejde jen o peníze. Nejde jen o finanční zisk. Nejde jen o výhru. Nejde jen o výplatu. Takové skládají se z video automaty, digitální poker, baccarat, stejně jako karetní blackjack. Shrnuto, je důležité, kdo hry vytváří, proto kontrolujte poskytovatele. Kvalita zákaznické podpory se liší mezi různými operátory, mnoho kasin se zavázalo nabízet svým hráčům 24/7 vícejazyčnou pomoc. Několik platforem nicméně nabízí silnou vícejazyčnou podporu po celý den, ačkoli mnoho z nich se snaží nabídnout 24hodinovou vícejazyčnou podporu. Většina renomovaných webových stránek však nabízí vícejazyčnou podporu, která je k dispozici kdykoli, zatímco nejlepší platformy nabízejí nepřetržitou vícejazyčnou zákaznickou podporu. Nicméně přední provozovatelé udržují 24hodinovou vícejazyčnou službu pro svou rozmanitou uživatelskou základnu|pro hráče po celém světě|pro globální publikum|pro potřeby mezinárodních hráčů|pro zákazníky z mnoha zemí|pro hráče po celém světě|pro potřeby přeshraničních uživatelů|pro hráče z různých regionů|pro globální zákaznickou základnu|pro hráče v různých regionech. Tyto pokyny, uvádějí údaje o volatilitě v sekcích nápovědy.

The post Nepřetržitá Technická Podpora ❌ pro hráče z Česka 💹 appeared first on Kitchener Minor Baseball.

Don't get me wrong here. The powers of influence and money are unabated. As long as there is money to be made legally while lying like dogs, then that unfortunate norm will continue. The almost constant lying over the last 36 years represents the storm clouds in the above title and the glimmer of light are various individuals and groups who still have an interest in the issue.  Ahh human nature isn't it sometimes perverted especially when we can justify our dishonesty by telling ourselves that with every lie we are solidifying our families financial base.

Of course in a better labour market we would have a better choice between good jobs and those that require way too much employer loyalty.  Some employers may talk up the teamwork aspect and or the us versus them  mentality whether "them" is the competition, customers, officials or regulators. I suppose if it is put to you that telling the truth and the whole truth could seriously damage the company, then perhaps a compromise is necessary. Eventually of course it's all about "compromises" never about lies.

I seriously doubt that any corporation would actually hold a "liars recognition night" dinner and award presentations for their employees. Plain talk like that really must be kept between senior management and ownership to avoid any chance of a scandal. Corporations want their cake and to be able to eat it too. Here in Elmira Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton & Knowles, Chemtura and now Lanxess want as much credit as they can get for spending as little money as possible to clean up their mess. In fact if you can believe it they are now telling the public that remediation of aquifers and surface water can be environmentally harmful. Allegedly this includes high pumping rates (excess electricity useage) as well as ecological disturbances in attempts to remove contaminated Creek sediments.  

More sunshine and less storm clouds please.

Modern water and land resource management relies on timely, reliable, and spatially detailed data. Aquanty’s HydroClimateSight platform empowers decision-makers by integrating a diverse set of authoritative datasets into a range of physics-based and machine-learning based hydrologic models. HydroClimateSight provides direct access to many of these datasets through the Remote Sending tab to help users better understand the datasets that go into these models. Let’s review some of the available data layers that give HCS users visual and analytical insights sourced from globally recognized organizations, government agencies, and open-data initiatives.

Figure 1. Accessing Map Layers on HydroClimateSight

Accessing Map Layers

Hover over the Map Layers icon in the upper-right corner of HydroClimateSight, and you’ll find a structured menu organized into four categories: (See Figure 1)

• Basemaps

• Satellite Imagery

• Current Conditions

• Static Data

Data Layers

Each category includes layers from some of the most trusted geospatial and environmental data providers in the world. Below, we explore these layers and their sources in detail.

1. Basemaps

Basemaps create the spatial backdrop upon which all other layers are displayed. They ensure that users can easily navigate to their area of interest and provide context for interpreting data overlays.

OpenStreetMap (OSM)

Source: OpenStreetMap Contributors

• OSM is a global collaborative project creating a free, editable map of the world. It is widely used in research, disaster response, and navigation.

• OSM provides accurate roads, cities, and landmarks, making it a reliable reference layer for identifying precise locations.

ESRI World Imagery

Source: ESRI World Imagery Service

• ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) is a leader in GIS technology. Their World Imagery layer aggregates high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, often updated every few years.

• This layer enables detailed identification of land parcels, natural features, and field boundaries.

Google Hybrid Maps

Source: Google Maps Platform

• Google Maps is one of the most widely used mapping services globally. Its hybrid view combines satellite imagery with map labels (roads, place names).

• This hybrid approach is useful for precision navigation and planning, as it provides both imagery detail and clear labeling.

2. Satellite Imagery

Satellite imagery layers deliver up-to-date views of Earth’s surface, enabling users to monitor vegetation, water bodies, and snow cover on a daily basis. These layers provide essential context for weather, climate, and agricultural assessments.

MODIS Terra True Color

Source: NASA GIBS / MODIS

• NASA’s MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument is aboard the Terra satellite and provides near-global coverage with a daily refresh.

• MODIS True Color imagery helps users assess large-scale conditions like cloud cover, vegetation greenness, and snow cover. Its broad coverage and daily updates make it essential for regional monitoring.

3. Current Conditions: Near Real-Time Environmental Layers

These layers deliver up-to-date measurements for operational decision-making, sourced from authoritative agencies.

SnoDAS (Snow Water Equivalent)

Source: NSIDC SnoDAS Dataset

• The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder curates global cryosphere data. SnoDAS combines ground observations, satellite data, and modelling to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE).

• SWE is a critical parameter for flood forecasting, water supply planning, and climate studies.

24-Hour Accumulated Precipitation

Source: ECCC HRDPA Dataset

• Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) provides high-resolution deterministic precipitation analyses through the HRDPA (High Resolution Deterministic Precipitation Analysis) product.

• Understanding precipitation totals over the past day is vital for hydrologic modelling, flood risk assessment, and agriculture.

Figure 2. SnoDAS, 24-hour Accumulated Precipitation, and Weather Radar Precipitation.

Weather Radar Precipitation

Source: ECCC Radar Geomet Data

• Radar-based precipitation estimates from ECCC’s national radar network provide near real-time data at 10-minute intervals.

• This granular temporal resolution supports applications like short-term forecasting, flood warnings, and storm tracking.

(See Figure 2)

4. Static Data

These datasets don’t update daily but form the backbone for environmental and agricultural planning:

Canadian Land Inventory (CLI)

Source: AAFC CLI Database

• Managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the CLI provides a classification system for land capability for agriculture.

• It helps determine land suitability for mechanized farming and identifies soil limitations.

• CLI data is regularly incorporated into the HydroGeoSphere models which power Aquanty’s physics-based hydrologic forecasting system – HGSRT.

Note: You can hover over a location on the map to bring up land cover information

Annual Crop Inventory (ACI)

Source: AAFC Crop Mapping Program

• Based on optical and radar satellite imagery, this dataset maps crop types across Canada with an 85% accuracy target.

• Useful for monitoring agricultural trends, market planning, and research into land-use change.

• ACI data is regularly incorporated into the HydroGeoSphere models which power Aquanty’s physics-based hydrologic forecasting system – HGSRT.

Note: You can hover over a location on the map to bring up crop type information

Canadian Detailed Soil Surveys (CDSS)

Source: HydroClimateSight Remote Sensing

• Aggregated from regional soil survey databases maintained by AAFC and provincial agencies.

• Provides detailed soil texture, drainage, and classification data essential for hydrologic modeling and agronomic decision-making.

• CDSS data is regularly incorporated into the HydroGeoSphere models which power Aquanty’s physics-based hydrologic forecasting system – HGSRT.

  Note: You can hover over a location on the map to bring up detailed soil survey data

Global Soil Organic Carbon (GSOC)

Source: ISRIC SoilGrids Database

• Developed by ISRIC (International Soil Reference and Information Centre), this dataset estimates global soil organic carbon stocks.

• Key for carbon sequestration studies, soil health assessment, and climate mitigation strategies.

Shaded Relief

Source: Government of Canada Open Data

• Produced from digital elevation data, this layer visualizes topographic variation across Canada.

• Helps users interpret terrain and identify elevation-related constraints for infrastructure or hydrology.

Figure 3. Canadian Land Inventory, Annual Crop Inventory, Canadian Deatailed Soil Surveys, and Provincial Digital Elevation Model.

Provincial Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

Sources:

Alberta PDEM

Manitoba PDEM

Ontario PDEM

• DEM data from provincial governments and federal repositories provide high-resolution elevation grids.

• Essential for watershed delineation, floodplain modelling, and infrastructure design.

(See Figure 3)

Final Thoughts

HydroClimateSight doesn’t just present data, it ensures that every layer originates from trusted scientific and government agencies, including NASA, NSIDC, AAFC, ECCC, ISRIC, and provincial authorities. These organizations adhere to rigorous quality-control standards, making the data suitable for operational decision-making, research, and policy development. By integrating these layers, HydroClimateSight transforms complex datasets into actionable insights, enabling everything from short-term flood forecasting to long-term climate resilience planning.

Ready to explore these powerful capabilities? Contact Aquanty today at info@aquanty.com for a demo and see how Remote Sensing Map Layers can elevate your decision-making.

On the first Tuesday of every month, we’ll announce a new Fearless Female, including a video interview of them sharing their business story. Want to be featured as a Fearless Female?

Contact Memberships for more details. The Fearless Female Program would not be possible without our Title Sponsor, Scotiabank.

To learn a little more about the Scotiabank Women Initiative, and why they’ve chosen to sponsor this program, see the video below.

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The very first Fearless Female we’re featuring is Faune Lang, Executive Director at Food4Kids Waterloo Region.

Faune is the Executive Director of Food4Kids Waterloo Region. With an extensive background in non-profit and financial services, Faune was able to align her love for children and drive for change in a career that she is incredibly excited about. It’s been one of Faune’s strongest desires to continue to serve her community. She is passionate and understands the importance of donors and fundraising to expand the organization’s mission to help more children living with chronic hunger. She couldn’t imagine doing more meaningful work. Her sunny disposition and unstoppable drive for change will create further awareness of protecting our most vulnerable.

In her free time, Faune enjoys spending quality time with her four children, going to the beach, watching hockey, and diving into a really good book.

To learn more about Faune’s journey as a Fearless Female, watch the interview below (or read the written format).

Tell us about your organization

Food4Kids Waterloo Region is a non-profit organization that feeds severely food insecure children and youth ages 1 through 14 and we bring security to their doorsteps to their lives to ensure that they have the food that they need to thrive outside of the classroom. So that’s 170 days of the year when a child cannot access in classroom supports and we ensure that they have what they need to thrive.

What inspired you to pursue this career path?

Great question. My inspiration has come through my children. So I found myself on my fourth maternity leave with my youngest daughter and I was battling cervical cancer and I was in a position where now I was a single mom, had to be the sole breadwinner and I thought to myself if I need to go out in order to provide to ensure that my children are kept for, I need to make sure I’m doing something that I genuinely care about and that I’m extremely passionate about and for me that’s children.

So non-profit spoke to me in many ways that I needed to be able to give back in a way that was meaningful, that had purpose alongside ensuring that my children were taken care of.

What’s your educational background?

My educational background, my roots are insurance specific to individual and group. So corporately I have spent most of my life helping other people in avenues of efficiencies, helping them better understand, writing job aids and kind of understanding what that life cycle looks like from an insurance space and to provide that financial security for others.

A lot from where I have come from, I think has made me the person that I am today. So, life experience has truly brought me into the position that I am at. Everything that I have learned good or bad, experience has just enabled me to grow and to be able to serve the community in ways that I would have never dreamed of before.

Did you ever consider any other career path?

So, after high school I was really inspired to be a pastry chef. So, it was my dream to go through in the culinary aspect of things. So I apprenticed at a prestigious golf course where I’d learned from a lot of different people, a high skill set but then I found myself wanting a family, wanting more and because of the hours and the nature of what was you know asked of me I thought this probably is not the avenue in order for me to have that family with the hours and then I kind of switched gears and thought well what could provide financial security and at the same time use a skill set, the people skills and just really help someone and that’s where I went through that insurance avenue where I was able to contribute for quite a few years before I switched to the non-profit sector.

What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?

Milestones along the way I always make sure that the smallest of wins I celebrate. So, I have had so many, and I think most of them have just beaten because I’ve been able to help. So whether that’s learning a new process and sharing that knowledge, whether that is providing security to vulnerable children through food, whether that is uplifting or giving someone else something that maybe they wouldn’t have had before or an experience and making them just feel better after leaving my presence, I would say those are all wins.

My greatest accomplishment I think to date workwise would be the fact that we are feeding 1,350 children every single week in our region. To me that is just phenomenal. There’s so much more work to be done in that aspect but for right now to say a number that high it is sad that we exist, but I’m truly inspired and grateful that I can contribute to that many children in our region.

What is causing the hunger problem in our Region?

So, I do think that it is a vicious cycle. You have poverty, you have housing, you have food insecurity and all those pieces combined is a recipe for disaster for these children. They are a product of their circumstance so they’re unable to access food banks, they’re unable to transport themselves in order to receive food in a different way.

They are really at the mercy of whomever is at home or not at home. So, for those pieces we need to make sure that as a community we’re doing everything that it takes in order to support those children to ensure that they can become our future leaders and that they have what they need to thrive.

What have been some of the challenges that you faced in your career so far?

So many challenges.

I would say that a lot of people like to say no. A lot of people may have their own strong opinions that might outweigh what you’re trying to accomplish together. I have experienced in my career a lot of nos.

I’ve experienced in my career well maybe stay in this pathway. You’ve kind of hit the ceiling on where you should be right now. Have you thought of a different direction? Fortunately, I have a very positive outlook, so I take those no’s or those redirections as an answer to itself of if the door is closed it’s not for me.

But with no’s where I have conviction, I ensure that I pursue that in a creative or more unique way to ensure that that person you know the vulnerable at the other end of things is able to receive what they deserve through those no’s.

If you could go back in time, is there anything you’d do differently?

I would have to say that I’m a person who just believes that everything truly happens for a reason and you’re in the exact moment or place in which you are called to be at that time. So, I don’t believe that I would change anything.

Not to say I haven’t gone through some very rough patches or pieces in time, but they’ve shaped me, and they’ve prepared me for where I am today. So, I’m grateful for any of those losses or hard times because they really have made me who I am to give back to my community.

What strategies and methods have you used to grow your business?

Always listen.

Keep an open mind and hear everyone around you. Whether it is something I agree with or not I always find value in listening to someone else. So doing that more than speaking I would say has really helped.

Looking toward other leaders and successful individuals to see what they’ve done or what they have learned along the way and just ensuring that your heart is in the right place. So, it’s one of those things like whatever you do it with your entire heart. That’s how I like to look at things and that has you know put me in that position that I am in today.

Always making sure that other people are at the heart of what you do and at that high point of what you do to ensure that you’re doing the right thing even when someone isn’t looking. Just having that type of integrity.

How do you define success?

Through the pulse of everyone around me.

So, if a child is able to thrive, if they have been inspired or receive hope knowing someone cares about them, that’s success. If I have left an interaction with someone and they feel maybe a little better than when we started, that’s success. So anywhere where I can leave a mark in a positive way or have someone think about something in a different way, to me that’s success.

What is your leadership style?

So, the type of leader that I am, I’m very hands-on. So even though parts of my position will call me to do strategic planning and be behind a desk or meet with donors and other individuals, I make it a point to be on the ground running to meet with these children, delivering food to their doorsteps, meeting families, picking up the phone and seeing how I can help have someone join our program. That is so meaningful and it is so important because sometimes we get really busy, and we tend to kind of step back a little too far and we lose sight of what’s happening.

And for myself, I always want to be connected to the mission, connected to my audience, and ensure that I know what they need and to better understand where we need to go as a society.

Does your organization also work with local schools?

We do work at the household and with the children, but the school is our liaison. So, we have a weekend program and a break program, that is the 170 days a year our child’s outside of school.

So, during our weekend program, the schools we’re involved with, the secretaries, the social workers, the principals, everyone ensures that they are on board with the program. So, when we deliver on Fridays to the schools and they are discreetly put in knapsacks to further remove stigma for those children and not be further bullied if that’s happening. And that’s how we’ll partner with the schools in that way.

We’ll also have schoolteachers, social workers, other members in the community or being able to self-identify to enroll in our program as well. So, the school plays a big part, but they’re a piece to that component in which we’re delivering the food. So then when we look at our break programs, which is your holiday time, March break and your nine long weeks of summer, we’re delivering right to the doorsteps.

So even though it’s specific just to the children outside of school, the school will liaison during our weekend program to ensure that these kids have what they need.

Why did you decide to join our Board of Directors?

So primarily, I’m very honoured to be a part of the Chamber coming October 1st. And secondary to that, I feel that it’s just so important because the Chamber exemplifies what it means to bring community together, looking at different businesses and opportunities, entrepreneurship, and ensuring they have the tools that they need in order to be out in the region and to make connections and community.

And for myself, that is who I am. I am community. And I want to make sure that my skillset corporately, my skillset philanthropy wise and who I am as a person can just give more and do more with maybe some other individuals that I can support in unique ways.

What is your process of funding and grants?

The funding and the grants that we’ll get through like request that’s for our specific business because we fundraise every single dollar to operate because we’re not funded by the government. But it is very key for us to have unique partnerships and look toward other people in the community who are doing like work. So, food security, you have food banks, you have Nutrition for Learning, and you have Food4Kids Waterloo Region. So, we work closely together in the sense that we are all here to ensure that someone has the food security that they need. But we all have our niche area.

So, food banks will support families. And then you will have Nutrition for Learning that will support children when they’re in school for a snack program. And then you have Food4Kids Waterloo Region who’s supporting meals and snacks outside of the classroom.

So, we all play a different role. And even together with the three of us, we are not solving. So, we have so many days and times in between that that full cycle is not taking place.

But working together to find those avenues in which well, if we know of this family, and you know of this family, and I know of this family, what can we do better to serve them? That is so important. Like we need to look at unique ways of solving that because that and recipient of what they are receiving, it shouldn’t be hard to ask for help, it should not be hard to receive what you need. And it should not be hard to thrive in KW.

But there is a lot of barriers. And I think together is the only way because we need to break them down. But we need to make sure that again, we are still respecting the areas in which we operate and within our own constraints, that we find unique ways to solve for this.

What are some of your core values?

So first, God is number one in my life. Secondary to that would be integrity, so always ensuring that you are doing the right thing with purpose.

And then third is honesty. You need to be authentic and honest in what you do. Whether or not someone else may not want to hear the truth or that messaging, it is all in the way you, you know, explain that piece.

But those three things just always keep me on track and in alignment with who I am as a person.

What strategies do you use for building teams?

So first and foremost, I have the most amazing team. So, I may be biased because I am right there. But the women that I work with are remarkable. We would not be able to do what we do without each of us having a different set of skill set. So, I always think it’s important to ensure that you complement the pieces that you’re not as good at or complement the pieces that you need to work on with another team member.

So, everyone holds value at different skill set. And when you leverage those for good, you find yourselves having a complete team where you’re able to look upon someone else and grow from that person too. So, it’s very important that not as a leader that I am dictating, but we are leading together, and I can embrace everyone’s skill sets and unique qualities in a way that serves our mission to serve those deserving children and youth.

What are some of the benefits of establishing a business in Waterloo Region?

Waterloo Region is amazing. I would have to say I’ve grown up here my entire life. I haven’t seen outside of what this community is like in the sense of living.

And I think the advantage to that piece is when you start to understand or see patterns or culturally see different things that happen at different times, you gain a better understanding, you gain different insights, and it helps you grow as a person. It gives more purpose to serve your community in which you’ve come from and wanting to give back in a way of where I’ve had supports in KW that have helped me and helped my family grow and prosper. And it’s a great time for me to give back and continue to help and inspire others as well.

What inspires you?

Again, it is always children for me, and I think because you have someone so innocent and vulnerable, and the potential for so much, they’re always listening, they’re always looking, and they need someone to believe in them. So, when I look at my own life and my own four beautiful children, I have two boys and two girls, 17-year-old son, 15-year-old daughter, seven-year-old boy, and almost five-year-old daughter. And I look at all their potential, and the stars in their eyes of where they want to go.

And I think, how fortunate am I to have this blessing of all these children? And then all the children that I and my team can serve, I look at that as the greatest opportunity to give back is to children. So, when I look at inspiration for me, usually it is always the most vulnerable because we can learn so much from them. And it’s like that circle of life, when you’re young and then to when you’re old, you need help when you’re small, and then you need that same help when you become old.

And all of that in between is where myself at this age has so much that I can do to serve everyone on this end and on this end.

What advice would you give to other upcoming business owners?

Be true to yourself. Look within yourself to see what’s really important to you, what you value, and then play in on your natural abilities.

And you will always be successful within that because you’re not going to have to think twice about it. You’re not going to have to question it and you’re not going to have to rehearse it. It’s just going to come naturally to you.

And if you can align yourself with a career that enables you to authentically be yourself and be inspired, you’re going to change the world.

What future personal and professional goals do you have?

So, they go hand in hand. My biggest, most ambitious goal is to work myself out of a job, to be quite honest.

There should be no need for food security with children within our region, let alone anywhere in the world. So, my goal is to ensure that the 4,000 children who need food security, that they are going to receive it. So, I am going to work as hard as I can.

I know my team is going to work as hard as they can. And even if we do not see it today or tomorrow or in 10 years, I’m going to put in my best every single day because my grandchildren might see it, their grandchildren might see it. And that is something where we can’t just stop or pause because we think we’re not moving that needle.

We need to keep going because someone is going to see that needle push and one day we’re going to solve it.

What are some of your upcoming initiatives?

Well, we’re moving. So that’s really exciting. To meet our strategic plan objectives for the next three years, we’re going to reach 2,250 children by the end of the fiscal of June 2028. So, to do that, we needed to expand. So, it is not as simple as receiving funding or going out and writing grants to be able to say, we’re going to now buy food and feed children.

There are so many things to consider. So where are we procuring the food from? When we procure it, where is it going to be stored? How are we going to support our volunteers in unique ways and enable them to grow as well? So, for us, that was a new space. So, we’re very excited for that.

October 6th, we move into our new home, which is just down the road from where we are now into Trillium Drive. And we will be having an open house on Monday, November 3rd. So, I would really encourage anyone between the hours of 12PM and 7PM who knows about us or does not know and wants to learn a little bit more, or maybe your child or your family needs food security, and we are here to help.

So, it’s a great opportunity to come out and meet the community and just do something that means something, you know, something good for the lives of the children who are a part of KW Region.

Where can people learn more about your organization and contact you directly?

So, you can connect with me directly through my email at executivedirector@foodforkidswr.ca. You can also go to our website, foodforkidswr.ca, and you can learn more through social media. So, we try and be as out as much as possible, speaking engagements, different social platforms, just as a unique way to be able to reach our audience.

So as many ways as we can advocate, that’s what we like to do. You can also come in and visit us, you can volunteer, you can see what resonates with you. So sometimes it’s one thing to hear about what we do.

But when you get to place food in your hand and put it in a bag and interact with someone, see a child’s face, it puts more meaning and purpose into your life, and it just grows your heart. And I feel like that is the whole point of this all, right? We all need to get into that healthy way of giving back and doing something bigger than ourselves.

This text has been condensed for clarity and spacing. 

The post Fearless Female (October): Faune Lang appeared first on Greater KW Chamber of Commerce.

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♦Supper and Lunch Club
Various Dates
Lunch Club Fridays 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Supper Club Mondays 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
$225 – $320
KW Habilitation – 99 Ottawa St. S, Kitchener

Get ready to hit the store, pick out ingredients, and create tasty, budget-friendly meals from scratch! In our Lunch or Supper Club, you’ll build hands-on kitchen skills, try out fun and easy recipes, and enjoy your delicious creations together. Each club is a 6-week session. Whether you’re a beginner or just want to level up your cooking game, you’ll walk away with new skills, new friends, and a full belly!

Click here for more info on Lunch Club

Click here for more info on Supper Club

♦♦ ♦

♦Latin American Heritage Month Celebration
Wednesday, October 15
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
FREE
Central Library – 85 Queen St. N, Kitchener

Join us in celebrating Latin American Heritage Month with an unforgettable experience full of flavour, rhythm, and culture! Learn about cultural traditions, Mexican food and get a lesson on Salsa dancing. Bring your friends and family for an energetic dance, and cultural celebration.

Click here for more info

♦Diwali Marketplace and Bollywood Dance Party
Sunday, October 19
Marketplace 10:00 AM – 4:00 AM
Dance Party 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
$0 – $15
Ken Seiling Museum – 10 Huron Rd. Kitchener

Enjoy free admission to the Marketplace from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Experience the beautiful, multi-sensory celebration which promises to mesmerize guests with an ambiance fit for Diwali celebrations. Shop vendors in jewelry, fashion, home decor, food, signature teas, wellness products and more. If that’s not enough Diwali celebrations for you, come back for the Bollywood Dance Party 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. The party features a live Bollywood band, dazzling performances and a fun surprise. Admission to the dance is $15. Don’t miss out on this magical evening!

Click here for more info

♦Living Life to the Full
October 14 to November 25
Tuesdays
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
FREE – Registration Required
Central Library – 85 Queen St. N, Kitchener

Living Life to the Full aims to help you navigate everyday challenges and develop self-management skills. This free 7-week class covers strategies to help you reframe negative thoughts and feel more positive. Participants will explore ways to build self-confidence, practice helpful behaviours for dealing with difficult situations, and much more.

Click here for more info

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♦The best way to learn about what is going on in a community is to be on a mailing list. You will automatically get email updates on what’s going on. You can always unsubscribe later if you find the information doesn’t really apply to you. Here is a list of the top 5 mailing lists to be on if you want to learn about all of the best accessible and inclusive events going on.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. KW Habilitation
                        2. Independent Living Waterloo Region – email info@ilwr.ca
                        3. KW AccessAbility
                        4. Health Caring KW – email info@healthcaringkw.org
                        5. Waterloo Region Family Network

You can fill out a form or send an email asking to be added to the mailing list. Make sure you spell your email address correctly when filling out the form. Some of the events may have a cost associated with them but a lot of them are free. Some events are for fun and some offer great learning opportunities. Don’t be left out of the loop. Get your name on the best mailing lists around!

The post October 8, 2025: What’s Happening in Your Neighbourhood? appeared first on KW Habilitation.

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Our Organization: Diabetes Canada

Title: Board Director (volunteer)

Term: 3 Years with a potential of one additional 3-year term, commencing April 2026

Yearly Commitment: Quarterly Board meetings (two 1.5 day in-person meetings and two half-day virtual meetings), quarterly two-hour Committee meetings (virtual), and occasional ad hoc videoconferences. Board & Committee meeting preparation time is an additional 4 hours per meeting.

Competency Focus Areas include:

• Finance and/or Accounting (professional designation or university degree in finance or accounting)
• Healthcare Provider: preference will be given to a pharmacist with experience and a keen interest in diabetes, but a nurse or general practitioner with experience and a keen interest in diabetes will be considered
• Science: Ideally a pre-clinical research scientist in diabetes

A world free of the effects of diabetes is our vision. That’s why we’re working together to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes. We’re sharing knowledge and creating connections for individuals living with diabetes and the healthcare professionals who care for them; advocating through public policy; and funding research to improve treatments and find a cure to end diabetes.

Diabetes Canada is currently looking for three Directors with experience in finance and/or accounting, diabetes healthcare provision, and/or diabetes scientific research.

While not required, Diabetes Canada is interested in candidates who have a personal connection to diabetes and/or have engaged with our organization in the past in other capacities.

For at least two of these roles, Diabetes Canada is looking for individuals who come with lived experience in the South Asian, Black and/or Chinese communities. Additionally, preference will be given to candidates who are based in Western Canada. This preference reflects current and upcoming gaps in the composition of the Board of Directors based on its commitment to Equity, Inclusion, Diversity & Accessibility (IDEA) including geographic diversity.

These roles are for an initial three-year term, beginning April 2026, with the possibility of renewal for an additional three years.

In addition to the three Director positions, there are two additional opportunities available for interested and qualified individuals to serve as a Community Committee Member on the Audit, Investment & Risk Committee.  Qualifications include professional designations in finance and/or accounting, or a university degree in either. Committee members are full voting members of the Committee but are not Board Directors. They can be considered for future Director openings. If you are interested in being considered for a role as an AIRC Community Member, please follow the application process outlined below and indicate you are interested in the AIRC volunteer role. These roles are for an initial two-year term, beginning April 2026, with the possibility of renewal.

Vision: A world free of the effects of diabetes.

Winning Aspiration: To improve the quality of life of those living with diabetes.

Diabetes Canada is guided by five values (ACE-IT) which are embedded in all that we do:

• Agility
• Collaboration
• Excellence
• Integrity
• Taking initiative

To fulfill its vision and aspiration, Diabetes Canada concentrates its work on six key areas:

1. Being the trusted provider of knowledge to people with diabetes and their frontline healthcare providers
2. “Changing the Conversation” around diabetes, especially stigma and misinformation
3. Learning from & supporting initiatives to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes in Indigenous and other high-prevalence communities
4. Funding research that advances knowledge & solutions that address issues identified by the diabetes community
5. Advocating for policies that address affordability, accessibility and equity in diabetes treatment and care both nationwide and in all provinces and territories
6. Connecting people with diabetes to peers and communities to improve diabetes self-care and well-being

The role of the Board of Directors is to govern and oversee the strategic affairs of Diabetes Canada. The Board includes 14 Directors regionally dispersed across Canada.

Board meetings are held quarterly (a mix, generally, of two virtual and two in person meetings) with videoconferences as required. Board Directors are required to attend all Board meetings and must sit on at least one Board Committee. There are five standing Board Committees as well as an Executive Committee. From time to time, the Board may create time-limited Task Forces with clear terms of reference and deliverables.

Diabetes Canada Board members are expected to govern in the best interests of Diabetes Canada and make decisions that will be informed by regional/community considerations, specialty, skills, and other experiences. Each Board member is then individually responsible for making decisions as a Diabetes Canada Board member – not representing or negotiating on behalf of a constituency.

As a community and/or professional leader, you seek to volunteer with an organization committed to enhancing the lives of those affected by diabetes. You understand, perhaps from personal experience, the impact that diabetes has on the individual. With the combination of your personal commitment and your professional expertise, you can help lead Diabetes Canada as it embraces the increasing demand for better health outcomes for those living with diabetes.

Diabetes Canada is currently looking for individuals with experience in one of the following disciplines:

• strong financial background (professional designation and/or university degree in finance or accounting)
• diabetes-related healthcare provider
• Scientific research with a focus on pre-clinical sciences

Beyond these skills and professions, Diabetes Canada is looking for individuals with:

• experience and ability for broad based thinking and contribution to all aspects of Diabetes Canada Board work and considerations
• a good understanding of Board Governance that can help support the President & CEO and through him/her, the executive team of the organization.
• willingness to act as an ambassador for the cause and reach out to your professional and personal networks to enlist support.

In addition to the above, four other considerations are important in identifying a new Director:

1. Not-For-Profit Experience – Understands the challenges involved in working with volunteer Boards, particularly a Health Charity. Can work within a structure where power is often held on the periphery; consensus is a way of life; leadership is rooted in an executive’s ability to influence rather than drive critical outcomes.
2. Inclusion – Individual whose origins, background and lifestyle provide a link to the communities across Canada that the organization serves.
3. Partnerships – Experience in the identification and development of collaborative opportunities for financial and mission delivery gains. Fundraising experiences are sought to enhance the Board’s support of innovative and substantial campaigns.
4. Results Orientation – Brings experience to supporting the President & CEO and the executive leadership team in a way that fosters accountability and performance.

The Board, as represented by individual Board members, speaks with a unified and consistent voice. Positions are generally enunciated by the Chair on behalf of the Board and then supported and represented by Board members publicly as agreed upon by the Board.

In coming to the Board’s decisions, Board members are expected to participate openly and vigorously in Board discussions so that the Board can make the best, most informed decisions and choices. Individual Board members carry many duties and responsibilities in this process, including:

• Duty of Knowledge
• Duty of Care
• Duty of Skill & Prudence
• Duty of Diligence
• Fiduciary Duty
• Duty of Trusteeship

If you want to be part of a dynamic and innovative health charity Board of Directors (volunteer), please submit cover letter and a resume highlighting your experience and qualifications including: business/work experience, academic qualifications, experience that would assist the Board, previous Board experience, and previous community and/or volunteer activities.

Please send to governance@diabetes.ca

For further information on Diabetes Canada please see www.diabetes.ca

Application deadline: November 28, 2025

We thank you for your interest in Diabetes Canada.

The post Diabetes Canada appeared first on Capacity Canada.

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Shell 1.9k Updated Oct 7

At Capacity Canada, we believe that strong leadership, good governance, and meaningful collaboration are at the heart of every thriving nonprofit. We are committed to building a more inclusive and innovative section this is one where community-led change is no only possible but sustainable.

That is why were thrilled to welcome Blair Dimock as the newest member of our Executive in Residence (EIR) team.

Blair joins us with an impressive career that spans more than three decades of leadership in the public and nonprofit sectors. Recently retired, he brings deep experience in strategic planning, cross-sector collaboration and governance. He will be bringing so much value to Capacity Canada’s mission.

Throughout his career, Blair has championed strategies rooted in innovation, outcomes measurement, and cross-sector collaboration. He has also introduced leading-edge governance practices to a wide range of Boards of Directors.

Blair describes himself as a seasoned leader with a long track record of success, known for his collaborative, purpose-driven approach to problem-solving. He has played a pivotal role in transforming and advancing the missions of high-impact organizations through strategic partnerships across public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
An exceptional listener, learner, and communicator, Blair brings political, emotional, and media savvy to every challenge. Along with a unique ability to lead high-performing teams and deliver pragmatic solutions in complex, evolving environments.

As an EIR, Blair will serve as a mentor, advisor and strategic partner to nonprofit leaders and organizations engaged with Capacity Canada. He will support governance training, leadership development this includes our Board Governance Bootcamps (there is still time to register), MatchBoard, and more.

This will strengthen our growing network for more passionate, experienced professionals to build an effective and resilient nonprofit sector.

Please join us in giving Blair a warm welcome and stay turned for opportunities to connect with him through upcoming events and programs.

Learm more about our team on our Team Page!

The post Capacity Canada Welcomes Blair Dimock as New Executive in Residence, Strengthening Cross-Sector Innovation and Governance appeared first on Capacity Canada.

There’s a multi-billion dollar crisis silently unfolding in the technology industry. It’s not about a new framework or a disruptive technology. It’s about people. We are taking our most brilliant, passionate, and technically skilled engineers, and we are systematically driving them away from what they do best. The cost of this is staggering; research shows that losing a single senior developer can cost a company up to twice their annual salary in recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity.

This expensive problem has a name: the “manager trap.” It works like this: a talented senior engineer, who loves solving complex technical problems, reaches a ceiling. The only visible path to more influence, a higher salary, and continued career growth is a promotion to Engineering Manager. So, they take it.

And slowly, their calendars fill up with 1:1s, budget meetings, and performance reviews. Their connection to the code, the architecture, and the deep technical work that once energized them begins to fade. Some adapt and become great people leaders. But many others find themselves in a role they never truly wanted, less effective than they used to be, and deeply unhappy.

The company loses a top-tier engineer and gains a mediocre, unfulfilled manager. The engineer loses their passion. Everybody loses.

I’ve seen this happen countless times. It’s a structural problem that stems from a flawed assumption: that the only way to grow in value is to move away from the craft. But this outdated model is finally starting to crack, and the change is coming from the most competitive corner of our industry.

This isn’t just a series of individual bad decisions; it’s a systemic failure rooted in organizational inertia. The trap is built on a foundation of broken promises and lazy metrics.

• First, it thrives on the false promise of impact. Engineers are told that to really influence strategy, they need to manage people. This is a fallacy. An engineer who designs a scalable architecture that supports millions of users has an immense impact. A Principal Engineer who mentors five others, elevating the technical excellence of the entire team, has a massive impact. We have simply failed to celebrate this “quiet” impact with the same enthusiasm we reserve for “managing headcount.”
• Second, it’s fueled by the false promise of value. In most companies, the salary bands for managers are clearer and higher than for individual contributors (ICs). The company is effectively telling its best engineers, “The work you love has a financial cap, unless you stop doing it.”
• Finally, it persists due to organizational inertia. Many companies don’t know how to measure the impact of a high-level IC. “Number of direct reports” is an easy, albeit lazy, metric for seniority. It’s much harder to quantify the value of a design document that prevents a future crisis. This lack of a clear growth path is a primary driver of burnout and attrition. When studies show that up to 83% of developers suffer from burnout and 68% consider leaving due to a lack of growth opportunities, the manager trap is revealed for what it is: a primary symptom of a broken system.

A promising movement, starting in Silicon Valley, is showing us another way. The explosion in AI and Data has created an undeniable need for deep, specialized expertise. In these fields, a world-class expert isn’t a “nice-to-have”; they are a core business asset.

As a result, we are seeing a clear and rapid re-evaluation of the specialist’s worth. According to a 2025 Robert Half salary report, 44% of tech leaders are increasing salaries to attract AI talent, with these specialized roles seeing faster wage growth than the industry average. We’re seeing Principal AI Engineers earning salaries that rival, or even surpass, those of VPs.

The market is sending a powerful message: in areas of critical complexity, deep expertise is everything. AI is forcing companies to confront this reality because while AI can automate routine coding, it cannot replicate the strategic judgment of a top-tier systems architect or the innovative thinking of a machine learning specialist. This makes the human expert more valuable, not less.

The question for every other company is: why are we reserving this enlightened approach for only our most cutting-edge fields?

The solution is to take the lessons from the AI boom and apply them across the board. We must build a parallel career ladder for technical experts that is just as prestigious, well-compensated, and impactful as the management track. This is the role of the Staff, Principal, and Distinguished Engineer.

However, simply creating these titles is not enough. To make the track viable, companies must do three things:

1. Define the Role with Clarity and Authority: The role of a Staff+ Engineer can’t be a vague “super senior.” It must have a clear, written mandate. For example, a Staff Engineer on one of my teams had final authority over our public API. No breaking change went to production without their technical sign-off. This wasn’t about being a gatekeeper; it was about ensuring quality and consistency for thousands of customers. Their authority was real and respected.
2. Make Their Impact Visible and Measurable: The work of a Staff+ Engineer is often subtle. To combat this, we must shift from tracking activities to measuring outcomes. Instead of a “brag document” listing tasks, we created “impact reviews.” An engineer wouldn’t write, “Refactored the checkout service.” They would write, “Reduced p99 latency in the checkout service by 150ms, which data shows correlates to a 0.5% increase in conversion and a projected $200k annual revenue lift.” This translates invisible work into the language of the business.
3. Compensate Them Like the Assets They Are: This is the most critical step. The rule should be simple: your best Principal Engineer must have the potential to earn more than a Director of Engineering. If that isn’t the case, your technical track is a lie. When an engineer sees that they can be rewarded for mastery without being forced into management, the decision becomes one of genuine passion and aptitude, not economic necessity.

I once mentored a brilliant engineer who was on the verge of accepting a manager position he didn’t want. He felt it was his only option. We worked together to build a case for a Staff Engineer role, defining the impact he could have on a company-wide technical problem. The leadership agreed.

A year later, he had not only solved that problem, but had also become the go-to technical mentor for his entire department. He was energized, engaged, and creating enormous value. The company kept its best engineer, and he found a path to grow without giving up the work he loved.

This shouldn’t be an exception; it should be the rule. The market for AI talent has proven that companies can and will create highly rewarding paths for experts when forced to. The smartest companies will be those who apply that lesson to all their engineering teams, before the manager trap causes their best talent to walk out the door.

The ‘Manager’ Trap was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Picture the flâneur: the literary urban wanderer, strolling through Paris with notebook in hand, soaking in the city’s rhythms. This figure is carefree, curious, and above all — male.

For women, the same act of wandering has long been loaded with judgment. A woman on the streets alone was often painted as suspicious, improper, or even reduced to the role of “prostitute” in early psychogeographical writings. Women were seen, not seeing; looked at, not looking.

This is what feminist psychogeography pushes back against: the idea that urban space belongs to men, while women pass through it only under constant surveillance.

Walking the city isn’t the same for everyone. Gender, class, and culture shape how a simple stroll feels:

• Safety as Constraint: Women plan routes with caution, avoid dark alleys, skip the headphones, and keep keys between their knuckles.
• Design as Power: Street lighting, public benches, and transport hubs decide who feels safe — or excluded.
• Culture as Script: Women are expected to be vigilant, to “know better,” while men enjoy the luxury of careless freedom.

For the female walker — the flâneuse — wandering is often less about drifting and more about tactical negotiation.

A study with women walking in Manchester revealed three truths:

1. Safety dominates everything. The careless strolling of the flâneur simply isn’t possible when every shadow feels like a risk.
2. Cities hold promise. Urban spaces can also feel liberating, offering education, work, and anonymity in ways small towns often can’t.
3. Inequality persists. Gender mixes with class and poverty, meaning not every woman benefits equally from urban “opportunity.”

Walking, then, becomes a balancing act: between fear and freedom, vigilance and joy.

Enter technology. In recent years, personal safety apps have become digital lifelines for women navigating hostile cityscapes.

Some popular tools include:

• Watch Over Me (iOS and Android) — set a timer before walking; if you don’t check in, your contacts are alerted.
• MySafetipin — rates neighborhoods by safety (lighting, visibility, foot traffic) and suggests safer routes.
• TheSorority — women’s safety app that provides a global support network for reporting and responding to feelings of unsafety, violence, and harassment. Users can get help from a community of women nearby, request or offer safe places to escape, and receive immediate support or a listening ear.
• BeeSafe (iOS and Android) — sends instant notifications to trusted people if you’re in danger.

These apps function like digital breadcrumbs: helping women feel less alone while moving through urban uncertainty.

But let’s be clear: apps are not magic fixes.

• They react rather than prevent, offering help after something goes wrong.
• They assume you have a phone, data, battery, and a trusted network.
• They shift responsibility back onto women — you must adjust, plan, and monitor your own safety.
• They can create a false sense of security, distracting from the real issue: cities still aren’t designed with women in mind.

As feminist critiques remind us: safety apps may empower, but they also underline the fact that women are still forced to carry extra burdens just to walk freely.

And yet — the act of walking, even with apps and precautions, remains powerful. The modern flâneuse may carry her phone in one hand and her keys in the other, but she still claims space, still reads the city, still writes herself into landscapes that once excluded her.

The ultimate feminist goal isn’t just safer apps. It’s safer cities. Cities where women don’t have to share their location every time they go for a walk. Where safety is built into lighting, design, and culture — not outsourced to an app.

Safety apps help, yes. But they’re only a patch. The real revolution will be when women no longer need them. Until then, the flâneuse walks on — resisting, adapting, and rewriting the city with every step.

Academic sources:
Sense and the City: Towards a Feminist Psychogeography By Amy Boulton

The ‘Female Flâneur’ a Psychogeographical Exploration of Women Walking in the City by Elizabeth Harlow

Claiming the Streets: Feminist Implications of Psychogeography as a Business Research Method by Deborah Knowles

Walking While Woman: Psychogeography, Gender, and the Digital Safety Net was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I guess way back in 1989 I should have started a file titled "Slimey, Greasy & Devious". By now it would be full of (mis)interpretations, (biased) opinions, (shaky) positions and (sketchy) conclusions written by various consultants to Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura and Lanxess.  I have long ago lost count of how many times Conestoga Rovers for example have decided to write something in their reports that instead of clarifying anything, it merely succeeded in making a cloudy area even darker and harder to understand.

The term client driven has been bandied about just about since the first report was written. The whole idea of the preponderance of evidence is a joke. Client driven consultants ignore well known hydrogeological rules and understandings and routinely hang their hats on some tiny anomaly or minor contradiction. Of course they fluff it up, maximize its' alleged weight and proceed in their report as if their shoddy interpretation was handed down by God himself. Similarly if there is any evidence that points to a serious (i.e. expensive) environmental problem then they happily throw out the baby with the bath water. That serious evidence allegedly is outweighed by any possible ifs, ands or maybes. The consultants will search for precedents, they will search for sketchy explanations to provide cover for their clients. They will embrace and enhance the old joke (?) about the CIA always looking for "plausible deniability" such as Oh no we didn't kill that country's leader, we were attending our child's birthday party that day. 

Allan Deal of GHD presented a pile of rubbish called "Chlorobenzene Source Evaluation" just over a year ago to TRAC. He constantly conflated chlorinated solvents and chlorobenzene. He did this both verbally and in writing. Maps he produced for example might be titled "Review of historic chlorobenzene users" only to have the legend at the bottom of the map be referring to either Halogenated solvent users or chlorinated solvent users. All in all very deceptive and likely intentional. The other interpretation is just plain incompetence. 

Other Figures such as the one on page 5 titled "Chlorobenzene Concentrations vs. Time purport to show the concentration difference of chlorobenzene between an on-site pumping well (PW4) and an off-site pumping well namely W4 .  We were advised by Mr. Deal that this graph clearly indicated that the on-site well (PW4)  was located immediately beside formerly free phase DNAPL that over time has become residual DNAPL .The off-site well with somewhat lower concentrations according to Mr. Deal had over time via pumping increased the dissolution of the residual DNAPL such that it was now gone.

Mr. Deal of course failed to explain both pumping slowdowns as well as pumping stoppages in off-site well W4. Furthermore he failed to indicate that on-site pumping well PW4 was solely pumping in the Municipal Upper Aquifer whereas off-site well W4 was pumping in both the Municipal Upper and the Municipal Lower Aquifers resulting in significant dilution and reduction of the chlorobenzene concentrations.

This has been the norm of the quality of consultants' reports on behalf of Uniroyal and successors over the decades. If they were facing an honest and competent regulator (Min. of Environment) then their literary bulls*it would go nowhere. However when your regulator is cozily snuggling with you under the covers then the least they can do is rubberstamp your consultants' reports as "A - O.K.". 

A novel data compression framework

C 1.6k Updated Oct 9

Di Ciacca, A., Wilson, S., Durney, P., Stecca, G., & Wöhling, T. (2024). Model simplification to simulate groundwater recharge from a perched gravel-bed river. Journal of Hydrology, 643, 132016. doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132016

“The HydroGeoSphere modelling code used to develop the 3D integrated surface and subsurface model (HGS3D) simulates water flow in both the surface and subsurface domain in a fully coupled fashion. In the surface domain, it solves a 2D depth-averaged diffusion-wave approximation of the Saint Venant equations, while in the subsurface it solves a 3D modified formulation of the Richards’ equation, allowing the simulation of variably saturated flows. The coupling between the surface and subsurface is achieved using the so-called dual node approach.”

Figure 4. Water content fields simulated using the 2D (a) and the 3D (b) models for 18 August 2020.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

This publication co-authored by Antoine Di Ciacca, Scott Wilson, Patrick Durney, Guglielmo Stecca, and Thomas Wöhling, investigates model simplification strategies to simulate groundwater recharge from perched gravel-bed rivers. This study leverages HydroGeoSphere (HGS) as a fully integrated 3D surface–subsurface model, alongside 2D cross-sectional and 1D analytical models, to address long-standing challenges in representing river–aquifer interactions while reducing computational demands.

Traditional groundwater models often represent river recharge using simple conductance functions that assume the riverbed acts as an impeding layer. While efficient, these approaches fail to capture the dynamics of gravel-bed rivers, where permeable sediments act as storage reservoirs and drive complex hyporheic exchanges. By starting with detailed HGS simulations of the Selwyn River in New Zealand, the researchers developed a multi-model framework to progressively simplify the system while preserving realistic groundwater recharge dynamics.

The study showed that HGS captured the full 3D variability of river–aquifer exchanges, including seasonal fluctuations and hyporheic storage. These results were then used to test whether simpler models could reproduce recharge patterns. Findings revealed that a properly parameterized 1D analytical model could replicate groundwater recharge time series with high accuracy when driven by groundwater levels in the braidplain aquifer. By contrast, models relying only on river stage significantly overestimated recharge, underscoring the importance of using aquifer heads rather than surface water levels to represent pressure gradients.

Key findings demonstrated that although HGS remains the most physically complete tool, simplified models validated against HGS outputs can provide efficient and transferable solutions for regional groundwater management. This approach shows how HydroGeoSphere can underpin the development of reduced-complexity models, ensuring that computationally light methods still maintain physical realism.

HydroGeoSphere proved essential in enabling this work by reproducing the coupled surface and subsurface processes that control groundwater recharge from gravel-bed rivers. By serving as the benchmark for simplification, HGS allowed the researchers to demonstrate that efficient analytical formulations can be confidently implemented in regional MODFLOW applications. This research highlights the value of using HGS both as a primary modelling tool and as a foundation for building scalable methods that improve the representation of river recharge in water resource planning.

This work provides critical insights for hydrogeology and groundwater management, showing how advanced, physics-based modelling with HGS can bridge the gap between detailed process representation and practical implementation at regional scales. By combining physical realism with computational efficiency, the study offers a pathway for more sustainable management of groundwater resources in gravel-bed river systems.

Abstract:

Gravel-bed rivers are an important source of groundwater recharge in some regions of the world. Their interactions with groundwater are complex and highly variable in space and time, with considerable water storage in the riverbed sediments. In losing river sections, where most of the groundwater recharge occurs, the river can be separated from the regional groundwater system by an unsaturated zone (i.e., perched). The complexity of groundwater–surface water interactions in these environments calls for the use of 3D fully integrated hydrological models to represent them, but their computational intensity limits their practicality for parameter inference, uncertainty quantification and regional scale problems. On the other hand, the simple groundwater–surface water exchange functions currently implemented in regional scale groundwater models are not suited to represent complex gravel-bed river systems such as braided rivers. There is therefore a need for developing groundwater–surface water exchange functions tailored to gravel-bed rivers that can be used in regional scale models.

To address this issue, we developed a model simplification framework that combines a 3D integrated surface and subsurface hydrological model, a 2D cross-sectional river-aquifer model and a 1D conductance-based analytical model. We aim at broadly simplifying the 3D model while ensuring the appropriate simulation of groundwater recharge. We demonstrate our modelling approach on the Selwyn River (New Zealand) using piezometric data and groundwater recharge estimates derived from field observations and satellite imagery.

Our results indicates that groundwater recharge from this river can be simulated using a simple 1D analytical model, which can easily be implemented in regional groundwater models (e.g., MODFLOW models). However, to represent properly the time variability of groundwater recharge, it is essential to use the groundwater level in the shallow aquifer associated with the river as input to the regional groundwater model. Our approach is generally transferable to other gravel-bed rivers but requires some observations of river losses for proper calibration.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

Educational framework exploring ergonomic, lightweight multi-agent orchestration. Managed by OpenAI Solution team.

Python 20.5k Updated Mar 11

I have finally published my murder mystery, Bad Council. You can buy it at Words Worth Books in Uptown Waterloo, Ont. or buy it on Amazon or Kindle. It is $20.00.

Councillor Jeff Barber is murdered with a commemorative brick.

Libby Allen, the only woman on Gabardine town council, finds politics a constant fight. She raises her hand and Mayor Cooper ignores her unless another councillor objects. Not that any of them listen to what she says. When the Mayor passes out a commemorative brick to each councillor in memory of the now destroyed historic sweater factory owned by his family, Libby is not impressed.

Now she walks into an In Camera meeting and finds out that everyone knows about the huge Lake Ontario waterfront proposal to be built in her downtown ward. She knows nothing. The century old merry-go-round, the petting zoo, the historic warehouses, the rooming houses all gone. In their place a white elephant convention centre paid by the city and a hotel. Huge condos looming just like the modern eyesores in the middle of the historic Gabardine downtown. They replace the old Kitten Sweater Factory. The view of the waterfront will be totally blocked off. She and Jeff Barber try to get the information out of In Camera to warn the public. They fail. Everyone else passes the motion to go ahead with the developers’ plans. It ‘s not right. Then Jeff is murdered.

♦

I have some Sicilian in my DNA. And while I’ve been to Sicily only once, I feel a certain draw to, and curiosity about, the Mediterranean’s largest island. So, I eat and drink Sicily. Vicariously.

When I have an opportunity and find interesting wines from Sicily, I drink them with a thoughtful and reflective pause — I dream I’m in the small town, Racalmuto (Sister City to Hamilton), where my nonna Concetta was born.

It’s an imaginative leap, to be sure, but one which is easy to do while gazing into a glass of red wine as heady, earthy aromas waft upward.

Recently, I made such an imaginative leap, sitting in the backyard with a small collection of cheese and salumi on a peaceful and warm late-summer evening.

It was while enjoying a 2017 Centopassi “Cimento di Perricone” (available at the LCBO).

It was of those ideal moments: relaxed and casual Alt-J radio on the outdoor speakers, a slight breeze. A gentle rustle of leaves from the trees above.

Serenity.

The moment with the wine only added to that relaxed feeling.

It was my first encounter with Perricone, an unusual and obscure varietal — and one of Sicily’s oldest indigenous grapes, apparently — that is most often blended with the better-known Nero d’Avola.

On its own, however, this Perricone was deep red, I’d say nicely bodied (probably medium or just a bit beyond), with some fruitiness and just a gentle touch of pleasant spiciness.

I quite liked it.

The Centopassi Perricone for this wine grew on a plateau at about 400 metres above sea level in seven hectares of certified-organic Don Tomasso vineyard. The soil is impermeable clay, the grapes are native to Sicily, and the wines are grown organically.

But the wine has an even more interesting backstory which I found compelling.

Centopassi is an example, very recently in the very long history of the noble grape, of a winery that started cultivating land that was “rescued” and reclaimed from the Mafia who seized it nastily and illegally and let the properties, the land, and any buildings rot.

Centopassi’s Cimento di Perricone is from a vineyard reclaimed from Giovanni Brusca, the brutal thug who, in 1992, assassinated judge and prosecuting magistrate Giovanni Falcone, a magistrate noted for prosecuting Mafiosi. (There were a number of other prosecutors, such as Paolo Borsellino, assassinated by the Mafia over a period in the same era.)

I wondered if that’s, in part, where the name — “cimento” — came from: a challenge, a test, an ordeal? Or is the grape, on its hard, impermeable clay soil, just hard to grow?

The former, “the challenge,” especially in the wine making is the reason, I’ve learned: besides what I would imagine are considerable safety risks when one involves oneself with anything that once involved the Cosa Nostra, working with Perricone is tetchy.

In his illuminating article of May, 2021, “Centopassi and the Perricone ordeal” in jancisrobinson.com, wine writer Walter Speller, having spoken to Centopassi winemaker-consultant, Giovanni Ascione, writes that Perricone is “difficult to grow and a challenge to ferment.”

Speller’s piece continues, “‘We decided to plant the vineyard, because we wanted to honour the history of the terroir,’ Ascione explained the choice of Sicily’s most fickle variety. ‘We wanted to take on the challenge'” (my emphasis).

Thanks to the Libera Terra organization, the Alto Belice Corleonese region, south of Palermo, now has vineyards growing grapes, including Perricone, for some delicious wines.

Terra Libera is dedicated to creating autonomous, cooperative farms that are “self-sufficient, stable, and that are able to create work places, thereby establishing a moral economic system based on legality, social justice and market,” according to their website.

The co-op includes Placido Rizzotto, Pio La Torre and Rosario Livatino growing on dozens and dozens of reclaimed hectares of vineyards in the Sicilian provinces of Palermo, Trapani and Agrigento.

If you are familiar with one of the world’s greatest films — Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather — you will recognize the name Corleone. Vito Corleone and his family, in Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel on which the movie was based, were fictional, of course. But the Corleonesi Mafiosi were real — and a ruthless, murderous, thuggish and evil gang.

In another connecting movie note, “I Cento Passi,” or “The Hundred Steps,” is Marco Tullio Giordana’s anti-Mafia film, made in 2000, depicting the life of Peppino Impastato, a political activist who opposed the Sicilian Mafia.

While I also sipped a Sicilian Pinot Grigio, a good, light-bodied wine with crispness, not a lot of sweet and a range of citrus and melon flavours, it was the Perricone that really set in motion a few moments of reflection.

That grapes and their wine could have such restorative power — playing a critical role in returning ill-gotten land, taken by mobsters, to its majesty for growing things like grapes (and other crops like wheat) that produce such good wine and helping farmers and rejuvenating the agrarian system — is, frankly, energizing and inspiring to me as someone who loves good, proper food and drink that has a social-justice foundation.

That’s brilliant.

So, next time you pop a cork, do some research and see if there’s a story behind the label. You might be truly rewarded — and inspired as you spend a bit of time reflecting peacefully with your glass.

Check out my latest post Centopassi wine turfs the Mafiosi from AndrewCoppolino.com.

Firstly it was easier before they were caught. Now they've been outed not just by myself but by Lanxess, GHD and Arcadis Inc. (Jesse Wright). Secondly they were very quiet about their revelations. So quiet that they nearly flew under the radar which is exactly what they hoped would happen. Afterall I haven't been attending TRAC meetings either in person or by Zoom. Instead I watch the videos on the Township's website a few days later. Who knows maybe the swine have been laying low just waiting for me to either croak or fade away into oblivion. Not yet you pack of lying pis*ants. 

Also there is no one honest at TRAC with serious, local, environmental knowledge going back before 2011 (i.e. Sebastian). No I certainly am not accidentally omitting Susan Bryant. TRAC can and are led around by the nose despite some smart people on the committee. 

Of course if Lanxess and GHD were completely straight forward they would now clarify and comment about how the misinformation surrounding DNAPLS by W4 and OW57-32R came to be. It was Uniroyal/Chemtura's consultants Conestoga Rovers (CRA) who first claimed DNAPL presence very quietly and then when I did find the data they covered it up with all kinds of techno babble and bullsh*t. Unfortunately the Ministry of Environment and their hydrogeologist Jaimie Connelly also got into the picture suggesting that acetone was the culprit for higher solubility of chlorobenzene, not DNAPLS. 

The extent of Varnicolor's contamination of the Elmira drinking water aquifers has also recently come to light as well as the alleged six to eight companies nearby Varnicolor who handled chlorobenzene back in the day and maybe even currently. Awfully convenient not telling us about that until 2025.

Again by refusing the public the right to speak at TRAC meetings whether verbal Delegations or even questions, they have shut down public consultation except for hand picked, nice, pleasant and deferential folks who won't say sh*t if their mouths are full of it. 

Thinking about selling your home in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, or the surrounding townships? One of the most important steps is understanding your property’s current market value. That’s where a free home evaluation comes in.

Unlike automated online estimates that can be off by tens of thousands, a professional home evaluation from a local expert gives you a precise snapshot of what buyers would realistically pay in today’s market.

But what does the process involve? How is it different from an appraisal? And most importantly, how can you use this information to make the best decisions for your family?

Let’s break it down.

A home evaluation is a professional assessment of your property’s market value, based on recent comparable sales, active listings, market trends, location, and property condition. It’s not the same as a home appraisal (which lenders use for financing) or a home inspection (which looks at condition). Instead, a home evaluation is specifically designed to answer the question: What is my home worth right now if I were to list it?

At The Deutschmann Team, our evaluations combine:

• Local sales data (similar homes sold in the past 30–90 days).
• Active competition (current listings in your neighbourhood).
• Market trends (pricing shifts in Waterloo Region, interest rate impacts).
• Property-specific factors (lot size, upgrades, school catchments, orientation).

By requesting a free home evaluation, you are welcoming a local real estate expert to determine the value of your property using both data and experience. It is usually quick, simple, and meant to be helpful, regardless of whether you sell or not.

The following is an example of a standard assessment:

• First Consultation: You will speak with an agent who will collect information about your property: square footage, upgrades, location, and general condition.
• Market Analysis: They will prepare a home evaluation report tailored to your property, using recent local sales, active listings, and current market conditions.
• Walkthrough (when requested): A physical or virtual tour allows the expert to observe details that can influence value, such as renovations or unfinished maintenance.
• Valuation & Strategy: You will receive a breakdown of your home’s current market value, the recommended listing price, and suggestions on how to maximize your return.

Real estate in Waterloo Region is dynamic. Prices in areas like Laurelwood, Eastbridge, or Doon can move differently than in St. Jacobs, Wellesley, or Conestogo — even for homes of similar size.

A home evaluation helps you:

• Set a competitive asking price – Overpricing often leads to homes sitting stale, while underpricing leaves money on the table.
• Understand buyer behaviour – What features are driving demand in your neighbourhood right now? Pools? Home offices? Finished basements?
• Plan renovations strategically – Want to know if a new kitchen will add value? A home evaluation gives you clarity before investing.
• Stay informed – Even if you’re not selling immediately, knowing your equity position is key for refinancing, estate planning, or future moves.

The power of a home evaluation report is its specificity and locality. A professional report takes into account actual variables, such as similar sales, neighbourhood dynamics, seasonal trends, and even your lot orientation, unlike automated tools that just give you a generic estimate based on postal codes. When you book a free home evaluation with us, you’ll receive:

• A custom market analysis tailored to your property.
• A review of recent comparable sales in your neighbourhood.
• An outline of your current competition (active listings).
• Pricing recommendations based on real data.
• Strategic suggestions on how to maximize your return (staging, minor updates, timing).

We can meet in person, virtually, or provide a preliminary digital report — whatever works best for you.

If you have used online valuation tools in the past, you must have realized how inconsistent they are. The reason is that they use only data, without considering context.

Micro-markets in Waterloo Region can differ greatly within a few blocks. A house in Eastbridge may not perform the same as a house in Laurelwood, although they may be of the same size. This is why home evaluation reports should be based on local realities, not only national or provincial trends.

The collaboration with a real estate team familiar with the Kitchener-Waterloo area will guarantee that your home market analysis is precise, practical, and specific to your objectives. It is not only about numbers, but timing, buyer behaviour, and regional demand.

Not all free home evaluations are created equal. Some are little more than a generic printout from an online tool.

At The Deutschmann Team, we take a concierge-level approach:

• Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist♦ (CLHMS) and Guild recognition from The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing.
• Top 50 RE/MAX Teams in Canada (2024), with over $800M in career sales.
• A proven track record across all price points — from $600K condos to $8M estates.
• Boutique service – You deal directly with Becky and Drew, not passed off to junior agents.
• Marketing expertise – We don’t just evaluate your home; we show you how to position it to stand out, from professional staging consultations to cinematic video tours.

♦ Learn more about how we market homes here: Why Sell With Us

To have the most precise number possible, you can follow a few easy steps to prepare your home before an evaluation. A home evaluation checklist is not only beneficial to the agent but also prepares you for a more realistic pricing estimate.

Here’s what to do:

• Tidy up inside and out: Clean, tidy houses are better to live in and to sell.
• List your upgrades: Any renovations, new systems (HVAC, roof, etc.), or energy-efficient additions must be listed.
• Point out features: Things like heated floors, finished basements, or special views can significantly impact value.
• Fix the little things: Minor cosmetic repairs (peeling paint, loose doorknobs) can slightly affect perceived value.
• Prepare your paperwork: Property tax bills, utility bills, and previous valuations add helpful context.

These efforts don’t need to be elaborate—but they do help professionals evaluate home value more clearly.

When people hear the word “free,” they often assume there’s a catch. However, in the real estate business, free home evaluations are a normal and acceptable service, particularly by established teams seeking to develop relationships.

Let’s clear up a few myths:

• “There’s a catch — it’s just a sales pitch.”
   Not with us. Our evaluations are no-obligation and no-pressure.
• “Online tools are just as good.”
   They’re not. Automated tools don’t know if you’ve just renovated your kitchen, finished your basement, or moved back onto greenspace. We do.
• “I can only book a home evaluation if I’m planning to sell right away.”

You don’t need to be listed immediately to benefit from a home evaluation. It’s a great way to understand your home’s current value and prepare strategically. Even if you’re thinking about selling 6 months—or a year down the road, getting an evaluation now helps you plan ahead.

Understanding how to get an evaluation for your home and who should provide it goes a long way toward setting realistic expectations and avoiding surprises.

In today’s shifting market, knowledge is power. A free home evaluation from The Deutschmann Team gives you clarity, confidence, and a competitive edge — whether you’re selling now or planning ahead.

♦ Serving Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, and the surrounding townships — including St. Jacobs, Conestogo, Elmira, and Wellesley.

♦ Book your free home evaluation today.

Let’s take the guesswork out of your home’s value and position you for success. Ready to eliminate guesswork in the value of your home? Book yours today by visiting our Free Home Evaluation page and taking the first step towards informed decision-making.

The post Free Home Evaluations in Waterloo Region: What You Need to Know appeared first on Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Agent - The Deutschmann Team.

This October marks two years since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. Two years of mass killing, displacement, and starvation of a besieged civilian population—carried out with total impunity in full view of the world.

For two years, the Canadian government has chosen complicity—arming Israel, providing unwavering support, ignoring international law, and hiding behind loopholes and half-measures. It is up to us to make clear that this is unacceptable and that we refuse to allow our government to aid genocide in our name.

On Saturday, October 4, join the Palestinian Youth Movement in the streets of Kitchener-Waterloo to shut it down and demand an end to our government’s complicity in genocide. Bring your friends, your family, and your community—together we can make it impossible for our government to ignore our voices.

♦  RiseUp For Gaza

♦ Saturday, October 4

♦ 2:00 PM

♦ Gaukel Block, Downtown Kitchener

There is no denying it. An extensive UN investigation recently confirmed what has long been known–a genocide is happening in Gaza. The world was warned by the International Court of Justice when it ruled a “plausible genocide” in January 2024 and issued legally binding provisional measures, including that all states must refrain from arming Israel while it is under investigation. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And leading genocide scholars and human rights experts have loudly sounded the alarm.

Yet the Canadian government has still not even called this a genocide. Instead, Canada remains complicit–sending and buying weapons and military technology, and providing diplomatic cover by repeating the false claim that Israel has a “right to defend itself” while it carries out atrocity crimes against the indigenous Palestinian population of the land it illegally occupies, and continues to annex, in defiance of international law.

Genocide is the crime of all crimes. It cannot be justified under any circumstances. Canada is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, which makes it our government’s responsibility not only to punish but to prevent genocide. The duty to prevent arises the moment serious risk is identified, not after it becomes politically unviable to defend the indefensible. Our government has failed, and the people of Gaza cannot be saved with symbolic gestures like state recognition—they need the bombs to stop falling, the weapons to stop flowing, the blockade to be lifted, and Canada’s complicity to end.

Here in Waterloo Region, our community is directly implicated. Our region is home to over a half-dozen weapons and technology companies exporting parts and components that fuel this genocide. This complicity stains our community and our conscience.

The responsibility to resist genocide falls on all of humanity—but especially on Canadians, whose government is actively helping to sustain it.

Your presence matters on October 4th. Together, we will show that Waterloo Region refuses to stand idly by while genocide is carried out with our government’s support.

Stop the genocide. Stop Canada’s complicity.

We will not be silent until Palestine is free.

In solidarity,

Neighbours for Palestine: Waterloo Region

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There are a number of answers based upon politics, public acceptance and technical standards i.e. ODWS- Ontario Drinking Water Standards. Politically will be all about the proposed Lake Erie Pipeline. Will getting our drinking water from highly polluted Lake Erie fly versus serious cleanup of our currently polluted aquifers in southern Ontario? Heck will it even fly with the United States? If that idiot Donald Trump or anyone vaguely related to him is the President then all bets are off. He'd rather invade us then share Lake Erie water with us.

Public acceptance here in Elmira and Waterloo Region over ever drinking water from the Elmira Aquifers could be a hard sell. Everybody knows about DDT and Dioxins in the Canagagigue Creek and they assume, rightly or wrongly, that they are also in our groundwater. Furthermore I believe that our citizens and residents have lost faith and confidence, rightfully so, in our provincial government and our Ministry of Environment. Just because they suggest that the Elmira Aquifers will someday be restored just doesn't cut it anymore. Especially as they are just about ready to blow past the first mandated deadline of 2028.

Lastly we have technical standards. Oh boy we have a ton of credentialed experts hired by world class polluters and these "experts" will give you their client's opinions for big bucks. I have no doubt that within a few years of selective sampling by compound/chemicals , by location within the aquifers and by even adjusted health standards that some of these twits will proclaim the aquifers safe to drink. Now keep in mind they advised Elmira folks for twenty years prior to the alleged discovery of NDMA that Elmira's water was safe. It was not plus it stunk and tasted crappy. 

All in all I have seen  zero honest and serious intent to date to properly remediate the Elmira Aquifers. I'm not saying that it can not ever happen but that it will take major changes in honesty, personnel involved, public awareness  and more to ever occur.

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