General Township Updates and Rumours

[Viewfromthe42]

I'd argue that many of the townships are heading for and already at suburban style development where little is walkable, development looks like suburbia, and cars are essential. This development is only made possible because of the cities and the jobs they provide, jobs that wouldn't be there if it weren't for the much higher taxes the cities provide themselves to work with to attract a large and diverse enough population to create employers who would never settle on St. Jacobs were it an hour from the next town, more like a Leamington. I noticed this most at my old workplace, where despite our Waterloo address, I was the only Waterloo resident, with the vast majority coming from townships, complaining that our roads weren't wide enough, using Waterloo recreation facilities, but quite happily paying lower overall taxes by living just across the borders in the townships. It's a bit similar to having grown up in Orleans, now a suburb of Ottawa at 120,000 residents, but without a single non-service/retail employer. Without Ottawa, Orleans would cease to be able to exist, and as opposed to a regional structure as we have, they were sensibly amalgamated into Ottawa proper.