Before buying a home or moving to an area you should make enquiries about problems you may experience. Here are some things you should know about living in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Quotes taken from numerous sources and conversations.

Our purpose in providing this information is to enable buyers to beware. No-one else will tell you the unpleasant things about an area. We have never seen information like this made available before. Buying a home is the most expensive investment you will ever make. We are not sales people. Apart from our own homes, we do not own any property in the area. Please do not write to us telling us the good things about this area .. any sales person or the local tourist office can provide that information.

From a newspaper editorial, Wednesday 21st December 2005:-

"One thousand, two hundred and eighty-seven houses. That's the number of homes the city will allow developers to bring on stream in 2006. That's a lot of homes to add to the thousands where residents already have little access to services within walking distance and which put a burden on a city which is struggling to keep up.
Councillor Lise Burcher is on the right track; that the fast-paced residential development is becoming a runaway train. "It is completely unsustainable," she told her colleagues. Councillor Maggie Laidlaw went further, calling for a moratorium on residential growth. In the past few years, the city has seen a growth at a rate of two to three per cent per year; higher than the 1.5 annual increase in the city's Official Plan.
The 2005 property tax increase was 5.1%, after a 6.9% raise in 2004. The city's ratio of residential to commercial and industrial development is poor - the tax base is currently 84% residential and 16% commercial/industrial, whereas a more acceptable ratio is a 75/25% split. Mayor Kate Quarrie has said on numerous occasions since being sworn in that the number must be corrected, but to no avail.
In the south end, where much of the new residential development is taking place, residents do not yet have a fire station, grocery store or recreation centre. Ground was broken just recently for a new library branch off Clair Road. At the same time, taxes are rising as city services are cut back, to avoid hitting homeowners with a double-digit tax increase.
By again approving more than 1,200 new homes, (the city currently has a seven year supply) Guelph's city council appears to be acting without thinking. .. Continued on www.sentex.net/~oficserv/Guelph2.html From a letter dated 28th March 2000:-

* Guelph has outgrown its' water supply.
* Strict water rationing is enforced every year.
* Toilets cannot be properly flushed (the new low-flush toilets do not work).
* Gardens cannot be watered.
* Cars cannot be washed.
* In the forseeable future it may be necessary to limit washing and showering facilities.
* The aquifers which supply Guelph come under the Eastview Dump and may be unsafe.
* There have been noxious leachate leaks from the Eastview Dump.
* There are no available doctors for the Guelph area.
* There are too few police for the large population.

More letters and complaints on these subjects further down this page.

Rapid progress of West Nile causes concern, by Graeme Smith.

(We include this information as Guelph is also affected).

The house on a picturesque ravine in Toronto's trendy Beaches neighbourhood looked ideal when Teresa Bowness moved in last July.
But, the 53-year-old is less certain about living beside a mosquito breeding ground since one of her friends died of West Nile virus last month.
"It scares the living daylights out of me," Ms. Bowness said.
Yesterday's news that hospitals are removing blood from their inventories because the products might be infected with West Nile will do nothing to calm people like Ms. Bowness.
Doctors, victims and families who have firsthand experience of West Nile say they are increasingly alarmed by the progress of the disease since it first began killing people in Canada this year.
Health Canada's latest West Nile report, released last week, recorded two deaths - one near Toronto and one in Montreal - and 84 confirmed illnesses. But hundreds more unconfirmed cases have been reported in recent months, leading doctors to question whether the current system of shipping samples across the country to a federal laboratory in Winnipeg is too slow.
"It makes me wonder whether we underestimated the burden of the disease because of delays in lab testing," said Neil Rau, an infectious disease specialist at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario. "It is not the fault of the laboratory, because they do not have enough resources. .. We should not be finding out about this now."
Sigmund Krajden, head of infectious diseases at St. Joseph's Hospital in Toronto, Again: this worrying excerpt from the Globe & Mail, week ending 26th October 2002:

Toronto region ripe for disease, study warns West Nile virus is just a taste of calamities that climate change brings, report says:

By DENNIS BUECKERT
Canadian Press

For this article in full you will need to research www.theglobeandmail.com

We have added our own comments in italics. Thursday, October 24, 2002 Print Edition, Page A8

OTTAWA -- People in the Toronto-Niagara region and that will include Guelph can expect increased exposure to malaria, dengue fever and hantavirus in coming years due to climate change, a major new report says.

The diseases are projected to spread because climate change favours the northward movement of disease-carrying birds, insects and rodents, the study obtained by The Canadian Press says.

The (recent) sudden spread of West Nile virus is an example of what to expect, suggests the study done by Pollution Probe in partnership with Health Canada and Environment Canada.

It's the first comprehensive examination of the likely effects of climate change on an urban area in Canada.

"The health implications (of climate change) are pretty severe," Quentin Chiotti of Pollution Probe said yesterday.

"How prepared are we to deal with these kinds of risks? We need to develop a very co-ordinated, comprehensive strategy involving national, provincial and municipal players to effectively respond."

Some of the study's findings:

By 2020, extreme heat could kill more than 400 elderly residents a year in the Toronto-Niagara region.

By 2080, extreme heat could kill more than 800 Toronto residents annually, a 40-fold increase over the current toll.

The number of days with temperatures above 30 could double, to 30 days each summer by the 2030s.

Ground-level ozone, a lung-damaging component of smog, is projected to double across the region by 2080. (We already have numerous smog warnings during the summer and are told to stay indoors if possible).

The frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves, wind storms and rain storms is projected to increase, with associated hikes in injuries, illnesses and deaths. Since we emigrated to Canada in 1969 we have already seen an amazing increase in the number of tornadoes. When we first emigrated we did not even know about tornadoes in this area - until the end of the '70s.

The incidence of waterborne diseases could rise in communities that depend on wells, or in cities where sewer and storm-water drainage systems are combined. Scientists have long predicted global warming will result in the northward spread of diseases now confined to hot countries, but the arrival of West Nile virus has made the risk more tangible.

Experts such as Paul Epstein of Harvard Medical School have said the spread of West Nile virus to the Western Hemisphere in 1999 is probably due to climate change, notably a trend toward milder winters.

In the past, severely cold winters could be counted on to kill many disease carriers.

We have all experienced a huge increase in the amount of chlorine bleach which is added to our water. This is a frantic effort to stem repeats of the Walkerton disaster .. Overpopulation and overuse of the water in the whole of Southern Ontario (and probably most heavily populated areas of North America).

Re: story on 19th January .. part of reason for upcoming tax increase is $1.1 million for growth. Isn't part of the rationale for growth that, with an increased tax base, taxes will go down?
Editorial called Guelph a mid-sized city growing toward greatness. Just what is this greatness that growth is supposed to bring? By pursuing rapid growth, Guelph's taxes go up and the small town character that so many of us cherish disappears forever.

Excerpt from local newspaper report 30th January 2001:-

" Province will shortly issue a list of municipalities where spills and undesirable levels of unwanted substances were recorded in treated wastewater. Guelph will be on the list"

" assistant director of works, told the committee the infractions are unusual and can be attributed to growth ... Guelph is growing at a faster rate than anticipated"

"Other problems reported to the Ministry of the Environment include 41 treatment bypass incidents .. bypass always of effluent that had been chlorinated .. missed only the sand filters before being discharged into the river"

"Character of sewage is changing because of what is put into the system by industry"

Page A6 GUELPH OUTGROWING LIMITED WATER SUPPLY
Comments:
Maybe our city councillors and former city councillors should have been more concerned about the water supply for the city before they issued some of these building permits.
The primary reason that we have a shortage of water is due to the fact that there's only a limited supply of water and council permits new subdivisions and industry to flourish.

Many of the schools in the area have numerous portables - which means the students have to walk between the buildings. This, in the Canadian winter or heat of summer is inappropriate and unacceptable.

From a letter:
I have come to think it's impossible to find a quiet place to live or relax in Guelph .... I sometimes don earplugs just to be able to relax in my own living room, although that's no defence from the humming floorboards and furniture.

The whole neighbourhood is subjected to the noise from cars .. oversized tailpipes, woofers that make the window panes buzz. Is nothing being done about this?

From a letter:
My remembrance of St. George's Square is of the old post office, the Bond Building and banks made of beautiful old limestone, which have been replaced by a cement pond surrounded by ugly cement block buildings.

There was a time you could buy everything you needed in hardware, clothing, groceries, etc. on Wyndham Street. (Those shops) have been replaced by pawn shops, bars, restaurants (with liquor licenses), to feed the hungry bar patrons who litter and defecate on our main street. .... Downtown Guelph for me is a lost cause.

News Item 21st June, 2000.
Fergus, Elora and Arthur may soon join the ranks of communities declared medically under-serviced.
Local health care officials and community groups met last week for discussions on an application to the Ministry of Health to have all the communities in Centre Wellington and part of the Township of Mapleton declared under-serviced.
Guelph and the surrounding townships of Puslinch and Guelph-Eramosa received word late last week that the Province has officially declared the communities under-serviced, after months of waiting.

News Item 21st June, 2000.
City staff have now recommended that expansion of the landfill be removed as one of the city council's options for handling Guelph's future garbage disposal needs.
This may appear to be a good thing for Guelph .. but .. it will enable developers to now push for building permits on the land around the landfill. This will exacerbate the overpopulation and underserviced problems which Guelph already is experiencing. Also, they have not found an alternative site for garbage disposal. This will probably mean the garbage will have to be shipped elsewhere - at considerable cost and thus raise the taxes.

When we were looking for a house, we researched a number of areas: Milton, Cambridge and Guelph were but three of a wider choice. We looked at schooling, we looked at taxes, we looked at proximity to work, we looked at environmental issues, we looked at the innumerable topics that we thought made up the thinking person's criteria on purchasing a house.

We knew there was a dump in the area. During our house research and before putting in our offer, we contacted the city and asked specific questions. The answers we were given on two separate occasions were categorical. The dump was going to close within three to five years and would be turned into parkland. We were told that there were monitors for air and water and that all measurements were within provincial tolerances and guidelines.

We were told that there was a containment wall to hold the contents. We were told that there had never been a leak or spill. Most important: we were told that the dump was completely safe. We therefore did not consider that there was an issue to concern us.

However, since moving in we have discovered that:-
*We were not told that there had been approximately eight requests for landfill extensions since 1970.
*We were not told that there had been leachate leaks - there have! (Leachate, incidentally, is the noxious effluent which escapes from the landfill.)
*We were not told that there were plans afoot for a further extension (the current one being for between 40 and 60 years).
*We were not told that the drinking water for the city of Guelph is taken from water sources which run underneath the entire landfill!
*We were not told that the testing for air and water measurements for contaminants were taken during fall and winter, when there is less activity - certainly not in the case of water!

*We were not told that the majority of the test equipment on the Hadati Creek had been removed from the test area.
*We were not told that the map, upon which extension requests to the Minister were based, did not show a single dwelling East of Victoria road and South of Eastview. (The map upon which the current extension is based also shows no dwellings. The entire area appears to be a rural area. Doubtless an oversight?!)
*We were not told that the older landfill which had been in existence since 1960 has no protective liner under it.

I could go on and on.

If we had known these facts, we would not have bought a house anywhere near Guelph. It also transpires, in discussion with other residents, that most people who troubled themselves to research these facts were told exactly the same thing we were.

Buyer beware is the watchword to live by and I agree. However, if we go to the trouble to research all aspects that we can, and base our decision on official information we received to those questions, then this is not a case of buyer beware.

At the very least the City has been economical with the truth; in the worst case they deliberately lied. The City has a legal responsibility to provide us with the correct information upon request. They did not and they know it.

For me this issue is not going to roll over and die until we have had full redress and the matter is resolved to our satisfaction.

* we have insufficient water,
* no further space for rubbish,
* no doctors,
* not enough police,
* too much traffic.

Does anyone understand why they would make an aging population, the majority of whom are retired and on fixed incomes (or soon will be), pay for development?!

They installed expensive parking meters in the entire downtown area - then complained that the downtown is dying as people go to the outlying shopping malls where they can comfortably park!

They have put a beautiful theatre by the downtown - The River Run Centre - and there is an excellent parking building just across the street. However, now they have closed the big Eaton’s store which used to service that entire mall. So, they’re going to build an arena in the Eaton’s store. I can see a conflict here between the quietly happy theatre audience and the rowdy people coming from the arena - Not to speak of fighting over the parking spaces.

* I often walk near Paisley Road School, about 8:45 a.m., when the children are arriving. The air is so thick with auto fumes, one can hardly breathe. No wonder the children develop asthma!

* The whole of Southern Ontario is being destroyed by so-called developers. There should be a law: "More than "n" million people in this urban area is dangerous and unlawful .. similar to swimming pools, dance halls etc!