After another major drug trafficking investigation led to four more arrests in Haliburton village Feb. 4, Haliburton Highlands OPP interim detachment commander, Mike Cavanagh, said police are investing significant time and resources targeting the illegal narcotics supply in the County.

Approximately 25 officers from the detachment, the Haliburton Highlands and Kawartha Lakes OPP Community Street Crime Unit, and OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit, searched a pair of properties on Highland Street and Pine Avenue earlier this month, confiscating weapons and approximately $50,000 worth of drugs.

Cst. Rob Adams confirmed police seized a CZ P10 nine-millimetre handgun; Mossberg 715T semi-automatic rifle; HK USP .177 handgun; 194 rounds of ammunition; 409.2 grams of cocaine; 369 hydromorphone pills; 152.6 grams of hash; 5.115 litres of GHB; 500 milligrams of anabolic steroids; 55.6 grams of illicit cannabis; 57 packages of 3,000 milligram illicit cannabis gummies; a cocaine brick press; scales, packaging and vacuum sealer; and $3,355 in cash.

“There were all kinds of products seized – for GHB, that’s the most I’ve ever seen in one place in my whole career,” Cavanagh said. Four people were arrested, with two charged. Shawn Harding, 37, of Haliburton was charged with: three counts of possession of a schedule one substance for the purpose of trafficking; two counts of careless storage of a prohibited or restricted firearm; two counts of unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm; two counts of knowledge of unauthorized possession of a firearm; possession of loaded prohibited or restricted firearm; possession of a firearm knowing serial number has been tampered with; possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000; and two counts of possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling.

Second major drug bust of the year

Amy Harman, a 43-year-old Algonquin Highlands resident, was charged with possession of a schedule one substance. Cavanagh confirmed she has since been released, but Harding remains in custody.

The charges have not been proven in court. This was the second major bust of the year, following a raid on a multi-unit property on George Street Jan. 21. Multiple firearms, ammunition, knives and drugs were seized following that investigation, which led to the arrest of 41-year-old Dysart resident Brian Reid. Police confirmed Reid remains in custody awaiting a court hearing. His charges have not been proven in court.

On the rise

Despite seeing a spike in drug-related charges last year – 17 in 2024, up from five in 2023 – and eight already this year, Cavanagh insists police aren’t doing too much differently.

“These things are very cyclical – some years we have a lot of cases, sometimes we don’t. It mostly depends on the quality of information we’re receiving,” the chief said. “Each [drug] investigation is a 10-out-of-10 in terms of importance and priority… drug use is a plight in communities.

“We all see the visible signs of addiction – but the invisible signs are the suffering people go through, that families have to endure… these issues have multiple layers, it’s social, health, judicial all wrapped into one,” Cavanagh added.

He said investigatons, “could range from one day to over a year in length. Drug investigations often are not going off physical evidence. It’s going off belief. Officers have to corroborate everything – they have to go to a judge to get orders and follow a very strict process.”

He said the average time spent per drug-related investigation is 80.5 hours, compared to 3.5 hours for standard criminal code calls.

Process in place

Cavanagh said drug investigations routinely require assistance from several officers.

“They’re very resource-heavy… it’s not like in the movies, where you have a couple of officers parked in a car on a stake out. We can’t always have people at one site monitoring, we don’t have the manpower for that,” he said. “Sometimes, we’re completely reliant on what we hear from the community.”

That was the case with the January arrest, where police corroborated with County non-profit Places for People (P4P), which owns the George Street building, and at least one civilian.

Cavanagh said the public plays a major role in helping to rid the community of illegal activity, though noted services like Crimestoppers, which allows for anonymous reporting of suspected crimes, “aren’t utilized to their full potential in this area.”

While recognizing police are never going to completely eradicate illicit drug supply in the Highlands, Cavanagh said they will continue chipping away.

“Elimination is never a focus – that’s extremely difficult, almost impossible when the supply chain exists… often, these people are part of a wider scheme, so we don’t get rid of the problem, we just disrupt it,” he said. “We haven’t seen or noticed any [positive] results come through yet… these people are connected, it’s likely others [take their place]… and users will migrate to purchase what they want and need elsewhere.

“But it’s important for us to address the drug issue in our community. We will keep investigating… we don’t do this to ruin lives, like some of those who end up on the wrong side think – it’s to save lives,” Cavanagh said.

County councillors will see a pay rise retroactive to Jan. 1.

In reviewing compensation, CAO Gary Dyke said the 2024 rates for upper-tier politicians, “are considerably less than the median compensation rates for the other 13 comparable member municipalities of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC).”

It had been $46,682.16 for warden, $20,833.44 for deputy warden and $19,218.36 for councillors. The EOWC median salaries are $57,519.18 for warden, $25,200.81 for deputy warden and $23,242.41 for councillors.

Dyke suggested going with the EOWC median…with the warden’s salary jumping by $10.837.02, the deputy warden’s by $4,367.37 and councillors’ by $4,024.05.

It should be noted that is in addition to what they are earning from their townships. So, for example, County warden Dave Burton will now receive $57,519.18 as warden and $32,500 as mayor of Highlands East, for a combined salary of just over $90,000. Coun. Murray Fearrey will pull in $23,242.41 as a County councillor and $40,000 as mayor of Dysart for a combined $63,242.41. Both Highlands East and Dysart et al increased pay effective Jan. 1 as well.

All other rates, such as for mileage, and per diems for non-council meeting attendance will remain the same.

Dyke’s recommendation was for implementation on Jan. 1, 2026.

However, Fearrey said the date should be Jan. 1, 2025. He said it was important to implement a year out of the next municipal election, scheduled for the fall of 2026. He said he wanted potential candidates to know the rate of pay well in advance of the next local polls.

“Some of us are getting old here, and we need to be replaced, and we need young people to replace us. And we’re not seeing a whole lot of young people (running for council),” Fearrey said.

He added, “I think we need to move now. I don’t see why we need to wait for a year. If you’re doing the job, you should get the money.”

Deputy warden Liz Danielsen agreed with Fearrey’s intent, but said since they had not budgeted for a pay rise in 2025, perhaps they could spread it over two fiscal years.

Dyke said it would have minimal impact on the budget – at about $40,000 – and the municipality could find the money internally, and not pass the cost on to taxpayers.

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux liked going with an EOWC median salary, “however, I would respectfully disagree that we start any earlier than the beginning of next term. I believe our community is really experiencing hard financial times, and I know that everyone at this table knows and respects that too.

“I think as community leaders, it’s incumbent upon us to set the standard and say we’re not going to take a payrise while folks are hurting this much. But the folks that replace us, that’s another story, and I do fully agree that that we need to get good people sitting around this table, in lower-tier, and salary is part of it. It’s not an easy job. It’s not a well understood job. There is a lot of hatred that comes our way, and people need to be compensated for their pains. But I think given the state of our community right now, we should defer for the next term.”

Fearrey said he understood where Dailloux was coming from, but the money for the increase would not have to impact taxpayers and “the economy could be worse next year.”

Called to a vote, the majority of council approved the pay rise retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025.

Clifford Ottaway feels it’s just a matter of time before a pedestrian is seriously injured, or worse, on Wigamog Road.

The Dysart et al resident delivered a petition signed by 60 people to council recently, calling for the establishment of a community safety zone (CSZ) along a 2.5 kilometre stretch of the rural thoroughfare. Ottaway said over the past 10 years there has been a substantial increase in the number of people residing on the road, leading to increased traffic.

Despite attempts by the township to slow vehicles, including placement of digital radar signs in recent summers, Ottaway said speeding remains a major issue.

By implementing a CSZ, the posted speed limit would drop from 50 to 40 km/h. He said there are several jurisdictions in Ontario using them as a traffic-slowing tool in the hopes of improving road safety. Ingoldsby has had one for several years, while Minden Hills recently established CSZs along Water Street and Bobcaygeon Road.

“There are a number of criteria used [for determining] CSZ… one of those is if a road is less than 8.5 metres across. This segment is less than six metres across,” Ottaway said. “There’s no sidewalk on either side, which is another criteria. And there are two or more curves within a short distance, which also applies.

“We ask council to seriously consider this… and I would ask this be done in an expeditious manner, because the road gets a lot busier with pedestrian traffic in the summer. In high season… there will be a lot of people on that road in danger,” he added.

Coun. Nancy Wood-Roberts said she has lobbied for a CSZ along Wigamog Road for years. West Guilford-area coun. Carm Sawyer feels the issues expressed are similar to what he hears from residents of Green Lake Road, saying he gets speed-related complaints regularly.

Sawyer believes this issue boils down to a lack of police enforcement.

“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what signs we put up, if the OPP don’t enforce it nothing will change. What you’re saying is a great idea, but it’s not going to slow people down,” he said.

Public works director, Rob Camelon, urged council not to rush into a decision it may later regret.

“My concern is if we designate Wigamog Road as a CSZ, we’ve literally set a precedent for every other municipal road in the township. I don’t think that’s what council wants,” Camelon said.

He noted the County is currently working on a blanket policy that would establish consistent criteria for CSZs across the four lower-tier townships, which he’s supportive of.

Coun. Tammy Donaldson said she’s seen photo radar work as a speed deterrent in other areas and wondered if that could be an option. Camelon said automated enforcement is typically done via a contract with a third party, which takes a cut of tickets issued. He said there is little cost to the township.

Deputy mayor Walt McKechnie liked the idea. “I think we should make this an example. Get one of the cameras and try it… we can’t just keep kicking the can around. If this will save someone from getting hurt, we’ve got [to do it].”

Camelon noted the cameras automatically take a photo of license plates of vehicles travelling over the speed limit, even if it’s only by one km/h. When mayor Murray Fearrey said he didn’t want to see people punished for such a negligible encroachment, Camelon replied, “speed limits are not suggestions.”

The director will investigate options for photo radar and bring recommendations, as well as an update on the County’s CSZ process, to a future meeting.

The absence of the PCs Laurie Scott from a virtual candidates’ debate for Haliburton County Feb. 16 did not go without commentary.

Liberal Alison Bennie, NDP Barbara Doyle, and Green Tom Regina all joined the debate organized by the Save Minden Ontario Emergency Room group.

The group’s Patrick Porzuczek commented on her no-show.

“As we all know, Doug Ford has asked all of his MPPs not to attend any debates, not to make themselves public for questioning, or to answer any questions to do with their own platforms, and how they are representing the riding,” he said.

Porzuczek added while a Ford directive, “unfortunately, as we all know, Laurie Scott has been missing. Whenever it came to the tough questions, or to ask her to represent the Minden emergency department in the Legislature, or even to come out to town halls to talk about the fate of the ER, she always declined, or never showed up. This really hurts the riding in all aspects.”

He added he had heard from members of the public, trying to meet with Scott but, “she always turns them down, unless it is in her own interest to prop herself up. Being a career candidate, Laurie Scott has forgotten how it is, and what it means to represent her constituents.”

Doyle also addressed her competitor’s absence.

“As you’ve noticed, Laurie Scott is nowhere to be seen. As a constituent, I would like to ask her some questions. But she’s not answering anything. And she hasn’t for the last seven years under the Doug Ford government.”

Doyle then went on to take a swipe at the premier. The NDP candidate said the snap election was “completely unnecessary and will cost taxpayers $180 million – when Doug Ford didn’t need a mandate whatsoever and based on the fear-mongering of Donald Trump’s tariff threats.”

The group asked the candidates how they would ensure open and transparent communication between them, if elected, and the public.

Doyle said it was an important question, with government leaders “now in hiding. They’re not being held accountable to heir actions, to their constituents, and to government agencies.” She said the NDP shows transparency in telling voters how they are going to fund their platform – “not $200 bribe cheques.”

Regina said he’d work for his constituents as his party leader is not his boss. He said if people contact him, he will try to get back to them. “When you have concerns, I will listen. If I don’t know the answers, I will seek them out. When an issue arises that affects our riding, I will stand up for it. These are the expectations of an MPP.”

Bennie said she would send newsletters to constituents and would like to have town hall meetings in the villages and towns throughout the riding. She wants face-to-face meetings to hear concerns, issues and suggested solutions.

Fate of Minden ER

Asked if their parties would reopen the Minden ER, Bennie said the Liberals have a health care platform. She said the first step is getting people family doctors so they do not need to rely on the ER for primary health care. If elected, she said she would like to work with the group.

Doyle said leader Marit Stiles was on record as saying the NDP would reopen it. However, she said it would take time, needing to change legislation and get money flowing, then restaffing and resupplying and becoming operational.

Regina would not 100 per cent commit to reopening the Minden ER, calling it “a long-standing and very complicated issue.” However, he said funding had to be restored for health care to get doctors to rural areas such as ours.

There were also organizer questions about affordability and cost of living; the environment and rural sustainability, economic development, education and youth services.

Advance polls Feb. 20-22

Dorset Rec Centre, 1051 Main St., Dorset, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Lloyd Watson Memorial CC, 2249 Loop Rd., Wilberforce, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Royal Canadian Legion Br. 129 Haliburton, 719 Mountain St. Haliburton 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. There is no advanced polling station in Minden.

Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie made a passionate Valentine’s Day plea to voters in Minden Feb. 14, promising to reopen the community’s emergency room “as soon as possible” if elected as premier in next week’s provincial election.

Meeting with members of the ‘Minden Matters’ advocacy group at Tim Hortons last Friday, Crombie unpacked her $3 billion plan to rejuvenate public health care in Ontario.

“We’re going to invest to recruit, attract, train and retain new doctors, but also incentivize retiring doctors to stay a little longer. We want to bring more foreign-trained doctors through our mentorship programs, and double the spaces in our residency programs,” Crombie told The Highlander.

She said the Liberals will also focus on building capacity of family physicians, which she believes will take the strain off hospitals.

With the Ontario College of Family Physicians claiming last year there are up to 2.5 million people in the province without a family doctor, Crombie said addressing that shortfall would be her number one priority.

“We have a commitment to ensure everyone, within four years, has a family doctor,” she said. “We have thought this through. We have a plan, we know how we’re going to do it. We’re going to bring in 3,100 more doctors to the system,” she said.

Twenty-one months from the closure of the Minden ER, Crombie said she would get to work on reopening the facility as soon as Feb. 28 – the day after the election.

“We strongly believe the ER needs to reopen, as do other clinics across the province. You can’t attract new businesses if you don’t have health care in your community. People’s lives matter, and in emergency situations, sometimes seconds matter. The 25-minute drive to Haliburton is too far when your life is at stake.

“I would think [we’d reopen] as soon as possible. As soon as we can get the staff back in place and get it going,” Crombie said.

NDP leader Marit Stiles, who visited Minden in 2023 following the closure, has also committed to reopening the facility if elected.

Other priorities

With cost of living spiralling out of control, Crombie said she has a plan to cut costs for low-income earners and the middle class.

“We’re going to cut income taxes for the first $75,000 that you earn. We’re going to drop the income tax by 22 per cent, we’re going to take the HST off home heating and hydro,” Crombie said.

The former Mississauga mayor said the Liberals also want to axe development charges and other taxes levied on builders and passed to buyers, with the province stepping in to “make municipalities whole.” She said this will reduce the cost of building and lower house prices for the public.

She has also committed to permanently doubling benefits people get through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Approximately 500,000 people rely on the program as their primary income source, earning a maximum of $1,368 per month.

Crombie did not say how she planned to fund these enhancements, though panned Doug Ford’s plan to spend billions addressing gridlock in the GTA by building a commuter tunnel under Hwy. 401.

“I always ask people, is your life more affordable today than it was before Doug Ford? And of course, it isn’t… we’re going to bring back the basics, bring affordability back to the people.

“When talking about Canadian pride, Ontarian pride given the threat of the tariffs, one thing that makes me so proud is our health care plan… we are not in favour of more privatization. We believe in a strong, universally-funded plan that supports all of our residents equally,” she said.

Whether he’s rocking out on stage, hidden away in his study pouring over his latest writing project, or talking tech with some of the biggest names in the industry, there’s rarely a dull moment in the life of County resident Jim Love.

Following a lengthy corporate career that saw him consulting for, and managing, half a dozen business and IT firms, as well as teach at the University of Waterloo and York University, Love retreated permanently to his home base in the Highlands a few years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was the best decision he ever made.

Though, like most who settle in the County for their golden years, Love found his life got busier the more he tried to scale back. Such is the natural beauty of the region, it’s easy – or easier – for those with a creative spirit to tap into their innermost thoughts and feelings to develop something beautiful.

For a lot of years, Love’s outlet was music. He’s spent his entire life songwriting, estimating he’s penned upwards of 1,000 tunes since finishing his first piece Box Nothing, Trans Canada Highway when he was 14.

Influenced by the likes of James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and John Prine, Love’s unique sound and style has earned him accolades from all corners. He’s most proud of the JUNO Award nomination for his work with Sphere Clown Band in the 1970s, while also plugging his work in musicals – with one watched by Queen Elizabeth during the Royals’ visit to Canada for the sesquicentennial celebrations in 2017.

His writing has taken on a new form recently. After decades of penning bland business books he admits people either never read, or wished they hadn’t, Love dabbled with fiction for the first time over the holidays.

A gift for his wife, Linda, the 228-page novel Elisa: A Tale of Quantum Kisses is riddled with themes and callbacks from Love’s career. Set in an ever-evolving world, the book explores artificial intelligence and quantum computing, with a sprinkling of love.

“It’s very much rooted in technology… I started to imagine what would happen if you created a quantum person, an entity with all the benefits of AI beset with human emotion,” Love said. “In the book, it’s just too much. The AIs go crazy because they can’t tolerate or comprehend what’s happening, until Elisa comes along and then the story really begins.”

With public interest in quantum theory spiking after the Marvel Cinematic Universe used the topic as a basis for a series of films from 2015 on, Love is hoping to tap into that. A Marvel fan himself, he insists Elisa is a much more realistic take, more science-based than fantasy.

“Everything I’ve got in there could be ripped from headlines two years from now,” he said. “I’ve been doing tech for about 40 years. I wanted it to be plausible, something people with a mind for the business and knowledge about it could look at and appreciate. Think more Neil deGrasse than Stan Lee.”

The book was released on Amazon in December, selling approximately one copy per day – putting Love in the top 10 per cent of self-published authors. He’s hoping to have paperback copies available locally soon.

On the air

A long-time volunteer with CanoeFM, assisting on various projects over the years, including writing and directing the on-air feature Iron River in 2015, Love has leaned into his passion for radio over the past 12 months.

He now produces two daily podcasts – Hashtag Trending and Cyber Security Today. He averages around 10,000 listeners across the two.

“I started them with IT World Canada, and when they went under, I kept them. So, I’ve been doing them myself for about a year,” Love said.

“The audience has grown a lot. We pre-record them and they usually go live each morning around 2 a.m. They’re picked up by Apple podcasts and go out on YouTube as well.

“The one on securities is more specialized and technical, it’s one of the top security podcasts available. The other is more general, I can have some fun with it, talk about things that are trending, technological breakthroughs, things people would like to see,” he added.

Some of his most prominent guests include Jim Balsillie, former chair and co-CEO of Blackberry, and Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer, chief information officer of NATO.

Love said he hopes to continue growing the podcasts, which are both recorded in Haliburton County.

“We’re gaining traction, getting really cool names, good guests… the podcasts are really becoming wellknown around Canada, I’d like to expand that to the rest of North America and maybe try to break into other areas too,” Love said. “And I do it all from my home office in Haliburton. It’s amazing what you can do with technology these days.”

To learn more, visit podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ hashtag-trending, or listennotes.com/podcasts/ cybersecurity-today-jim-love.