Good Morning Markhamites
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I hope everyone is getting ready for the upcoming long weekend. As a reminder, schools are closed on Friday for Good Friday and Easter Monday on April 1st. No, that’s not an April Fool Joke.
Today’s read time is less than 4 minutes.
What the Provincial budget can do for the average Markhamite.
This week, the provincial budget was announced with a whopping $214 billion in spending and a projected 9.8 billion deficit. While many people were looking for some help in their day-to-day lives, much of this spending is being tabled with a longer-term view amid a very uncertain economic outlook in the next few years. Here are three things that should help the average Markham resident.
Rental housing relief: This program allows municipalities to reduce property tax by up to 35% on new, purpose-built rental housing.
Primary Care and hospital top-up. The province is increasing health spending by 4% year over year and investing over 500 million to expand primary care health teams. It hopes this spending will allow 600,000 Canadians to see a family doctor. Currently, there are 2 million Ontarians without primary care.
Auto Insurance Adjustments—The province is eliminating double coverage in Auto insurance for things like income reimbursement and accidental death benefits, typically covered under employer-sponsored benefits. Motorists can opt out of this coverage to hopefully cheapen their auto insurance.
Where to Play Slo-Pitch this summer in Markham
Although Markham’s Jordan Romano is slated to start the season injured, Baseball is in full swing this summer. For those of us who cannot catch up to the fastball/fastpitch, Markham has a ton of men’s, women's, and coed softball leagues that play in Markham. Joining any of these leagues is a great opportunity to meet neighbours and give back to your community, as a few leagues have donated generously to Markham causes and charities over the years.
Markham Ontario Recreational Softball League (MORSL) is a 35+ slow-pitch league that runs Wednesdays and Sundays all summer and has a shorter second season in the Fall, playing primarily out of Centennial and Mintleaf parks. It is a self-umpired league, and the teams redistribute players each year to keep the league fun yet still competitive. All Skill levels are welcome; registration is due by March 31st and can be done here.
Markham Men’s Slo-Pitch League (MMSPL) 25+ Men’s slo pitch. It’s the oldest league in the area, playing continually since 1968. The league plays on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. New players are invited to a draft showcase on April 20th and drafted onto a team. To sign up, Click here.
Markham Women’s Slo-Pitch League - 21+ League, Plays Friday Nights in Markham and all skill levels are welcome. Registration form here.
Unionville Slo-Pitch, also a 35+ League has eight teams and plays in Unionville. Register here.
Markham Adult Co-ed Softball - Plays Sundays at various diamonds in Markham but mostly Milliken. Register free agents or a team here.
Community Notes
Markham Museum wants you to nominate a real-life superhero for a new exhibit in the community.
Markham Fertility Centre partners with Humm to provide more accessible fertility treatments.
Markham receives retrofit funding for two community centres and two fire stations.
Markham Chinese restaurant expert flips tipping on its head at a local restaurant.
Gilles, Unionville’s Porier, gets Silver at Ice dance at the world championships in Montreal.
Angus Glen CC gets permanent Indigenous artwork
Unleash your inner geek at Markham’s Comic Con
What’s Happening in Markham this week?
March 28
7:00 PM Trivia Night at Rouge River Brewery
8:00 PM - Flato Markham Theatre - The Lightfoot Band present: The music of Gordon Lightfoot. Tickets are almost sold out!
March 29
11:00 AM - kid friendly puppy yoga with Yoga Kawa - Details here
8:00 - 9:00 PM Shannon Beresford at Rouge River Brewery - Tickets are $5 at the door
March 30, 31
2:00 and 7:00 PM - Flato Markham Theatre - The Peking Acrobats. Tickets are almost sold out for all four shows.
April 2nd
7:00 PM - Council Chambers Development services public meeting - Re-zoning an area for industrial storage on Langstaff Road.
7:00 - 9:00 PM - Artists Mix and Mingle at Rouge River Brewery
If you would like to submit your photos of Markham - feel free to follow and tag our Instagram page, and we’ll credit you!
If you’ve got a story pitch, send it to themarkhamite@Substack.com
I appreciate what the Markhamite is trying to do in bringing local news to the community but I would hope that it would be more serious and less frivolous topics. An example of a local small local media publication that works I believe is the Stouffville Bullet Point News that does broad community coverage and detailed coverage of council meetings including development and other issues that maybe contentious and challenges the status quo. For a community of almost 350,000 with little local news I thought your publication would help fill the void. I am sure it is a challenge with no staff and a small budget but here's hoping you can grow and provide insightful information to all Markhamites.