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Saturday April 18, 2015

Saturday April 18, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 18, 2015

City girds for superbox battle with Canada Post

The city is willing to take Canada Post to court over its plans to unilaterally install controversial super-mailboxes across the city.

Council enacted a new bylaw Wednesday that requires the Crown corporation to apply for a $200 permit for each of an estimated 4,000 community mailboxes meant to replace door-to-door mail delivery in Hamilton.

That means city bylaw officers can now lay provincial offences charges if Canada Post ignores the new rules and begins installing the unpopular “super-mailboxes” this week on the Mountain.

The agency argued Wednesday it isn’t bound by the bylaw.

The city should charge the Crown corporation anyway in the case of a violation “and let the courts decide who is right and who is wrong,” said Coun. Terry Whitehead.

Whitehead put forward what he called an “unprecedented” municipal regulation motion.

“There ought to be some regulations that apply when Canada Post does this, because it sounds like they’re going to continue on (with mailbox installation) whether we like it or not,” said Mayor Fred Eisenberger. “I think they ought to be a little more understanding and work with the city … to access our right-of-ways and roadways.”

Canada Post has no plans to delay the first wave of installations on the Mountain, said spokesperson Jon Hamilton, who nonetheless wouldn’t speculate how the Crown corporation will react if it is charged under a municipal bylaw.

He reiterated that Canada Post believes it continues to have the “jurisdiction” and “authority” to install mailboxes in municipal road allowances. The agency is willing to “work collaboratively” on locating the boxes, he added, but that doesn’t include following the bylaw or applying for individual permits.  (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday February 24, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday February 24, 2012

Tougher rules expected for older drivers

Ontario’s transportation minister expects drivers with dementia will face tough new rules within the year.

The province’s aging population — with an increase is cognitively impaired drivers — will make road safety a “top priority,” said transportation minister Bob Chiarelli.

“I think we need to accelerate our attention to it,” Chiarelli said in an interview.

“I believe we are doing that and I would be surprised if in the next six months to a year we didn’t initiate some enhancements to it.”

In the wake of a Star series on drivers with cognitive impairment, Chiarelli predicted there will be a “tightening across the board” of the system that allows many seniors with dementia to drive unchecked.

The ministry is considering making the following changes: better training for family doctors on reporting cognitively impaired patients who drive; more rigorous on-road testing of senior drivers; and the introduction of graduated licensing for some seniors who, like teenage drivers, would not be allowed to drive at night or on 400-series highways.

Ontario is one of the last jurisdictions in North America that has not embraced “degraduated licences” for seniors. This would put limits on seniors with diminished eyesight in the dark or nerves that can’t handle highway speeds.

In the interview, Chiarelli said he has heard both good and bad things about that approach but is open to exploring it here. (Source: Toronto Star)