Council Info is a summary of discussion and the major items presented at Council meetings. It is circulated immediately following each meeting. You are encouraged to quote from and copy this information. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.

Review of Regional Children’s Centres

Council approved a proposal to complete a third-party review of the Region’s five directly operated Child Care Centres. The operation of these centres has undergone a number of reviews over the years. In December 2019, consultant KPMG recommended reviewing the number of and need for our child care centres as part of a provincially-funded service review. A consultant will be hired to undertake the in-depth review and a project steering committee (comprised of staff and Councillors) will guide the review. The Region directly operates five licensed child care centres with overall capacity to serve 258 children.

Canada Ontario Housing Benefit

Through the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit, $2.2M has been allocated to Waterloo Region over the next two years to provide portable housing assistance to households that are on or eligible to be on the community housing waiting list as well as those currently living in community housing. This funding is part of the national Housing Strategy that aims to increase the availability of affordable housing across Canada.

Council approves study for new convention facility

Regional councillors voted to support the Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation’s research assessing the demand for meetings and conventions in the area. The purpose of the study is to understand future demand for a major convention facility locally and to provide a breakdown of that demand by event type, event size and frequency of occurrence. If the study indicates significant potential for Waterloo Region to attract new meetings and convention business with a larger facility, more study will be required.

Tenders/Contracts:

The following tenders/contracts were approved by Council:

$104,330,000 to Magil Construction Ontario Inc. for the Grand River Transit bus maintenance facility, Northfield Drive, Waterloo. The work under this contract includes the construction of a new 305,000 square foot bus storage and maintenance facility that will accommodate both regular and articulated buses. The construction of this facility will provide the necessary fleet maintenance and storage required to meet transit ridership goals established in the Regional Transportation Master Plan and the Grand River Transit Business Plan. Construction of the facility will begin this spring and with completion in summer 2022.

$2,142,619 to Associated Engineering Ltd. for Professional Consulting Services for the detailed design and services during construction for Operational Biosolids Storage at the Galt Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and Waterloo WWTP, City of Cambridge and City of Waterloo.

$1,025,505 to CRA Landfill Operations Limited for Waterloo Waste Management Site Compliance Monitoring and Annual Reporting at the Waterloo Waste Management Facility (Site) for a contract period of 34 months beginning March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022 with the option to extend for two additional one year periods.

$264,885 to Enseicom Inc. for transit shelters.

$258,864 to Panasonic Canada Inc. for Paramedic Services products including computers and battery packs.

$224,733.59 to INIT Inc. for 24 real-time passenger information display signs for Grand River Transit.

$160,725 to Bio Bobs Corporation for removal/disposal services of backwash water for a three-year term.

Next Council Meeting

March 11, 2020 at 7 p.m.



For more information, contact:



Bryan Stortz, Director, Corporate Communications, 519-575-4408

Regional Clerk’s Office, 519-575-4400