News Briefs
Winnipeg places 29th in housing affordability
Chelse McKee, staff
In a recent survey conducted by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Winnipeg placed 29th overall out of 227 cities for the most affordable housing.
The affordability was determined by the median house price of a real estate area compared with the median income of that respective area resulting in what the Frontier called the median multiple.
Winnipeg shared its 29th position with seven other cities but was the only Canadian city making the spot.
The survey noted a sharp escalation in the median multiple for housing markets in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as well as some areas of the United States and Canada.
The top five positions for the least affordable housing were scooped up by American cities situated in Hawaii and California, the top prize going to Los Angeles.
According to the survey, the most affordable city is Thunder Bay.
Brown University goes Green
Magally Zelaya, Staff
Brown University has agreed to cut back their carbon emissions in all existing buildings by 42 per cent from current levels by the year 2020, reported the Brown Daily Herald on Jan. 25.
The American ivy-league university has plans to start using natural gas at its central heating plant. As well, the university has plans to make its existing buildings more energy efficient through the installation of new environmentally friendly features.
Brown also intends to improve the way it generates electricity, though the specifics were not detailed in the article.
As for new construction, the university has agreed to establish energy efficiency levels that are below the state standard — as much as 25 to 50 per cent below.
“I think our goal is a stretch, but it’s achievable,” said Chris Powell, director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives at Brown, according to the article.
Brown University has a student population of just under 8,000, according to its website and is situated in Providence, R. I.
Millennium Foundation lobbies feds for $4-billion renewal
Nick Taylor-Vaisey, CUP Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA (CUP) — As the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation nears the end of its mandate, lobbyists are pushing to have the foundation’s mandate renewed or terminated.
According to documents obtained through an access to information request, the foundation’s lobbyists are calling for a “second 10-year mandate to improve access to post-secondary education” and “an up-front endowment of $4 billion to be used to provide research-based student financial assistance programs to be delivered in conjunction with the provinces and territories.”
Last May, the foundation hired two lobbyists with deep political roots to coordinate its government relations in Ottawa at a cost of $120,000 for a period of one year.
The Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF) was created by the Liberal government in 1998. It was granted a $2.5-billion endowment and it doled out $350 million in bursaries this year.
The next fiscal year is the last for the foundation’s mandate.
