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News
Hometown notes from Canadian cities, plus data-desk stories on rankings, Construction Pulse, water, and radon.
Hometown notes
Browse by city· Abbotsford, British Columbia
August 2026: property tax in Abbotsford
Published residential mill-rate context for Abbotsford.
Read note· Airdrie, Alberta
August 2026: property tax in Airdrie
Published residential mill-rate context for Airdrie.
Read note· Ajax, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Ajax
Published residential mill-rate context for Ajax.
Read note· Alma, Quebec
August 2026: property tax in Alma
Published residential mill-rate context for Alma.
Read note· Amherst, Nova Scotia
August 2026: property tax in Amherst
Published residential mill-rate context for Amherst.
Read note· Amherstburg, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Amherstburg
Published residential mill-rate context for Amherstburg.
Read note· Amos, Quebec
August 2026: property tax in Amos
Published residential mill-rate context for Amos.
Read note· Armstrong, British Columbia
August 2026: property tax in Armstrong
Published residential mill-rate context for Armstrong.
Read note· Arnprior, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Arnprior
Published residential mill-rate context for Arnprior.
Read note· Aurora, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Aurora
Published residential mill-rate context for Aurora.
Read note· Aylmer, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Aylmer
Published residential mill-rate context for Aylmer.
Read note· Baie-Comeau, Quebec
August 2026: property tax in Baie-Comeau
Published residential mill-rate context for Baie-Comeau.
Read note· Banff, Alberta
August 2026: property tax in Banff
Published residential mill-rate context for Banff.
Read note· Barrie, Ontario
August 2026: property tax in Barrie
Published residential mill-rate context for Barrie.
Read note· Bathurst, New Brunswick
August 2026: property tax in Bathurst
Published residential mill-rate context for Bathurst.
Read note· Bay Roberts, Newfoundland and Labrador
August 2026: property tax in Bay Roberts
Published residential mill-rate context for Bay Roberts.
Read note
Water System of the Month
All editionsData desk
· City Score
City Score 2025: Barrie leads 343 Canadian cities at 77%
Barrie sits #1 on the City Score board at 77% standing, followed by Fredericton and Bradford West Gwillimbury. Eight open-data pillars — tax, construction, connectivity, indoor air, water, seismic hazard, population growth, and crime severity — are averaged with equal weight.
Read story· Building permits
Prairie permit value shifts in the latest Construction Pulse
In May 2026 Calgary led Edmonton on monthly permit value, while Peterborough posted the sharpest year-over-year climb among cities with a large prior-year base.
Read story· Drinking water
Water hardness: Guelph and Waterloo Region lead direct municipal readings
Among direct-tier hardness rows, Guelph sits near 460 mg/L CaCO₃ while Calgary and Regina remain in the very hard band and Winnipeg stays softer on Shoal Lake supply.
Read story· Indoor radon
Radon ranking: Regina cluster leads 117 Health Canada geographies
OpenStats highest-indoor-radon ranking places Regina, Moose Jaw, and Weyburn at 301.7 Bq/m³ survey mean, with Winnipeg-area communities next at 256.7 Bq/m³.
Read story· Building permits
May 2026 Construction Pulse: $9.5B in direct-tier permit value
Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal again took the national value podium. OpenStats totals use only Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0292-01 live rows.
Read story· Building permits
Peterborough’s May permit surge, read against a small prior-year base
Year-over-year permit value jumped about 1,653% in May 2026 versus May 2025. Acceleration rankings require a prior-year base of at least $5M so thin bases stay visible.
Read story· Building permits
Calgary edged Edmonton on May permit value as both cooled year over year
Calgary filed about $579M in May 2026 permit value versus Edmonton’s $533M. Both prairie capitals were down versus May 2025, with Edmonton’s year-over-year drop steeper.
Read story· Property tax
Atlantic mill rates top the 2026 OpenStats residential ranking
With current coverage concentrated on Nova Scotia direct rows, Sydney, Truro, and New Glasgow lead the residential mill-rate table. Halifax sits lower but still above many inland peers.
Read story· Drinking water
Why Guelph and Waterloo Region water reads so hard
Direct municipal and regional study readings put Guelph near 460 mg/L and Kitchener/Waterloo near 400 mg/L CaCO₃ — well into the very hard class used in OpenStats guides.
Read story· Methodology
How OpenStats reads Statistics Canada building permits
Construction Pulse and permit rankings use Table 34-10-0292-01 direct rows only. Seed and regional proxy records stay out of national totals and acceleration tables.
Read story· Building permits
2026 permit-value leaders: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal
On the OpenStats calendar-year permit-value ranking, Toronto leads at about $11.7B, Vancouver about $9.5B, and Montreal about $5.3B among direct-tier municipalities.
Read story
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