Community leaders from the local economic development, business, and political realms were treated Tuesday morning (April 23) to the world according to Bonnie Clark.
More specifically, her world, that being Peterborough County and, by extension, the eight townships located within its close to 3,800 square kilometres.
The Warden’s Breakfast, held at the McCloskey International Great Hall in the Peterborough County Agricultural Heritage Building at Keene’s Lang Pioneer Village Museum, saw Warden Clark share her insights and views on a number of regional issues and related challenges before a packed room.
Hosted by the Peterborough and Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce, Warden Clark — who is also the vice-chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus — fielded questions posed by Chamber president and CEO Sarah Budd.
Their 45-minute sit-down covered a wide range of topics, including affordable housing, physician recruitment, and the dissolving of Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) and what that means moving forward.
Speaking to the latter, Budd noted that the concern, from a Chamber perspective, is a possible duplication of services offered by the County and the City of Peterborough — services that have been provided for both municipalities by PKED for many years.
“When a door closes, there’s always another one that opens,” said Warden Clark, adding with the PKED contract expiring at the end of this year, there’s “time to get things in place.”
“We have two great staff who have their fingers in economic development and tourism. We’re going to work with our eight municipalities, many of which have economic development officers. It will be a collaboration.”
“And we will work together with the city. We’ve always said what’s good for the county, is good for the city, and vice versa. That doesn’t mean we’re going to have joint operations, but it does mean there are certain areas we can collaborate on.”
“We’re on the brink of looking at something new and different.”
Meanwhile, Warden Clark also touched on the years-long back-and-forth between the County and the City when it comes to the provision of serviceable employment lands — her response no doubt catching the attention of Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal who was in the audience.
“The county and the (township) municipalities are working together … our CAOs meet routinely around this issue,” she said. “There’s one common misunderstanding out there, and that is that we have huge amounts of employment land bordering the city. Municipalities do not own land. We don’t have huge acreages (of land).”
“However, in saying that, we’re looking at communal servicing. We’re certainly looking to work with the city. If there is an opportunity — employment land that is close to being serviced — that is not being turned down. I look at (Mayor Leal) here and say ‘Come on with an offer. We’re here and ready to go’.’
Prior to Warden Clark taking to the stage, Peterborough County’s physician recruiter Lori Richey provided an update on the formidable challenge of attracting new doctors to the region.
Richey said that, according to Ontario College of Family Physician estimates, more than 33,000 people in the city and county don’t have access to primary care, with that number expected to double in five to eight years.
While acknowledging that major challenge, and encouraging residents to let their MPs and MPPs hear loud and clear that help is needed from senior levels of government to reduce the shortfall in doctors, Warden Clark pointed to an equally pressing deficit of early childhood educators and a lack of licensed daycare spaces.
“Our early childhood educators are, in my opinion, not paid enough,” Warden Clark said. “It’s a fact if children go to an early childhood setting, the outcomes are better. The graduation from high school stats are better. It’s important for us to invest in and recognize those professionals.”
“There are two ends of it. We’d don’t have enough spaces and we don’t have the people in early childhood care to fill those spots to look after our children. If we have any municipal spots that we can think of, we should open them up.”
“I feel we should have it as part of our schools from the get-go. It’s an investment that pays off. But again, we’re not looking at the front end. We’re only looking at the back end.”
Meanwhile, on the new housing front, Warden Clark had a couple of points to make.
“When the municipality gives land (for housing), that is not considered a credit,” she said. “When you go out and apply for those mortgages, there’s a checklist and you get points for that. If we’re contributing land that the taxpayer has already paid for, we should get points for that. That’s one thing I think is going to be changing.”
“The other thing is the fact that, where there is a surplus of schools that the taxpayer has paid for, those should be given to municipalities to develop houses. We should not have to pay for them. They’ve already been paid for by taxpayers.”
Along with Richey, other speakers that preceded Warden Clark were Meredith Staveley-Watson, manager of government relations and policy for the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, and Tariq Qurashi of Enbridge, the event’s presenting sponsor.
While Bonnie Clark became Peterborough County Warden in December 2022 — just the third woman to hold that position — her career in public service began more than 20 years ago as a township councillor for the former Otonabee Township. She has served as deputy mayor of the amalgamated Otonabee-South Monaghan Township, and as a member of county council since 2018.
In 2023, Clark was acclaimed vice-chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus. She previously served as chair of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority and the Peterborough Housing Corporation.
Away from politics, Warden Clark is part of a proud farming family where presently the sixth generation lives and works on the family poultry farm. Prior to entering politics, she had a career in the health care industry as a registered nurse for 28 years.
