Inside Caledon, Ontario

A wild turkey eating in Caledon, Ontario.

Photo taken with my zoom lens in the late afternoon.

A beautiful white horse that I always see at the corner of Finnerty Side Road and Humber Station Road.

If you are looking for a place for outdoor skating or hockey this winter season then you must check out Palgrave, Ontario. Located in north end of Caledon, you are able to skate on some cleared paths and there is also local hockey on the pond area (which is actually the Humber river) just on the north edge of the town. Local volunteers maintain and clear the ice for use, warnings are also posted if the ice may be unsafe for use. You can park either along side Hwy 50 or in the small parking lot by the Palgrave Rotary Park beside the newly constructed Gazebo.

Google Canada today revealed more than 130 Canadian cities to be viewed in the 3D environment of Google street view mode. Among those cities are Bolton, Orangeville and surprisingly many parts of Caledon, Ontario. Even the smaller the towns of Caledon Village, Caledon East, Alton & Mono Mills are mapped as well as many of the main roads through all of Caledon. Mapping by the famous google camera car was done this past summer, I actually saw it in person in Orangeville one weekend.

Street View is a free feature in Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for mobile. It was first launched in 2007 and it now includes imagery from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. To start exploring, simply visit maps.google.ca and zoom in to the lowest level or drag the orange “Pegman” icon from the left side of the map onto a blue-lined street.

Google Street View has also become a great tool for real estate, it provides people an easy way to show what is around the house that is for sale in the neighbourhood, gives people a better idea of a property and area instead of just blindly showing up. However on the other side of things Google has come under fire for privacy concerns surrounding the service and has addressed those issues by blurring out the faces of people in the photos, as well as licence plates on vehicles.

If you see anything of interest in the Caledon area on Google Maps Street View please leave a comment here.

This little guy, an American Red Squirrel visits my place every morning to steal seeds from the bird feeders. The American Red Squirrel are widely found across North America. Their range includes most of Canada, and extends into the United States in the Rocky Mountains, the North Central and North East, so they are no stranger to Caledon, Ontario. There are 25 recognized sub-species of red squirrels. Click here for more info on American Red Squirrels. The photo was taken on my backyard deck back in the fall by my fiance.

Yes that’s exactly what it looks like, Beer Can (in the Butt) Chicken. If you have never heard of it before you may be thinking why would you cook a chicken in this manner? The reason being is that makes scrumptiously delicious chicken that’s full of flavor and plenty of moisture. Most commonly made on BBQ, there is plenty of receipts on Google. You can also make in the oven, which is a better option during winter time. We tried the oven recipe with a can of Sleeman Ale, however you can use any beer you like. It turned out most excellent, the chicken was very juicy and tasty. Give it try if you are feeling adventurous.

Interesting article from the Caledon Enterprise:

The Town of Caledon has lent its voice to the opposition of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

On August 12, 2009 the Town of New Tecumseth stood up against the proposed harmonization of the Goods and Services Tax with the Provincial Sales Tax, a tax that is set to be implemented in July, 2010.

During Council on January 12, Caledon’s politicians supported a resolution to send their words of displeasure to the province as well.

According to that resolution, Council sees considerable concern amongst residents and business owners about the negative impacts of the harmonized tax.

And according to Caledon’s mayor, the tax could launch another slow down in an already stifled economy.

“I think what’s going to happen is people will quit buying things,” said Mayor Marolyn Morrison. “There’s a slow down now, and I don’t think it’s going to help that at all.”

Morrison believes that the tax is coming, no matter what opposition is shown, due to a deal struck between the federal and provincial government to see the last remaining province without an harmonized tax create one. But, she said, having the Town on the record with their opposition is a positive thing and resident and municipality complaint should hopefully open some eyes.

“I would like to think that when AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) speaks and all these municipalities speak, the province will sit up and say you know what, they’ve got a point.

“But I’ve seen municipalities go through this before with other things. Sometimes you sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into preparing briefs to show just how negative something is going to be, and then, in the end, you should have just saved your money.”

Caledon’s MPP Sylvia Jones has long been a critic of the tax, and shared many of the sentiments expressed by Caledon’s Council.

“The HST is a tax grab, short and to the point,” said Jones. “There’s going to be literally hundreds of items that right now are not taxed with PST, but will be as of Canada Day.”

Jones explained that she believes the Liberals are entrenched in the move because of the massive revenue they will earn from the harmonization of the tax. She doesn’t know how effective the municipalities displeasure will be, but supported the local politicians who are acting on behalf of their constituents displeasure and told the residents to make their voices heard.

“The only time I see any change in government direction is when they hear from the residents,” said Jones. “The most recent example I can give you is when (Premier Dalton) McGuinty brought forward a law or proposal which was going to change how young people’s drivers licenses are handled in the first couple years. Facebook groups started, people came forward and they (government) backed down. I think you have to constantly tell your elected officials, whether you’re in opposition or not, what they’re doing right, or what they’re doing wrong.”

Jones said that Caledon residents will see increased costs in gas, home heating oil, television and phone bills, funeral expenses, the purchase of a home and legal fees. “Even anytime you enter your kids in any type of sport. Baseball, soccer, hockey, you name it. All those things are going to have HST and right now do not.”

Jones said that she is still hearing from constituents who are stopping her in the street and telling her how upset they are by the harmonized tax. She believes that the province has not heard enough resident complaint as she said because the provincial cabinet didn’t feature any changes of position for any finance ministers, “It doesn’t appear Dalton (McGuinty) is backing down from it (HST).”

Morrison mentioned that the Town of Caledon staff has been instructed to create a report to bring to council showing what the exact impact of the tax will be.

“It will be an interesting report to see,” she said. “Because there are supposed to be savings within the tax too, but our staff will show both sides.”

Caledon’s Mayor said that there are some situations where the tax is supposed to save residents money, such as in the purchase of cars, but she said even those savings can be masked, as it could be that the retailer gets a savings they are supposed to pass on to the consumer, but it could be their choice.

“My understanding is it will be a savings in some products, but that it is only a savings if the retailer doesn’t take up the room. So if the retailers lower their price the amount that is saved, that’s when you actually see savings. And with the economic hardships retailers have seen in the recession, I can’t see any lowering their price. Can you?”

Caledon will find out this July.

Just in case you were wondering if any of your tax dollars were ending up here back in our very own Caledon, here is a list projects in the Caledon area that received Federal Stimulus money this past year from the Federal Government also known as Canada’s Economic Action Plan. Thanks to David Tilson‘s Office, M.P. for Dufferin-Caledon for the list.

Recipient/Applicant	Federal Amount	Total Project Cost	Project Description
Town of Caledon	$256,750	$770,000	Road Infrastructure (Heart Lake Road Bridge Replacement)
Region of Peel	$1,394,863	$4,184,590	Water Infrastructure (Interconnection of Caledon East & Palgrave Water System)
Region of Peel	$1,717,100	$5,151,300	Water Infrastructure (Water Servicing for Campbell’s Cross & Victoria)
Region of Peel	$401,527	$1,204,580	Road Infrastructure (Road Resurfacing – Hwy 50 to Countryside Dr. to Coleraine)
Region of Peel	$143,130	$429,390	Road Infrastructure (Road Resurfacing – King St. from Creditview Rd. to Mississauga Rd.)
Region of Peel	$300,000	$900,000	Road Infrastructure (Road Resurfacing – Mayfield Road from McLaughlin Rd. to Mississauga Rd.)
Region of Peel	$1,300,000	$3,900,000	Road Infrastructure (Road Resurfacing – Forks of the Credit Rd. from Hurontario St. to 6 km west)
Town of Caledon	$495,000	$1,500,000	Mayfield Recreation Complex – Upgrading Accessibility, Energy, & Roof Retrofits
Town of Caledon	$70,000	$210,000	Alton Ballpark Washroom Building & Pavilion Reconstruction
Town of Caledon	$99,166	$297,500	Caledon East Hall Ballpark Washroom, Pavilion, & Parking Lot Reconstruction
Town of Caledon	$70,000	$210,000	Caledon Trailway Resurfacing
Town of Caledon	$75,000	$240,000	Bolton Skatepark
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority	$33,000	$99,000	Upgrading of Trails at Albion Hills Conservation Area (Palgrave)
Town of Caledon	$891,000	$2,673,000	Expansion of Youth Centre at the Caledon Centre for Recreation & Wellness (Bolton)
Town of Caledon	$7,000,000	$12,000,000	Caledon East Arena (Phase Two of Caledon Community Complex)

Don’t let the photo fool you, I found this wandering coyote in a much more urban environment than it looks like. On my way home later afternoon yesterday by Hwy 7 & 427 I happened to notice in the corner of my eye something moving. When I stopped I was surprised to find a very healthy looking coyote staring back at me. Given that there has been so much development lately in the area with the new Vaughn Industrial park, new commercial building at Hwy 50 & 7 and new subdivisions going in on Hwy 50 just a little north I didn’t expect to see a coyote wandering around so freely in an area that is starting to become a lot busier. This was the first time I had gotten a good close up look of one in a long time, he appeared much more healthy looking than then ones I see near my house up further north in Caledon, I guess there is more urban garbage to feed on. Photo was taken with my 70-300mm zoom lens and the lighting was only slightly adjusted in Photoshop, click on the above photo for a larger image.

Quite often I see Hawk’s in Caledon, they are territorial and usually stay in certain areas so after a while you know where to find them. However getting good pictures of them even with a big zoom lens is often a challenge. You may see them on the sides of the roads, sitting on power lines or dormant trees looking down into the fields, they for the most part ignore the traffic of cars focusing only on finding their prey. Unfortunately they don’t stay still for long, if you happen to stop for a picture you literally have a second or two at most before they see you and take off. So quite often in order to get a good hawk photo you need to stalk them, sneak up on them when they are looking the other way or like my other close-up photo stop in the middle lane of highway 50 and shoot from inside the car. This particular red-tailed hawk I followed from tree to tree for a few minutes, seeing me as a threat he would keep flying away to another spot but generally would still stay in the same area. Click on the above and below photos for larger pictures.