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.

The first draft of the County of Haliburton budget for 2020 sits at a 3.97 per cent levy increase.

CAO/clerk Mike Rutter said at an Oct. 11 all-day meeting that the budget “is very much a work in progress,” but he’s confident it will come in at a 3.5 to four per cent hike.

The first draft is seeking an additional $908,177 from 2019.

Rutter emphasized the county goal of sustainability, or “having the funds available to replace or repair the asset at the optimal time … this really has become part of our culture.”

During his presentation, he also commented that there were still a lot of unknowns, such as the extent of provincial government cuts, the results of grant applications and allocations, service review study recommendations, staff suggestions for cutting costs and relying on assessment growth assumptions of one per cent.

He said they had achieved sustainability in a number of areas, such as: physician financial incentives and recruitment; IT hardware; emergency medical services fleet and equipment; public access defibrillators, new housing units, LiDar and GIS; roads fleet; pavement preservation and broadband, resurfacing, bridges and culverts, hiring a climate change coordinator and tourism marketing.

There is still work to be done in the area of shoreline protection and reserve balances, he told county councillors. He also said staff were looking for direction on transit, since they have $50,000 put away but have not made any decisions. While they have hired a climate change staff person, there’ll need to be future direction on any plans. In the area of paramedic resources, he said they’ll likely need another car or shift as call volumes increase. He suspects there will be more needed in the broadband portfolio and decisions about economic development made.

Treasurer Elaine Taylor said staff goals and objectives include keeping tax increases as low as possible while providing efficient service delivery. She is also keen to enhance financial sustainability by focusing on long-term financial planning with an emphasis on zero-based budgeting. Taylor said they’d spent about 56 per cent of the levy as of Aug. 31, with about two-thirds on operating costs and one-third on capital.

“We expect to end the year on budget.” She noted Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) funding has been decreasing, they’ve got over $1M from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Fund for the Hawk Lake Road Bridge. They received $548,000 in gas tax money. Reserves are sitting at about $4.5 million. There’s also been talk of borrowing $3 million to put towards road works. In Taylor’s opinion, the 2020 budget pressures will come from the unknowns around OMPF; MPAC assessments; health unit costs; winter maintenance and social services and housing. Budget talks are continuing.

The $12.5 million Minden arena project saw its contingency fund plummet from the end of August to the end of September. Meanwhile, early details were released around a fundraising campaign for the building’s renewal at an Oct. 10 meeting.

Director of community services Mark Coleman said month-to-month, the contingency fund went from $298,811.15 to $137,024.04 – a drop of $161,787.11. A contingency fund is a reserve of money set aside to cover possible unforeseen future expenses.

He told council this largely stemmed from awarding some major contracts that will cost more than were anticipated. He said four to five key tenders had gone overbudget, such as for drywalling, light fixtures, window glazing, and flooring and tiling.

However, he added the project was “still on the good side of the ledger. September has been a big month for the project. Everything is progressing quite well.” He added there were no “alarm bells” on the part of the architect or builder.

McDonald Brothers (MBD) and Parkin Architects will be providing council with a look-ahead for the remainder of the project at a November committee of the whole meeting. Coleman said they were very close to finalizing most of the tenders.

Asked by Coun. Bob Carter for more specifics, Coleman said 90 per cent of tenders had been awarded in terms of dollars for the project.

Mayor Brent Devolin noted “earthworks almost buried us out of the gate” – $140,000 over-budget last April, but there are some anticipated savings as well, such as for landscaping.

Sneak peek in November

The arena fund raising committee has set a goal of $750,000 to put towards extras, or to offset costs. Coleman said they’ve come up with a hierarchy of donors with community founders at the top, then leaders, builders, sponsors and donors.

He said people could purchase a metre of the walking track; a square metre of ice; name rooms, donate cash, or specify cash towards identified items. He said the committee is also proposing events, such as dances, rides, charity hockey games and bringing in celebrities.

Coleman said all donors will be acknowledged on a wall of recognition and invited to official campaign ceremonies as well as the grand opening. “The wall of recognition will take the shape of a wall section centrally located within the main lobby of the new facility following the model hierarchy,” his written report to council said. “Other donor signage and plaque locations would be located appropriately throughout the facility.”

He estimated it would cost upwards of $40,000 to finance the fundraising campaign and for the donor wall, signage and plaques. Carter was uncomfortable with the concept of borrowing $40,000 from the township to offset the fundraising costs. He has always maintained that any costs related to the arena project should be accounted for within that project. He also suggested that any fundraising above the $750,000 should be used to offset project costs.

Coleman said the committee will launch the campaign on Nov. 26 at the Minden Community Centre, coinciding with a public sneak-peek and controlled walk through of the project site in partnership with MBC and Parkin Architects.