Highlands East taxpayers got a glimpse into their township’s 2025 budget Jan. 28 when CAO and treasurer, Brittany McCaw, along with senior staff, provided department overviews and draft capital forecasts.

McCaw said the net capital budget for 2025 – if approved by council – would be $2,272,508, up from $2,132,159 in 2024. That’s a $140,349 increase – equating to a six per cent jump. The draft operation budget has yet to be presented to council; and nothing has been finalized.

The treasurer noted that last’s year increase was 10 per cent over 2023. She said the money would be raised via municipal revenue, provincial and federal grants, and reserves.

“We’ve carefully prioritized our projects to ensure we maximize the impact of every dollar spent,” McCaw told council last week.

She added, “the capital budget deliberation is a crucial and exciting opportunity to discuss our direction for the upcoming year. “

She noted the talks are a strong component of the township’s corporate strategic plan and asset management plan, “to ensure the sustainable growth and development of our community.

“As we navigate through the challenges and opportunities ahead, it’s imperative that we invest wisely in our infrastructure, public services and community projects.”

The CAO said it’s about balancing and enhancing the quality of life for residents, while also maintaining fiscal responsibility.

She said there was money for infrastructure improvements, to maintain and upgrade roads, bridges, and water and wastewater systems, all to support a growing population and ensure safety and well-being.

There is also money for community centres, steps towards a new municipal office, and for parks and cemeteries.

McCaw said there are also funds “earmarked for green initiatives, enhancements to waste management systems, and purchasing energy efficient vehicles.”

Another focus is economic development, with spending to support local businesses and the municipality’s attractions.

Substantial money is also being recommended for “innovative” technology to improve the township’s efficiency. An example is automated facility rental applications.

Deputy mayor Cec Ryall said he was, “very impressed we’re moving much deeper into the 21st Century than we have in the past.”

Some of the bigger-ticket items include a municipal office design and engineering contract and survey costs ($85,000).

There’s vehicle asks, such as a new SUV for the building department, and a new truck for bylaw. The fire department is also looking to buy two new vehicles.

McCaw said they are only purchasing one new vehicle for the fire chief. His current vehicle will be going into service as a rescue vehicle. The money allocated in the budget is to make the necessary changes to the pickup truck to make it a rescue vehicle. The department is also seeking $121,500 for three jaws of life and more than $200,000 in fire hall upgrades.

Coun. Cam McKenzie asked that with a fire master plan still in the works, if there was thought to holding off on upgrading stations. Fire chief Chris Baughman said most have been delayed at least two years or more, but once the plan comes to council, he would be seeking direction from them.

Parks, recreation and facilities is looking for $229,707 to complete Herlihey Park. There is also talk of replacing the Zamboni at the arena and a new columbarium for Gooderham Cemetery.

Ryall said with the township doing a trails strategy, he’d like more money allocated. McCaw said once staff receive the final trails strategy report, they will discuss it with council and strike a plan going forward. In the interim, she said they could put more money in the operating budget for trails.

The roads department wants a new vehicle, two plow trucks, and an excavator. McCaw said the excavator was purchased at the end of 2024, and the money is to transfer back to the reserve for the purchase.

The focus this year is on the McColls bridge replacement, Dewey Street, Glamour Lake Road and Hadlington Road, with money set aside for future works on South Wilberforce Road and Lewis Road. The department is looking at a net capital of $1.2 million, which is a $70,249 increase over 2024.

The waste department is looking at safety railings for the Glamorgan transfer station, generators to power attendant buildings at Mumford and Bicroft, and money for future tree removal at Eel’s Lake.

Environment, water and wastewater is seeking $185,000.

The first draft of the operating budget is Feb. 18 with the township hoping to finalize its overall 2025 budget in March.

Haliburton County Farmers’ Association (HCFA) president Minna Schleifenbaum said the organization is hoping to make some headway on a permanent solution to the region’s large animal veterinary woes this year.

Farmers, homesteaders and hobbyists have been without a local option for emergency care for their livestock and other animals since March 2022.

Despite the Ontario government announcing a $900,000 three-year investment in 2023 to support vets looking to set up shop in underserviced areas – with MPP Laurie Scott confirming at the time that Haliburton County would be on the approved list – no new permanent practices have been established.

Schleifenbaum, who was confirmed as HCFA president for a third year at a Jan. 16 AGM held at Castle Antiques in Haliburton, said most County residents with large animals have had to find their own solutions in recent years.

She said a vet based in Fraserville, near Peterborough, works with many local horse owners, while a vet from Lindsay assists with other animals. While both have limited availability to visit in-person, they usually make themselves available after hours for video conferencing.

“We would love to see a full-time large animal vet here. We are optimistic that we’re making progress… we’re working with different levels of government to further incentivize vets to move to rural communities,” Schleifenbaum said. “We’ve sat down a good few times in 2024 to look at the next steps. We’ve made some interesting connections.

“It’s not going to be a tomorrow thing, but we are hopeful we will finally get to the bottom of this and have a new vet come to our County,” she added.

Schleifenbaum said there were instances last year where HCFA members contributed to an emergency first aid kit think tank, pooling knowledge from different areas to help diagnose and treat problems a vet can’t get to.

“We’ve been able to get a good few animals to pull through in pretty bad situations,” she said.

While working on a full-time solution, the HCFA president said volunteers are also trying to bring a mobile vet service to the County. “There’s lots of ideas being pingponged back and forth,” Schleifenbaum said.

Membership was up last year, with an increase in the number of people interested in starting hobby farms and homesteads. Schleifenbaum said there’s been a resurgence in young people interested in the lifestyle.

“That’s super exciting,” she said. “You don’t have to sell produce or run a meat production facility to join HCFA. If you have a horse, a couple chickens in your backyard, or just a general interest – anybody is welcome to come and join us.”

Looking ahead to this year, Schleifenbaum noted HCFA is looking to run some large animal first aid clinics, to provide some helpful tips and tricks for diagnosing and addressing minor problems. The group will also be hosting a series of workshops on growing produce in the County.

“Just general advice on how to cultivate your land… we want to host regular activities throughout the warmer months, probably starting towards the end of April and running through the summer,” she said. “We’re also planning to host our Fall Festival again in September.”

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale said he was “shocked and angered” by U.S. president Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports last week, though is hopeful for a compromise after the measures were paused for 30 days Feb. 3.

“Nobody wins a trade war,” Schmale told The Highlander, when asked for his opinion on the Trump-sanctioned tariffs and retaliatory measures announced by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau Feb.1.

The recently inaugurated U.S. president said the tariffs are a tool for growing the American economy, protecting jobs and raising tax revenue. He had called on the Canadian and Mexican governments to bolster border security to prevent what he calls an outpouring of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, from crossing into the U.S.

On Monday, Trudeau said Canada will invest $1.8 billion to send 10,000 frontline workers and additional resources to key crossings. Trump subsequently paused tariffs until March 5.

Schmale said investing to enhance border security is something he’s been preaching for years, calling for the use of x-ray technology to scan cargo containers and greater interjurisdictional cooperation between law enforcement agencies.

“When you talk about the numbers of illegal firearms, drugs, the human trafficking, stolen vehicles that are going back and forth between [Canada and the U.S.], it’s clear to see the border is absolutely insecure,” Schmale said.

With a significant increase in the number of opioid-related deaths in recent years – estimated at 49,105 between January 2016 and June 2024 by the Public Health Agency of Canada – and the flow of, Schmale says, up to 500,000 illegal immigrants into the country, the MP believes Canada should be investing in its borders for its own benefit.

“Although it’s the Americans demanding this, it is also the right thing to do for our country.”

Schmale said the tariffs would, “impact every sector, causing massive issues on a wide scale that we haven’t seen in recent memory.”

He’s calling on Trudeau to resume parliament early to deal with the threat. After the prime minister resigned last month – effective March 9 following the election of a new Liberal Party leader – it was announced the government would be prorogued until March 24.

“Had our parliament been sitting, had the government been focused on Canadians rather than its leadership race, we could have got ahead of this a lot faster than we did,” Schmale said. “This is serious. This is people’s livelihoods at stake. We need parliament to come back, and if the prime minister refuses to do that then he should call an election.”

A federal vote is due to take place by Oct. 20 this year.

While the U.S. has traditionally been “a friend to Canada” with largely intertwined economies, Schmale feels now is the time to explore partnerships with other countries. He said Canada currently has around 50 free trade agreements with nations in Europe, Asia, and South America.

The MP also wants to encourage greater trade between all provinces and territories, while implementing measures to establish Canada as a manufacturing hub.

“We noticed it during the pandemic – we’re too reliant on other countries. When the hard times hit, we do have shortages, and we do have problems. We need to make it so that we’re not so much a consumption economy, but a manufacturing and production economy that can take care of itself first, and also help to supply the rest of the world,” Schmale said.

County response

Amanda Conn, executive director of the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce, said there’s been lots of angst over the past week.

“In Haliburton County we definitely have organizations that import and export. We are hearing concerns and uncertainty on how tariffs and retaliatory tariffs would impact the economy,” Conn said. “The message we’re sharing now is that it’s more important than ever to shop local.”

She said the chamber is working with businesses on ways they can prepare for tariffs, though she’s hopeful, given the suspension, they won’t see the light of day.

Chamber president Joe Cox, controller at Francis Thomas Contracting, feels it’s premature to speculate on how tariffs would impact County businesses, especially those in the construction industry that rely on American imports for materials.

“I’d say we’re very much at a wait and see stage for right now. See where the cards drop before we get too reactionary,” Cox said.

County resident Brianna Freitag has always had a unique perspective on life.

While her friends were busy in school or launching their careers, she prioritized planning for her long-term future and eventual retirement – at the ripe age of 21. Investing in a fixer-upper cottage in Haliburton County in 2005, she was determined to continue making the sort of memories that made her childhood – growing up in Oshawa but spending summers on Balsam Lake in Coboconk – so extraordinary.

“I basically grew up at my grandparents’ cottage – that was one of the main things I really cherished from my childhood,” Freitag said “As I got older and got to grips with working life, I definitely missed those days, but realized there was nothing stopping me from recreating them.”

While Freitag’s ever-evolving career in the publishing industry kept her busy – spending eight years as assistant art director with the National Post, another eight working for Thomson Reuters, and time freelancing for Lexpert Magazine, Canadian Lawyer Magazine and Canadian HR Strategy Magazine – she always found time to escape to her little slice of rural paradise.

Relocating to the County full-time in 2020, she quickly came to grips with life in the Highlands. So much so that she doesn’t ever see herself leaving – at least not permanently. “Haliburton has always been a place pretty close to my heart – it’s one of those true small-town communities that has maintained its identity, where people know and care about one another,” she said. “I feel the warmth every time I head into town.”

Trips away are a little more frequent since she began working for Up Here Magazine in 2021. A northern publication located in Yellowknife, the bi-monthly covers stories from across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. As the magazine’s artistic director, Freitag is responsible for design, layout and publication.

She added another hat to her repertoire just before the holidays, giving herself the best Christmas present she could think of by investing in the business. She took 50 per cent ownership, alongside business partner Sherry Rioux, in mid-December.

With the magazine boasting 40 years of history in Canada’s true north, Freitag said she feels a calling to ensure it lives on. She has plans to expand the publication’s presence across Canada – starting with southern Ontario. Alongside its six regular editions, there are also six tourism-themed publications and four business specials.

“We’re trying to spread the word and get these amazing stories of the north, from the north, in front of as many people as possible,” Freitag said. “Life up there is different, and we like to celebrate that. But really, there’s not a whole lot of difference between how people live there and here.”

Yellowknife has a population similar to that of the County – just over 20,000 people – and Freitag said the similarities don’t end there.

“Every time I fly in, I make sure to look out my window and am reminded just how familiar everything seems – seeing all the jack pines, undisturbed nature. It takes me back to how I felt when I was a kid and would be driving to Haliburton.”

Like Haliburton village, which was developed around the shores of Head Lake, Yellowknife blossomed on the northern tip of Great Slave Lake. Protecting water and the environment is key to both communities’ survival, Freitag said.

Just as she’s seen, and felt, in the County these past 20 years – Yellowknifers know how to be hospitable, she said. Last winter, while hiking to a remote cabin she’d booked for the night, she arrived to find the owner cooking up a batch of fish stew. The pair shared a couple of hours chatting about their lives, and enjoying a hearty meal, while watching the Northern Lights.

“I feel very lucky that I get to split my time between two special places,” she said.

To learn more, visit uphere.ca. Editions of the magazine can also be found as inserts in The Globe and Mail.

Peering out across Head Lake from the window of her new fourth-floor apartment at the Gardens of Haliburton retirement residence, Anna English said decades of magical memories come flooding back from her time teaching at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School.

The eldest daughter of Clayton Hodgson, six-term Member of Parliament for the former Victoria riding and patriarch of the Hodgson clan, English moved into the facility Jan. 6 – joining her younger sister, Margaret Downey, and sister-inlaw, Barb Hodgson-Medd, at the Gardens.

Born and raised in the County, English graduated from the old Haliburton Secondary School, which once stood where her new home sits today. She went to university in Toronto – a big deal in those days – before returning home in 1953, after the opening of the new high school on the other side of the lake.

She spent 26 years teaching at the school, helping students to learn shorthand, typewriting, and business practices. Her late husband, Vance, owned and operated the Shell service station for many years.

“Lots of good memories made here,” English told The Highlander during a Jan. 17 interview.

The past couple of weeks have been a constant trip down memory lane for the 96-year-old; she points to the Gardens’ dining room, once a tennis court and playground, and reminisces about the hours spent playing with her classmates. A main floor hallway leading to recreation rooms sits on roughly the same spot as English’s Grade 12 classroom.

There’ve been reconnections with familiar faces too – on more than one occasion, she’s heard calls of “hi Mrs. English” from other Gardens’ residents, people she taught decades ago. One of the kitchen staff she’s taken a liking to said she was good friends with English’s granddaughter, Crystal, who still lives in the community.

“I pretty quickly remembered what a close community Haliburton is. The people here know one another – that’s what I like about it,” English said.

Return 70 years in the making

Downey, 91, has been back in the County for four years, moving home in 2020 after a lifetime living in the Ottawa Valley.

With her late husband, Don, requiring long-term care, Downey – also a teacher during her working days – said Haliburton Extendicare was the first facility out of dozens she contacted to offer him a spot. So, the pair moved, with Downey renting an apartment in the downtown. It was a homecoming decades in the making.

When the first phase of the Gardens project opened in 2021, Downey was one of the facility’s first residents. She was soon followed by Hodgson-Medd, who arrived that Thanksgiving. Downey said it was strange returning after more than 70 years away.

“Everything had changed so much. It really didn’t seem like my hometown – the community has grown tremendously,” Downey said. “I didn’t know anybody – the only names I recognized were Lenny Salvatori and Curry Bishop.”

Having her sister-in-law, who was married to John Douglas Hodgson – the man the local elementary school is named after, helped her settle.

“It was wonderful for me to have Barb come – I really felt like an outsider. I’d been away for so long,” Downey said. “Now to have Anna here too…” she trails off, holding her emotions. “Again, it’s wonderful. We have not lived in the same community for a long time and not had too much contact. There has been a lot of catching up.”

That’s usually done over a game of euchre or bingo – popular games among the Gardens’ residents. Downey also enjoys the weekly musical groups and performances on Fridays. In fact, she was counting down the minutes to an afternoon jam later that day with Trina West and Albert Saxby.

There are regular outings too – Downey recalls a trip to Sir Sam’s, where she took a ski lift to the top of the hill to enjoy the views of nearby Eagle Lake. There have also been excursions to Casino Rama and Peterborough for shopping, while staff make routine trips into Haliburton village to pickup any needed supplies.

“This place has really fitted my needs and what I was looking for. My life was pretty dreary after my husband passed, but I’ve really been quite happy here. To have this chance to reconnect with family – it’s been a gift,” Downey said.

A lifetime of memories

For 87-year-old Hodgson-Medd, most of her adult life has revolved around Haliburton County. After meeting Doug during her teenage years, the pair wed after she graduated from high school. They moved around a bit during their early years of marriage – first to Stratford and then Millbrook, where he scored his first principal job.

There were frequent calls to return home, Barb recalls. They eventually did in 1963, with Doug becoming principal at HHSS. He went on to serve as the school board’s director of education before retiring in 1984. The pair lived in Haliburton together until Doug’s death in 1997.

Together they had four children – Chris, the former reeve of Dysart township and three-term MPP for HaliburtonVictoria-Brock, Andrew, longtime realtor and former owner of Century 21, John and Katherine, who have both passed.

While her remaining sons stayed in Haliburton, Hodgson-Medd remarried in 2001 and split her time between her home community and Pontypool. She spent winters in the small village for about 20 years, returning to her roots permanently in 2021 following the death of her second husband.

She reconnected with figures from her past instantly.

“The first day I came in here, I saw a group of girls playing a game of cards and one of them was Jeanne Egan – she lived two doors down from me while growing up; I served tea at her wedding,” Hodgson-Medd said.

Salvatori was another – Barb said she and Doug traveled all over North America with Lenny and his wife, Betty. “We’ve had some laughs about the places we’d been and the things we got up to… I remember one event, Angela Lansbury (actress, known mostly for starring in Murder, She Wrote) was the speaker. She was so, so beautiful.”

Hodgson-Medd said it’s a blessing to be home, close to her family. Her cousin, Carol Chadwick, is also a resident of the Gardens.

“I’m glad this place was built – it’s given people like me a chance to come back home, which has helped my family with not having to worry. That’s the connection a lot of people have here – either family works here, or kids have retired to the cottage and moved their parents up to be close to them,” Barb said.

“It’s a nice home for us, back here in our hometown,” English added.

Brad Lodge had a copy of Colin & Justin’s Sub-Zero Reno before the Paramount+ show began airing Jan. 31. But he didn’t watch it. Until a recent binge viewing.

Brad Lodge Construction is the contractor featured in the show along with the Scottish designers.

“I didn’t want to see myself on camera. I was over it,” Lodge said this week. “Then I watched it, and Colin and Justin said nothing but good things about me. I ended up watching the whole thing the other night and thought ‘this is actually pretty cool’.”

While not one to talk himself up, and admitting the whole process was very different for him, he concedes, it left him with a good feeling and he was getting a lot of nice comments while out and about in the County.

He’s known Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan for a couple of years now, and done little jobs here and there for them. “We always kind of talked about what we were going to do… and it finally actually happened… so we made it work,” he said.

Lodge and his 14-member crew worked with McAllister and Ryan on a winter renovation on Drag Lake. The series is currently streaming on Paramount+.

Lodge, who grew up in West Guilford, and lives in Carnarvon, said the exposure is priceless.

“It’s great for people to know who we are. I grew up here. I know a lot of people. We are busy but can always plan for the future. And it’s just good for people to recognize my whole team’s hard work, not just mine.”

A film crew from Manitoba was on-site at times through the renovation, while Lodge and his team had GoPro cameras.

No strangers to winter remodels, he said the biggest challenge may have been the road leading to the cottage. “We did crash many times and get a lot of vehicles stuck and just couldn’t do things the way we did,” he said.

Some crazy moments were not captured on camera, he added. For example, they pumped water from the lake and hand mixed about 1,000 bags of concrete. An excavator slid down a massive hill, spinning circles “which could have been catastrophic.”

Another challenge for Lodge is he is used to controlling a build. He didn’t have that same control with this one.

“For a build in the winter that went that fast… there were so many people we had to deal with every single day; that was definitely one of the most stressful times I’ve had in a long time.”

As for being followed by a camera crew, he said it was nerve-wracking at first, and it didn’t help that his crew was trying to get him to laugh when he was being interviewed. However, he came around.

“It’s like at a wedding, you talk on the mic and you’re nervous and the next thing you know, you don’t want to let go of the mic.”

He adds words such as interesting, and weird to describe the experience. “We had a lot of fun, that’s for sure.” He also admits to showing frustration on camera.

But in the end, he said he and his crew come across just like they are in real life. “Being ourselves… nervous, but genuine in ourselves.”