Last Friday, Sept. 22 was a special day inside the Baker household – my daughter, Emma, turned three months old, and with it shed the newborn moniker she had reluctantly worn since birth.
In some ways it feels like the time has flown by since I was sitting in an empty hospital bed at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, scared out of my mind, waiting for a nurse to come and get me so I could be with my wife in surgery – because of course Emma decided she just had to arrive via emergency c-section.
Absolutely nothing about the birth, pregnancy, and the six years leading up to it all, was straight forward. I don’t think I’d have it any other way though.
I’ve known since I was a wee whippersnapper myself that I wanted children. My wife, Laurie, and I are very lucky in that sense – we started dating during Grade 12 at high school and were serious right away. By the time we were celebrating our six-month anniversary, we’d agreed on having two kids. A boy and a girl.
Life got in the way, of course. After I completed J-School and Laurie graduated from university, we packed up our three possessions worth more than $20 and headed west. We were in Alberta for two-and-a-half years – living in a community four hours northeast of Edmonton. I thought I’d experienced snow before moving out there… how wrong I was. We decided to show mercy, opting not to bring a baby into what must surely have been the North Pole.
It was after we moved back to Ontario, living in Orangeville, that, unknown to us at the time, we began the climb. We tried on our own for 18 months, but nothing. It was another year before we went to see a doctor. IVF, we were told, was our only option. And it was a slim chance at best.
I put on a brave face, but the truth is the longer things dragged on, the more depressed I got. By this time, we had moved to Lindsay, and I was working here in Haliburton. I had convinced myself that kids just weren’t on the cards for us.
First, there was a delay because of a COVID-19 outbreak at our clinic. Then they wanted us to start the process about a week before we were due to fly to England for my brother’s wedding. I felt as though the universe was trying to send me a message.
A few months after we got back, we got the first call. We had an embryo. I still wasn’t convinced. I think it was my brain trying to protect me – before I got carried away expecting it to happen.
I had looked up all the stats – the best number I could find pegged our chances at about 35 per cent. I still remember getting up the morning we drove down to Toronto to find out if it had worked and giving myself a pep talk: “you’ve got to be the strong one, man. For Laurie.” I was dreading it.
Instead, I was treated to the most wonderfully cathartic moment of my life… well, up until I held Emma for the first time.
When I think back at everything we went through – the pain, the anguish, the anger… all I need to do now is close my eyes and picture that little face, it draws a smile every time.
I realize, though, just how lucky I am. Our first run at IVF, and it actually worked. It sounds strange considering you’re literally along for the ride with another person, but I’ve never felt as alone as I did for that period when I thought I was the reason we couldn’t start a family. That wears on you. As someone who never really struggled with mental health before this, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Fortunately, we came out the other side.
And the best part? There’s still another embryo left. So, we still have that chance to hit a double homer after all. Life’s a funny ol’ thing, isn’t it?
A story from the heart
Use it or lose it
I’m wearing a figurative black arm band this week.
Metroland Media’s Sept. 15 announcement that it is restructuring its operations and filing for bankruptcy is just another blow to community journalism in Ontario.
For those that don’t know what I’m talking about – and many will not, which is why purveyors of local news are in dire straits – most of Metroland’s 71 community newspapers will move to a digital-only model effective immediately.
The final delivery of the print edition of local papers was last week. Metroland’s six daily publications are the only ones that will continue to publish both online and in print.
In a letter to readers, the company’s vice president said they’re confident the restructuring will make the company a sustainable business moving forward.
We’ve heard that before. In fact, the decision to use newsprint as glorified wrapping paper for advertising flyers must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Editorial staff were slashed and local news became an afterthought in the quest to flog the weekly shopping glossies.
So, I’m not wearing the armband for Metroland, but for the hundreds of journalists who will be laid off, as well as the communities who may now get an even more watered-down online version of news, business, arts, sports and event coverage.
Coming on the heels of another major company – Facebook – throwing local news off of its platform in a hissy fit over the Canadian government wanting them to pay for what they have flogged as free content for years – it is another painful sting for the industry.
Luckily, The Highlander as well as the Haliburton Echo, Minden Times and County Life are not Metroland rags. We will continue to have print editions. As I have said before in this space, the County of Haliburton is blessed to have such robust media.
As larger towns around us see papers close, the Highlands has had the gift of a continuous media presence of no less than four award-winning newspapers.
At The Highlander, we are able to not only publish a weekly paper – and have an online presence – but provide it for free. For this, we can thank our advertisers, who still believe people want to hold a physical newspaper in their hands.
If the Metroland story tells us anything, it’s that we need to appreciate local media. We need to use it – advertise – and as I like to say, “read before burning” in your woodstove or campfire.
Metroland says people are getting their news online. Great. People need to go to their websites. When papers call for paid online subscriptions, readers need to support them.
We encourage readers to pick up our print edition, sign up for our weekly newsletter, and bookmark our website for breaking news since we don’t use Facebook anymore.
I still believe in community journalism. I still believe we are here to inform and challenge. I still take great pride in bylines above the fold. I believe people like to physically read our product – and yes – before using it to wrap fish or start fires.
As the old adage goes, use it or lose it.
Huskies split pair of weekend games
The Haliburton County Huskies opened last weekend with a 3-1 Friday night win on the road over the Pickering Panthers. But they were on the return end of a 3-1 loss Saturday afternoon, at the hands of the Wellington Dukes.
The Oct. 7 loss puts the Huskies at five wins, four losses, and two ties.
On Oct. 6, forward Charlie Fink netted two goals against the Panthers.
After a scoreless first, he put the Huskies up 1-0 at the 4:18 mark of the second period with his first of the season, assisted by Ty Petrou.
Pickering answered just over two minutes later, as former Husky, Nicholas Athanasakos, scored his eighth of the season.
Huskies’ captain, Patrick Saini, then put the blue and white up 2-1 with his eighth, from Hunter Martell and Petrou.
Fink sealed the deal with his second, at 19:37 of the second, from Lucas Stevenson.
It was a scoreless third as Husky goalie, Logan Kennedy, turned aside 26 of the 27 shots he faced in this game.
Wellington had the jump on the Huskies the entire game Oct. 7.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Dukes got on the board first as Panavioti Efraimidis broke the goose egg at 12:09.
Fink answered back with his third of the weekend, at 17:35, from Petrou and Saini.
But the Dukes got the late killer, at 18:53 of the second, off the stick of Ben Vreugdenhil. An empty-netter, at 18:28 of the third period, made it a 3-1 Dukes game.
t’s a big week for the squad, with away games Oct. 12 and Oct. 13. The Huskies are back at home Oct. 14 against the Trenton Golden Hawks. Puck drop is 4 p.m. at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.
Bowmaster signs
The OJHL has announced Huskies’ forward Declan Bowmaster has confirmed his commitment to join the NCAA Division I Merrimack College Warriors, in Andover, Mass. Beginning the 2025-26 season.
A 17-year-old, Bowmaster first joined the blue and white as an affiliate player from the Oshawa Generals U18 team in the 2021-22 season. He was a third-round pick of the Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League’s 2022 U18 draft. During 2022-23, he scored six goals and seven assists in 41 games. Bowmaster has four goals and an assist in nine games this season.
“We are really excited for Declan,” the OJHL site quoted Huskies’ head coach and general manager Ryan Ramsay as saying. “I have seen him grow as a player since joining our team as an AP in 2021. He has a high level of skill and great hockey IQ.”
“Haliburton is the best place to become a better hockey player,” Bowmaster told the OJHL. “The coaches care about developing you as a player with video, skills skates and power skating. The community is always involved and they care so much about the team, it’s a great organization to be a part of
“I chose the NCAA because it’s the best place for me to develop into a better hockey player and become a better student. The NCAA offers me a chance to progress my hockey career and my education at the same time with excellent coaches and teachers.”
HCDC recognized as tops in their field
Haliburton County Development Corporation is celebrating a significant milestone this year, becoming the first community investment enterprise in Ontario, and second in Canada, to surpass $100 million in support for local businesses.
Since its inception in 1985, the organization has assisted 2,324 businesses across the Highlands, to the tune of $102 million.
“We’ve always bragged that we’re (one of) the biggest CFDC’s (community futures development corporation) in Canada, and this proves it,” said Pat Kennedy, board chair, at HCDC’s annual general meeting, Oct. 4.
“This is huge news for our community… and we will continue to support local economic development initiatives, the growth of new and existing businesses, and the creation of sustainable jobs in Haliburton County.
“I’ve always stated that we deal with our businesses with our heart, as well as looking at the profit and loss statements. I think that’s worked well for us over the years,” Kennedy added.
Through its loan offerings, HCDC provides financing options up to $300,000 for business start-ups, upgrades, and expansion. Staff also provide advice and counselling to local entrepreneurs at no cost.
During the previous fiscal year, between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, HCDC received 68 loan applications – approving 49, for a total annual investment of just over $5 million.
“We had some growth in 2023, approving 15 more loans than in the previous year,” said Sara Joanu, HCDC loans officer. “With the 49 loan applications that were approved, 533 jobs were either created or maintained within our community.”
Of the businesses to receive support last year, 49 per cent were in the service sector, including restaurants, landscaping companies, hair salons, accounting firms, and auto repair shops. Around 14 per cent were in the tourism field, 9.8 per cent in construction, 9.6 per cent in manufacturing, 9.2 per cent in retail, 5.2 per cent in forestry operations, and 2.9 per cent non-profits.
“Of the applications presented throughout the year, 36.4 per cent were looking to start a business, 21 per cent wanted to expand their business, and 42 per cent was for maintenance, which could be anything along the lines of working capital, accounts payable, or equipment upgrades,” Joanu said.
Year ending, HCDC had 144 loans outstanding totalling just over $13.8 million, Joanu added, with around $6.5 million cash in the bank. The organization’s total investment portfolio is valued at almost $22 million.
Over the past 39 years, HCDC has earned over $19.8 million in interest, with the average loan size to businesses approximately $44,000.
Under its community economic development umbrella, HCDC leveraged $410,000 supporting 19 community partners and initiatives, including Wetlands and Waterways EcoWatch, the Haliburton School of Art + Design with its student residence project, the Haliburton Highlands Sports Hall of Fame, operations at Glebe Park, SIRCH Community Services through its strategic planning process, Skyline Dance Arts, Project SHE, and the Haliburton Highlands Art Centre Foundation.
The organization also supported Algonquin Highlands with its cultural plan update, and Dysart et al through the renaming of Sam Slick Park, which is yet to be announced.
Through its local initiatives program, $241,000 was dished out supporting endeavours like The DropZone pop-up kids’ arcade in West Guilford, and Woodlands Wildlife Sanctuary.
Executive director, Patti Tallman, said it had been a good year for HCDC.
“The achievements are a testament to the dedication of the staff and board of directors. Having provided over $75,000 in CED funding to not-for-profits, and over $5 million in loans to businesses, we feel that’s instrumental to achieving our goals in community economic development and creating a community where people want to live.”
ER group keeps pressure on
The Save Minden Ontario Emergency Room group was back at Queen’s Park Oct. 5, continuing to pressure the provincial government to reverse a June 1 closure of the town’s ER
Members converged on the steps of the Ontario Legislature, and were joined by NDP and Liberal members of provincial parliament for a press conference.
They also delivered another 10,000-plus signatures, with Kanata-Carleton MPP Karen McCrimmon presenting them during Question Period and calling on health minister Sylvia Jones to recant the decision
Spokesman Patrick Porzuczek said initiatives had reached a critical milestone with the more than 10,000 signatures from concerned Ontario residents demanding the full restoration of ER services. He reiterated the closure of the ER, with only six weeks’ notice, remained a “glaring issue that demands answers
“This marks a pivotal moment for us, demonstrating the significance of our movement. Through our efforts, our community has uncovered countless stories of unnecessary hardship and negative outcomes following the Minden ER closure,” Porzuczek said.
“The Conservative government has turned their back on us, but we refuse to allow the community to suffer in silence, and vow to continue to do what it takes to get services fully restored.”
Both the NDP and Liberals have vowed to reopen the Minden ER if elected.
NDP leader Marit Stiles told the press conference the new signatures were “just a sign of how much this issue matters to so many people.”
Porzuczek said his group believes Minden is ground zero for the crisis of rural ER closures in the province. He added despite various announcements for hospital funding, ERs in rural communities, such as Chesley, Clinton and Carleton Place, are coping with random and frequent temporary ER closures and, or permanent reduction of operating hours.
Well over 20 ERs in Ontario have been closed frequently throughout the summer. And Haliburton, the nearest hospital to Minden, recently shut down the acute care facility due to COVID.
“These facts underscore the urgency of reopening the Minden ER and addressing the staffing shortages that are responsible for temporary closures across Ontario,” Porzuczek said.
On Sept. 25, Minden residents joined 10,000 to 12,000 people who rallied on the grounds of Queen’s Park to send the message they are not going away, including the Haliburton Highlands Long-Term Care Coalition, which is fighting privatization of health care services in Ontario.
The Save group reiterated the community is “disheartened” by what it has perceived to be lack of accountability by the Haliburton Highlands Health Services executive and board, MPP Laurie Scott, Jones and premier Doug Ford.
“With over 10,000 names on a petition, there comes 10,000 people waiting for a resolution and for us, this is just the beginning. We call on the ministry of health and premier Ford to start making concessions to reopen the Minden ER or face continued pressure and scrutiny about this ill-advised closure. We won’t stop until Ontario’s failing healthcare is back to thriving in public hands where it belongs,” Porzuczek said.
Haliburton Highlands Health Services interim president and CEO Veronica Nelson declined to comment on stories the Save group has gathered, saying, “this is not something HHHS can comment on directly, however, [we] would like to emphasize our priority is to provide safe and high-quality care to our community.”
HHSS teacher planning European adventure
Haliburton Highlands Secondary School teacher Darla Searle is planning to take up to 42 students on a “once in a lifetime” trip to Europe over the Easter break in 2025.
This will mark the second school excursion Searle has led following a successful trip to Costa Rica in April.
She said students will enjoy 10 days traveling across England, France, Switzerland, and Germany, checking out historical sites such as Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Dachau concentration camp.
An information session providing more details, including a full itinerary of events and a breakdown of the cost, is being held at the high school Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m.
“This is a truly incredible opportunity for anyone interested in travel, learning about different cultures, and seeing some of the most iconic sites in Europe,” Searle said. “Traveling broadens the mind, and just having that exposure to different parts of the world does wonders for your perspective.
“This is a great chance to experience so many bucket list things on a single trip, and to do so with friends, and fellow classmates… it’ll be something these kids will remember and hold close for the rest of their lives,” Searle added.
The trip is being planned through EF Educational Tours. Students will miss four days of school, Searle said, and will fly from Toronto into one of the world’s busiest airports – Heathrow in London. Students will spend a couple of days in the UK capital, taking in a Shakespearean walking tour and visiting popular sites such as Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus.
They will then travel to Paris via rail, passing through the underwater Channel Tunnel. While in France, students will embark on a guided tour of the nation’s capital, where they will see the Eiffel Tower and visit the Louvre, before embarking on an in-depth expedition of Versailles – the principal residence of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI.
From there, it’ll be on to Switzerland and a walking tour of Lucerne, featuring a cable car ride down Mount Pilatus. The fourth stop is the German capital, Munich, where students will visit the Olympic Stadium, Neuschwanstein Castle, and the Dachau concentration camp.
Anyone who will be a student at HHSS for the 2024/25 school year is eligible for the trip, meaning Grade 8 students from J.D. Hodgson, Archie Stouffer, and Wilberforce Elementary are invited to attend next week’s information session.
Searle said she’s invited a student that participated in the Costa Rica trip to attend the session and share her experiences.
“She’s going to talk about what the trip meant to her and how life changing it was to see different cultures and how people live in other parts of the world,” Searle said. “It’s trips like this that make you realize how young Canada. We’ll be going to places that were established hundreds, even thousands of years ago. The history in Europe is fascinating.”
To secure a spot, students will need to lay down a $200 deposit and commit to monthly payments. Searle wouldn’t commit to a full price, saying that will be provided at the meeting.
There will be fundraising opportunities in the months leading up to help cover some of the cost, she said, with a dinner theatre organized in December.
“We want to ensure people who might not be able to afford the full cost still have an opportunity to go,” Searle said.
To register for the information session, visit rsvp.eftours.ca/et2mr5m.
HCDC unveils new business hub The Link
Haliburton County Development Corporation welcomed around 50 guests to the grand opening of The Link Oct. 4, with board chair, Pat Kennedy, saying the new space is “going to be a really valuable part of the Highlands community.”
Announced earlier this year, the facility, located beside Haliburton Timber Mart on County Road 21, will house all HCDC operations, including its business incubator, the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce, the Arts Council, services from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and provide office space for County of Haliburton economic development staff.
It also features space for networking events and will be used to host a series of workshops, Kennedy said. There are five private offices available to rent, with eight new ‘hot desks’ that will provide working space for emerging businesses that require high-speed internet. Organizations will also be able to rent the upstairs conference room.
The Link initiative was thought up a couple of years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic and was first proposed as an expansion to the incubator, previously located beside Dysart town hall. HCDC has nurtured 10 start-ups and assisted more than 15 other developing businesses and entrepreneurs at the site since its launch in 2010.
“We needed to decide what we were going to do with it – were we going to close it? We decided no, we need to expand it, because there’s a real need for this type of service in the community,” Kennedy said, noting the expansion was approved last fall.
Executive director, Patti Tallman, said The Link will be a place for new and existing entrepreneurs to find the resources they need to start, sustain, relocate, and grow their business.
Having so many like-minded entities operating within the space is a major win for the community, Kennedy said.
“I think we all know when talent comes together, great things can happen. The focus is to make businesses, organizations, and our communities more nimble, effective, profitable, to create new wealth, new jobs, and contribute to our economic development,” he said.
Amy McFadden, representing the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario, said HCDC is one of the province’s biggest success stories for supporting local business, lauding the organization’s expansion with The Link.
“Over the last three years alone, HCDC has assisted with more than 140 SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] and entrepreneurs, and moved out over $15 million in capital financing, which has impacted over 890 jobs,” McFadden said
“This impact, on top of the delivery of the regional relief and recovery fund, which supported another 50 local businesses and provided almost $1.76 million in liquidity relief at a time when businesses needed support… due to the pandemic, is huge.
“The Link will greatly promote and support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region, providing access to the services and support entrepreneurs and SMEs need to grow and expand,” she added.
Tallman thanked those who had helped bring The Link to life – Haliburton Timber Mart for providing the space, North of Seven Custom Carpentry for leading the redevelopment, and ACM Designs for their interior work.
“This is really exciting for all of us at HCDC… it’s a new era,” Tallman said.
Small business week
Next week is small business week in Haliburton County, with six events organized to help local entrepreneurs network, learn, and grow their business.
The Arts Council – Haliburton Highlands will kick things off Oct. 17 with a panel discussion focusing on the art of managing your business, at The Link at 1 p.m. Later in the day, at 4 p.m., the County’s economic development department and HCDC is hosting a networking kick-off at Boshkung Social.
The County is hosting its second-annual business summit at Sir Sam’s Oct. 18, with Scott Ovell, director of economic development, saying the event will centre on the idea that strong communities build stronger businesses.
“At the heart of this theme lies the recognition that communities play a pivotal role in shaping the success and resilience of businesses. We firmly believe that when businesses and communities unite, they have the power to drive lasting prosperity and foster sustainable growth,” Ovell said. “Haliburton Highlands has demonstrated exactly this for so many years.”
The summit will feature five keynote speakers, kicking off at 10 a.m.
The City of Kawartha Lakes is hosting a lunch and learn session at The Link Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. focusing on digital transformation for non-profits. ACM Designs is hosting a networking event at the space at 5 p.m.
The week will conclude with the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce business and community achievement awards gala, being held Oct. 20 at Eagle View Event Centre. Chamber representative Kirstley Dams said there are more than 100 people and businesses vying for 12 premiere awards.
For more information, or to register for these events, visit thelinkhaliburton.ca/ events.
Library CEO closes book on Highlands
Chris Stephenson had planned to stay on as CEO of Haliburton County Public Library for the next three to five years, until retirement. Unfortunately, his back had other plans.
Stephenson said with his retired parents living in nearby Muskoka, the prospect of leaving the job and moving was difficult.
However, doctors have told him a back issue isn’t going to go away overnight, and, without a family doctor in the Highlands, he had to consider alternatives.
“I slipped a disc 13 years ago, and symptoms have come back recently. I spend too much time sitting, maybe, I don’t know. I have a single foot drop, which means partial paralysis in my right foot, so I’m not walking well, and I’ve inherited arthritis that is making the healing process a little more challenging,” he shared with The Highlander during a chat Oct. 6.
Stephenson added, “I hit a wall during the day where I just can’t sit and I can’t stand.” He said it had been two months since he’d taken himself to the ER. He will see a doctor when he arrives in Saint John, New Brunswick later this month but says the plan will likely entail reducing stress, acupuncture, a therapy pool and physiotherapy.
“These are things that have eluded me,” he said.
Stephenson met his partner, Amanda, when the two were attending library school in Vancouver. Amanda works remotely, and is already in Saint John. The librarian said another challenge has been finding affordable housing in the Highlands. He has been renting.
“We wanted to buy a house. Whenever we looked at our budget, it kept sending us to the east coast and we thought ‘well, we love the ocean. So, let’s try the other ocean’.” He added Saint John boasts people from all over Canada and has a lot of history. He said it also has milder winters.
Stephenson has been the library CEO for two years. The vacancy is posted and he said, “there’s already interest trickling in.”
He believes he is leaving the service in good shape. It’s one of the reasons he wrestled with his decision, wanting to keep the momentum going. However, he felt it was best to step down as opposed to going on leave for an extended period of time, which would have led to uncertainty. “It’s no fun when you’re a small team of 20 and there’s no leader.”
He, his staff, and board completed a strategic plan; launched the Dorset depot lockers; reopened the Stanhope branch, made key staffing changes; rebranded with a new website; and got a courier and programming van.
Stephenson said he will end his time in the Highlands on a high note; attending the gala fundraiser Oct. 22 at the Minden branch, featuring Maureen Jennings of Murdoch Mysteries fame.
“That’ll be a really nice departure. I just really enjoyed my time here. People really do care about the library. This is a very creative, artistic community and I knew that if I, and we, put energy in, we would get that back tenfold every time, regardless of what demographic we were serving.”
Dysart buys 90-acre parcel for development
Dysart et al has completed a $1.725 million purchase of a 90-acre property fronting County Road 21, with mayor, Murray Fearrey, labelling the parcel “prime, developable land.”
The municipality closed with the listed owner, Ontario Vantage Consulting Inc., in May, with the deal being complete in late July. One of the stipulations outlined is that the previous owner will retain a 3.25-acre lot on the southwest corner of the property, which is to be surveyed on the township’s dime.
The previous mortgage, valued at $1.45 million, was held by Harburn Holdings – a company owned by local businessman Paul Wilson. The property is located across from Haliburton Veterinary Clinic.
Speaking to The Highlander, Fearrey said the purchase – the most financially significant in Dysart’s recent history – was big news for the community.
“We’re looking at it for residential and recreation opportunities. It’s right on the sewer line. It’s all diggable, there’s no bedrock in there, so it’s got a lot of potential,” Fearrey said. “The size of it, it’s almost as many acres as Haliburton village. It’s a big area, and it touches our industrial park property [to the north]. This is a big win for Dysart. It’s the only way the town could grow. With the hill on one side and the lake on the other, there’s just not this kind of land around, so this is very exciting for us.”
Fearrey said the township will be looking to sell the land to developers.
“We’ve got people showing an interest, but we want to do this in a fashion that we have an overall plan. We need to know we’re putting the right things in place there. We want to get a good mix of housing,” the mayor said.
Housing, recreation targeted
“It will not be our intent to lose one cent on the value of that property. We won’t be giving a whole lot away, because we need to recoup that money for other things.”
With A.J. LaRue Arena and the Haliburton Curling Club building, in the mayor’s words, nearing the end of their lives, he believes this new property could be an ideal home for replacements. He wasn’t keen on opening the parcel up for extensive commercial development, however.
“We don’t want to remove [the draw] of the downtown. I think there would be more recreational opportunities we’d be looking at there. We know our arena is coming to the end of its life, the curling club, too,” Fearrey said. “There’s a lot of possibilities here that I may not see in my term but can be planned for the future.”
Coun. Pat Casey said the site could be an ideal location for a swimming pool down the line. While he’s excited about the “many possibilities” this land presents, he noted council will take their time and ensure they’re making the best decision for the long-term.
The first priority, Casey said, will be proceeding with various studies of the site in the coming months. Once those reports arrive back at town hall, proposals will be brought to council for consideration.
“Buying the land is one thing, but it’s another to get all the infrastructure we need here. That’s not going to be an overnight process,” he said. “This is just one step of making sure we’re setting this community up for the future. Whether it’s this council, or another council five or 10 years down the line, you have to be forward thinking and find ways to help this place handle the growth [we’ve already seen] and are expecting to see.”
Council’s next focus, Casey noted, will be the township’s sewage treatment plant, which he says will likely need to be upgraded. Council’s next focus, Casey noted, will be the township’s sewage treatment plant, which he says will likely need to be upgraded.
“We can buy all this land, we can get development going here, but if you don’t have the necessary sewage capacity then it puts everything in a vacuum,” Casey said. “We don’t want to be limited with what we can do here.”
Fearrey said the land, once developed, would go a long way to addressing the community’s housing crisis, saying he wants to see all types of housing built there. During a recent County council meeting, it was estimated Dysart’s population is to grow almost 60 per cent over the next 30 years, from 7,300 people to 11,600. By developing this land, Fearrey believes the township would be able to support that growth.
“This was something we had to do, we had to look for if we’re going to grow how [the province] wants us to. Our next move, once we’ve surveyed the land and got a handle for what’s needed, is to find a developer who will pay a price for a good property and do the right thing on it,” Fearrey said.
Watershed report: lake health at risk
Environmental scientist Dr. Peter Sale believes a recently-released state of the Muskoka watershed report, outlining a decrease in water quality in hundreds of lakes, could have widespread implications on lake health in Haliburton County.
The Muskoka Watershed Council released the report in September, providing a scientific assessment of the watershed’s overall health. Typically produced every five years, the document looks at local water and land conditions and provides the basis of the council’s priorities for future watershed management.
While the bulk of the watershed’s 2,000plus lakes are located within the District of Muskoka, there are some that stretch into Algonquin Highlands. Sale said since the County is so close to Muskoka, some of the things being seen there are likely happening here.
“Our environment is changing, but it’s changing slowly enough that most people probably don’t notice it. This makes it a very difficult problem to deal with as we’re not having catastrophes, emergencies, we’re having slow degradation,” Sale told The Highlander.
“Because Haliburton County is directly east of us, it’s very likely the kinds of patterns we’re seeing here are repeated,” Sale added. “Some are driven by development, which may be more intense here, but many are being driven by things like road management and climate change… this is valuable information for people in Haliburton, because it will help direct you towards things that should be looked at [in your] watershed.”
A look at some trends
One of the most significant changes, Sale said, is the decline of calcium concentration in lake waters. Just over a quarter, or 28 per cent, of 187 lakes dipped below a threshold of two milligrams per litre – which is problematic for keystone species like zooplankton.
“We’re getting to the point where many organisms that live in the lakes can’t build their skeletons because they don’t get enough calcium. The environment is becoming hostile to species that are supposed to be there,” Sale said.
If the trend continues, species like zooplankton could see their population levels massively deplete, causing ripple effects up the food chain. “They feed fish, which then feed water birds… the functioning of a lake can be hugely disrupted if any of those links is not performing effectively,” Sale noted.
The Muskoka watershed has also seen an increase in blue green algae blooms, with five cases reported in 2022.
Another major negative, he notes, is 70 per cent of monitored lakes are saltier now than they used to be. In about a quarter of those, the concentration is high enough that it’s impacting the survival of dozens of natural species.
“We are importing tons of salt every year and spreading it on our roads. When it washes off the roads, it runs through the soils in our forests and into our lakes,” he said. “There’s a simple solution – we just need to find a way of taking care of our winter roads without dumping salt on them.”
Climate change is having an impact. Sale said changes in rainfall patterns have amounted to a month more of rainy days annually compared to 100 years ago. There is also evidence storms are becoming more intense – double the systems yielded more than 51 millimetres of rain between 2019 than from 1970 to 1999.
Lakes in Muskoka are also experiencing about 20 fewer days of ice cover than in the mid-1970s
“That has consequences for people who like to ice fish, snowmobile, for the construction industry, and winter tourism. It also has significant consequences for the environment because those lakes are open now 20 more days per year for evaporation, and for the water to warm,” Sale said. “As a result, our lakes are different kinds of systems to what they were before. That’s likely to continue as climate change intensifies.”
Time to act
Sale said watersheds across the province stand at a crucial turning point – while they may be healthy now, existing management systems seem incapable of halting or reversing the negative trends outlined in the report.
The solution, he believes, is an integrated watershed management system where all communities work together to identify and deal with pressing issues as they arise.
There needs to be some significant changes to the way we manage the environment… we are working directly with municipalities, trying to bring them to the table and get them organized as a consortium to introduce a new type of adaptive management process based on monitoring the environment and responding to the changes while they’re still small enough that it won’t be hugely expensive and arduous,” Sale said.
“It’s a completely different way of looking at things, but it’s something we need to do across the board in Ontario,” he added.
“The current system where one government agency is responsible for keeping the roads clean but doesn’t have any responsibility over what happens along the edges of a road… was developed at a time when the world was a simpler place, the environment was not changing very rapidly, and our development was low scale. We’re in a totally different world now,” Sale said.
These problems are not going to go away by themselves. They’re only going to get worse if we don’t deal with them… We’ve always been able to say our environment is in pretty good shape – it still is, but it’s getting worse every year,” he added. “Now is the time to change the way we do things before it’s too late.”