Red Hawks soar to volleyball titles

February 19, 2026

Not for the first time in their athletic careers, the Hal High Red Hawks senior girls’ volleyball team tasted success on home court in Haliburton Feb. 12, winning a Kawartha championship.

After a dominant regular season where they dropped only one of 14 games, the girls powered through the competition during playoffs last week, securing their spot at the Central Ontario Secondary Schools Association (COSSA) regional finals, being held in Quinte Feb. 26.

The Red Hawks bested Norwood threesets-to-one in the semi-finals before dispatching Campbellford in the final 3-1. That game was marked by an impressive come-from-behind win in the final set to earn the victory.

Coach Janice Scheffee said the result was the culmination of years of hard work, with most members of the senior team playing together since their first year of high school.

“Most of these girls have played volleyball their entire [student] career, only one player on the team started last season,” Scheffee said. “The girls’ program has been successful for many years and continues to be competitive in the Kawartha league. This group of players found success two years ago as a junior team, when they won both Kawartha and COSSA titles. Being back together again, the team wants to experience the same success as before.”

Scheffee said the squad has been on a winning streak since early January, finishing their last two league tournaments undefeated – getting the better of schools with a much larger player pool to choose from.

With COSSA just a week away, Scheffee said the team’s goal is to play in the championship game.

The coach said the success enjoyed this season was a collective effort, with all 10 players contributing at different points of the year. The winning team includes Alivia Brown, Lilly Casey, Lara Gallant, Veronica Heasman, Jordyn Hurd, Delilah Kaytar, Addyson Parish, Hailey Smith, Kaitlyn VanderWieer and Madelyn Walker.

“Volleyball is a true team game, with serving the only individual skill. Everything else requires your teammates and that is how this team plays. Everyone does their job to make the team better,” Scheffee said.

“Coach Michelle Backus and myself were particularly impressed with our team’s ability [last] week to rally after losing a set in each match. Having had so much success this season, it was great to see that they could pull together as a team and make adjustments to come back stronger,” she added.

With the junior team also tasting Kawartha gold, winning its tournament in Campbellford Feb. 12, Scheffee said HHSS is becoming a true force in the sport.

“Volleyball continues to grow in our community. More students are coming in with a higher level of skill than before. We are fortunate to have a strong group of volleyball coaches in both the boys and girls programs who continue to raise the level of play for our teams,” Scheffee said.

Huskies prepare for final stretch as playoffs loom

Mike Baker

February 19, 2026

With four games left in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) regular season, Haliburton County Huskies coach Jordan Bailey said he’s more concerned about getting his team to peak performance levels than plotting their potential playoff path.

After a gruelling run of five games in eight days from Feb. 10-17, where the Huskies won two, lost two and tied one, Bailey said his focus is on getting the most out of upcoming tilts, starting with the Lindsay Muskies on Feb. 20.

The hometown team remains fifth in the East Conference, one point back of the Newmarket Hurricanes in the coveted fourth place that would give the Huskies home ice advantage in the post-season. With only a few games to go, it’s a lock that the Huskies will face either the Hurricanes, Pickering Panthers or Wellington Dukes in the opening round.

“Right now, we just need to make sure we’re playing good hockey leading into playoffs. No matter who we play, they’re all good hockey teams. So, we’re never really looking at it thinking about who would be the better matchup,” Bailey said. “It’s going to be a good series against any of those teams no matter who we draw, so we have to be prepared to give 100 per cent and leave everything on the ice.”

The team began its run with a 4-3 defeat to the Newmarket Hurricanes Feb. 10, before rebounding with a resounding 4-1 win over the second-placed Stouffville Spirit Feb. 12.

Isaac Larmand got the Huskies going with a pair of goals in the second period, with Harrison O’Connor adding a third early in the final frame. Stouffville threatened a comeback, notching on the powerplay a couple minutes after O’Connor’s tally, but Ryan Fairbairn made sure of the result with a late empty-netter.

Bailey said knocking off one of the OJHL’s top teams was a big statement with playoffs around the corner.

“It was very good for us to experience that – we had a full lineup, everyone was healthy and we were able to show that we can compete with any team in our conference,” Bailey said. “There’s not a team that we can’t go toe-to-toe with when we bring our A-game, which was important for our guys to see.”

Overcoming adversity

While Bailey hoped the Stouffville result would serve as a springboard to better things, a flu bug floored several Huskies stars in games against the Dukes Feb. 14, Panthers Feb. 16 and North York Rangers Feb. 17.

Despite racing out to a 4-0 lead against Wellington on home ice on Valentine’s Day, the Huskies had a tough third period, giving up four straight goals to send the game to overtime. Neither team could find the go-ahead tally, leaving Bailey to rue a missed opportunity.

“It was a great lesson – being up so much, your best bet is always to keep playing your game. We don’t need to give teams momentum in moments like that. But we took a bad penalty, then a bounce goes against us and all of a sudden the opposition can smell something,” Bailey said. “We have to do a better job of managing those high and low moments, stay even keel as much as possible and stick to our game plan.”

Several players tried to play through their sickness against Pickering on Family Day, but it was a rough showing for the home team who were pummeled by the Panthers 7-2.

“We didn’t have our best effort… just one we have to learn from as best we can and move forward,” Bailey said.

Against North York, the Huskies rostered three young affiliate players, forwards Joe Szarka and Paul Couvillon and goaltender Aaron Neal, who backed up Owen Edwards. The team played short, with 11 forwards in the lineup.

Bailey said it wasn’t the Huskies best performance, but he was pleased to come away with a 4-3 win. Goals were scored by Carson Durnin, Easton Poe, Ryan Gosse and Carter Petrie.

With the final Battle of Hwy. 35 of the regular season coming Friday, on the road in Lindsay, Bailey said he expects it to be a tough game with both teams jostling for playoff position.

“They’re battling for the eighth seed, so I know they’re going to come out firing. We’ve trying to get home ice advantage too, so we’re going to give it everything we’ve got,” he said.

The Huskies host the Markham Royals in Minden Feb. 21. Puck drop is 4 p.m.

Under 18 continue playoffs

Submitted

February 19, 2026

The Highland Storm U18 A&W Haliburton team hit the ice in Omemee against the Kawartha Coyotes Feb. 15 for game two of their round-robin playoff showdown.

After a hard-fought 2-1 win against the Sturgeon Lake Thunder White team earlier in the week, the group was certain they could maintain the high-energy, disciplined play they started their playoff run with, if they continued to work together as a team.

They knew that coming into the playoffs with a substantially shorter bench than the regular season would be no easy feat, but they were up for the challenge.

Within the first minute of play, Gideon Borgdorff opened the scoring, letting the Coyotes know we came with a job to do. Kawartha reminded us they weren’t going to make it easy by tying the game half-way through the first. Thirteen seconds later, Eric Mueller took a pass from Logan Reid to score his first of the game, putting the Storm back in the lead. Before the end of the first period, Mueller broke away and scored his second on a power play, followed by team captain, Austin Latanville, on a pass from Jaxen Casey, reinforcing this team’s drive to want to get that “W”. Highland Storm ended the period at 4-1, knowing there was still lots of game left to be played.

Kawartha battled back in the second, scoring a few minutes in, making it 4-2. The Storm’s defence was challenged, but some smart plays by Ethan DeCarlo and some big saves by goalie, Landyn Simms, helped the Storm keep their lead. Despite all their efforts, Kawartha was able to slip one past Simms to shorten the lead to 4-3. The Storm wasn’t done though. Taylor Mulock’s heads-up play and passing helped to generate several scoring opportunities. Before it was over, DeCarlo found Borgdorff’s stick again, helping him score his second goal of the game, on another power play, increasing the lead to 5-3. A huge backcheck from Ethan Rowe before the end of the second period helped to eliminate another scoring chance for Kawartha.

The Storm came into the third period knowing they needed to keep out of the box if they were going to maintain their lead. Luke Taylor skated hard to get into position, but Kawartha’s defence wasn’t giving anything up. Brady Hamilton’s drive to the net with the puck drew a penalty for Kawartha and ignited another spark for the Storm team to not let up. Layne Robinson helped along the boards with his give-and-go playmaking abilities, getting the puck into position for lots of scoring chances for the Storm to challenge Kawartha’s goalie during the final period. The defensive duo of Reid and Mason Latanville worked together to eliminate as many scoring chances as possible, giving Simms and his team the win.

The team will play their first home playoff game Feb. 24 at 8:30 p.m. in Minden

Participation is power in local politics

Mike Baker

February 19, 2026

When it comes to generating interest in municipal elections, political activist Dave Meslin has proven all it really takes is effective marketing and communication.

Four years from launching the Grey Highlands Municipal League, a grassroots volunteer organization designed to boost numbers during the township’s 2022 election – which he achieved with record results – Meslin will be in Haliburton County next week to explain how he helped double the number of candidates seeking nomination.

“Leading up to all provincial and federal elections, party associations or electoral district associations go out and scout, recruit and nominate a candidate. That’s built into the system at those two levels… but there’s absolutely nobody doing that at the municipal level,” Meslin said.

After years of activism in Toronto, where he successfully lobbied Queens Park to allow municipalities to use ranked ballots, achieved in London in 2018 before premier Doug Ford outlawed them again in 2020; and founding initiatives like City Idol, a 2016 contest aiming to find 100 candidates for election in the GTA (they found 70), Meslin turned his attention to rural politics before the 2022 election.

Now based in Eugenia, a hamlet in Grey Highlands, Meslin was perturbed by the municipality’s poor showing in the 2018 election, where there were 12 people vying for seven positions.

“I put together the equivalent of an electoral district association, and we actively recruited members from the community to run. It was very successful. While there were a record number of acclamations across Ontario in 2022 (553), including more than 30 full councils, we almost doubled the number of candidates in our community (23 compared to 12),” Meslin said.

The key, he said, was promotion. Meslin’s team delivered coloured sheets containing information about the election process and details on each candidate to every household in Grey Highlands. They hosted public sessions over the summer leading up to the fall election.

While he and his team took on that work themselves, Meslin contends it should be the responsibility of municipal staff.

“Clerks will put a black and white ad in the paper telling people the nomination process will begin May 1, but there’s no information on what that means. It’s not promoted as a job opportunity people can apply for,” Meslin said. “I believe municipalities should be doing a much better job promoting councillor positions, what they pay, how people can apply.”

To fund this, Meslin believes townships should dedicate a portion of its annual budget towards election costs each year – and make it so that the current council has no say on what to do with those funds.

Generating interest

Asked about record-low turnout four years ago, averaged at 26.59 per cent across the County’s four townships, Meslin said it begins with education.

“Politics feels very distant for most people. So we need to create a culture of participation, where people are aware of what a council does. At the federal and provincial level, people have parties they can attach themselves to – and that’s why, I think, turnout is higher for those elections. People who don’t typically pay attention to local news won’t have any idea who is running in municipal elections, so it makes it hard for them to want to participate,” Meslin said.

“It’s a big leap for most people to go from zero civil literacy to voting or going one step further and putting their name on the ballot. That’s not going to happen in one step, but you might be able to encourage people to attend a meeting. Then, at that meeting, you can break everything down,” he added.

Meslin said anyone considering a run for local office should be preparing now – getting their policies in place, finding a campaign team and getting promotional materials such as a website, signs and pamphlets ready to go as soon as nominations open. “If you want to win and make a difference, you can’t wait until May or June to get started.”

He noted municipal politics plays a key role in everyone’s life today.

“Municipalities have had so much downloaded to them over the past 30-40 years… people aren’t just voting for stop signs and where to drop off their garbage anymore. Municipalities now help form health policies, they run daycares, operate old age homes and some do their own policing. All really important things that impact people every day,” Meslin said.

Coming to Haliburton Feb. 25, as part of a joint event hosted by the Telling Our Stories Speaker Series and Haliburton Highlands Healthy Democracy Project at the HHOA fish hatchery at 6712 Gelert Rd., Meslin said he’ll explain why public participation is power when it comes to local elections.

“If you care about how your community feels, how it operates, how neighbours treat each other, then getting involved in municipal politics is the best way to influence and shape your town,” he said.

Cuba flight crisis hits Highlanders’ vacation plans

Lisa Gervais

February 12, 2026

Haliburton County travel agent Machenzie Vasey was on maternity leave when COVID-19 disrupted international travel, so says the decision by major Canadian airlines to cancel all holidays to Cuba this week has been the craziest thing she has experienced in the industry.

The Highlander spoke with Vasey shortly after she had gotten off of a plane for a three-week holiday in Florida with family.

While her husband took the kids to the pool, she began to check her messages; knowing that the cancellations would impact County clients currently in Cuba, or planning to go over the next six weeks.

Canada’s major airlines have all suspended service to Cuba, with Air Transat announcing Monday evening it was joining Air Canada and WestJet in cancelling all flights, as the Caribbean island’s major airport warns it will run out of jet fuel. All three airlines said they had plans to bring travellers home to Canada.

Vasey, a home-based independent consultant with Air Transat, said she checked her emails and it was “insane.”

Vasey said that between now and midApril, she had eight couples booked to travel to Cuba, “but will not now, obviously.

One family was flying from Calgary to Toronto to catch a connector. She said they had already been disrupted by a hurricane in Jamaica.

“I have a couple of clients who are stuck right now and have to get on one of the repatriation flights that are coming to Cuba. I get the emails when the flights are coming. The clients also get the emails. And, then, basically you have to get on that flight when the email comes.”

County travel agent says situation on Caribbean island ‘a mess’

Vasey said with internet scarce in Cuba, some clients don’t have cell phones on, so she is emailing them. “They knew what was kind of going on before they left last week and I said if you can get onto internet, check your emails daily, keep in touch with your representative at the hotel, just see what’s going on because this is a daily evolving situation.”

She wasn’t completely floored by the news, saying she had been following the situation in Cuba for years. Last year, she had a large family group sign a waiver in the event something went awry with their travel plans due to shortages.

She termed this week’s news “a big deal’ for the Canadian travel industry in winter.

“It is a mess. It is definitely a struggle right now. However, it’s easier with all airlines following suit now and straight up cancelling the packages. Most are cancelled until early May and some hotels are closed to next November.”

She said she felt sorry for Cubans, and the impact on the county’s economy. “It’s sad, such a beautiful county and all the people there are so friendly.”

Minden merchants join forces

Lisa Gervais

February 12, 2026

Following its second meeting Feb. 4, Minden Business Working Group co-lead Mathew Renda said the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commercesupported initiative “has some pretty good momentum” at the moment.

The new collective held its inaugural meeting in early December.

Renda said the group had been “years and years and years” in the making. He said they tried to get something going a few years ago, but were unable, perhaps because of the people involved, the timing, or the way they were going about it.

“We kept thinking and thinking until another group of people said ‘okay, I think we can make this work this time’ and asked ‘how do we do it?’ and this is where we are now.”

Renda, of Boshkung Brewing Co., is first vice president of the board of the chamber.

“We are operating under the Chamber of Commerce. That allows us to use their administration, their insurance, bylaws, to get grant funding through the chamber. It won’t be the forever plan. This was a way to get us up and running as quickly as possible without the process of incorporating, trying to start a BIA (business improvement area,) and stuff like that.”

Downtown ‘dying year after year’

Renda said one day the working group may morph into a BIA.

“I just don’t think we’re there yet…I don’t think jumping right back into levies and all of that other stuff is what the business community is looking for. I think having a nice, organized, group to get something done, and accomplish things, was the right decision, with a BIA possibly in the future.”

Renda indicated that mayor Bob Carter and councillors Shirley Johannessen and Ivan Ingram currently make up an informal subcommittee of council focusing on downtown revitalization. While the working group is not directly dealing with them, Renda said they are supportive.

“I think having one unified voice to go to council with any issues that the business community is having is a great thing.”

Renda said people are tired of talk but no action. He added that based on the two meetings they’ve held, “the community is ready for action.”

Paint the town

Under the leadership of businessman, Jim Ecclestone, the group is organizing a ‘paint the town’ community downtown beautification project over two Saturdays in April, April 18 and 25.

Ecclestone is talking to business owners about helping out to finance paint and supplies.

“A lot of people have volunteered and signed up,” Renda said. ‘I think that’s step one of many.”

Renda said the working group has come at a critical time for the downtown.

“It is definitely something that is necessary. I’ve only lived in Minden six years, and it’s gotten dated. I don’t know what it was like before, but everyone tells me it was a hopping town, and it’s just kind of died off year after year.”

Ecclestone purchased the former Rockcliffe and has been working on the façade with future plans for the site. Minden Auto Care has also had a facelift.

Renda said, “any business that is forward-facing to the customers needs to take time and look at our buildings and how we present ourselves to the community and see if we can do anything.

“It’s tough, business is down, cash flow is hard at this time of year, but the status quo is not acceptable anymore. That goes for every business, new to old. If we want to continue to drive people to our town and have them stick around and have them spend their hard-earned money, we have to do something. We try to do one improvement to the brewery every year.”

Asked about the former Beaver Theatre and old fire hall, Renda said both are “eyesores.” However, he noted the Beaver Theatre is privately-owned and all the working group can do is reach out to the owner to perhaps help to replace the existing plywood to make it look better. He said he is pleased council is planning to spend $50,000 towards doing something with the old fire hall. He’d like to see Bobcaygeon Road closed to vehicular traffic on Saturdays for the farmers market.

There is also talk of a Minden moose branding theme. “Give the town a bit of identity; every town needs something to rally behind.”

Ramsay buys into Huskies future

Mike Baker

February 12, 2026

Haliburton County Huskies general manager Ryan Ramsay is putting his money where his heart is, taking ownership of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) franchise to ensure it remains in the Highlands.

A key part of the organization dating back to its days in Whitby, Ramsay has purchased a controlling stake in the team from his father-in-law, Paul Wilson. Speaking to The Highlander Feb. 9, the pair confirmed the franchise will remain in Haliburton County for the 2026-27 season.

“This team is special to me – I moved my family up here in 2021 to try to make this work. Paul has put a lot into this, financially and just in his day-to-day… but now it’s my turn to step up and try to pull this together,” Ramsay said.

Wilson noted he’s invested over $1 million in the Huskies, including $150,000 on the team’s locker room at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena and $20,000 installing drink rails in the rink. While support from the community has been strong, from sponsors and fans attending games, Wilson said he hasn’t turned a profit yet in the team’s five seasons in the Highlands.

That was a leading factor in him putting the organization up for sale last fall. So too his desire to take a step back from his role selling season tickets, finding sponsors and generating ads.

“I am getting a bit older and there has to be a plan for me to slowly bow out,” Wilson said. “That’s where Ryan will be stepping up a bit now.”

Wilson will be staying on as team president. Ramsay, who has juggled the general manager role with his position as skills and development coach with the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes this year, confirmed he will take a more active role with the Huskies again next season.

Wilson said there were others interested in purchasing the team, but none would have kept the franchise in Haliburton County.

“Ryan and I have put a lot of effort into this. We think the team has been pretty successful. We’ve developed a great fanbase, so at least for the short-term we’re going to try to keep the team here,” Wilson said. “In turning the team over to Ryan, the key to staying here will be balancing the budget. We haven’t managed that once yet, but we made some mistakes in our early years running the team. We spent money where we probably didn’t need to. Given the experience we have now, I think we can turn this around.

The team has an annual budget of around $500,000, which covers everything from accommodation for players, payments to billet families, arena and bus rentals, registration fees with the OJHL, Hockey Canada and Ontario Hockey Association, staff salaries and equipment.

With the team’s lease up in Minden at the end of next season, Ramsay said that gives him a little over a year to right the ship.

“If I can’t make this work and the team continues to lose money, I’ll have no choice but to sell. And we know now that probably means the community loses the team,” Ramsay said.

Great support

Wilson thanked the community for backing the team over the years, noting they’re the lifeblood of the organization.

“We have to continue to get the sponsorships we’ve been getting – we can’t survive without that… attendance has been down this year, but we’re blaming that on the cold weather. This has been the coldest winter we’ve had. I can’t blame people for not wanting to sit out in that rink when it’s cold,” Wilson said.

The franchise has approached Minden Hills to enquire about installing heaters in the stands. Candace McGuigan, director of community services with the township, said that is something on the municipality’s radar.

“This is a consideration for the future and staff is actively investigating options available and [the] most cost-effective route,” McGuigan said. “We are in the early stages and consulting with other rinks with heat systems in their stands for their feedback and operational costs to run.”

Minden Hills mayor, Bob Carter, noted council has not made any commitment to install heaters.

With the Huskies recently securing a playoff spot – the fifth straight season they’ve managed that in the County – Wilson said this year’s success feels even better given the franchise’s change in approach to teambuilding last summer.

“Over the years, we’ve spent a lot of money on OHL players that we probably didn’t need to spend. This year, we decided not to go out and steal a bunch of OHL players. We believed we could bring our players up through the system and be just as good,” Wilson said.

The Huskies are fifth in the East Conference with 28 wins, 14 losses, five overtime losses and one tie. They’re two points back of the Newmarket Hurricanes and Pickering Panthers in third and fourth.

With the Huskies beating the Stouffville Spirit and Trenton Golden Hawks – the conference’s top two teams – convincingly this season, Ramsay believes this squad has what it takes to win a championship.

“The past few years our team has been right there, but, last year especially, injuries really set us back. We were pretty beat up by the end of the season… this year, we’ve managed to stay pretty healthy, and we’ve beaten all the top teams in our conference. We’ve shown we can get the better of them… I’m excited to see how far this team can go.”

Dysart debates contentious STR bylaw

Mike Baker

February 12, 2026

With Dysart et al processing around half the applications it was anticipating during the first full year of the County’s new shortterm rental bylaw, some councillors and staff are openly questioning whether the program is working.

At a Jan. 27 meeting, while delivering his monthly report on licensing uptake, the township’s chief building official (CBO), Karl Korpela, said 311 STRs had been identified in Dysart since October 2024, well short of the 500-plus initially projected.

Korpela said 56 applications were received between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, with 54 approved and two denied. Last year, the township received 253 applications, approving 240 and denying 12. As of late January, the township had received two new applications this year.

With each application carrying a $500 charge, the township has brought in $153,500 through the program. According to Dysart et al treasurer Brayden Robinson, just over $52,400 of that went to Granicus, the U.S.-based company contracted to manage the program on behalf of the four townships in Haliburton County, in 2025, with another $52,600 going to the firm this year. A three-year contract signed in 2024 pegged Dysart’s costs at just over $130,000.

With the township also planning a public survey, to be managed by an outside consultant, mayor Murray Fearrey is worried the township will soon be “in the hole” on the STR file.

“I think we’re awful close. The cost of getting people in to do a survey is going to be pretty close to what our net revenues are,” Fearrey said.

Robinson noted the township has collected an additional $62,000 in MAT tax through the program, with $31,000 staying with Dysart and the rest going to the County.

“I should note as well, that 2026 will be the first year that the program is fully implemented, so the financial results from 2025 may not be reflective of what is expected moving forward,” Robinson said.

Korpela told the mayor the survey, intended to gather feedback on the program, is on hold with the township’s STR lead, Hailey Cole, away.

“I’m not sure when we’ll get around to finalizing the survey,” Korpela said.

Fearrey said bylaw staff have spent significant time getting the program up and running, noting their salaries should be factored into the cost.

“It’s part of regular staff time to review applications. The more we have, the more time we spend on it,” Korpela said. “The first year is going to be the hardest year because they’re brand-new applications. So we have to go through them with a fine tooth comb. But once that’s done and we’re just doing renewals, the process is much simpler.”

Appeals process ‘waste of time’

Coun. Carm Sawyer said he attended a recent STR appeals meeting in Minden in January that he said, “wasted a lot of time for a lot of people.”

At that meeting, Sawyer said the committee heard from two applicants seeking relief on demerit points that had been applied to their accounts due to infractions that have since been remedied. It was noted only the committee, not staff, could wipe demerit points.

“I think we need to redefine some stuff… give staff more leeway so that when a problem has been resolved it doesn’t have to go to an appeal,” Sawyer said. “All we did was [waive] the demerit points, which staff agreed with.”

Korpela said the township “doesn’t give demerit points lightly” and noted staff issue at least one warning before applying them. In most cases, people are given demerit points by refusing to take their STR off the market while they await a licence or rectify a problem, Korpela said.

The CBO feels the appeals committee plays a key role in ensuring people follow the rules. Demerit points stay on an account for three years unless wiped by the appeals committee, Korpela said. Accumulating three demerit points on a property leads to a licence suspension of at least six months.

Sawyer believes appeals should be heard in-house by respective councils instead.

“I don’t know why we need the appeals committee, I really don’t. For what we’ve done so far down there, I think it’s redundant. If it’s an issue in our township, we should be able to resolve it here,” Sawyer said.

Changes discussed

Korpela said he’d heard Minden Hills were planning changes to its STR bylaw process, saying that, perhaps, Dysart et al should follow suit.

“Maybe each municipality should go their own way with the STR bylaw and do their own thing,” Korpela said.

“We did tell people we would review the bylaw at the end of the [first] year… so maybe that’s what we have to do,” Fearrey retorted.

Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter said his council has had discussions recently about reviewing the bylaw. He said staff have been asked to speak to other townships to see what their experiences have been to see how the program can run more efficiently.

“We’re not planning a rejigging of anything right now. We’re just asking for a review and staff to make some recommendations,” Carter said. “We’re trying to determine what’s working and what’s not and go from there.”

The mayor said program uptake has been lower than expected in Minden too.

“We’re less than we anticipated, but if you look at places like Blue Mountain it took almost 10 years to get everybody to comply. It’s not an easy thing to do.

“The whole idea is this wasn’t supposed to cost the taxpayers anything, but you have to generate enough money to pay for the program… in the first year, that’s a difficult thing to do,” Carter said. “There’s work that needs to be done, absolutely, to get this running smoothly.”

Looming OPP invoice hanging like ‘Sword of Damocles’

Lisa Gervais

February 12, 2026

Per household costs for OPP policing in the four County townships is less than the Canadian average, but higher than the provincial average, Haliburton Highlands OPP detachment board chair Andrew Fletcher told a Jan. 21 meeting.

Reviewing the 2026 OPP billing statements – capped at an 11 per cent increase this year – Fletcher said Highlands East is paying the most, at $305 per household, followed by Dysart et al, at $294, Minden Hills at $275 and Algonquin Highlands at $239.05. Fletcher said the national average is $362.

“So, you’re well within those numbers. We may not be happy about them but, again, the cost of policing seems to be going up.”

However, he said OPP cited the provincial average at $203. He said the Highlands municipalities are above that and it was “something we need to manage going forward.”

Fletcher said they are also paying less in 2026 than they did in 2016. He added the costs are “really going to bite” the townships when caps and funding support end.

“I think we need to focus on (containing costs) a little bit further in 2026.” He added that from an OPP perspective, “their costs are their costs”, with things such as wage increases and higher benefit charges.

He said the funding model remains unsustainable for small municipalities. He suggested more provincial government lobbying was needed, not just by mayors and their associations, but detachment boards.

Board member Bob Carter said, “the ominous words in all of this; is the statement says final reconciliation of 2026 costs will appear in your 2028 annual billing statement.

“We were capped at 11 per cent in Minden Hills, and assume everybody else was. The difference was pretty significant. If this keeps accumulating until we get to 2028, it is a little like the Sword of Damocles hanging over our head. I don’t know exactly how we are going to afford it,” The Sword of Damocles is an ancient Greek parable. It signifies a looming, precarious threat.

Carter said there could be a provincial election around 2028 and “the province may decide to be nice to us. I am very, very worried about this.”

Fletcher said he knows of some detachments where households pay $329 and $342, and it is $389 in Toronto and $380 in Sudbury. But he conceded the costs continue to rise and are put on households. “That’s the key.”

Board member Liz Danielsen raised a years-long issue in pointing out billing is done on a per household basis, yet the Highlands has a huge seasonal population. “I believe we are being billed unfairly.” She said they had pled their case and “met no success at all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t revisit that. It is the case for a lot of tourism-based communities.”

Community representative Andy Chvedukas said the OPP billing formula had been a sore point for him for years. He recalled the big increase in 2014-15. He noted the OPP Municipal Policing Bureau (MPB) spoke to the board early in its term and he’d like them back to better explain the invoicing. Fletcher said nothing would change unless the provincial government shifted. “I’d still like to keep their (MPB) feet to the fire,” Chvedukas said.

Carter agreed it had to be a full court press from all stakeholders. “Once it gets to a certain noise level, the provincial government is going to realize it has an issue.”

Red Hawks grounded

Mike Baker

February 12, 2026

The Hal High Red Hawks senior boys basketball team suffered their first defeat of the season last week, dropping a 62-49 to the IE Weldon Wildcats in Lindsay Feb. 5.

After a slow start to the game saw the Wildcats take a commanding lead, the Red Hawks rallied in the third and fourth quarter to bring the scores close but couldn’t climb out of the hole.

The team has dropped to second in the Central Ontario Secondary Schools Association (COSSA) west division with an 8-2 record – level on points with the Wildcats, who have one game in hand.

The senior boys wrapped their regular season with a home tilt against the Brock Bulldogs Feb. 10, losing 60-49.

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