Users of the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena and Community Centre in Minden won’t be getting a fully-stocked concession stand. Council made the decision at its Jan. 26 meeting.

Director of community services, Craig Belfry, said the township received only one bid on the project and it was over budget.

He said MVW Construction and Engineering quoted $423,544.51, whereas council had set a budget of $360,000,

Belfry was seeking approval to have further discussions with MVW, to reduce some of the components of the snack bar. He said $125,000 worth of equipment was being suggested, for example, two ventless fryers worth $40,000 each. A further $60,000 worth of electrical is needed, he said, because, “sufficient power load sourcing was not installed for this area during the initial construction.” Belfry said there was a possibility that cost could also be lowered.

However, a majority of councillors said “no.”

“I’m not happy,” mayor Bob Carter said. He said it was unfortunate the arena design was done in the way it was. He said had they done it then, they would have incurred more cost, but doing it now in isolation has resulted in insufficient power, and ceilings being too low. He said he did not want to give up and was prepared for Belfry to go back to the bidder.

Deputy mayor Lisa Schell said they had planned to spend $300,000 and, “hated to throw the baby out with the bath water. I don’t want to spend any more money on this but we can’t have an arena without a snack bar either, or some kind of option for food. I hear this all the time.”

Mulligan’s has been supplying some food at the arena. They are usually upstairs Friday afternoons and Saturdays and during Haliburton County Huskies games. The Huskies also manage vending machines.

Coun. Pam Sayne also thinks they need a snack bar but felt it was a lot of money. “It shouldn’t cost $300,000 to serve a hot dog.” She thought they could look at healthy food options, and eliminate fryers to save $80,000.

Ripping the Band-Aid off

However, Coun. Tammy McKelvey said even if they got the figure down to $300,000, an outside operator would run the snack bar and receive the proceeds. She added there was talk of borrowing money for the project.

“I’m prepared to rip the Band-Aid off here. We cannot afford a snack bar in an arena that’s already put us in a very difficult financial position. I don’t want to spend any more staff time.”

Some councillors suggested vending machines run by the township.

Coun. Ivan Ingram was prepared to leave it for a year, saying, “that’s a huge number to look at, considering all the other things we’ve put off the past few years. We’ve got way bigger fish to fry than feeding the snack bar people.”

Coun. Bob Sisson said better heating was more important than a concession stand. McKelvey said the sound system is also inadequate. McKelvey said $60,000 in deferred revenue, already set aside by council, could be used for upstairs improvements.

Coun. Shirley Johannessen commented they could get a fully-equipped food truck for $78,000 and also use it for Canada Day and other events, even rent it out.

“I like the idea of the food truck,” Ingram said. “You can move it to the back in summer for baseball. I don’t support spending that kind of money on the arena for a snack bar.”

The consultant working on the County’s economic development strategy said the community is telling them there is too much talk about a lack of worker housing, but not enough action.

Tonya Kraan of Bridgenorth-based Stexer Harrop Consulting Group (SHCG) told council at its Jan. 25 meeting they want specific performance benchmarks in their final report, expected in the spring.

Kraan added, “while the County has had tremendous success developing and marketing tourism, the challenging realities of today’s economy call for new directions, ideas and approaches to enhance economic growth, attract investment and ensure that opportunity continues to be a significant part of the County’s quality of life.”

Their work will create a vision for economic development and set priorities and a five-year action plan.

To date, the consultant said they had looked into employment via a public and business survey, as well as stakeholder interviews. They are in the midst of community consultations and hope to come back to council Feb. 22. They would like to deliver their final economic development strategy report in April.

Transport, daycare, health workers needed

Some of their findings so far are that Haliburton County residents make below the average median income when compared to the District of Muskoka, City of Kawartha Lakes, Prince Edward County, Peterborough County and Hastings County. Median employment income here is $38,000 and household income $73,500, last among the six regions.

They’ve used provincial statistics to say there are 2,039 registered businesses in the County. Of those, 450 have one to four employees; 144 have five to nine employees; 73 have 10-19; 43 have 20-49; 14 have 50-99 and only six have 100-plus. A full 1,309 had an unknown number of workers.

The biggest wage earners were those working for utilities, bringing in an average wage of $78,134. At the other end of the spectrum, those in accommodation and food services were at $14,138.

Construction wages, health care, and social assistance reflected average wages when compared to tourism, necessitating the need for year-round wages, and good paying jobs, they said.

Many business owners spoke to the staffing crisis, with one saying “it’s not a challenge; it’s not possible. The labour force is just not here and nobody can relocate here because of housing shortages.”

Survey respondents told the consultants the number one priority was housing, including the need for apartments.

“So, what’s happening is, there’s a recent grad and there’s a job posting in Haliburton County and Peterborough County, and they go on their interviews, love the job in Haliburton County, ‘but I can’t find an apartment to live in. Guess what? I can find an apartment in Peterborough.’ That’s what’s happening,” Kraan said.

Other things mentioned were the need for things for families to do.

Families want a swimming pool

“Young families want activities for young families. Things like a swimming pool, Kraan said. “I know that’s a hot topic for any municipality but not every young family wants their children to play hockey. But every young family does want their children to learn how to swim and, right now, they have to drive an hour, or an hour-and-half, to find a pool to teach their children how to swim.”

Businesses told her there are too many hurdles and red tape in local government, with a desire for upper and lower-tiers to work better together. Some spoke of the need for progress and innovation, bridging the divide between those doing well and those struggling, as well as retaining youth.

One positive highlight was 28 businesses indicating they want to build and expand. Kraan said they just want “a bit of help” from economic development and planning departments. Only one to two indicated they wanted to close or downsize, while there is a lot of succession planning underway.

Other challenges include transportation, a lack of daycare, and the need for more healthcare workers.

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux commented, “I’m not sure how many more ways we can hear the need for housing. We really are hearing that from every angle and so it’s great to hear that we have our very own study confirming the dire need for housing.”

She added her takeaway from the recent ROMA conference is that everyone is struggling but, “there’s a lot of innovation out there.” She said some information is on township websites and County councillors and Kraan took contact details for others.

“My hope is that somehow we can attach into this final report some of those doors into the innovation that other counties and townships are looking for because they are there. I think we’ve got to start really putting them into our stride and learning from them.”

Coun. Walt McKechnie repeated a longstanding call for Sir Sandford Fleming College to add trades classes to its Haliburton campus. He said he didn’t understand when, “so many families here have a family tradition of doing construction and trades, why they’re not exploring that more for us.”

Your trash can be your treasure again as SIRCH brings back its repair café Feb. 12.

The first repair cafés, where volunteers attempted to fix broken items, were held in January and March of 2020.

The January event attracted 24 volunteer fixers, 33 owners who brought 48 items to be fixed (only eight were not repaired) and 68 general visitors. The March numbers were 24 volunteers, 89 visitors, 53 items brought in and only three stumping the fixer-uppers.

SIRCH training co-ordinator, Dianne Woodcock, said the feedback from the events was that they were “an outstanding initiative on many levels.

“They had the opportunity to learn about the resources in our community, the powerful and positive impact on the landfills, and in some cases, how to fix their own items.

“The general consensus was the hope that the repair cafe events would continue. It was also a chance to socialize on a very unique level and for the visitors that came to see what it was about. It was a chance to learn about what items could be fixed that they did not think of before.”

With COVID-19, the repair cafés had to be shelved but are being revised. Woodcock said it’s important to get them up-and-running again.

She said SIRCH repair café, “wants to help reduce the mountains of waste that our landfills experience. We throw away piles of stuff every day. This includes items which practically have nothing wrong with them, and could be easily repaired and used.

“Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten that so many things can be repaired and SIRCH repair café wants to change that.”

She added repair café is also meant to put neighbours in touch with each other in a new way – also, to discover that a lot of knowhow and practical skills can be found close to home.

“If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of trousers and can share that expertise with an unfamiliar neighbour, it creates a whole new community outlook. Repairs can save money and resources. Repair cafés can show how much fun repairing things can be, and often easier than they thought.

“Repair café is a win-win,” Woodcock added.

She further said the volunteer fixers “provide such an amazing contribution to our community and our environment and visitors learn and connect.”

SIRCH is looking for volunteer fixers of things such as computers, electronics, small appliances and furniture, clothes, jewellery, books, bikes and more.

The event is being held Sunday, Feb. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at SIRCH, 49 Maple Ave., Haliburton. See more at sirch.on.ca/repaircafe/repaircafé-volunteer or contact 705-457-1742.

The Haliburton Curling Club was a hive of activity this past weekend as the popular Men’s Skyline Bonspiel returned after a three-year hiatus.

Featuring 24 teams, including three from Haliburton, the event is a long-standing tradition of the local curling club, with this marking its 62nd year. Organizer Kent Milford said it was a successful return, with all players in high spirits throughout the weekend.

“The Skyline has always been a special event. Sure, it’s about curling, but there’s so much more that we put into it to try and make it a memorable experience. We try and give everyone a special weekend,” Milford said. “Our mantra has been to put on an event that appeals to everyone – so we’ll feed people, we schedule entertainment… it’s a lot more than just turning up, playing your games and then leaving.”

That has proven to be a recipe for success for the Haliburton club. Milford said many curling associations have struggled to relaunch bonspiels post-pandemic, but noted the Skyline was quick to fill.

“Teams love coming to Haliburton,” Milford said.

All teams played two games on Friday before being split into A, B and C brackets. Play continued Saturday, with 10 teams qualifying for Sunday’s championship series.

Haliburton’s Steve Culliver has been involved with the Skyline for over five decades. He worked the event as a kid, helping to clear the ice in between sessions. His dad, Bob, was the long-time ice maker at the curling club.

This year, Steve played on a team with his brother-in-law, Brent, son Jess, and nephew Chris. They finished as runner-up in the A bracket.

“It’s just nice to be back,” Steve told The Highlander.

Team O’Neill, consisting of Darrell O’Neill, Fred Jansma, Steve Belanger and Hugh Nichol, were also representing Haliburton. All eyes were on the team Saturday as they put up a seven-ender in an eventual 11-1 win over a team from Toronto.

“A seven-ender is very rare. You might see one in the club one or two times a year,” Milford said.

Team O’Neill finished as runners-up in the second chance bracket, made up of teams who performed well on the Friday and Saturday but didn’t qualify for the championship series.

Team Nelson from Unionville took home the win in the A bracket, with Team Betts from Oakville and Peterborough winning the B event. A Minden team consisting of Jeff Cook, Doug Hall, John Sexton and Rick Wood won out in the C bracket.

As one of the three founding fathers of CanoeFM, Don Cameron’s legacy will live on through the airwaves of Haliburton County’s non-profit radio station.

Cameron passed away Jan. 17 following a three-year battle with bowel cancer. He was 88.

His association with the Highlands stretches back more than 50 years. He and wife, Joan, relocated to Ontario from Alberta in 1969, settling in Whitby. Looking for a weekend escape from the city, they purchased a cottage on Redstone Lake in 1971. It was love at first sight for the Camerons, who relocated to the community permanently in 1988, purchasing a property on Sunnyside Street in Haliburton.

While living in Whitby, Cameron spent a lot of time on the road travelling for his job as a corporate executive. This is where his passion for radio really took hold, according to Dave Allen, a close family friend.

“Don was a big citizen band radio guy. He just loved it. He would get on the line and talk to truckers about the traffic going back and forth and plan his daily routes that way,” Allen said. “When he moved up here, he found there wasn’t much frequency, not many people on the lines, so that kind of started something within him.”

He struck up a conversation with Dave Sovereign, whom he met at the Haliburton Curling Club. The two spent years discussing the possibility of bringing a radio station to the County. In 2001, they brought another Highlands resident, Jack Hewitt, onboard and the trio got to work on turning their dream into a reality.

CanoeFM was incorporated in 2001. Cameron and company then spent more than two years fundraising, creating a longterm vision, and figuring out logistics. The first official broadcast came July 8, 2003, with Cameron getting his way in having The Impossible Dream by Andy Williams broadcast as the station’s very first song.

Jack, who, really, brought this impossible dream of starting a community radio station in Haliburton County to life,” Allen said.

Greg Roe was one of the first people through the door when Canoe opened its office on Mountain Street. He had seen an ad stating a new community radio station was coming and was looking for volunteers to run regular shows. He helped to launch ‘It’s only Rock & Roll’, which remains on air today.

Roe said there would be no CanoeFM if not for Cameron. “Donnie really was the ‘in the trenches’ guy that first year. He was in there seven days a week and was always the first person you called if there was a problem,” Roe said. “At one point or another, he held every job title at Canoe. He was the defacto operations manager when things started, but he also helped with sales, and with the shows. I even saw him cleaning the washroom a few times.”

Allen was one of Canoe’s first paid employees, joining the station as a sales rep in 2003. By then, Cameron had taken a step back, though his commitment to the station never waned. Whenever there was a problem with the frequency tower at Eagle Lake, for example, Cameron was the first to respond, often with Allen in tow.

Allen recalls one time, in 2005, when the pair were returning from a fix. Their vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. While OK, the shock of that shared experience brought the two closer together. After a tornado leveled his Lake Kashagawigamog cottage in 2006, Allen moved into the Camerons’ basement apartment. He eventually bought the property in 2017 after Don and Joan moved to a condo overlooking Head Lake.

“Don and I developed such a great friendship over the years. I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t have the life I have today without Don and Joan,” said Allen, who will be one of the speakers at Cameron’s funeral.

CanoeFM manager Roxanne Casey only worked with Cameron for a short time before he retired from his ‘second job’, but noted his presence still reverberated around the station up until his passing.

“Every time we made a decision, I would think, ‘I wonder what Don thinks about this’. I’d quickly find out because he was always texting or emailing about different things,” Casey said. “This is a sad day for the radio station, and a sad day for Haliburton County. To lose another of our founding members (Sovereign passed away in 2007) is tough. These guys built a radio station from the ground up, and did it so well that we haven’t had to make too many changes these past 20 years

“Don’s legacy will live on with every song, every show, every broadcast,” Casey added.

A private in-person gathering will be held for family and close friends Jan. 28. People can attend virtually on Skype at 2 p.m. a link can be found at the Haliburton Community Funeral Home website. Donations can be made to Haliburton Highlands Health Services in Cameron’s honour.