Work has begun on an affordable housing project next to the Minden Legion.

Kawartha Lakes Haliburton Housing Corporation (KLHHC) director of human services, Cheryl Faber, said on Aug. 26 that KLHHC has contracted Derigay Developments Limited and clearing of the site for the build has commenced.

She said they hope the project is complete for the fall of 2026, with occupancy in the fourth quarter of next year.

The complex will comprise 35 housing units.

“As the director, human services and (interim) chief executive officer for KLH Housing Corporation, I am happy to see that this project is underway and for it to come to fruition in 2026. It is a great achievement for the community,” Faber said.

It was announced in early 2025 that KLHHC was getting $2.4 million in provincial funding to put towards the housing development on Hwy. 35, just south of the legion.

Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter said this week he was unable to comment. However, last January he said the funding was “very, very welcome. That $2.4 million has me very excited that we will actually be breaking ground on this project this year.”

It was back in September, 2020 that a public-private partnership was announced between long-time cottager, Bill Switzer, who donated the land, and the corporation. The 35 units are planned for the west side of Hwy. 35 at County Road 21, between Rotary Park and the Minden Legion, overlooking the Gull River. At the time, then corporation CEO Hope Lee, now retired, said the townhouses – valued at $6.8 million in 2020 – would provide units towards affordable housing targets.

Switzer first approached Carter about doing something with the land in 2018. Some of the delay stemmed from the Ministry of Transportation not signing off on the site.

Faber said that to apply for community housing, as administered by the consolidated municipal service manager for housing services in Haliburton County and the City of Kawartha Lakes, applications and more information on eligibility and the standardized process can be found at www.kawarthalakes.ca/en/living-here/community-housing. aspx

Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter said attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa Aug. 17-20 was worthwhile.

His township had a large presence, with CAO Cynthia Fletcher and deputy mayor Lisa Schell also attending. Their colleague, coun. Pam Sayne, was also there on behalf of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, as she sits on its board.

County of Haliburton CAO Gary Dyke was present, along with warden and Highlands East mayor Dave Burton, and County and Highlands East coun. Cec Ryall. No one was there on behalf of Algonquin Highlands and Dysart et al.

Carter said “it was busy. We had delegations from Minden, from the County, some joint ones with the County and City of Kawartha Lakes. There was lots going on.”

The Minden Hills mayor added he felt like the politicians were listening.

“Absolutely. Actually, we had a couple of delegations where the minister, especially new ministers, really weren’t aware of certain facts. And there’s some things that affect rural areas in a different way than they do the city. They were listening and in a lot of cases, they were getting back to us right away, so, hopefully we did some good.”

For example, a delegation from the County met with the Ministry of Emergency Preparedness and Response, addressing specific emergency preparedness needs for small rural communities. And, a joint delegation between the County and CKL met with the Ministry of Education, seeking support for investment in needed childcare spaces overall, as well as bringing attention to the need to create mechanisms to support additional in-home childcare opportunities to serve the rural community.

Carter said he felt more encouraged than some past conferences.

“It was very interesting actually. When premier Doug Ford spoke, he had lower energy than normal. But he did it in a different way. With this whole thing with U.S. president Donald Trump, he was almost statesmanlike.”

In his Aug. 18 speech, Ford spoke about the threat of Trump’s tariffs and the need to spend money on Ontario products.

“Ontario municipalities spend tens of billions of dollars every year on procurement,” he said. “And that money should be going back into our communities and our province.”

He further encouraged townships to have staff back in the office five days a week. “It will help bring the public service in municipalities closer to the people they serve and will revitalize our workplaces and downtowns across Ontario,” he said.

Ford announced an additional $1.6 billion to the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program – one the Ontario government had already put $2.3 billion into – to boost housing.

Carter said having such a large contingent at AMO, “does more to bring the town forward in these conferences than we can at any other time.

“I was able to speak to seven to eight ministers. Even if we didn’t have a delegation, there is a reception and you get a chance to meet them and exchange cards. I’ve heard from a couple of them already.”

He added, “I got to speak to three or four mayors; just bouncing things off them; such as ‘how are you doing that? or how are you handling that problem’? It’s really helpful. You can get very isolated and very provincial in your thinking if you do not.”

Algonquin Highlands council has been told it should develop a long-term plan for replacing its Station 60 fire hall in Dorset – one of 29 recommendations outlined in a new fire master plan tabled in mid-August.

Terry Gervais of Peterborough-based consultancy firm Loomex Group said the document, delivered Aug. 14, provides an outline for the Algonquin Highlands Fire Department for the next five to 10 years.

It’s designed to help forecast unforeseeable costs and prevent future large costs through maintenance and pre-planning, while ensuring the department meets all firefighting guidelines and provincial legislation.

Gervais said the station in Dorset, located at 1060 Main St. across from the rec centre, is 47 years old, having been constructed in 1978. He suggested the building is nearing the end of its life.

“The main issues are limited space… it doesn’t have any shower facilities, has a limited common area and has drainage issues,” Gervais wrote in his report. “The facility is also not compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.”

No estimates were provided on costs to replace the 3,344 sq. ft. site, though Algonquin Highlands mayor Liz Danielsen confirmed it is on council’s radar.

“We acknowledge there is some work to be done, particularly at Dorset… we’re keeping an eye on available land and are starting to think about what we can do. We’re looking at other departments, possible partnerships, and how we can move forward with this,” Danielsen said, with Station 60 having a good working relationship with the Lake of Bays fire department.

The Stanhope station, constructed in 1973, and the Oxtongue Lake station, built between 1980-85 and upgraded in 2019, are both “adequate for current service levels,” Gervais added.

Despite their fair current condition, he recommended council start saving now for future seven-to-eight figure replacements, while also encouraging funding be made available to replace roofs, windows and key infrastructure as needed.

Finding a way to bolster staffing levels was also advised. Currently, the department is operating at 90 per cent capacity. It’s permitted to carry up to 55 staff, though only had 50 as of Aug. 14 – 25 based out of Stanhope, 15 in Dorset and 10 in Oxtongue Lake. Fire chief Michael French said the department has a mutual aid agreement with Dwight to assist with any structure fires.

Danielsen said she has been worried about staffing levels for years. Gervais said it’s a byproduct of the Highlands’ demographics, with 40.8 per cent of the township’s population as of the 2021 Census – 2,588 full-time and 2,400 seasonal residents – over the age of 65.

“It is not uncommon for a department to lose 10-20 per cent of its volunteer workforce each year, which means a complete turnover is possible within five to 10 years,” Gervais said. “Historically, the department has faced recruitment and retention challenges… [it] should consider offering its firefighters additional benefits, such as pension plans.”

Investigating response times, Gervais said they had increased from an average of 19 minutes and 37 seconds in 2019 to 38 minutes and 25 seconds in 2023. The department responded to nine fires in 2019, four in 2020, three in 2021, 10 in 2022 and three in 2023. The average dollar loss was $1,060,800.

Gervais’ other key recommendations included increasing the wash capacity of the extractor at Stanhope used to clean equipment; developing a replacement plan for all self-contained breathing apparatus; forming peer support and critical incident stress management teams to assist with firefighters’ mental health; and improving technology so all stations have access to pre-incident planning information before arriving on-scene.

French and CAO Angie Bird said the township has already made progress on some of the recommendations and would provide quarterly updates to council, which Danielsen liked.

“I do think this is something we need to track on a regular basis to know where we’re at and where we can still improve,” the mayor said.

Forget about where in the world Waldo is. Highlanders were wondering where in the world the Wilbees were last week as the local family got caught up in the Air Canada flight attendants’ strike – sending them on an adventure – or should we say misadventure.

They’re all home as of early last Friday morning, and Tamara Wilbee, who is Dysart et al’s chief administrative officer, said the challenge now is to see if they can be reimbursed for any of the costs associated with the labour unrest that impacted their travel plans.

Wilbee, her mother, Joan Wilson, son, Andrew Wilbee, daughter-in-law, Taylor O’Leary, and two granddaughters were supposed to fly home from Athens, Greece Aug. 16.

The family had been on a trip with O’Leary’s dad, brother and sister-i-nlaw – who were unaffected by the strike interruption.

“We were supposed to leave on the 16th and we got a text on the 14th or 15th saying there could be some problems because Air Canada was ramping up,” Wilbee said.

“Then on the 16th, not until the morning of the flight, we got another message saying they’d cancelled it. Later that afternoon, they sent a text saying they’d checked for three days before and after and there weren’t any flights available.”

She chuckled at the three days before, as they would have had to have time travelled back to make any of those flights anyway.

She said they were all sitting at dinner when they got the flight cancellation notice, “and I kind of immediately lost my appetite.”

They were staying at a Holiday Inn “so that wasn’t sustainable because it was $600 a night for the two rooms.” They booked another night in Athens, at a more affordable Airbnb near a beach.

“We were worried because everybody kept saying we’d get reimbursed, but there were different rulings. What if you aren’t, and you have spent all this money.”

Wilbee said with no immediate Air Canada flights, “we were on our own to figure out how to get home. With three iPads and three iPhones working together, we managed to secure a series of flights through Paris and Dublin.”

However, she said flight costs tripled after the strike started and it cost more to get home than it did for their entire trip to Greece, including a cruise.

With all the extra accommodation and flights and food, she said they’d maxed out all of their credit cards. “I can’t imagine what we would have done if we didn’t have some credit.”

It was confusing, and the long road home took them to places such as Paris, Zurich, Dublin and Halifax.

There were other hiccups, such as the original Dublin to Toronto flight being cancelled. Their bags were lost in Halifax, going to Montreal, while they went to Toronto.

Despite it all, they made the most of each and every stop, such as visiting Paris Disney in between flights and seeing the sights of Dublin. “Make the best of everything if I can,” Wilbee said.

She added they ended up in places they had slotted for future trips.

“Can’t really complain too much,” she said with a laugh.

When she got back to work Aug. 25, she said co-workers had decorated her office with balloons and streamers, and a world map circling all the places the Wilbees had been. “It’s pretty nice.

“I went into the Eagle Lake Country Market on Sunday, and the girl in there said, ‘oh, she’s just back from here, and she was there’, I was so impressed everyone knew the whole story.

“I’d still fly again. Have lots of room on your credit card when you go, though.”