Ottawa City Hall intends to get tougher on building contractors who don’t register with the city and show proof of their insurance. A new rule the City Council put on file this week keeps the registration fee at $100, but it increases the fine for not registering to $500. Mayor Dan Aussem says until now, the penalty has been just the $100 the contractor should have paid in the first place.

Aussem says that goes for subcontractors too. They’re not covered under the general contractor’s registration.