Haliburton County Huskies head coach Ryan Ramsay has called on his young team to improve defensively after giving up leads in three games last week.

The blue and white returned home winless from the OJHL Governors’ Showcase, held in Buffalo, New York, losing a close game with the Oakville Blades 4-3 Sept. 25 before being bested 3-2 by the Toronto Junior Canadiens the next day. The hometown team battled to a 4-4 tie with the Cobourg Cougars on home ice on Saturday – their second straight stalemate at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.

“We’re a lot younger this year, a little bit greener. We’ve got a lot of new faces still learning our system. Last year, I think we would have found ways to win those games,” Ramsay told The Highlander. “Right now, we just can’t close teams out. The guys are working, they’re playing really hard. We’re in the games – we’ve just got to find a way to get the result.”

A fast start to Saturday’s encounter saw the Huskies earn an early powerplay opportunity – the visitors’ Kaiden Harmon sent to the box 1:20 in for high sticking. While the home team created some openings, Ryan Piros stood tall in the Cougars net.

The game was scoreless until the final quarter of the period, when Gavin McGaheySmith took centre stage – roofing the puck into the net at 16:38, assisted by Jack Staniland. The lead lasted less than two minutes, with Jordan Fuller tying things up at 18:29.

The home side got their noses ahead again in the second frame, Lucas Vacca scoring his second goal of the season somewhat fortuitously – sneaking the puck in off Piros’ pad from wide at 9:50, assisted by Izayah Luddington and Lucas Stevenson.

This time, the Huskies were ahead for barely over a minute, with Riley Pitt evening the score at 11:04.

It was one-way traffic early in the third, with Aidan Yarde and Johnathan Mead testing Piros. It was captain, Patrick Saini, who broke the deadlock at 3:45, tallying his team-leading seventh goal of the season unassisted.

After Yarde was tripped, the Huskies went on the powerplay and wasted no time doubling their advantage – Luddington going bar down with a snipe from the left faceoff circle at 5:40 to the delight of the home crowd.

Almost immediately following the restart, the Huskies found themselves killing a penalty, after Hunter Martell was sent to the box for roughing. The Cougars wasted no time capitalizing on the opportunity, with captain Andy Reist making it a one-goal game at 6:16.

The Huskies defended well through the mid-stages of the period, but were outmanned in the final minutes. Alex Bradshaw, acquired mid-week from the OHL’s Flint Firebirds, took a rare two minute illegal equipment minor at 18:15. The Cougars then pulled Piros, giving them a 6-on-4 opportunity to close the game, and they took full advantage – tying things at 18:57 through Pitt.

The teams battled for two overtime periods, but Piros and Vlad Visan, manning the Huskies net, stood tall, combining for 14 saves.

The result leaves the Huskies in sixth place in the East Conference, with 10 points from nine games.

“We’re still happy with our team, the way we’re progressing. I think offensively we’re doing great, but guys have got to learn how to play without the puck,” Ramsay said, noting the team was missing the presence of alternate captain Ian Phillips, out for the next three to four weeks with a knee injury picked up in Buffalo.

“We battle hard – it’s just some games we’re there for 50 minutes, some games it’s 55 minutes. But we let in a couple of goals bam, bam (after scoring) and that’s killing us right now. We’ve got to figure out how to play a complete 60-minute game. The minor lapses are really hurting us right now,” Ramsay added.

The Huskies will be back in action Friday on the road against the Pickering Panthers, before welcoming the Wellington Dukes to town on Saturday. Puck drop in Minden is set for 4 p.m.

Kate’s Burger Counter has reopened on Kashagawigamog Lake Road after a Canada Day incident set the local eatery back over much of the summer.

Co-owners, Tanya Smith and Jon Tulk, were back in business Sept. 23 and have resumed fall hours.

Smith said she was changing the cooking oil July 3, but it hadn’t cooled enough and melted the bucket she was putting it in. It splashed across the floor, got under the counter, started to melt the drain pipe and the sub floor began smoldering.

Tulk called the fire department and the first volunteer on scene used the restaurant’s fire extinguisher.

Smith said there was very little fire or smoke damage “but there were just all the things that the firefighters had to do to make sure it didn’t get worse. So, there were holes in the floor. They banged out the counter, and a couple of holes in the walls to make sure there were no flames going up the wall. They were fantastic. They did a great job.”

It took about 11 weeks to make the necessary repairs and get things up and running. The business was still able to sell ice cream from the ice cream hut, as well, so it was not a total financial loss. The business also had insurance.

“Once the work started, it didn’t take long to get fixed,” Smith said.

She added their regulars and visitors were happy to see them reopened.

“We were busy over the weekend (Sept. 23). It was great. And everybody was excited.”

Tulk added, “we would really like to give a shout out to all of the wonderful people that came by, and still supported us for ice cream, and were concerned about the business going away. We’re back and we’re not going anywhere.”

Regular fall hours are Thursdays to Mondays 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dysart et al council has deferred implementing widespread changes to its official plan and zoning amendment bylaw until at least December.

At a Sept. 26 public meeting, Jeff Iles, the township’s director of planning, said the update addresses new rules regarding accessory units on a property, removing restrictions for minimum floor area for new builds, clarifying setback regulations for docks and rafts, and opening the door for residents to install outdoor saunas on their property.

Iles noted the delay was due to the County currently undergoing a similar process. He said Dysart can’t move forward before the upper tier wraps things up. The County is hosting a public meeting in October to discuss its proposed changes, with approval expected in November, Iles said.

The most significant change at the local level, Iles said, is to allow additional units in accessory buildings, rather than within the main structure. Previously, duplexes and basement apartments were the only way for residents to have a secondary living unit on their property.

The planner said additional units would not be permitted in waterfront areas and would only be approved on lots with direct frontage to a public road. Additional units will not be permitted on properties within 300 metres of lake trout lakes deemed at-capacity, Iles added.

Only one additional unit will be permitted on lots that don’t have access to full municipal water and sewer, while Iles noted the maximum floor plan of any additional unit should not be greater than 75 per cent of the main dwelling unit’s size. A minimum floor plan of 189 sq. ft. is outlined, as per provincial building and fire codes. Additional units will be permitted on the second storey of accessory buildings, such as garages.

Iles said additional units should not be used as short-term rentals, noting if someone is found to be renting space out for less than 28 days, they could face a fine.

Local resident Lance Payne asked why Dysart wasn’t implementing a maximum floor space for accessory buildings, noting if someone has a huge main structure, say 5,000 sq. ft., they would be permitted to build a secondary structure up to 3,750 sq. ft. He noted Minden Hills allows for accessory units to be up to 1,000 sq. ft.

Iles noted the bylaw, technically, would allow accessory buildings to be any size – noting there was nothing preventing property owners from making existing structures an accessory unit, as long as all other rules, such as ensuring there’s enough septic capacity, are followed.

Payne also called on council to prohibit additional dwelling units within 300 metres of any lake, not just those with lake trout and deemed to be at-capacity.

With the Ontario government pushing municipalities for more housing, bringing forward legislation such as the More Homes Built Faster Act and amending its provincial policy statement to remove bureaucratic red tape and allow developers to move quickly through the approval process, mayor Murray Fearrey felt Dysart should prioritize these changes.

“Housing is a big need in our community – I think we should move quickly on this,” Fearrey said.

Another public meeting will be held in December.

Sue Tiffin updated council on her work since last spring, on the community safety and well-being plan adopted by council in January 2022. She said it had been slightly changed for accessibility online, including a ‘plan-on-apage.’

She added an advisory table meets about every two months and now includes councillors Bob Carter and Jennifer Dailloux, Marg Cox, Nycole Duncan, OPP Staff Sgt. Rob Flindall, Andrew Hodson, Jennifer Mills, Janine Mitchell, Veronica Nelson, Chris Parish, Mike Rutter and Pam Stuckless.

She added they now have working groups for: housing and homelessness, poverty and employment, mental health, substance abuse and addiction, and healthcare and system access. She said the plan has 12 goals and 23 strategies. She added they are working with people in the field already to avoid duplication. They are also further along in having a police services board for the County.

Tiffin said they’d had a first responders’ day, a youth art exhibition and spoken at schools. In June, they launched a community directory survey, there’s a planned onestop hub and a community mobile outreach initiative. Tiffin said they also have started augmentative and alternative communication boards. They also partnered with Service Canada to do outreach in Minden recently. They’ll be back with two events in October and two in November. Service Canada will also be going to Highlands East.

Coun. Murray Fearrey, commenting as a layperson, said of the provincially-mandated plan, “it’s a scattergun approach. What I’d like to know is what the mandate is and how you measure the success? There are so many things we’re involved with here. It’s unbelievable. Like a little bit of everything. I think if we don’t focus on one or two things, you don’t get anything done.”

However, Rutter said one of the reasons the province mandated CSWB plans was, “because there are so many groups doing really good work all over the place in a scatter gun approach. But there hasn’t been a coordination of that work. In our case, it was really evident through the planning process that people weren’t aware that help was there.

“A big part of Sue’s job is to first of all find out what is out there… and then connecting people to it.”

For example, he said there was a recent call about people experiencing homelessness and not knowing whom to connect with. Tiffin was able to put them in touch with the housing outreach officer to find help. Rutter added a plan will also save the County money in the long run.

Carter agreed it’s multi-faceted and requires keeping eyes on goals.

“This is not something you start off and create the committee and the group and you’re done. It’s a much bigger task than that. And I think it’s going to evolve and change over the years.” He said there had been “terrific” progress made and it will become more focused and concrete moving forward.

Dailloux asked about people living in the County where agencies are Muskoka-based. Tiffin said others are grouped with the City of Kawartha Lakes. She said she hopes a community services directory guide going to households emphasizes, “just because it says City of Kawartha Lakes, or Huntsville, doesn’t mean they can’t serve our community members here, too.”

Two community groups and a Haliburton business are calling for Dysart et al council to amend its deer feeding bylaw, slamming legislation tabled earlier this year as “ineffective and based on erroneous and misleading information.”

The Stop Deer Feeding Property Owners Coalition, Haliburton By-The-Lake Owners Association, and Shelley Stiles, owner of Country Rose Flowers and Garden, submitted letters to council Sept. 26 saying the bylaw, approved in July prohibiting deer feeding in most of Haliburton village from May 1 to Sept. 30, required a revisit.

Speaking at the meeting on behalf of the Stop Deer Feeding coalition, Gail Gillespie said Haliburton’s deer population was out of control, blaming people who continue to feed the animals.

“We have a lot of feeders right now… we want a complete ban. There’s so much damage in this town. The deer are not healthy,” Gillespie said. “When there’s too many deer, other species suffer.”

Council spent months debating a bylaw earlier this year. That came after a delegation from Haliburton residents Mike and Debra Landry in December 2022, who believed deer were becoming a nuisance in the downtown. They said the increased presence had led to a significant jump in collisions between vehicles and deer on Dysart roads, with Mike, a retired OPP officer, estimating around 100 collisions annually.

In his letter, Bill McFarland, president of the Haliburton By-The-Lake Owners Association, called on council to amend its bylaw to outlaw the practice year-round.

Mayor Murray Fearrey said that was council’s original intent when the legislation was passed over the summer.

“We need to make sure that’s corrected. Right now, it looks like you can feed them [in the winter], which makes no sense,” the mayor said.

Karl Korpela, Dysart’s chief building official and head of the bylaw department, said the intent of the bylaw was to “ween off the deer” relying on food from people to survive, noting council had recommended implementing a temporary ban with a view to extending the no feed window in future.

Gillespie indicated that reasoning was flawed.

“As soon as you offer any amount of food, the deer is going to stay around. You can’t ween them off,” she said.

Coun. Pat Casey suggested establishing a deer feeding yard “a decent ways out of town” to try and relocate the deer, while providing residents who wish to feed them the chance to continue. He said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry used to establish the sites, noting there was one near Percy Lake. Gillespie said the ministry no longer endorses them.

In her letter, Stiles said she feels deer are becoming too domesticated. She said she’s been forced to install farm fencing at Country Rose to keep deer away, but has still suffered “substantial” losses due to deer eating the business’ plant material and stock. She asked that council consider extending its no feed boundary past the township yard on Hwy. 118. Coun. Nancy Wood-Roberts suggested council outlaw the practice completely within the limits of Ward 1.

There was also a request to increase fines, currently $150 per offence. While Fearrey indicated he would be in favour, Korpela said the township may have difficulty getting an increase past the attorney general’s office.

“We can apply for whatever fine we want, but the ministry might not approve it. It’s all about being reasonable… I think $150 is a fairly significant fine for something that’s… not a major offence,” Korpela said.

Staff will bring options back to council next month for potential boundary and fine amendments.

After years of attempts, and failures, County council will investigate the possibility of public transportation between Minden and Haliburton.

Coun. Bob Carter raised the idea at a Sept. 27 council meeting. The Minden Hills mayor said, “we have been looking at transportation for, obviously, a number of years prior to me getting on this council. It’s been noted how it affects the community that we don’t have anything.”

Carter is in his first term as a County councillor. Prior to his arrival, the County spent two terms grappling with the issue but was unable to deliver anything substantive. A transportation task force, and a volunteer rural transportation options group, ended with no action taken in 2019 after spending nearly $50,000.

The County still has more than $200,000 in a transportation reserve. The lack of public transportation is identified in the County’s community safety and well-being plan. In addition, while first-year projects are not eligible for provincial gas tax funding, they are in second and subsequent years.

Carter said he had not necessarily been “wildly” in favour of some of the past proposals, “because all too often people try to put everything in there… that you have custom call-up and dial-up, picks you up at your home. It becomes very difficult to try to determine what the cost of something like that would be.”

‘This is something we need to do’

He said his ask is simply to start a shuttle route between Minden and Haliburton six days a week. He said it would provide access to key buildings, such as Hyland Crest longterm care home in Minden, the Staanworth Non-Profit Housing Corporation, Highland Wood LTC at Haliburton hospital, Extendicare Haliburton, the Kawartha LakesHaliburton Housing Corporation in Haliburton and the ER in Haliburton.

“Places where there are many people who don’t have cars, either because of age or finances and so on… it would link those people to some of the key commercial resources in the two centres and to health care.”

Carter said they now have a “significant” problem in Minden Hills, with people not having access to the Minden ER. “I think this is something we need to do.”

He further emphasized it would be a starting point, “the spine if you will” running between the centres, with future offshoots to places such as Wilberforce and West Guilford “and so on”.

“But we have the one core in the middle. This would serve about 50 per cent of the population in Haliburton County. I see it as a starting point and something that is a benefit to the whole County. We have been putting money aside for this, so I’m proposing we have a two-year trial and see how it goes.”

He acknowledged there would still be decisions, such as location of bus stops, which might be done by a committee, and fares. For now, it “shows good faith for what the population is asking us to do.”

Warden Liz Danielsen, who is mayor of Algonquin Highlands, said while it would be a good start, and she was not opposed to exploring it, she would argue it would not service the entire community. She said all four municipalities pay into the transportation reserve, but this would only benefit Dysart et al and Minden Hills, not Algonquin Highlands or Highlands East.

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux said Carter’s notice of motion seemed to be a reaction to the loss of the Minden ER, but was curious to see what the results of a request for proposals would generate. She was also interested in a fee structure aimed at cost recovery.

Coun. Murray Fearrey thought it was a good starting point, and wants more details.

Coun. Cec Ryall said he was in favour of putting out an RFQ, to “give us an idea of where we’re going, what we’re doing, I’m not saying pick up where the task force left off.” He was hesitant, however, about all County taxpayers contributing to ongoing operations if the service only ran in two townships.

Coun. Lisa Schell said, “in my mind, this was just a starting point that would eventually, if possible, grow into being a Countywide service, not just in Minden and Dysart. But I think right now that’s probably the two larger centres where you could maybe have an idea of how it may look, or how popular it may be, and what the cost would be.”

Council voted to put out a request for proposals.

County residents have just a few days left to get their nominations in for the 2023 Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce community and business achievement awards.

The event is being held Oct. 20 at Eagle View Wedding and Event Centre, at Sir Sam’s Ski/Ride, and will bring a collection of the Highlands’ finest entrepreneurial minds together to celebrate the biggest success stories of the year in business.

There will be 12 premiere awards dished out this year, recognizing: business achievement; top entrepreneur; best businesswoman; not-for-profit; industry and trades; tourism and hospitality; innovation and creativity; customer service – employee; customer service – business; best new business; and Highlander of the Year.

Chamber spokesperson Kirstley Dams said she has received 52 nominations to date. The submission deadline is Sept. 30.

“The Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce takes great pride in delivering this annual event. Although glory is not the reason that the nominees get into small business ownership, it certainly feels nice when we can recognize and appreciate all the hard workers in our County,” Dams said. “We encourage everyone to nominate a business or community member they feel goes above and beyond.”

Asked what people should consider when making a nomination, Dams added, “don’t complicate it. We all know someone, or some place, that seems to always offer the best service, or always lead their industry. Find a category of the 12 available and give them a nomination.”

She said she was particularly looking for nominations in the tourism and hospitality, young professional, industry and trades, and innovation and creativity categories.

“When submitting your nominations try to be as detailed as possible – our judges are completely unbiased, which means they are relying solely on the information you provide to make their decision,” Dams said.

Liz Danielsen will also be presenting her ‘Warden’s Award’, which has historically been awarded to those deemed to be exemplary citizens/organizations who go above and beyond for our County, Dams said. Local non-profit Point in Time was named the winner of last year’s award.

Dams said she’s looking forward to a great evening. Tickets went on sale Sept. 18.

“This achievement gala is the only Haliburton business awards [we have] and one of the few occasions where our business community can get a little fancy and gather to network and share their stories. We’re really excited,” Dams said.

The event will kick off with a 4 p.m. cocktail hour and complimentary chairlift rides. Dinner and awards ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. For more information, to make a nomination, or book a ticket, visit haliburtonchamber.com/gala.