Birthday reflections
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond as Trent Hills needs millions for the new hospital
Trent Hills News is about to celebrate its second birthday – on Friday, Dec. 12 – so I thought it was a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned from following council about what our community is going to face over the next few years.
Since that first story about council setting the budget and tax increase for 2024, I’ve written 291 stories and seen readership rise to 848 subscribers with 164 of those paid. That’s about 20 per cent, very high by industry standards, which I think reflects how interested people are in community coverage and their recognition that in future they’ll need to pay for someone to do this work.
During the past two years I have read thousands of pages of reports and agendas, since most council agendas run 150-200 pages and county council’s agendas are even larger. And listened to dozens of meetings, in person and online.
Before I started, I wasn’t planning or expecting to cover county council’s actions but once I was paying closer attention to events and issues it became clear that we need to know what the county is up to. Or in the case of our possible new bridge, not up to.
Housing decline
Last week, I wrote a story about the downturn in housing construction in Trent Hills. I didn’t highlight the fact that we’re not alone. This is one major factor that council and this community will have to face in 2026 and beyond. This decline is across Ontario and especially the Greater Toronto and Golden Horseshoe areas.
A report released on Monday by the University of Ottawa’s Missing Middle Initiative shows that in that entire area construction has slowed and so have pre-sales, which means further cuts are coming.
“Over the first nine months of 2025, relative to 2021-24 averages, pre-construction condo apartment sales are down 89 per cent, and pre-construction ground-oriented sales are down 65 per cent,” the group wrote on Substack.
When it looked across this entire region, the areas closest to us, Peterborough and Oshawa, including Clarington and Whitby, ranked among the worst performers, so it’s no surprise that this trouble has spread into Trent Hills.
This negative economic factor will be a continuing problem and a continuing story over the next several years.
Hospital challenge
The other big cultural and economic story in our municipality is the work underway to build a new hospital. Premier Doug Ford announced the $2.5 million planning grant last May that kickstarted the process that will transform the community.
Hospital leaders hope to have the new facility open in seven years -- 2032 -- or even sooner. The full Campus of Care plan, which will include a new, larger long-term care home from Omni Quality Living and other services, will represent more than $600 million in infrastructure investment over the next decade, the hospital foundation says. The centre will employ about 500 people, 40 per cent more than now.
Where will they live? you ask. Good question, see above.
The province pays 90 per cent of the cost of the new hospital building but doesn’t pay for any equipment. (I know, this system makes no sense to me either since a hospital is useless without equipment, but we’re stuck with it.) The community and local taxpayers have to make up the rest, which could be up to $90 million. The estimate of the community share is one of many things now being determined by the hospital team.
If you want an idea of what the new facility will look like, and want to get excited about its arrival, John Russell, executive director of the Campbellford Memorial Hospital Foundation, recommends taking a look at a YouTube video showing the new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby.
That new facility which opened a week ago was announced in 2018. The province contributed about $250 million for the hospital which has 55 beds and six birthing suites. It is the first new hospital in Ontario to include all single-patient rooms with private washrooms.
Our new hospital will be located on the Curle farm land on the west side of Campbellford. It will require municipal action to sever and rezone the property and millions of dollars to extend sewer and water services to the site. So far council has not discussed those needs, at least not in public.
We haven’t seen the draft budget for 2026 yet, but I think it should include a special hospital levy to raise at least $2 million a year over the next 10 years, as the municipal contribution to construction. If it doesn’t my first question will be why not since the new hospital and its financial requirement has been on the horizon for years.
The next council elected in November will need a vision for the community and how it will support the long-awaited hospital. The mayor and councillors will need to be champions and fundraisers to help the campaign reach its challenging financial goal. The mayor will have to push Northumberland County to make a healthy contribution, especially if it rejects our new bridge. Politicians in the southern end of the county do not seem disposed to help us out.
Council will also need a vision for how the communities in Trent Hills will grow over the next decade or so. Every time a development proposal in Hastings comes to council it attracts residents who don’t want that village to change.
And while major subdivisions are on hold we are seeing a lot of rural severances and home construction. Those homes are changing the look and feel of our rural areas but I’ve not heard any real discussion of what that will mean if the trend continues for another 20 years.
Also, recently I wrote about a downscaled plan for a Warkworth subdivision that was cut from a proposed 60 units to nine over water supply issues. I was left wondering what the impact would have been on the community if the original proposal had gone ahead. What would an additional 120 or 150 people have meant for the small village that has no grocery store or gas station?
The election next fall will select a council that will need to face all these questions and more. From a news junkie’s perspective, it’s a great time to be reporting. I expect to have at least 100 new stories for you by this time next year.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories anytime on the website.
We are fortunate to have you reporting on news from within our community Art, and the subscription price is really only pennies for us per issue. Doubling your paid numbers would help to keep you doing what you’re doing - come on people, support your local fish wrapper/rag!!
First off, “Happy 2nd Birthday.” As others have pointed out, your valued writings are informative and serve the community as the basis for observations and opinions. To that end, but not to dampen the celebratory vibe, I’m going to take exception to what I feel is an unjust commentary. “Every time a development proposal in Hastings comes to council it attracts residents who don’t want that village to change.” My rewording/editing would be along the lines of: “Every time a development proposal in Hastings comes to council it attracts residents who feel common sense issues, such as lack of parking and responsible planning for the future are set aside and overshadowed by the gleam and greed of higher tax revenues.” Merry Christmas to all.