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Cottage Life

Cottage land buyout in Rondeau Provincial Park turned down by Ontario government

Photo by Shutterstock/Jay Fog

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) has rejected an offer from the municipality of Chatham-Kent to purchase a section of Rondeau Provincial Park.

There are 279 cottage lots in Rondeau, making up approximately one per cent of the park’s 8,000 acres. The cottagers own their cottage structures but lease the land from the provincial government. This tenancy agreement has been in place since 1894 and acts as a source of revenue for the park, helping to keep it self-sufficient.

The municipality, which pitched the proposal to the MECP in May of 2021, intended to act as a purchasing agent on behalf of the Rondeau Cottagers Association, who own secondary properties within the nearby provincial park.

Under the tenancy agreement, the government renewed the cottage leases every 21 years. But in the 1950s, the government changed its mind about cottages occupying the park. This is because parks started to grow overcrowded and the government wanted to expand its public land. After the 1950s, the government stopped approving the building of new cottages in Rondeau and instead started buying cottages when they went up for sale, demolishing the structures and returning the lots to park land.

The government renewed the cottage leases for the last time in 1996, removing the renewable clause. This meant that the cottage leases expired in 2017 and cottage owners would be forced to vacate the land. But instead of evicting the cottagers in 2017, the government temporarily renewed the leases until 2019. When 2019 rolled around, the government once again renewed the leases until the end of 2022, while it figured out what to do with the land.

This is where Chatham-Kent got involved. While the municipality has no jurisdiction over the park, the cottagers do contribute to the local economy. As a result, the Rondeau Cottagers Association and the Chatham-Kent city council decided to work together to ensure the cottagers weren’t evicted from the land.

In its proposal to the MECP, Chatham-Kent said it would pay the government the land’s assessed value of $29.2 million to purchase the 279 cottage lots. In addition to the payment, the municipality would also offer the government Clear Creek Conservation Area, a Carolinian forest slightly larger than Rondeau’s 40 acres of cottage land, approximately 20 kilometres from the provincial park. The municipality would then resell the Rondeau lots to the cottagers at face value, and the cottagers would pay for any out-of-pocket expenses the municipality incurred, such as legal fees.

While the MECP was open to hearing the proposal, in the end, it turned it down. “The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks is not currently pursuing a proposal from the municipality of Chatham-Kent and the Rondeau Cottage Association,” said Meghan Pomeroy, a spokesperson for Ontario Parks, in an email. “The ministry is considering options regarding the continued leasing of private cottage lots in Rondeau Provincial Park. No decisions regarding the future of Rondeau cottage lots beyond 2022 have been made at this time.”

The rejection of the offer has sent the Rondeau cottagers back to the drawing board, especially as the leases’ expiration date ticks closer.

In an email, a legal representative for Chatham-Kent said that the municipality remains open to engaging with all stakeholders regarding the cottage lots, and that it hopes that a positive resolution to the lease renewals can be found in the future.

The Rondeau Cottagers Association remained tight-lipped on their strategy moving forward. The group’s representative refused to be interviewed on the record, but did say that “the issue is still very much alive.”

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Cottage Life

Expert advice for installing a new dock at your cottage

After more than 35 years at the lake, we like to think we know a thing or two about replacing and maintaining docks. But with 46 years in the dock-building game, R&J Machine, a family-owned dock manufacturer that builds everything right in Lakefield, Ontario, has even more expertise than us.

To pass on what can be learned from nearly half a century of creating some of cottage country’s highest-quality waterfront products, we sat down with R&J co-owner Katie Peet to learn the most effective way to plan your new cottage dock.

Know your dock options

If you’re new to cottaging, or if you’re still using the same dock configuration that’s been at your family cottage for generations, you might not be aware that there’s a better system for your specific needs. Whether it’s a truss-pipe dock, a lift-up system, or a floating dock, there’s likely a better option that will make your dock sturdier, more durable, and easier to maintain in the winter.

“If your water’s not too deep with a bottom that’s relatively stable, then usually a pipe dock is the preferred way to go,” Katie explains. “But if you’re in an area where you can have a base to use as a hinge, lift-up docks are great because they get your dock out of harm’s way in the winter.” For deep water or sheltered shorelines where there isn’t a lot of ice movement in winter to worry about, Katie recommends a floating dock—especially when you’re dealing with fluctuating water levels. “Some people will lose five or six feet of water over the summer,” she says. “Floating docks are good for those scenarios, because they can move with the water levels.”

Understand your shoreline

It’s not uncommon for seasoned cottagers to have been using docks for decades that don’t suit their shorelines. “A lot of cottagers are used to traditional wood floaters on blue barrels because that’s what their grandfather built,” Katie says. “But why have that kind of floating dock if you’re in four feet of water? You’ll get more stability with a pipe dock or a lift-up dock.” Similarly, a pipe dock doesn’t make much sense for a shoreline with 12 feet of depth.

To best understand the unique challenges of your cottage’s shoreline, Katie recommends talking to neighbours who’ve weathered a few winters on your lake, and seeing what kinds of docks they use. “If they’ve been there for years, they’ll tell you what’s going to happen in winter with the ice, so you’ll know what to expect.”

Invest in hassle-free durability

Plenty of cottagers have grown accustomed to the hassles of winter dock maintenance and the limited lifespans of their docks, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t easier and more durable options. From R&J’s perspective, the most durable route is to start with a rot-proof aluminum frame. “We develop our own exclusive aluminum dies so we can design different dock sizes using full-length extruded aluminum,” Katie explains. “It gives the dock a cleaner, more streamlined appearance and adds strength and durability to your dock frame.”

That durable framework makes upkeep far easier, because decking is simple to replace when the time comes. “If people invest in an aluminum frame, which is never going to rot, they might come back in 15 years if they have cedar or pressure-treated decking to replace the decking panels. So all they do is pop in the new decking panels, and they’re away to the races,” she says. “Whereas if you build an all-wood dock, your whole frame could be rotted out, so you’ll be starting from scratch. 

Maximize your use of the space

Your dock can be so much more than a place to moor your boat—especially if your cottage is ensconced on a Canadian Shield shoreline without a lot of accessible outdoor space. With a dock that pulls double duty as a deck, you won’t just get more enjoyment out of it right now; you’ll also be adding a ton of value if you decide to sell later on. “A lot of cottagers are buying dock systems and lift systems now as an extension of their cottage,” Katie says. “Many of the cottages that are coming up for sale right now don’t have pristine waterfronts, so buyers are looking to create more of an ‘entertaining’ space on the water. So it’s not just a simple 4′ by 16′ dock that you can tie your boat to—it’s actually an extension of your living space.”

Pay special attention to decking

Whether you’re stepping off the boat or lounging on your dock on a sunny Saturday, your choice of decking material is going to be a major factor in how much you enjoy your new dock—especially if you’re not keen on maintaining or replacing those boards. The three main options are pressure-treated lumber, Western red cedar, or PVC. “We recommend PVC for someone who’s going to stay at their cottage for a few years, and who doesn’t want to worry about staining their dock or getting wooden splinters,” she says. Pressure-treated lumber is a cheaper option, but it’s also heavy if you’re removing it in the winter. And cedar is the middle ground. It lasts for 10 to 12 years, and you can choose to stain it or let it naturally turn grey.

While cost and durability are the main concerns, a decking material’s traction should also factor into your decision. “A lot of the new PVC decking options have tread built into them, so they’re often equal to wood—if not better—in terms of being slip-resistant,” Katie points out.

Start planning earlier than you expect

The pandemic has thrown a spanner in the supply chains of most industries, and docks are no exception. So if you’re thinking of installing a new dock or replacing a rotting one, you’ll need to plan ahead. “Most people will come to us in the fall to start planning for next spring,” Katie says. “Right now, we’re booking well into July for installations. So if you’re thinking about doing something substantial, I would start in August or September of the year before. That way, you’ll have time to figure out the permits you need, and you’ll have a chance to consider different configurations.”

As part of that planning process, Katie recommends perusing the photo galleries on R&J Machine’s site to get a sense of what you’d like in a dock or boat-lift system. “After that, we can discuss the best options for you,” she says. “But it’s always nice to know what you’re looking for ahead of calling, so we can steer you in the right direction.”

Looking to replace your dock or install a new one? Learn more about R&J Machine’s quality workmanship, specialized materials, and innovative designs at rjmachine.ca.

 

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Cottage Life

Changes could be coming to pleasure craft licensing in Canada

Photo by Andrea Berg / Shutterstock

Heading out on the lake to cruise on your boat this year? Don’t forget to check out potential new regulations around pleasure craft licencing. 

Transport Canada is proposing changes to modernize pleasure craft licensing, which will come into effect in the winter of 2023. 

Proposed changes to pleasure craft licencing include:

  • Introducing a five-year validity period for pleasure craft licences (PCL). 
  • Expanding the Small Vessel Regulations to include all pleasure crafts equipped with motors of 10 hp or more and all pleasure crafts (including all power-driven and sail-alone vessels) above six metres in length. 
  • Owners must notify Transport Canada of a name or address change and of a sale or transfer of a vessel within 30 days. 
  • Easier cancellation of a pleasure craft licence, if a lifetime PCL holder fails to apply, a PCL holder fails to renew a PCL, or a PCL holder wishes to remove their pleasure craft from service.
  • Introducing a $15 service fee to process an application to obtain, renew, or duplicate a PCL.

Is it really necessary to renew my pleasure craft licence every five years?

Sergeant Dave Moffatt, the provincial marine coordinator of the Highway Safety Division under the Ontario Provincial Police says, yes. He believes the change to the validity period is long overdue and will assist enforcement officers in cleaning the database. If accepted, the changes will create a more streamlined process for locating missing people, finding owners of abandoned boats, and removing them to prevent a navigational hazard. “In the past, we could spend days trying to find out who the owners are,” says Sergeant Moffatt. “Someone could have registered the boat 20 years prior and then sell it. In my experience, you can have 10 different owners before you find the right one.” 

Sara Anghel, the president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada also supports the changes. “There is a lot of old data that may make it challenging when there is an incident or law enforcement is trying to find a boat.”

While there are some licences that have a ten year validity period, this proposed pleasure craft licencing change will greatly affect the holders of a grandfathered licence, which currently have no expiration date. Sergeant Moffatt affirms that this change is key to prioritizing boater safety by ensuring boat owners are connected to their vessels. 

But, what’s the deal with the fee?

Without the change, costs will continue to be absorbed by taxpayer dollars. There is a lot of maintenance that occurs on Canadian waterways, such as maintaining markers and protecting Canada’s marine environment. This fee would help support maintenance costs. 

What are people saying about the proposed changes? 

Public consultation was completed over 65 days, and Transport Canada received 900 comments. Canadians (including recreational boaters), marine stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, boating safety advocates, pleasure craft dealers, associations that represent cottagers and associations that represent anglers, hunters, trappers and recreational fishers were among those that provided comments.

The proposed changes received mixed responses. While some feel that the changes are positive, others believe that there is still something missing. “I would like to see the system given back to boaters. For example, the changes don’t address climate change, the environment, or more access and infrastructure. I want people to get back what they are putting into it,” says Sara Anghel. 

Many participants, while agreeing with the proposal, also suggested using a service fee to fund abandoned vessels, inadequate black water disposal facilities, and mooring buoys. Others recommended mandating liability insurance when new boaters obtain a licence. Respondents were also in agreement that they would like to see Transport Canada take a more active role in education. Such campaigns could include updating information regularly and clarifying the differences between a pleasure craft licence and a Pleasure Craft Operator Card. Lastly, participants believe it would be beneficial to engage more stakeholders such as anglers, hunters, and trappers (to better understand the socioeconomic impacts of the proposed changes) and marine trade associations (who administer the Pleasure Craft Licensing Programs).

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Cottage Life

RCMP seize 10,000 counterfeit toonies—here’s how to tell if you have one

Photo Courtesy of the RCMP

On May 9, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Trans-National Serious and Organized Crime Section (TSOC) charged an Ontario resident with uttering counterfeit money and possession of counterfeit money after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) identified and seized approximately 10,000 counterfeit toonies.

The RCMP started an investigation into the counterfeit currency in the summer of 2021 after the Royal Canadian Mint identified fake toonies through its random sampling process. The vast majority of the counterfeit coins were found circulating in the GTA and were collected throughout the investigation, not all in one haul.

In a statement, the RCMP said it suspects that the coins originated from China and that some of the counterfeit toonies are likely still circulating in Canada’s currency system.

Do you have any counterfeit toonies?

To tell whether you’re in possession of a counterfeit toonie, the RCMP recommends looking at the coin’s polar bear. The right front paw on the fake coin has a split-toe, resembling a camel’s foot. The right front paw on a legitimate toonie more closely resembles a bear paw.

“The unique features on Canada’s circulation coins make them among the most secure in the world and allowed these counterfeit pieces to be identified and removed from circulation quickly,” said James Malizia, vice-president of corporate security at the Royal Canadian Mint, in a statement.

Rather than being concerned about the counterfeit toonies, many Canadians took to social media to voice their confusion.

“Seems more trouble than it’s worth to counterfeit a metal coin. For me, I would suspect that it would need to be $100 and up for the risk involved and the ROI,” wrote Roger A. Stiver on Facebook.

Natasha Munro commented on Facebook: “I have to ask, what’s the cost per counterfeit toonie with the added cost of transportation, time, and the now future legal expenses?”

The man charged by the GTA-TSOC for the counterfeit toonies was Daixiong He (age 68) of Richmond Hill, Ont. Police released He from custody on an undertaking, which means that He made a legally-binding promise to appear in court. He’s court appearance will be in Newmarket on June 2.

Despite the severity of the issue, this is far from the first time the RCMP have dealt with counterfeit currency. From 2014 to 2016, the Integrated Counterfeit Enforcement Team (ICET) investigated a counterfeiting ring based in Quebec that was manufacturing bogus $100 banknotes from the Birds of Canada and Scenes of Canada series.

The influx of phony $100 bills was having a major impact on the Canadian economy. In March 2017, the ICET managed to take down the counterfeiting ring and seize the fake banknotes. The amount of counterfeit bills seized totalled $1.4 million.

If you suspect that someone is trying to pay you with counterfeit currency, the Bank of Canada suggests that you do the following:

  • Politely refuse the note and explain that you suspect that it may be counterfeit.
  • Ask for another note (and check it too).
  • Advise the person to check the note with the local police.
  • Inform your local police of a possible attempt to pass suspected counterfeit money.
  • Be courteous. Remember that the person in possession of the bill could be an innocent victim who does not realize that the note is suspicious.

If you believe you’ve received counterfeit currency after a transaction, the Bank of Canada says you should report it to your local police. If the currency is real, you’ll get it back. If it’s fake, unfortunately you’ll lose the money, but you will be helping prosecutors get one step closer to shutting down counterfeiters.

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Cottage Life

Bracebridge Town Council votes against short-term rental freeze

Photo by Shutterstock/John Fader

After a lengthy discussion on April 27, Bracebridge’s town council voted against implementing an interim control bylaw for short-term rentals.

The interim control bylaw, which was debated back and forth by council over the last two months, would have frozen all short-term rentals for a period of one year with the ability to extend the freeze to a second year. During this time, owners would not have been allowed to operate a rental. If an owner refused to comply with this bylaw, they would have been charged under the town’s Planning Act, requiring them to appear in court with the possibility of receiving a maximum fine of $25,000.

During its deliberation, council heard from several stakeholders, including local short-term rental owners. Catharine Thompson, owner of Cozy Cottages of Muskoka, was first to address council. She explained how these rentals were used for more than just parties, describing a woman abused by her husband who was now using one of Thompson’s rentals as a refuge. She also described a family who had to vacate their home because of mould, but couldn’t stay in a hotel because of their two large dogs. Freezing short-term rentals would leave these individuals with nowhere to stay, she said.

Cheryl MacMillan, another local owner, pointed out that if council chose to license the rentals rather than freeze them, the town could collect a Municipal Accommodation Tax from owners, which would go towards issues such as affordable housing or further enforcing short-term rental compliance.

“We have made a commitment to the public that there will be increased enforcement. I think enforcement is the way to go, and I think a bylaw that suggests that short-term rentals have to be registered, as we heard from pretty much all of the delegations tonight, and licensed and bring some teeth to that is an absolute must,” said Deputy Mayor Rick Maloney during the April 27 town council meeting. “A full stop to short-term rentals will have a detrimental effect on many people.”

Instead of a freeze, council amended the motion, voting to create a mandatory registry for all short-term rentals. Town staff will use the registry to collect data on these current rentals, which will inform future changes to the town’s official plan, zoning bylaws, and a short-term rental licensing program.

To assist town staff, council voted to hire a consultant tasked with creating a short-term rental program by the end of 2022.

During a planning and development committee meeting on March 30, Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith also pointed out that bylaw received a budget increase this year to extend the department’s coverage to evenings and weekends, when most of the rental complaints are lodged. Noise complaint fines, which range between $250 and $300, will be in effect.

“At the end of the day, this is about behaviour,” Maloney said during the April 27 meeting. Out of the approximate 300 short-term rentals in Bracebridge, only a small portion are causing problems, which is why it isn’t fair to punish everyone with a freeze, he said. It’s time to “put some of the responsibility back on the people causing…the challenges.”

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Cottage Life

Critics of Ontario’s new open bidding policy say it will do little to curb prices

Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock/Michael Vi

Ontario’s soaring cottage real estate prices may finally see some friction. The province’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services is rolling out new regulations that will allow people selling their properties to disclose the details of competing offers.

Currently, the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2020 (TRESA), forces buyers in a multi-offer scenario to submit a bid without knowing how much competitors are offering, otherwise known as blind bidding. This practice forces buyers to guess what they should offer; in some cases paying thousands of dollars more than the next highest bid.

Over the last two years, multi-offer scenarios have become common in cottage country fueled by high demand being driven by low mortgage rates and an urban exodus during the pandemic. The new TRESA regulations give sellers the option to opt-in for an “open-offer” process, disclosing details of competing bids.

“Sellers will no longer be limited to selling their property through a closed or traditional offer system,” said minister of government and consumer services, Ross Romano, in a statement.

Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) CEO, Tim Hudak, voiced his approval of the new regulations, saying in a statement that it will make the buying process more transparent while giving homeowners a choice of how they want to sell their properties.

Some critics, however, are saying that by empowering the sellers with the choice to disclose offer details, the new regulations will do little to curb prices. “Home sellers shouldn’t be able to pick and choose when the bidding process is transparent and when it is blind. That defeats the purpose of ending blind bidding since it’s in sellers’ best interest to keep buyers in the dark,” said Ontario’s Green Party leader Mike Schreiner in a statement.

“A consistently transparent bidding process will help bring down the skyrocketing price of houses, and along with other key policies, like expanding zoning and investing in affordable rentals, will help us build an Ontario where everyone has an affordable place to call home.”

The Ontario government announced its “open-offer” alternative just a few weeks after the federal government released its 2022 Budget, which tasked minister of housing, Ahmed Hussen, with creating a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights. As part of the bill of rights, Hussen will work with each province and territory to end blind bidding and make housing more affordable. It’s uncertain whether Ontario’s new TRESA regulations will meet the bill of rights’ requirements.

The new TRESA regulations are set to take effect on April 1, 2023. On top of providing the “open-offer” alternative to blind bidding, the government is also introducing a new code of ethics for real estate brokerages, brokers, and salespersons, improving professionalism and disclosure obligations.

As part of this process, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), which is in charge of regulating real estate professionals on behalf of the provincial government, will provide buyers and sellers with a fact-based information guide detailing their rights and options. The government is also expanding RECO’s disciplinary scope to encompass all aspects of the TRESA.

“By giving RECO these powers, we’re streamlining and speeding up the process needed to resolve issues and ensure real consequences for those acting in bad faith,” Romano said.

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Cottage Life

Wild Profile: Meet the Blanding’s turtle

By Ryan M. Bolton/Shutterstock

If you can spy a Blanding’s turtle, you’ll be able to identify it as such. This guy’s bright yellow, extra-long neck (and chin) distinguishes it from other northern turtles. And check out that shell. It looks like an army helmet. Most Ontario turtles have wider, flatter shells. Blanding’s turtles live a lot of life underwater. They stroll along the bottom of shallow, weedy, marshy areas; thanks to that long neck, they can poke their faces into spots other water-dwellers can’t reach. To get at crayfish and snails, a Blanding’s reaches underneath driftwood and between rocks. Gotcha!

When can you spot a Blanding’s turtle?

The best time to see one of these at-risk reptiles is May. For about a month, when the sun is shining and the air temperature is 15°C and up, they bask. Who wouldn’t? They’ll float at the water’s surface or suntan on logs as they try to boost their metabolism. If spooked, a Blanding’s will immediately plop into the water, where, with only the head poking out, one can look more like a venomous yellow-bellied sea snake. (Which is not found in Canada. Do. Not. Worry.)

When do they breed? 

Although Blanding’s turtles breed any time during summer—like other turtle species—romance is really in the air soon after hibernation. A male turtle will spend more than an hour wooing a potential lady friend. (That’s a long time in the turtle-verse.) He’ll caress her head with his chin, and nibble her neck. It’s true love! Except not really; most Blanding’s turtles are promiscuous, and usually more than one papa is responsible for fertilizing the eggs. Once pregnant, a mother heads onto land to lay her clutch, after digging a hole with her back legs. It takes an entire day—nearly until midnight. Before returning to the water, she might stop to forage for berries, leaves, and worms. She just built her nursery and gave birth. She’s owed.

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Cottage Life

How the federal government’s affordable housing strategies will affect buyers and sellers

Photo by Shutterstock/Colin Temple

On April 7, the federal government released its 2022 budget, which included strategies designed to tackle Canada’s housing crisis, including the lack of affordable housing. Low inventory combined with high demand has driven up housing prices across the country, says a Royal LePage report. In the first quarter of 2022, the price of a single-family home in Canada increased by 25.1 per cent to $856,900.

The cottage market has seen similar effects. In 2021, the national aggregate price of a single-family waterfront home jumped 21.5 per cent to $976,000, according to a Royal LePage report.

“Young people cannot imagine being able to afford the house they grew up in,” reads the 2022 budget. “Foreign investors and speculators are buying up homes that should be for Canadians to own. Rents in our major cities continue to climb, pushing people further and further away from where they work.”

To fill the housing demand, Finance Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimate that the country will need to build 3.5 million new homes by 2031. To achieve this goal, the federal government has committed $72 billion in financial support over the next six years towards its affordable housing plan.

The plan’s strategies range from a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights to tax credits for first-time home buyers. But not everyone’s convinced these strategies will accomplish the federal government’s goal of making housing more affordable.

“[The plan] will not lower housing prices,” says Frank Clayton, a professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development, in an email. “The best they can do is to slow down price growth over a longer term.”

Clayton does, however, say that he thinks the budget’s Housing Accelerator Fund could be effective. The fund commits $4 billion over the next five years to support the housing development needs of municipalities. How municipalities use the money is flexible, but the goal of the fund is to create 100,000 new housing units over the next five years.

The budget includes a long list of other strategies. To get a better understanding of how the government’s plan will affect buyers and sellers, here’s a breakdown of the key strategies:

A tax-free first home savings account

The budget will introduce a tax-free savings account to help Canadians with the down payment on their first home and ultimately create a more affordable housing strategy. The account will function similar to an RRSP with tax-deductible contributions, and, similar to a TFSA, withdrawals will be non-taxable.

Prospective first-time home buyers will be able to save up to $40,000, with an $8,000 maximum annual deposit. The federal government says it plans to launch the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account in 2023.

Doubling the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit

On top of the tax-free savings account, the federal government has doubled the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit to $10,000 in an effort to assist with the significant closing costs associated with buying a home. The tax credit applies to homes bought on or after January 1, 2022.

Creating a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights

The federal government has pledged to create a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights to eliminate real estate practices it feels are driving up prices. This includes cottage real estate, not just homes. The two practices the government is targeting are buyers having to forgo property inspections to make their offers more desirable and blind bidding.

The federal government says it will work with provinces and territories to make home inspections a legal right while phasing out blind bidding altogether. Blind bidding is the default practice real estate agents use across Canada when they engage in a multi-offer scenario. It requires buyers to bid for a property without knowing the size of competing offers. In certain circumstances, it can cause a buyer to significantly overbid, inflating the property’s selling price.

But Katie Steinfeld, broker of record for real estate agency On The Block, says that eliminating blind bidding might actually drive up real estate prices. “A lot of buyers, their argument is when they’re in a blind bidding situation, they don’t want to go up any higher because they don’t know what the next highest offer is. They don’t want to overpay,” she says. “But if they know what they need to pay in order to get the home, that can push them up even higher.”

Steinfeld sides with professor Frank Clayton, saying that many of the federal government’s housing policies don’t speak to one another. If Canada wants to see affordable housing, it needs a lot more new inventory than what was proposed in the 2022 budget, she says, especially since the government has opened up its immigration policy and is planning to welcome over 400,000 new immigrants each year.

A two-year ban on foreign investment in Canadian housing

While foreign investment doesn’t play a major role in cottage country, the federal government has argued that it is pricing Canadians out of homes in urban centres, such as Vancouver and Toronto. That’s why the 2022 budget proposes a regulation that would prohibit all foreign commercial enterprises and non-permanent residents from buying residential property for two years. It has yet to be announced when this regulation would go into effect.

Steinfeld, however, argues that the federal government is aiming its restrictions at the wrong group. According to the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, 2.2 per cent of residential properties in Ontario were owned by non-residents in 2020, and 3.1 per cent in B.C. Whereas multiple-property owning Canadians made up 31 per cent of Ontario’s residential real estate market in 2020 and 29 per cent in B.C., with many of the properties used as rentals.

“That is much more significant than the foreign investment piece,” Steinfeld says. “I think that if they would have created policies to require increased down payment from [multiple-property owning Canadians], perhaps that might have had more of an impact versus just banning foreign buyers altogether.”

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Cottage Life

Nova Scotia premier scraps province’s non-resident property tax

Photo by Shutterstock/Geoff Pinkney

On May 5, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston backtracked on a property tax that the provincial government implemented on April 1, targeting out-of-province residential property owners.

“My intentions all along were to improve home affordability, not to be at odds with our core value of being a welcoming province,” Houston said in a press release.

As of October 2021, Halifax was tied for the lowest vacancy rate in Canada at one per cent, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The aim of the property tax, which the provincial government introduced alongside a non-resident deed transfer tax, was to convince non-resident property owners to sell or rent their properties to Nova Scotians, freeing up affordable housing.

The Property Tax required non-resident owners to pay an annual two dollars per $100 of the property’s assessed value, as determined by the Property Valuation Services Corporation. The deed transfer tax, which is still in effect, requires any non-resident purchasing a residential property, including vacant land classified as residential, to pay a five per cent tax on the property’s purchase price or assessed value (whichever’s greater). The only exemption is if the non-resident decides to move to the property permanently within six months of purchasing.

Initially, the provincial government scaled back the non-resident property tax in an effort to ease strains on non-resident small cottage owners. In a May 3 press release, the government stated that the first $150,000 of an assessment wouldn’t be taxed. But Premier Houston scraped the tax altogether on May 5, saying that he would find a different solution to making housing more affordable in Nova Scotia.

The announcement has come as a relief to non-resident cottage owners. “I think this fall’s CFA tax—I call it the CFA tax, Come-From-Away tax—was just bad policy,” says Glynn Williams, a capital investor who lives in Toronto and owns a cottage in Guysborough, N.S.

Williams bought his cottage in Guysborough 33 years ago after he and his wife took a bike trip along the province’s east coast. “I said, ‘Holy cow, this place is amazing.’ On the left are these wonderful forests and on the right is the ocean.” Williams fell in love with the province, promoting it to friends and later serving on Nova Scotia’s tourism board.

Williams felt a particular affinity for Guysborough, one of the earliest continuous settlements in Canada. In pictures from the early 1900s, you can see that Guysborough was a bustling town with a major harbour, Williams says. But by the 1990s, it had fallen into disrepair. To help restore the town, Williams started buying up struggling businesses, refurbishing them as a way to draw in tourists and provide jobs to locals.

Within Guysborough, Williams now owns a historic inn, a cafe, a bakery, a craft brewery, a distillery, and a vineyard. He also purchased Acadian Maple in 2019, near Peggy’s Cove, the largest maple syrup manufacturer in the province. His investments have helped revitalize the area. But when the Nova Scotian government implemented the non-resident property tax, Williams says he cancelled all of his capital spending and investments in the community.

“The CFA tax was really disconnecting, and it caused me to think twice about what I was doing all of this for,” he says. “My property taxes would have quadrupled on my personal property, which was ridiculous. It would have exceeded the taxes I pay in Forest Hill,” Williams’ primary residence in Toronto.

Williams says he does think scrapping the property tax is a step in the right direction, but he still has concerns about the non-resident deed transfer tax. “I think the five per cent deed transfer tax will cause some potential newcomers to the province to have second thoughts,” he says.

Specifically, non-resident investors like himself, the people who pour money into their communities, stimulate the economy and provide jobs to locals giving them the means to afford a home.

“When Canadians are treated differently from one another,” Williams says, “there are unintended consequences.”

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Cottage Life

Find out the reasons behind these rain-predicting expressions

Photo by Romolo Tavani / Shutterstock

As a country we love to talk about the weather—especially rain. Maybe that’s why there are so many rain-predicting sayings that have survived through the years.

A lot of lore is based on observations that precede a change in the weather in the next 24 to 48 hours, says David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. These include changes in humidity, barometric pressure, air temperature, wind direction and speed, and cloud cover (see “Do these old-timey cloud sayings really predict the weather?”). Sure, some sayings simply persist because they rhyme and they’re easy to remember. But others persist because they “have stood the test of time,” says Phillips. “Which usually means that there’s at least some truth to them.”

When dew is on the grass, rain won’t come to pass
Dew forms when there’s no cloud cover; no clouds = no rain.

When leaves turn on their back, ‘tis a sign it’s going to rain
Winds changing from westerly to easterly— which can bring rain— flip leaves over.

When the chairs squeak, it’s of rain they speak
High humidity causes wood to swell, and furniture gets noisy.

When boat horns sound hollow, rain will sure follow
The increased moisture in the air makes it denser, allowing sound to travel farther.

If cows are lying down, it’s going to rain
Animals seem to sense weather changes that we can’t, but cows lie down for many reasons.

Aching pain, coming rain
A change in barometric pressure can make joints ache, but stress or strain can also cause people to feel body pains.

Thunder curdles cream, lightning sours milk
Anecdotally, this used to happen, but now we have refrigeration, which negates changes in humidity or air temperature.

A ring around the sun or moon means rain (or snow) is coming soon
Cirrus clouds, which can come about 48 hours before a rain, pass in front of the sun or moon, bend its light, and create the illusion of a halo.

This story was originally published in the October 2021 issue of Cottage Life, as part of the package “Red sky at night, could be right.”

How well do you know the different types of clouds?