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As for 2018, here are some things to watch for. 

The Trudeau government’s reaction to the ENVI report

Happy New Year!

Since everyone else is doing it — ruminating on the old year left behind and prognosticating on the one just launched — I suppose I should too.

For 2017, here are my top three heritage highlights. 

Steve Otto’s appointment to the Order of Canada

Just as the year ended, long-time heritage stalwart Steve Otto received the county’s highest accolade. The citation for his appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada reads:

Sacrificial lamb: someone or something that suffers so that someone or something more important can succeed  ~ Macmillan Dictionary

Suffers — or in the case of Bill C-323, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (rehabilitation of historic property) — dies.

Today, there’s good news and bad news.  Well, I’ve already told you the bad news.

Today, it’s all about the blog.

I don’t often get to toot my own horn, but… drum roll please. 

Just a few weeks ago in mid-late October, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI) took up detailed consideration of Bill C-323. This is the private member’s bill we’ve been following that would provide income tax incentives for heritage property.^[1]

We’ve been following Bill C-323 — legislation to provide income tax incentives for heritage property, which has been referred to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development but not yet taken up.^[1] 

Presumably in part to give them context for the coming Bill C-323 debate, the committee is currently in the midst of a milestone study on “Heritage Preservation and Protection in Canada.”

The aesthetic value of a ruin is pretty obvious (or, depending on the observer, it isn’t). What about its historical value?

Run-down, collapsed building in field

We’re ruminating on ruins, exploring the meaning and value of Ontario’s ruined structures.

Stone bridge

Did I ever tell you about my passion for ruins?

A recent decision by the Conservation Review Board helps elucidate one of the criteria for heritage designation.

In Lambeth Health Organization Inc. v. London (City), issued on March 1, 2017, the Board had to decide whether a 1925 former school building in the community of Lambeth, now part of the City of London, met the criteria for designation in O. Reg. 9/06. ^[1]