Plans are under way for Q &A sessions with municipal candidates in Hastings and Campbellford.

Not finding anyone else planning a session, I’ve joined with former mayoral candidate Susan Fedorka, who is not running this time, to organize a meeting at the Campbellford library branch on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Our hope is to have the candidates from Wards 1, 2, and 3 and the mayoral candidates on hand. Our plan is to have separate 45-minute sessions with each of those groups to allow you to ask your questions and meet the candidates. More details to follow.

A debate committee in Hastings is planning a session for candidates in Ward 5 and the mayoral candidates on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m..

No word on any meeting in Warkworth. Will let you know if I hear of anything.

Most eligible voters don’t vote in the municipal elections. In 2022, the turnout across the province was 32.9 per cent, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Here in Trent Hills, 32.2 per cent of eligible voters took part, down from 37 per cent in 2018.

As a reminder, we vote online or via telephone. Since you’re reading this, you probably have the technology you need. But if you, or someone you know, needs help, the Trent Hills Library will be offering assistance on election day, Oct. 26, with advice and access to the internet.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a few readers ask whether the candidates for municipal office are vetted in any way. The short answer is no.

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Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians are guaranteed the right to vote or run for office. Only people currently in prison or convicted of bribery are banned.

This can be confusing, since we are so awash in U.S. culture and news and there are many voting restrictions down south on anyone convicted of a crime. That’s not the case here.

The municipal clerk checks to ensure candidates qualify by living or owning property in the area.

One wrinkle that does trip up some candidates is the fact the municipal employees need to start a leave-of-absence before they submit their nomination. They can run, but have to follow the steps involved, otherwise they will be rejected. Candidates will also be rejected if they haven’t completed the paperwork required following a previous election. That trips up some potential candidates too, but not here this time.

Last chance for our survey

If you haven’t responded to our What Matters Most survey yet, you still have a chance. We’re cutting off responses at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13. Once Herman van den Berg has analyzed the data, I will report on what you’ve told us and seek some feedback from the candidates.

We have received a few duplicate survey submissions. Please don’t respond more than once. Just click this link to go to the survey

Planners from Trent Hills and Northumberland County think they’ve found a way that Jim Curle’s farm field can be turned into the site for a new hospital and campus of care.

Provincial red tape had threatened to delay changing the use and permitting rezoning.

The challenge that’s been in the background for the past couple of years is that provincial law makes it difficult to use prime agricultural land for anything else. An option that has seemed like the only way to move forward is to expand Campbellford’s urban settlement area to include the site and amend the municipal and county official plans to make that happen.

But the problem that has troubled the planners is that this option requires provincial approval for changes to the county’s plan and the Ford government has rejected some changes in the past and taken a long time to approve others.

On Tuesday evening the planners gathered with some members of Trent Hills’ council to consider how to move this option forward with an official plan amendment. But just a few days before the meeting, a county planner suggested another, quicker way to proceed.

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A better idea would be “a site-specific development or exception area policy within the existing Prime Agricultural Area designation,” Ashley Yearwood, Manager of Planning, Land Use Planning, for Northumberland County, wrote in an email last Thursday.

Municipal Planner Cameron Law said that the municipality plans to update its official plan next year and the property could be included at that point, but using the exception now would allow work to move ahead.

On behalf of the hospital, Shawn Legere of RFA Planning Consultant Inc. made a presentation outlining the technical studies that have been done so far on the property and what lies ahead.

Councillor Daniel Giddings noted that an artist’s rendering of the campus of care looks great, but it doesn’t show enough parking spots. He guesstimated that the site will need 250 to 300 spots.

Legere said that detailed drawings are being prepared as they work to turn the artist’s dream into reality.

Legere said environmental testing done so far has not found any concerns about the project. A waterway along the eastern edge that flows south to Trout Creek will have to be protected, but it shouldn’t affect use of the site.

Lawsuit expected

Before the planning session on Tuesday, council had a special closed session to discuss a potential lawsuit and to receive advice from lawyer Kat Kinch about how to proceed.

Closed sessions are only permitted for special reasons, such as getting legal advice.

A report by the Ontario Ombudsman outlines the rules: “In considering the related law of litigation privilege, courts have found that, while it is not necessary that litigation have commenced for litigation privilege to apply, “there must be more than a mere suspicion that there will be litigation.

“Council must believe that litigation is a reasonable prospect and must use the closed meeting to explore that prospect in some way. However, the exception does not apply where the possibility that litigation may arise in the future is merely speculative.”

So, council must feel someone is likely to sue over something, soon.

I have a few items floating around in my notes, my emails and my head that I thought I should nail down here for you. No real big news, but some updates on various things.

First, the former Townsend house on Grand Road next to Canadian Tire in Campbellford, is now slated for demolition sometime this fall, Northumberland County says.

The county has already demolished two homes on the east side of the Trent River to get shovel-ready to construct a new bridge, should someone, looking at you Ford and Carney, have a spare $50 million or so for the project. As I’ve written, the county can’t afford the bloated price tag for the bridge but county council has just ignored the topic, leaving it for the next council to handle.

The Townsend house was also on the demolition list last spring but a family was renting it from the municipality so things got delayed. A county spokesperson says the work is now scheduled to be done this fall. It only took a few hours to knock down the first homes, so felling this one, although its larger, shouldn’t be a lengthy job.

From bulk bins to tables

At its meeting last week, Trent Hills council approved a $3,300 community improvement grant to Rigo and Laura Seucharan, tenants of 30 Doxsee Ave. South, to help them turn the former Bulk Plus into a Caribbean-style restaurant -- Trini-Licious.

The grant will pay part of the estimated $9,000 cost of new signage and building an accessible customer washroom.

School safety zones expanded

The municipality has extended community safety zones near St. Mary Catholic Elementary School on Centre Street in Campbellford and Hastings Public School in Hastings.

“The OPP recommended that several existing Community Safety Zones be expanded to better capture areas with higher pedestrian activity and locations where vulnerable road users are present,” said a report from Neil Allanson, Manager, Roads and Urban Services.

Councillors agreed that the corner of Centre Street and Bridge Street is a particularly treacherous spot. The crosswalks have been newly painting, actually newly done with plastic that’s melted onto the roadway, and new signage has been added.

In Hastings, the municipality has extended the safety zone to include sections of Bridge Street North.

Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf asked whether the municipality could put up the really big signs that Premier Doug Ford thinks slow drivers. Allanson said the Campbellford location already had larger than usual signs, but he would see.

Staff reviewed the school zone in Warkworth but found it didn’t need to be expanded.

Northumberland County also changed its bylaw to reflect the new larger zones.

No candidates’ meetings set

At this point, near as I can tell, there are no public all-candidates’ meetings planned in Trent Hills before the municipal election on Oct. 26.

The Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce is holding a Zoom session with some candidates for its members, but that seems to be it, so far. I know some residents are talking about organizing Q&A sessions, but nothing has been firmed up.

Dennis Forbes has asked on Facebook whether people would attend a session and the response seems positive.

Let me know should a meeting be planned somewhere.

Hastings arena site work continues

Some Hastings residents have wondered, at least on Facebook, about what’s going on with the former arena site.

In response, the municipality has posted on update on its website that explains what’s happening at 40 Bridge Street North. The short version, it’s carrying out work announced in the spring that it said would take six months.

In November 2024, council announced that the site had been sold for $650,000 to an unnamed developer who planned to have ground-floor commercial space with apartments above.

But since then it has become clear that the municipality has to do some work before the sale closes.

“The goal is to support residential development on the site,” the notice says. “As the property is being considered for a change in use, it is subject to the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act. To meet these requirements, Phase One and Phase Two Environmental Site Assessments have been completed.

“Based on the results of these assessments, additional testing will need to be undertaken to prepare the necessary documentation for submission to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks. “

While this testing is underway, some of the fencing will be removed to allow some public parking on the site.

When the work was announced last May, the municipality said it would take about six months and cost about $30,000. Chief Planner Jim Peters said the cost would be reimbursed when the sale is completed.

The arena closed n 2013 and was demolished in 2021 at a cost of $170,000.

Council has agreed to defer any decision on a controversial Warkworth development until a full subdivision plan has been submitted and evaluated.

At its meeting last Thursday, councillors said they need more details before deciding whether to approve a severance and rezoning plan for 122 Mill Street, where 43 units, including townhouses had been suggested, drawing lots of loud complaints from residents.

“There are so many unanswered questions on this plan of subdivision, things like traffic, parking, density, water runoff,” said Councillor Rick English. “There are so many questions that aren’t answered here.”

English said he has been inundated with emails from residents opposed to the development.

A report from the planning department said the developer has submitted an updated concept plan, but staff had not had time to review the changes before the meeting. It recommended council defer any decision until all requests, including a full plan of subdivision, have been received and reviewed.

Councillor Daniel Giddings said the controversy over this development highlights an issue this council has dealt with for a past four years and one that will be faced by the next council: The issue of how to allow development without permitting too much density, or projects that change the character of the communities.

“I hope we set a precedent in this community that we do support growth, but controlled growth is very important,” Giddings said.

Councillor Dennis Savery said that it was clear from the emails that people want another public meeting with the developer once plans are revised and he said this was crucial.

Planner Cameron Law explained that legally, under the developer-friendly changes made by the Ford government, the meeting held in May was the only one legally required, even though it provided few details.

“Under the Planning Act, there is no way to compel them (the developer) to come to a public meeting,” he said.

Law said the planning department hopes to hold another public meeting once a revised subdivision plan is received, but he noted that any second meeting would not have the same legal weight as the first meeting.

Developers are able to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal if they are unhappy with a municipality’s decision and comments from the required public meeting can be introduced.

With the election campaign now in full swing, this council has lame-duck status and can’t make major decisions. For example, it could declare the road allowance adjacent to the Mill Street property to surplus to municipal needs, but it can’t actually sell the land to the developer.

At the urging of the planning department, the developer has proposed using much of an unopened road allowance for the development. A staff report said the lot is too steep for the allowance to ever be used for a roadway.

“The initial proposal for the site had an approximate density of (about)11 units per net hectare, below what the official plan required, but with a greater density than the neighbouring area in Warkworth,” Law’s report said. “An updated concept plan that has been provided to planning staff shows reduced units from the initial proposal, and will be shared once the applications are recirculated.”

Municipal candidates confirmed

As required under provincial law, the municipal clerk’s office has reviewed all the potential candidates for the October 26 election to ensure they meet the requirements, and they do.

Rick English has been acclaimed as deputy mayor, since he was the only candidate.

Candidates for the other spots are:

Mayor — Steven Haylestrom, Mike Metcalf

Ward 1 — Adam Baguley, Jana Reid, Karen Ulrich

Ward 2 — Erick Baron-Joyner, Adam Briggs, Tina Burke, Rob Pope

Ward 3 — Nader Eid, Viv Smallwood, Sandra Walls

Ward 4 — Leslie Mahoney, Meagan McLean, Emilio Ojeda, Ken Tully

Ward 5 — Ethan Armit, Bob Crate, Dennis Savery

School Board Trustee - English Public — Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, two to be elected: Terry Brown, Jaine Klassen Jeningo, Elizabeth Terrell, Lindsay White

Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board — Matthew Hilts, acclaimed

Conseil scolaire Viamonde (French public school board) — Eric Lapointe, acclaimed

Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (French separate school board) — Marcellin Kwilu Mondo

The municipality has joined the growing number of Hastings residents complaining about the frequent power interruptions in the village.

Chief Administrative Officer Karen Frigault told council during last Thursday’s meeting that she has telephoned Hydro One to complain and is trying to arrange a meeting to get some answers. She noted that the provincial company is working across the street from the Hastings Field House.

During the meeting, councillors approved spending $60,000 on a new generator for the field house, which needs electricity 24/7 to keep the roof inflated. The budget for 2027 included $80,000 for a new generator but recent problems led Peter Burnett, Director of Community Services, to seek approval to make the purchase this year.

Recent outages have nearly caused a catastrophic collapse because the existing 11-year-old generator has been slow to kick in.

“The Hastings power grid is unreliable and inconsistent in its power supply,” Burnett’s report said. “At times, it supplies only partial-phase power rather than the three-phase power the facility relies on. When partial phase power is received, the inflation system will not operate and can be damaged, and the generator will not recognize a power outage and will not turn on. …

“Frequent and prolonged power outages in Hastings, coupled with partial phasing issues and the generator’s unreliability, made it essential to replace the generator as soon as possible,” it continued.

As well, a report to council by the water and wastewater department said that equipment in Hastings was recently damaged by a power outage.

“Power outages in Hastings at the end of June caused damage to equipment at the wastewater treatment plant, including aerators, mixers, and electrical controls,” said a report by Kyle Beacock, Manager of Water and Wastewater Services.

Council was told it cost about $1,200 to replace damaged equipment and the bill from the electricians has not been received yet.

On its website, Hydro One makes a 10-day commitment to respond to complaints, so maybe Frigault will get action.

“For all complaints or issues that are escalated to either a supervisor or customer relations, we’ll either resolve your issue, or commit to a firm resolution date, within 10 days of when we first become aware of your complaint.”

FYI, I’ve contacted Hydro One’s media relations department seeking answers on what’s causing the outages and what’s being done about them. I’ll write an update if/when I get information. I’m not holding my breath for 10 days.

On a somewhat related topic, council again supported a proposal by Prodigy Power Inc. to construct a new Hastings Generating Station. Prodigy is seeking approval from the Independent Electricity System Operator, the provincial company that oversees power suppliers, to build a three-megawatt station on the Trent River just east of the dam. Last year it applied to build a two-megawatt station, but it was not selected to go ahead.

Planner Cameron Law told council that the private company was approved to build a generating station on the site in 2015 by the then Liberal government, but the contract was cancelled along with dozens of others when the Ford government came to power and halted all sustainable energy efforts.

If the company is successful this time, there will be public hearings and environment studies, Law said. Power generated from the station would be fed into the provincial grid, but perhaps Hastings could tap into it.

Waiving hospital fees

Council has agreed to waive about $25,000 in planning department fees that Campbellford Memorial Hospital would otherwise face as it develops its new hospital and Campus of Care.

Planner Cameron Law said the exact amount of fees would depend on exactly how the hospital proceeds, but $25,000 would be the upper range for its severance, zoning and official plan amendment requests.

Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf noted that this request was “relatively minor” compared to the major asks the municipality expects to face for funding the project.

One major cost the municipality will face is extending sewer and water lines to the location. Councillor Dennis Savery said that during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting in Ottawa last week provincial representatives said new grant programs will be announced soon that could cover this sort of project.

Frigault said municipal staff are constantly on the lookout for grants and will definitely apply under and new programs.

WSIB motion passes

With little discussion, councillors supported Daniel Giddings’ motion urging the province to step in and push the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) not to kill an 81-year-old program established to encourage employers to hire injured Second World War veterans.

I wrote about Giddings’ efforts here. There has been some limited blowback from companies to the WSIB action, but it is facing much more negative publicity for its decision last week to cut 466 jobs across the province, particularly in Northern Ontario where it is closing several offices.

You can read the entire archive of Trent Hills News stories here anytime.

Just like kids waiting till the last moment to do their homework, several candidates for Trent Hills council didn’t get their nomination papers in until just before the deadline on Friday.

The official tally will be released on Monday, but based on what’s currently reported on the municipal website, there will be races for all the seats except deputy mayor. Rick English, who has been the councillor for Ward 4 (Warkworth) the past four years, was the only nominee for deputy mayor, so he will be acclaimed to that spot.

Current deputy mayor, Mike Metcalf had been the lone candidate for mayor until Thursday when Steven Haylestrom joined the race. Haylestrom has a website that provides background on him and his reasons for running. He highlights cell service, transportation, fiscal responsibility and what he calls positive development. He’s CEO of Modular Solutions, a company focussed on helping developers use factory-built homes.

On Friday, two candidates joined Karen Ulrich in the race for councillor in Ward 1. Real estate agent and musician Jana Reid is running and so is Adam Baguley.

In Ward 2, current councillor Rob Pope is seeking re-election and has three challengers: Tina Burke, Adam Briggs, and Erick Baron-Joyner.

In Ward 3 (Campbellford), the candidates are Nader Eid, Viv Smallwood, and Sandra Walls.

In Ward 4 (Warkworth), the candidates are Emilio Ojeda, who came second in 2022, Leslie Mahoney, Meagan McLean, and Ken Tully, who represented the area from 2018 to 2022 but didn’t seek re-election then.

In Ward 5 (Hastings), the candidates are Ethan Armit, current mayor Bob Crate, and current councillor Dennis Savery.

There should be some interesting races. I hope we will have an opportunity to hear from the candidates at several public meetings during the campaign.

What’s important to you?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a project I’ve been working on with Herman van den Berg, a retired Lakehead University business professor, to ask local residents what issues they care about in this campaign.

More than 200 people have responded, which is great. We plan to give folks a couple of more weeks to fill out the survey, which takes about five minutes, then report on the results and ask the candidates for their thoughts, well ahead of election day, which is Oct. 26.

Just click this link to go to the survey. If you’ve already filled it out, please don’t do it again.

Daniel Giddings wants Trent Hills council to try to persuade Labour Minister David Piccini to force the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to overturn its decision to kill an 81-year-old program the board says is outmoded, ineffective and wasteful.

You’re probably thinking, ‘Huh, what?’ I’ll try to explain, briefly.

Giddings has proposed a motion that council will consider during its meeting on Thursday, Aug. 20 asking the government and the board, which reports to Piccini, to consider modernizing the Second Injury Enhancement Fund (SIEF) rather than killing it.

He argues in the motion that the board’s move announced last month will raise worker compensation costs for municipalities and other employers. He says the fund encourages “employers to hire and retain workers with disabilities and pre-existing medical conditions.”

“This isn’t about protecting an outdated policy, it’s about protecting Ontario jobs,” Giddings says. “If SIEF is inefficient, then fix it. Don’t eliminate the only cost-relief mechanism that encourages employers to hire workers with pre-existing conditions.”

In an interview, Giddings explained that he’s worried about rising compensation costs as a councillor and as an employer with a construction and renovation business. But he acknowledged that the impetus for his effort to overturn the WSIB change is also driven by the fact his wife Christa works for a consulting company that advises employers how to obtain benefits.

If the motion passes, the municipality would send letters to all Ontario municipalities urging them to tell Piccini and the board to reverse course.

First some context to help you understand this confusing and complex issue.

The Second Injury Enhancement Fund was established in 1945 to help workers injured during the Second World War find jobs on their return by guaranteeing employers they wouldn’t have to pay for medical treatment due to previous injuries.

This program was put in place decades before workers’ compensation plans, human rights protection and medical privacy laws were enacted. It provided some assistance to employers but over the years became extremely complicated and complex.

A review by Deloitte LLP in 2025 said that only 2,400 companies used the program the previous year, less than 1 per cent of the 318,000 employers covered by the board. It was largely used by big companies that had the staff to file the necessary paperwork.

Aaron Lazarus, Vice-President of Communications for the WSIB, said in an interview that the people complaining most about the end of the program are lawyers and consultants who have businesses based on navigating its complex rules.

Eliminating the program will save about 24,000 hours of staff time each year, roughly the equivalent of 15 full-time jobs, Lazarus says. Those people will be reassigned to other jobs. The board has more than 700 employees.

Two things to know about the program. One, It doesn’t actually pay real money to companies. It’s “mirage” money that only exists on paper, Lazarus says.

Second, since a 2020 revamp of how companies are assessed for compensation costs the fund has no bearing on how much a firm pays in insurance premiums, now or in the future.

Lazarus says the board has not done a good job of communicating these changes and how premiums are now calculated.

Studies done in 2008, 2012 and 2014 all recommended the program be eliminated, but nothing was done. Even when the premium system was changed in 2020 no action was taken.

“You could ask why the program wasn’t eliminated sooner,” Lazarus agreed.

So, in 2025 Deloitte was hired to perform a value-for-money audit. It’s 115-page report is a classic example of consultant mumbo jumbo.

It clearly says the program provides no value and doesn’t contribute to either of WSIB’s main objectives – education on workplace safety or helping injured workers get back on the job.

But you can scour the entire report and not find any reference to money, or the cost of the program. I asked Lazarus for the cost, and he explained it doesn’t refer to real money and the actual cost is the staff time required to administer it.

I asked Piccini’s office if he’d like to comment on the issue and they passed me on to the WSIB, which isn’t surprising given all the heat he’s faced for having his office so directly involved in decision making on the skills development training program.

Giddings is not alone on this mission. Some construction groups have urged the government to reconsider the change.

The Council of Ontario Construction Associations, which represents more than 10,000 general and trade contractors, has argued that the fund was critically important to employers and should not be scrapped.

My key takeaway is that the 81-year-old program could be a good PhD topic for someone studying public administration. It illustrates how inertia and special-interest groups can keep programs running decades after they should have been stopped.

We’ll see on Thursday how the councillors see the issue and whether they support the letter-writing initiative.

County Road 30 will be closed at the Trent River north of Campbellford starting Tuesday, Aug. 18 until October while Northumberland County repairs the bridge.

The bridge is located approximately 300 metres south of County Road 42, south of Havelock.

To shorten the overall construction period, the bridge will be fully closed to traffic during the work. This approach will allow crews to complete the work safely and efficiently, with signed detour routes in place for local and heavy-truck traffic. Each detour is expected to add about 20 minutes to the trip.

The $710,000 project by KB Civil Constructors Inc. of North York will repair the expansion joints and approach and sleeper slabs which engineering assessments identified as problems.

Work will include:

• Removal and reconstruction of the approach slabs, sleeper slabs and expansion joints;

• Localized concrete removal and patch repairs to the sidewalk and curbs;

• Patching and waterproofing the concrete bridge deck

• Paving of the bridge deck around the approach slabs.

“We recognize that a full closure of the Trent River bridge will create a significant disruption for people who regularly travel this route,” said Denise Marshall, Northumberland County’s Director of Public Works. “However, completing the work under a full closure will allow the contractor to complete the rehabilitation more efficiently and safely, while reducing the overall construction period.”

South of the closure, work is underway to replace culverts and repave the surface. Traffic will be reduced to one lane much of the time but the road will not be closed.

Third candidate runs in Ward 4

Meagan McLean of Warkworth has filed her nomination papers to run for council in Ward 4 (Warkworth). She filed her papers on Friday morning.

McLean, a photographer and author, under the name Meg LaForge, is running against Emilio Ojeda and Ken Tully. Nominations close next Friday and the election is Oct. 26.

Rob Pope, who was first elected in Ward 2 in 2022, has filed his nomination papers to run again in October.

Until this week, Pope had refused to say whether he would seek re-eleciton. He is currently the only candidate in his ward. Candidates have until next Friday, Aug. 21 to file their nomination papers for the Monday, October 26 election.

At this point, Karen Ulrich is the only candidate in Ward 1, Mike Metcalf is the sole candidate for mayor, and Rick English is the only one running for deputy mayor. They will be acclaimed if no one else comes forward.

In Ward 3 (Campbellford), Sandra Walls, Nader Eid and Viv Smallwood are seeking election. In Ward 4 (Warkworth), Ken Tully and Emilio Ojeda are the candidates. In Ward 5 (Hastings), Ethan Armit, Bob Crate and Dennis Savery are running.

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Home prices, sales both slide

There were 21 homes sold in Trent Hills in July, down from 26 in June, according to the Central Lake Association of Realtors. The median price fell 9 per cent to $498,000 from $547,500 from the previous month.

Twenty of the homes were detached, with a median price of $488,700, while one semi-detached unit sold for $620,000.

Seventy new listings came on the market in July and there were 163 homes for sale at the end of the month, up from 152 at the end of June. The homes that sold had been on the market an average of 48 days, up from 42 days in June and 32 days in May, reflecting a slowing market.

In comparison, in July 2025, 20 homes sold in Trent Hills with a median price of $685,000.

So far in 2026, 114 homes have sold with a median price of $575,000. In the same period in 2025, 134 homes sold with a median price of $565,000.

In a report to council on July 28, the planning department said the number of rural severances is up this year but construction in approved subdivisions remains slow. Some preparation work is underway in several developments but not a lot of actual construction.

Roughly 1,800 units are still in the pipeline in the municipality, likely to be constructed to by 2050, which would add about 2,700 residents, the report says. There are 953 units approved or proposed in Hastings and 664 in Campbellford.

This is an important period in Trent Hills. As a community we face a lot of challenges and decisions. How will be finance a new hospital? How much new development do we want? And much more.

The municipal election is a good chance to consider where we are headed and how we want to get there.

As part of my coverage of the municipal election, I have been working with Herman van den Berg, a local resident who is a retired Lakehead University business professor, to develop a survey of readers about issues you are concerned about.

Herman’s past work has included surveying business executives about how they arrive at decisions and what factors they consider, so this is right up his alley.

We’ve decided to ask about housing, the hospital, the bridge, the tax rate and other factors. And to give you a chance to tell us anything we’ve missed.

Once everyone has had a chance to answer and Herman has crunched the numbers, I’ll do a story explaining what you all said and what’s most important to local residents.

The survey is anonymous; we’ll only consider the information in aggregate. We can’t tell which answers come from which email address or computer.

We’ve kept things simple and quick. It should take less than five minutes to respond. Just click on this link to go to the survey.

We have an election race in Ward 4 (Warkworth).

Former councillor Ken Tully, who represented the area from 2014 to 2022 but didn’t run again that year, and Emilio Ojeda, who lost to Rick English in 2022, are both running.

So far, no one is running in Ward 2, where current councillor Rob Pope has refused to say whether he’s in or out.

Ojeda has a website with some background information and contact details. He is a settlement services co-ordinator with Northumberland County and was a Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board trustee from 2020 to 2022.

Tully was an executive at World’s Finest Chocolate and is a long-time member of the Campbellford Hastings Masonic Lodge.

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CR 25 road closure

Northumberland County will begin replacing the Salt Creek culvert on County Road 25, south of Warkworth, on Monday, August 10, with construction expected to continue through to October.

The project is located on County Road 25 between Gravel Road and Pine Grove Road. The road will be closed throughout construction and detours will be in place.

Work will include:

• Removal of the existing four-metre-wide, 25-metre-long corrugated steel pipe culvert.

• Installation of a temporary water flow bypass system to maintain creek flow during construction.

• Installation of a new 39-metre-long structural corrugated steel pipe culvert with a concrete cut-off wall.

• Installation of new steel guide rails and restoration of the roadway.

The Nicholson family, which purchased the old Campbellford-Seymour arena from the municipality for $275,000 in 2025, is working with the fair board that has used the facility for decades.

The building will be used for the fair this weekend.

At a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss plans for the building, Ken Nicholson said the family plans to use the building for individual storage units but hopes it can accommodate the fair in years to come.

“The intentions are to work with the community as long as we possibly can,” he said. “We weren’t sure when we purchased the arena what we were going to do with it.”

The current plan is to install individual storage units that will not have any impact on the existing structure, he said.

“As long as it’s open and available, we have an agreement with the fair board that they can use it as long as it is possible.”

He suggested that the best situation would be if the old ice surface was used for seasonal storage so it could be cleared during the fair and used for livestock showing as in the past.

“Structurally, the building itself is in great shape,” and it would be great to keep it, he added, noting that the owners want to find some use that will generate revenue to cover their overhead costs.

Amanda Twigg, President of the Campbellford-Seymour Agricultural Society, told council that the new owners have worked well with the fair board in preparation for festivities this weekend.

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The arena land is zone community facility and needs to be rezoned to permit its use as a storage facility. The Nicholsons are seeking approval for a zoning exception, while retaining the community facility designation.

Nicholson said they hope to be able to use the facility for community activities.

Planner Cameron Law explained that private buildings can have community facility zoning.

Even if the zoning change is approved, the municipality will have control when a building permit is sought, he said. Northumberland County said it wants to be involved at that stage, because the building is located on County Road 38.

The arena site does not include the parking lot adjacent to the building, but that is already owned by the Nicholsons, since it is part of another parcel where development is planned.

Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf asked the planning department whether it wouldn’t make more sense to rezone the building as commercial and then permit the storage use.

Law said that was an option, but staff felt the community facility designation would be simpler.

Planning Director Jim Peters said that retaining the community facility zoning would permit use by the fair board or other community events, but he agreed that a commercial zoning was an option.

A decision on the rezoning will be made by council at a future meeting.

Northumberland County says work will begin on Monday on County Road 30 north of Campbellford and will continue until October.

One lane will be kept open but drivers should expect delays, the county says. The work will be done between the 8^th Line West and the 11^th Line West.

The $2.1 million project will include:

• Replacement of existing cross culverts to improve drainage.

• Replacement of roadside safety devices.

• Removal and replacement of the full-depth asphalt roadway.

• Installation of new pavement markings following completion of construction.

“This rehabilitation project will address aging infrastructure, improve roadway conditions, and extend the service life of County Road 30 while supporting the long-term resilience of our transportation system,” said Peter Deshane, Associate Director, Engineering and Public Works.

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To minimize disruption, at least one lane of traffic will remain open during construction hours, with two lanes reopened outside of working hours whenever possible. Motorists should expect temporary lane closures, reduced speeds, and periodic delays while work is underway, the county warns.

During that same period, just north of the project the bridge over the Trent River will be closed 10 weeks for repairs, resulting in detours. The county hasn’t announced when that work will start.

In June I wrote about several county projects that will be under way this summer.

Alto CEO discusses rail plans

I know some people have been following every twist and turn in the federal government’s plans for the Alto High Speed Rail line that may pass through here, but I imagine some of you haven’t been.

If you want to catch up with what Alto CEO Martin Imbleau says, I recommend listening to his conversation with CBC Ottawa on July 22.

Imbleau says it is likely the line will include a stop in Kingston since the local government there and Ottawa think it’s a good idea. That means some version of the southern route will be followed.

Imbleau explains that not every train would stop in Kingston, but there would be a few each day that would pick up and drop off passengers, while express trains blow by on separate tracks.

The CEO also discusses how the rail line would handle passing through farm country. The track would be elevated so that cattle and farm vehicles could pass underneath in some spots. “We will share our access roads with the farmers so they are not significantly impacted,” he said. “This is done everywhere in the world, why would Ontario and Quebec be different?”

When Alto purchases a piece of land it will pay fair market value and pay for a 100 years of lost revenue for farmers, he added. “We’re talking significant dollars for the farmers.”

If no agreement can be reached with a landowner expropriation will be the last resort, he said.

Imbleau said 300,000 people provided comments and suggestions online. He said that this fall Alto will provide the detailed straight alignment needed for the Ottawa to Montreal route, the first segment to be built.

The alignment for Toronto to Ottawa should be available “some time in the spring,” Imbleau says.

The key goal, what Imbleau calls his obsession, is having Alto trains make the Toronto to Montreal trip in under three hours and Toronto to Ottawa in under two hours.

You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.

If you want to get a conversation started, just casually ask most people in Trent Hills what they think of their cell service.

But be forewarned, stand well back and be ready to duck.

Like many people, my wife and I don’t have a landline, we each have our own phones. We’re with Koodo, the slightly cheaper version of Telus. A flanker brand is the industry jargon. Like many people, we suffer from calls that are dropped, garbled, or go direct to voicemail because the signal is too weak.

These things happen while in our house in Campbellford, or pretty-much anywhere when we’re out and about in the area.

In a recent Facebook discussion, about 20 people shared similar experiences. The consensus seemed to be that the ‘best’ of the providers was Rogers, but the bar was low. The strongest praise it received was “it’s fairly adequate.”

A couple of weeks back a reader asked me why his service remains lousy since I had written a story two years ago about a plan to upgrade towers in Trent Hills and across Northumberland County and indeed all of Eastern Ontario.

I had been wondering too, so I went looking for an update on the upgrades and learned the work is almost complete.

“In Northumberland County, 20 existing cell towers have been upgraded with 5G equipment,” said Lisa Severson, spokesperson for the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, (EORN), which was established by the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus. “These upgrades are complete and the sites are currently providing service.”

In addition, 16 new towers have been built and are in service and another one is just being completed in Cramhe Township and should be online shortly.

In total, $16 million was spent in Northumberland on 20 improvements in service, 10 new Rogers’ towers, and six new towers shared with other providers.

In Trent Hills, two towers near Campbellford have been upgraded to 5G service, and four new towers were built.

One tower near Hastings has also been upgraded. Three co-location towers are now in service south of Hastings and in the Warkworth area. A new tower was also built on the Alderville First Nation.

But, but, my calls are still breaking up despite all this work. Well, Severson had a partial explanation.

“Please note that Rogers’ customers, as well as customers of its flanker brands Fido and Chatr, should experience improved wireless coverage and capacity as a result of this new infrastructure,” she said in an email.

“EORN does encourage the sharing of tower infrastructure between carriers,” Severson said. “Seventy-five of the towers in our project are colocations where Rogers is leasing space from another carrier or a third-party company that owns a tower. It is a business decision by carriers as to whether they choose to collocate.”

The federal government encourages cell service providers to share their towers with competitors, but the results are not great. I imagine Rogers and Bell sticking a Telus/Koodo antenna near the bottom of a tower pointed at the ground.

In total, Rogers spent $150 million on the upgrades and the federal and provincial governments each contributed $71 million. Counties in Eastern Ontario added $10 million.

In May, I wrote about Bell Mobility’s application to build a new tower in Campbellford for its customers. It hopes to construct the 60-metre tower at the northern end of the municipal works yard on Alma Street, adjacent to the Trans-Canada Trail.

You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started attending council meetings almost three years ago and sent the first email reports to about 50 people whose addresses I had. (I knew I was breaking the rules by sending out emails without prior approval, but I figured it was easy for people to unsubscribe.)

Since then, the interest in what local politicians are doing in Trent Hills has been gratifying and a bit surprising, really. I’ve had more favourable reaction to these stories than any of the hundreds of stories I wrote for The Toronto Star or other publications. I’ve come to realize just how much people care about this community and how hungry they are for real information, not just the untrustworthy ‘news’ that you can get from social media.

So, onward and upward. I hope to provide stories this fall during our election campaign that will help you decide who to vote for. I’m working on a survey that will identify what you consider to be the biggest issues and should have that published in a week or two.

Trent Hills council has added a welcome new feature to its meetings, a chance for people to comment on items that are on the agenda. At Tuesday’s meeting it heard from three people about separate items that were coming up later and those speakers had a chance to offer their perspectives.

One issue on the agenda was a staff report on the issue of crosswalk symbols, such as the colourful Pride ones that have existed for several years.

In August 2025 a resident who had seen a similar crosswalk in another town, asked the municipality to add a memorial crosswalk in each of our urban areas to highlight the sacrifices that veterans have made.

Community Development Manager Kira Mees looked into the topic and wrote the report council was to consider. She recommended a pause on all future installations and the replacement of the existing commemorative ones and the development of a formal review policy for such installations on municipal property. Essentially, the goal will be to suggest murals or other ways to recognize important community events because crosswalks are not effective.

Her report said it would cost about $45,000 for three commemorative military crosswalks, plus about $20,000 per year for updates and repairs.

Roads Manager Neil Allanson said the existing Pride crosswalks cost about $1,900 when installed but would need to be replaced next year and the thermoplastic products now cost $4,200 or more.

Mees’ report said that the Ontario Traffic Manual, the provincial guide, says: “Standard crosswalk markings must be provided at all signal and stop-controlled pedestrian crossings.”

She suggested that, “While commemorative crosswalks are created with positive intentions and provide visible public recognition, standard crosswalk markings are intended to promote public safety in a consistent and recognizable manner.”

Photos from the other municipalities show that the Legion crosswalks quickly become faded and lack any impact.

Ron Nelson addressed council on behalf of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 380 in Warkworth and spoke passionately in favour of a greater focus on remembering our veterans. His comments were also extremely anti-LGBTQ and anti-Pride. I won’t repeat them here. You can see them on the council video on its website or YouTube, if interested.

The gist of his comments was that Pride groups receive far more publicity than military members and that should change.

Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf responded to Nelson’s comments. “I have challenges with the focus of your comments. I don’t believe that supporting every individual in Trent Hills is the wrong thing to do.

“I have a small Pride flag in my business. It will stay there. It’s there 365 days a year. I apologize. No, I don’t apologize. I am sorry that you are uncomfortable with me and my business being accepting to everyone.“

Metcalf also said that he supported the Canadian military for its actions over the years but noted that “gay and lesbian members were prosecuted to the highest degree up until very recently.”

“I personally know military members in Canada who were prosecuted for being gay,” he said.

In the end, council agreed to pause the use of commemorative crosswalks and develop a policy for how to recognize groups and individuals.

You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.

Gene Brahaney, who has been a councillor and school board trustee for much of the past 40 years, announced at the Trent Hills council meeting on Tuesday that he won’t run again this fall.

It’s time to step down, he said after the meeting.

Brahaney, 83, has represented Ward 1, northeast of Campbellford. Karen Ulrich is currently the only candidate for that spot.

Mayor Bob Crate thanked Brahaney, a retired dairy farmer and insurance adjuster, for his years of service and his devotion to the local sports scene. Brahaney and his wife can often be seen selling Catch the Ace tickets for the Campbellford Memorial Hospital Foundation’s lottery at Sharpe’s Food Market, or the farmers’ market in Codrington.

He was on council for more than a decade before his defeat in 2014. He was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

Ward 2 Councillor Rob Pope is the only current member of council who has not announced his intention for the upcoming election.

New clerk on hot seat with Warkworth plan

On Tuesday, Mayor Bob Crate welcomed new municipal clerk Jessica Polley to her first council meeting with a big smile.

But then he handed her several tricky agenda items to stickhandle the councillors through as they deferred some decisions, stuck to their guns on a longstanding tough one, and in an usual move had two recorded votes designed to make their individual positions clear on hot topics in this election year.

One of the recorded votes was on a motion to defer a hot potato in Warkworth. In early May, about 75 residents packed a public meeting to hear plans for a 43-unit subdivision on the western edge of the village at 122 Mill Road.

The project involved a plan to sever an existing 3.3 hectare (8 acre) lot, leaving the current home and buildings on a 0.47 lot and use the remaining three hectares for 43 town homes, semi-detached and detached homes.

After a four-hour meeting and lots of opposition, the developers said they would reconsider what they want to build on the lot. They still haven’t decided, but applied to council to move ahead on Tuesday with the severance of the lots. They would both need to be rezoned for residential use before construction.

Councillor Rick English, who represents Warkworth, led the opposition to the severance idea.

“I can’t support this, there are too many unanswered questions,” English said. “We promised people a public meeting on this. I’ve already had a call this morning asking what’s going on.”

Under the Planning Act, no further meeting are needed or possible, Planning Director Jim Peters said. “We’ll need to find a way legally to have a meeting.”

English recommended the severance be deferred and the developers return to council with an updated plan for the site.

“We heard loud and clear from the public,” English said. “This seems kind of sneaky.”

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Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf and Councillor Dennis Savery both agreed that they would prefer to decide on a package, not piecemeal.

The move to defer got caught up in several minutes of confusion and discussion because if council had simply deferred the severance motion that was on the table it could have been construed as a rejection, which a developer can appeal to the province.

In the end, council withdrew the motion to accept the severance plan and asked staff to bring an updated report to its meeting on August 20, the last real meeting for this council as it coasts into the election. Councillor Rob Pope was the only one to vote against the deferral.

Island Park RV told no expansion

Councillors then turned their attention to a project that has been the bane of the planning department for 13 years or more – the Island Park RV Resort, located on Wilson Island in the Trent River.

The entire island is a wetland that would never be developed now, but in the 1960s the RV resort was created. Problems with its septic system led to a lengthy legal battle and negotiations that resulted in the installation of a sewage plant to handle the 201 trailers located on the site.

But once the sewage system was finally in place, owner Jerry Luczynski and his agent Bob Clark came back to council seeking approval to add 10 trailer spots on the grassy area that had been the septic bed since it was no longer needed. The website says each of those lots rents for $4,200 or more per year.

The municipality asked the Lower Trent Conservation Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of the Environment and Northumberland County to comment.

“Seeing as every agency has suggested denial, I don’t think we can go ahead,” Metcalf summed up.

“While the park has existed in some form since the 1960s, it was subsequently expanded by the current owner,” Peters said in a report. That expansion created the sewage problems that ultimately required construction of a treatment plant and an agreement to cap the resort at 201 units.

Island Park was seeking an amendment to the zoning bylaw so that it could expand to 211 units.

Planner Cameron Law said drone photos appear to show at least two trailers already on those lots hooked up to the sewage system with BBQs in place suggesting they are in use. Neither Luczynski nor Clark disputed the evidence that the existing rules were being ignored.

Brahaney was the only councillor to vote to allow the extra units, arguing it was the best way to finally end the lengthy fight.

“Aw, shit,” muttered Clark, consultant for the owner, when the final tally was made and he left the chambers.

You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.

Two more candidates have announced they are running for election this fall in Ward 3, Campbellford.

Viv Smallwood, owner of Viv’s Glass and Screen Shop on Front Street, and Nader Eid, a story coach and owner of Own Your Story, filed their papers on Friday, July 24. They join Sandra Walls as candidates in that ward. She filed her papers a month ago.

Smallwood is also a director of the Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce and a volunteer at the Aron Theatre Co-op.

Eid is providing information about himself and his ideas on his website and planning to hold coffee chats with residents. The first will be Saturday, Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. in the Campbellford Town Square. He also writes a Community Voices column on Substack.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 21 at 2 p.m. and the election will be held on Monday, October 26.

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Three candidates are running in Hastings – Ethan Armit, Bob Crate and current councillor Dennis Savery. Mike Metcalf, currently the deputy mayor, is the sole candidate for mayor and Rick English, currently councillor in Ward 4, Warkworth, is the only one running for deputy mayor.

So far, no one has announced plans to run in Wards 2, currently held by Rob Pope, or Ward 4, now represented by English.

Ten days ago, Karen Ulrich announced her candidacy in Ward 1, which has been represented by Gene Brahaney. She is retired from the Durham Catholic District School Board after 31 years. She was Financial Assistant for the Facility Service Maintenance department and Health and Safety officer Chairperson. She has been working part-time at Rabethge Jewellery Ltd. since the fall of 2023.

Thousands of homes in Northumberland County that don’t have high-speed internet access won’t be helped by the current $120-million broadband project because the federal government has decided their service is good enough, the county says.

The county is spearheading the broadband project that will serve about 11,000 underserved homes, but it acknowledges that about 1,500 homes, including 300 here in Trent Hills, will not be helped.

Many of those residents have received letters urging them to fill out a survey online if they can, or on paper, by this Friday to help the county mount a campaign to extend the service.

Just two weeks ago, the county issued a news release trumpeting the one million metres of conduit and 600 kilometres of fibre-optic cable that has been installed over the past year. In most areas, the project is now focused on hooking homes up to the cable.

But not everyone is included. Some people in the Warkworth area have discovered that their neighbours can connect for free to the internet service that will be provided by the private company Axle Telecom, but they aren’t included.

The letter from Dwayne Campbell, Director of Economic Development, Planning & Strategic Initiatives, says that in 2021 the county identified 13,000 households that were unserved or underserved by high-speed internet. The project that started in 2025 was designed to serve 11,000 of those homes.

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“Since the project was initially designed, about 1,500 of the original 13,000 homes are now considered ineligible to be part of the project,” his letter says. “This is because the federal government has determined these properties have sufficient broadband services. Your property is one of these locations determined to fall outside of current eligibility criteria.”

“This includes 75 out of 300 remaining locations in the Municipality of Trent Hills,” says Communications Director Kate Campbell.

The county’s letter says that while homes may have internet service, it may not be adequate for current needs.

“We understand that even if you do have internet access today, advertised speeds do not always reflect reality for your actual day-to-day household or business experience.”

“The county has since been engaging funders in discussion about a Phase 2 project to cover the remaining 2,000 households and businesses,” Kate Campbell said in an email. “Since the study was originally undertaken in 2021, however, the service landscape has been evolving, and the federal government has recently determined that about 1,500 of these 2,000 locations now have sufficient broadband services.”

The numbers show one thing, we need to show the reality, the county’s letter says. It asks residents to measure and record their actual internet speed so that information can be used to push for more service.

“All of these responses will be used to develop a detailed report to share with provincial and federal funders this fall, to provide a more accurate picture of any connectivity gaps that remain in Northumberland,” Kate Campbell said.

“The county will be sharing this with both elected officials and public servants at both levels of government as part of our ongoing advocacy to make the case for a Phase 2 project – one that includes all of the originally-identified (2,000 remaining) locations,” she said.

“The goal is to ensure rural geography is no longer a barrier to participation in the digital economy,” the county’s news release said. “The county does not consider its work finished until every resident and business can access the high-speed internet they need.”

The federal government contributed $18.4 million and Ontario $45.8 million to the project, the remainder is from the private sector.

Two women have been nominated for spots on Trent Hills council in the October election.

Sandra Walls, who lost to Daniel Giddings in 2022, is running again in Campbellford. Karen Ulrich is a first-time candidate in Ward 1, which is the former Seymour Township. That seat has been held by Gene Brahaney, who has not indicated whether he plans to run again.

Ulrich lives in the hamlet of Trent River, while Walls lives in Campbellford.

Walls is currently Senior Administrative Assistant to the Chief of the Alderville First Nation. She previously worked at Career Edge.

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Walls and Ulrich are the only candidates in their wards. So far no one is running in wards two or four. Current ward two representative Rob Pope has not announced his plans.

Current deputy mayor Mike Metcalf is the only candidate for mayor at this point. Councillor Rick English is running for deputy mayor. The only race is in ward five, Hastings, where current mayor Bob Crate is running against current councillor Dennis Savery and newcomer Ethan Armit.

Other candidates are rumoured to be gauging their support. Candidates have until Monday, Aug. 24 to submit nomination papers for the Oct. 26 election.

You can check the list of candidates on the municipal website.

Twenty-six homes sold in Trent Hills in June with a median price of $547,500.

Sales were up slightly from 24 in May and but were up dramatically from 14 in the same month last year.

Last month, 24 detached homes sold with a median price of $531,500 and two townhouses sold with a median of $593,900. In May, the median price was $628,500, while it was $532,500 in June 2025.

There were 81 new listings in June and 152 active listings. Homes that sold had been on the market an average of 42 days, up from 32 days in May. In comparison, in June 2025 homes that sold has been listed an average of 51 days.

So far this year, 64 homes have sold with a median price of $610,500, an average of 98 per cent of their listed price. In the first six months of 2025, 114 homes sold with a median of $560,500, so sales are down 44 per cent but prices are up 9 per cent.

In all of Northumberland county, 152 homes sold in June with a median of $641,250. For the first half of the year, 618 homes sold with a median of $649,500. In the same period last year, 688 homes sold with a median price of $670,000. So this year sales are down 10 per cent and prices are down 3 per cent.

In its news release providing the latest sales numbers, the Central Lake Association of Realtors said that market conditions vary across the region.

The news release also touched on the politically sensitive topic of development charges that municipalities levy on each new home that is built. The federal and provincial governments have been urging municipalities to cut those fees so that developers can lower home prices.

On June 1, the governments opened up applications for municipalities that cut their development fees to apply for money from an $8.8 billion program.

Municipalities had until June 19 to apply for the funding. They were required to cut fees by 30 to 50 per cent for at least three years.

Trent Hills currently charges builders $23,021 for each detached, or semi-detached unit. The largest part of the fee is the $17,973 that goes toward parks and recreation services.

Trent Hills decided not to apply to join the program, said Chief Administrative Officer Karen Frigault.

“After reviewing the program, the municipality chose not to submit an application,” she said in an email. “Participation would have required the municipality to commit to a significant reduction in residential development charges while competing for a limited pool of infrastructure funding. Staff were not satisfied that participation would provide a clear financial benefit to Trent Hills residents or adequately offset the reduction in development charge revenue.

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“Development charges are an important funding source for growth-related infrastructure. We were not prepared to reduce that revenue source without confidence that doing so would be in the best financial interests of our community and our taxpayers.”

During a recent council meeting, Mayor Bob Crate said he had met with developers who indicated that the current development charges here are lower than they face elsewhere and are not a barrier to home construction.

In its release, the realtors’ association spoke in favour of cuts.

“We commend the municipalities across our region that have taken proactive steps to apply for funding from the new joint provincial and federal program to help offset development charges and support the creation of new housing,” said association CEO Wendy Giroux. “Reducing barriers to new housing is an important step toward improving affordability and increasing housing supply.”

Bonnie Clark, warden of Peterborough County and chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, also supported the program.

“This investment, coupled with the flexibility provided to municipalities, will help communities deliver the housing and infrastructure needed to support growth,” she said. “We look forward to working with our federal and provincial partners to ensure eastern Ontario has the resources needed to build more homes and support sustainable growth.”

You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.