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Cottagers push to protect portage right-of-way

Kennisis Lake Cottage Owners Association’s Gino Ariano and Jim Prince present to Dysart et al council Oct. 22. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

The Kennisis Lake Cottage Owners Association (KLCOA) is pressing Dysart et al to aid in maintaining the right-of-way for portage routes in the watershed.

KLCOA presented to Dysart et al council Oct. 22 about its efforts to research the history of the routes used by canoeists. The push is to ensure the public can continue to use these routes, even where they cross private property.

“We’re committed to maintaining these routes,” KLCOA vice-president Jim Prince said. “It’s not just for property owners at Kennisis Lake, it’s for the people in the county and it’s also for visitors.”

To that end, the association has “drilled down” into the legality and history of multiple routes, including articles dating back to 1909. Routes examined include Lipsy Lake to Soap Pond and the Cat Lake to Cay Bay, where they found the private deeds included express rights for portage.

Prince said people in Lipsy Lake want to close the route out of concern for invasive species getting brought in.

“Fact of the matter is, they can’t close it. It’s legal,” Prince said.

KLCOA plans to have an outreach program to ensure all interested parties know their rights and responsibilities with portage routes, including signage. It also plans to research the Indigenous history of the routes and consider pushing for new municipal bylaws to protect them.

KLCOA asked Dysart council to recognize traditional rights of way, endorse its work, and consider collaboration with Algonquin Highlands to create a larger network.

Coun. Larry Clarke said consideration needs to be given to smaller lakes on portage routes to ensure boats travelling through are not carrying unwanted contaminants or invasive species.

“There’s got to be some best practices, some training or something so people know how to clean your boats,” Clarke said.

The KLCOA presentation did include a mock-up of a sign for portage routes, advising users to be responsible, respect rights of landowners and make sure vessels do not carry invasive species.

Coun. John Smith agreed with Clarke. He complimented the KLCOA on its research and its efforts to be mindful of smaller lakes.

“They want to protect a pristine lake and we commend you for the warning, the signage and so forth to alert people,” Smith said. Council voted to receive the presentation as information.

“Thank you for the presentation and your dedication to your lake and this project,” Mayor Andrea Roberts said.

Museum calls in paranormal investigators

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When there was something strange in her neighbourhood, Kate Butler knew who to call: the Wellington County Paranormal Investigators (WCPI).

The Haliburton Highlands Museum director told an audience at the museum Oct. 27 that people have reported spirits of children in the Reid House. She and others have also experienced unexplainable phenomena in the museum. Hannah Sadlier heard chairs moving upstairs when she was alone. Amy Brohm had someone whisper in her ear when no one else was around and Butler heard voices on three separate occasions when she was working on her own.

On Sept. 21 this year, WCPI came to the grounds at Butler’s invitation to find out what was going on.

They brought their findings – and information about their work – to a special paranormal presentation and book signing Sunday night.

WCPI founder Joe Cairney said “we caught two types of evidence … so we did catch some good stuff.”

Lead investigator Jon Griffin said they captured a whispered word “nothing” on their highly sensitive audio recording equipment. Their high-tech cameras also caught images, including in the vicinity of the front porch and in the upstairs bedrooms of the Reid House.

In the museum itself, they found evidence of the paranormal above the pump organ and on the staircase.

Cairney said they planned to come back to try to find out more about what, or who, they had found.

He emphasized they are not ghost hunters, like some television shows purport to be. When invited, they go to investigate, ruling out the normal first. “If you rule out the normal, what’s left? The paranormal,” he said. “It’s absolutely not like the TV. It’s not all TV cameras and signing autographs.”

For more, see wcpi.ca

The museum is continuing to host events as part of its HaliHalloween festivities. Coming up:

Oct. 28 – Halloween trivia night at McKecks, 7:30-9:30 p.m. $20 (includes pizza and snacks and a prize pot).

Oct. 29 – Halloween around the world, 7-8:30 p.m. at the museum (66 Museum Rd.)

Oct. 30 – Haliburton Village ghost walk, 7-9 p.m. Rails End Gallery.

Nov. 2 – Day of the Dead celebration, 7-9 p.m. at the museum.

See Haliburtonhighlandsmuseum.com for more.

Put first-past-the-post out to pasture

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So, now that this federal election is over, it’s time to revisit the first-past-the-post system.

Put very simply, the system allows voters to select a party representative in each riding. The individual with the highest number of votes wins a seat in the legislature, even if they do not receive the majority of votes. Once all the winners are tallied, the party that receives the most seats gets to hold power in government. Naturally then, one of the biggest complaints about the system is that a candidate doesn’t need more than 50 per cent approval to win a riding.

What did that mean on Monday night? According to Fairvote.ca, it means the Liberals have 34 more seats than the Conservatives, despite the Conservatives getting 1.5 per cent more votes than the Liberals.

Under proportional representation, the results would have been about 116 Liberals, 117 Conservatives, 57 NDP, 22 Greens and 26 Bloc, rather than 156, 122, 24, 3 and 32 respectively.

It can be argued the winners are the major parties, the Liberals and Conservatives. The losers are the NDP, casting 16 per cent of the vote but only getting seven per cent of MPs. Even worse for the Greens, casting six per cent of the vote, but only having three MPs. Regions also suffer, particularly out west but also the Atlantic provinces.

It’s past time for first-past-the-post to be put out to pasture.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau made electoral reform one of his election issues in 2015. However, he abandoned it. In 2018, he told CBC news he’d look into it again if other federal party leaders agreed to an alternative.

Under preferential voting, or the ranked ballot system, options on the ballot are ranked and they must have more than 50 per cent of the vote to win. First preference votes are counted and if no option has exceeded 50 per cent, the last place option’s votes are redistributed based on their second choice. The process is repeated until one option has more than 50 per cent of the votes.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has said he likes a mixed-member proportional representation system. A bit more complex, it allows voters to select a party they support and a second vote for a candidate in their riding. With this system, there is usually a threshold of support that has to be achieved in order to get a seat.

According to Fairvote.ca, the country voted 34.4 per cent Conservative and got 36 per cent seat of the seats. Not bad. The Bloc got 7.7 per cent of the vote and nine per cent representation. Also, not bad. The nation voted 33 per cent Liberal but got 46 per cent of the seats. Suspect. It voted 15.9 per cent NDP to only get seven per cent of representation in the House. Not good. The Greens got 6.5 per cent of voter support and one per cent House representation. Scandalous.

Now that we have a Liberal minority government, it’s expected that the parties have to play in the sandpit much better than they did over the past four years. This would be a perfect time to strike an allparty, non partisan, committee to look into electoral reform in the county. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the fair thing to do. And it should be done in time for the next election.

Drug strategy coming to end

Cathy MacDonald and Megan Deman spoke about the approaching end of the Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Northumberland Drug Strategy Oct. 23. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

The County of Haliburton is pushing the province to fund a tri-county drug strategy that is about to reach the end of its funding, as opioid issues persist.

Council voted Oct. 23 to send a letter to the minister of health to encourage funding to support the coordination of service providers to address drugs.

The resolution stemmed from a presentation by the Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland Drug Strategy. After three years of efforts to address opioids and co-ordinate services, the strategy’s funding is coming to an end at the end of the year.

Coun. Carol Moffatt expressed concern about the strategy’s work going to waste.

“You get this little bump up of money, do good work and then it just sits there and fizzles away because you can’t go to the next step,” she said. “It’s becoming increasingly frustrating that good work often gets left on the table.”

The drug strategy was initially started by a three-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The strategy has worked with more than 50 organizations across the three counties coordinating efforts to address drugs.

“We’ve really played an effective role in bringing diverse groups together,” drug strategy co-ordinator Megan Deman said.

But drugs such as opioids remain a growing problem. Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health Unit substances and harm reduction co-ordinator Cathy MacDonald told council opioid-related medical incidents continue to rise.

In 2018, there were 145 confirmed opioid-related emergency department visits across the health unit’s area, MacDonald said. There were also 20 opioid-related deaths from January to September 2018, greater than the eight deaths in the same period in 2017.

 “We’re not necessarily capturing how big the problem is,” Deman said “But not to paint a really bad picture, because we are making great strides as a community in our local response.”

Stats specific to the County of Haliburton were not available. Haliburton Highlands OPP said it had one drug overdose in its jurisdiction in 2017 and two suspected overdoses in 2018. However, overdoses are not always reported to OPP.

OPP also said in 2018, there were 124 occurrences where charged were laid for trafficking an opioid other than heroin and 188 charges laid for possession of an opioid other than heroin.

With the drug strategy nearing its end, Deman said they are working to ensure its work does not get dropped. They are also applying for other grant opportunities to continue, she added.

“Having co-ordination for a drug strategy is, I think, really important.”

Coun. Brent Devolin said the municipality is somewhat limited in what it can do as it does not have any direct links or oversight to many of the service providers involved.

“We’re a bit player that came into the game late and most of the other stakeholders either listen to us in a limited fashion or not at all,” Devolin said “As much as we like to help, it’s frustrating.”

“If you live in Haliburton County and don’t know there’s a drug problem, you got your head in the sand, Moffatt said.

The council resolution was also to support the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) opioid response document. It was released Sept. 4 and features a series of recommendations for the province to take action against opioids.  

Hawks hockey falls in COSSA shootout

The Red Hawks girls field hockey team celebrates after winning the Kawartha Championship Oct. 15. Photo courtesy Haliburton Highlands Secondary School.

The Haliburton Highlands Secondary School Red Hawks girls field hockey soared to the regional championships but lost in a tight-game after a shootout Oct. 22.

After a run to Central Ontario Secondary School Association (COSSA) championships, the team fell to the St. Peter’s Catholic Secondary School Saints in the semi-finals 1-0.

Coach Steve Smith said the team took the game to double overtime where they managed to score, but the goal was called back. A five-player-a-side shootout followed, which did not go Haliburton’s way. “The girls carried most of the play throughout the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put the ball into the net,” Smith said.

The team had a successful run to make it to COSSA, winning a pair of 1-0 games to take the Kawartha Championships Oct. 15. The team had to go to two extra 7.5 minute periods versus the Crestwood Mustangs in the final. Bella Smolden scored the eventual game-winner in the first period and the team successfully held onto the lead the rest of the way.

“Nerve-wracking,” Smith said about the Kawartha championships. “If I had hair, I would have pulled it out.”

Goaltender Danaya MacDuff, who had two shutouts at Kawarthas, said her team put up a strong defence in front of her.

“They’re doing really good. They have shown so much improvement,” MacDuff said.

Emma Casey, one of two co-captains, said communication was key to the team’s success. “We did a good job with communicating with each other, which is something we’ve been working at all season,” Casey said.

The team making it back to COSSA was a return to form after they lost at Kawarthas in 2018. The last time the team won at COSSA to make it to provincials was 2016.

Smith credited the program’s success to community support.

“It has a lot to do with our community members that come and help. With former players that come and help on their reading weeks,” Smith said. “The program is strong. It will continue to be strong as long as the league continues to be a league.

“We want to compete, we want to play well and we want the girls just to represent themselves really well.”

“We’re just a very good team,” MacDuff said. “I’m proud of all of them.”

County delays climate change emergency declaration

Climate change protesters gathered near Haliburton Highlands Secondary School Sept. 20. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

County of Haliburton council decided not to declare a climate emergency but still voted to recognize climate change and continue efforts to combat it.

Council discussed the idea and voted Oct. 24 to recognize that climate change is occurring and negatively impacting both global and local economies, environments and species. The resolution also directed staff to continue their work to address climate change, to encourage the public to take similar actions and to commit to the ongoing consideration of declaring a climate change emergency.

Warden Liz Danielsen said although she felt it was important to make a statement about climate change, she felt an emergency declaration would be premature because the municipality does not yet have a plan in place.

“Making a declaration of some form of emergency – and this is a huge one – normally, there’s a plan,” Danielsen said. “We’re not there yet.”

More than 400 jurisdictions in Canada have declared a climate change emergency, according to the website for the worldwide movement. The aim is to build public awareness and mobilize resources of sufficient scale to address the issue.

The county is working on a climate change mitigation and adaption plan and has recently hired a new climate change co-ordinator to oversee its creation.

Council members agreed with Danielsen.

“We often talk about taking time to ensure you have the right words on the page for the right reasons,” Coun. Carol Moffatt said. “We have a brand new employee we haven’t heard from yet. I support just waiting a bit to hear from that person.”

Coun. Cec Ryall questioned the use of the word “emergency,” which he said is usually for more sudden events.

“What we’re facing here is not that. We’re facing a change of the way the world is going to be from this day forward. It’s never going to go back to the way it was,” Ryall said. “I’m not as concerned using the word emergency as I am about doing nothing about the situation. I think what we need to do is show by example. Show by the actions we take.”

Those actions are well underway, according to municipal staff. Director of public works Craig Douglas noted the county is taking on other environmentally focused measures, such as shoreline preservation and flood plain mapping.

“Across all five levels of government, we’re already committing millions of dollars,” Coun. Brent Devolin said.

Environment Haliburton! pressed county council to make the declaration. In a letter to councillors, the group’s board said the declaration should be made and followed with a series of public engagement sessions to explain climate science.

“A declaration of a climate change emergency, at the front end of the County’s climate change planning process, is key to building the kind of community support essential to producing and implementing a climate change plan that can actually make a difference,” the letter said.

Group president Susan Hay said they are disappointed by the council’s decision.

“However, we hope to hear a strong message from them in the near future, recognizing the crisis that climate change represents to our community,” Hay said.

Council indicated that the resolution does not mean an emergency declaration won’t be made in the future.

“We’re not done. We’ve hardly started,” Devolin said. “We’re going to do something.”

Developers, advocates search for housing solutions

Phil McKenzie talks about the new seniors housing complex in Haliburton during a developer panel at the Haliburton County Housing Summit Oct. 18. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

Developers, politicians and advocates gathered to find solutions to housing at a forum Oct. 18.

More than 30 people attended the event at the West Guilford Community Centre. The summit featured presentations and discussions about how organizations could work to address the lack of affordable housing in Haliburton.

Aging Well, CARP Chapter 54 and Places for People organized the event. Places for People vice president Fay Martin said it led to important conversations.

“Wherever you have people who don’t usually talk to each other, talking to each other, you usually get the ingredients for progress and I think we accomplished it,” Martin said.

One of the focal points of the day was a panel of mostly private developers talking about different projects they are working on in Haliburton county. Developer Bill Switzer discussed building a series of semi-detached housing units through a private-public partnership in Minden. He credited the efforts of the Minden Hills Housing Task Force for helping the development make progress. He said he hopes to finish it in three years.

“We hope that we will set up a formula that can be transported to other areas,” Switzer said. “It’s not that difficult to do, but people like me, you need a roadmap. And there is no roadmap right now on how to do this.”

Minden Hills Housing Task Force chair Bob Carter spoke about the difficulties posed by the lack of housing and said private developers are not focused on affordable developments.

“There’s not a line of developers who are waiting to come into Haliburton to build housing,” Carter said. “If we want this done, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”

The day wrapped up with a series of group discussions on what actions need to happen to implement different housing models.

“The conversation was very robust. People were not necessarily ready to stop,” Martin said. “There was a very good quality of engagement.”

Algonquin Highlands Mayor Carol Moffatt said she wants to keep the conversation going.

“There’s definitely a lot more housing being developed … but there remains huge gaps and hurdles, too much confusion, a wee bit of misinformation and definitely not enough options,” Moffatt said in a Facebook post. “We need to do better.”

Martin said she would like to see the summit lead to something in the vein of the Minden Hills Housing Task Force at the county-level. She further said the county needs to address development hurdles and incongruencies across the different townships.

“There needs to be someplace where people can talk about what’s happening, what needs to happen and being part of helping to make it happen,” Martin said. “Now would be a really good time to have those conversations and begin to harmonize those bylaws.”

SIRCH celebrates making a difference for 30 years

SIRCH executive director Gena Robertson and board chair Barb Fawcett cut the cake at the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration Oct. 17. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

As SIRCH Community Services executive director Gena Robertson spoke to a crowd of people helped by her organization over its 30 years, she reflected on its impact.

“Programs, groups, training and social enterprises all serve as a vehicle for people to positively impact other people,” Robertson said. “All those ripples from every positive action reach far beyond our program and far beyond the time it occurs in.”

Dozens of people impacted by SIRCH gathered Oct. 17 to reflect on and celebrate its 30th anniversary. People joined together at the Haliburton Community Funeral Home to recognize all of the social services SIRCH has offered.

SIRCH began in 1989 as a parent support program named the “Supportive Initiative for Residents in the County of Haliburton,” which was quickly shortened according to the charity. But Jim Blake, who has served as a SIRCH staff person, said another name was informally considered.

“Someone came up with the idea, why don’t we have it stand for ‘So it really can happen,” Blake said, via a pre-recorded interview played at the event. “A brilliant underpinning of what SIRCH is all about. If you think it and you believe in it and you put energy into it, it really can happen.”

SIRCH has kickstarted hundreds of programs over the years, from cooking training to kindergarten preparedness to parenting programs and many more. It also started other programs that it divested itself from, such as Volunteer Dental Outreach in 2011 and a community hospice program.

Liz Kerlie participated in the Community Action Program for Children, which provides services to families with young children. Kerlie said the programming SIRCH offered made a tremendous difference in her life and helped her towards a college degree.

“I can honestly say I would not be where I am today without the help of SIRCH,” Kerlie said. “Because of SIRCH, my future and my family’s future is exceptionally brighter.”

SIRCH board of directora president Barb Fawcett commended Robertson for her work.

“A young woman returned to the County she grew up in with the vision of making the community a better place for all,” Fawcett said. “We love you and are grateful always. You touch our lives and the lives of those who came to know SIRCH as a place of refuge, healing and strength.”

Robertson said she was humbled and grateful to hear people talk about what SIRCH has achieved. She credited its longevity to its flexibility in delivering programs.

“Our mandate enables us to go where we need to,” she said. “We’re not in a box.”

Schmale continues Conservative dominance

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Dylan Robichaud, Jamie Schmale and Laurie Scott watch the election results.

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock voters are seeing blue with a tinge of red after Monday’s federal election.

They convincingly re-elected Conservative incumbent Jamie Schmale, who garnered 49.2 per cent of the vote. His nearest competitor was the Liberals’ Judi Forbes, whose party will form a minority government when Parliament resumes. Forbes had 25.9 per cent of the vote followed by the NDP’s Barbara Doyle (14.7 per cent); Green Elizabeth Fraser (8.3 per cent) and the PPC’s Gene Balfour (1.9 per cent).

“It just means that the parties will have to work together to keep Parliament going … and the confidence of the House,” Schmale said at the Cat and Fiddle in Lindsay Monday night.

He gathered with supporters to watch the election results on CBC taking to the stage to speak to party faithful when it became apparent he had been re-elected, although his party fell short on the national stage.

Later, he told The Highlander, “any piece of legislation now is going to have multi-party support. In the last Parliament, there were lots of pieces of legislation that got two, three, four party support, it’s not unusual.”

He said the Liberals will have to be careful with confidence votes, such as the Speech from the Throne and the budget. However, he does not anticipate those being torpedoed since the public does not have an appetite for another election following a string of federal, provincial and municipal elections.

“It will be a lot of give and take and we will see who the dance partners are at the end of the day … there are pros and cons to minority parliaments for sure … but Canadians expect us to work together and that’s what we hope to do.”

Forbes told The Highlander, “I’m delighted that the Liberals will be forming the next government. We know that we need a progressive government in this country to help move forward a lot of the great initiatives the Liberals have done over the last four years.”

She said she was personally disappointed she “won’t be the champion and the voice for HKLB. I actually believed that this riding deserved to have a voice with the government that is in power.”

However, she said in adding up the Liberal, NDP and Green support (a combined 48.9 per cent) “we do have a very progressive riding … so that to me is heart-warming. I believe that this riding really believes that we need to move forward in a progressive way.”

Doyle told The Highlander, “Everybody says this riding will only ever stay blue – so what’s the point, right? But we want change so we fight.

SUBHEAD: Affordability resonated with voters

“It just means we have a lot more work to do. Really, we know that we need improvements in this area and the Conservatives are not the ones to do it. So, we’re going to keep holding them accountable, keep fighting them on a municipal level, on a provincial level, a federal level, every level until we get everything the people in this riding need.”

The Green Party nearly doubled its vote from the last election, finishing with 8.3 per cent compared to 2015’s 3.99 per cent.

Candidate Elizabeth Fraser said it was higher than she was expecting and it “kind of warms my heart the response the Green Party has had in this riding.”

For her personally, as a Carleton University student running in a federal election, she said it was “very challenging” and there were some rough patches but “overall it was a really positive experience.”

She said she would consider running again in future.

As for the party taking three seats – its most ever – she wishes they’d done better since they had a strong platform, candidates and campaign.

“There’s only so much you can do. I’m actually really excited there will be minority government I am looking forward to it.”

Schmale said he thought the party platform of affordability resonated with HKLB voters. “It worked well at the doors here. People’s heads started nodding and the pain was real.”

The second-term MP said despite the riding being a Conservative stronghold, he and his team took nothing for granted. He said they knocked on doors and made phone calls.

“The last four years as the MP, I tried to get out to as many events as possible, making myself as visible, as accessible, as possible and I think that mattered. That way I was able to take the concerns that I was hearing on the ground to Ottawa and fight for people there.”

He said it’s a formula he will repeat, as well as “being the people’s voice in Ottawa, not the other way around. Not being Ottawa’s voice to the people and so I think that is something that is very important.”

Asked how long he sees himself in office, Schmale replied, “I hope to keep doing it as long as the people want me to serve. I guess we’ll re-evaluate eventually, but right now it’s a great job. I love what I do. It’s an honour to serve.

High schoolers celebrate excellence

Stefan Salaris holds up his envelope after earning the John Tait Memorial Scholarship Oct. 11. Photo by Joseph Quigley.

Haliburton Highlands Secondary School celebrated and honoured its high achievers with its annual awards assembly Oct. 11.

More than 140 students from Grades 9-11 in 2018/19 were recognized through the honour roll and more than 60 individual awards. Students, donors, family and community members packed the school’s gymnasium to celebrate the occasion.

Principal Chris Boulay said students should take pride in their accomplishments and in reaching their goals.

“You’re to be congratulated for your hard work and your dedication to your studies,” Boulay told students. “Your achievements are vast … you all should be proud.”

Scholarship fund awards committee chair Melissa Stephens said the community had provided more than $45,000 to students across all grade levels for the 2018/19 school year.

“It’s nice to be able to give the money out to as many kids as possible,” Stephens said. “I’m just very thankful for the support from the community.”

The assembly is the end of months of work for the committee, starting around May, to prepare all the bursaries.

Stephens said the assembly is also a good opportunity to show new Grade 9 students what awards are available. She added it is a chance to remind graduating students to start applying for bursaries in their last year. The school hands out Grade 12 awards at the graduation ceremony in June.

“Any amount that we can give to graduates, especially to help them offset their costs as they’re going to school helps,” Stephens said. “A lot of kids don’t know that money is available.”

Stefan Solaris made the honour roll as a Grade 10 student and earned the John Tait Memorial Scholarship for the highest mark in the transportation technology course TTJ2O.

“I feel good. I feel proud,” Solaris said. “It’s a very good opportunity for the school, to receive these awards from people in our community.

“I like to prove that people in a small town can make it.”