Peterborough County Warden Bonnie Clark provided the equivalent of a state-of-the-union address Tuesday morning (September 30) before a gathering of economic development, business, and community leaders.
The second annual Warden’s Breakfast, sponsored by Enbridge in partnership with the county, was held in the McCloskey International Great Hall in the Peterborough County Agricultural Heritage Building at Keene’s Lang Pioneer Village Museum.
Hosted by the Peterborough and Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce, the main event saw Warden Clark, who is also the current chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, field questions posed by chamber president and CEO Brenda Whitehead.
During their 40-minute interaction, the warden shared her thoughts on a number on a number of challenges and issues as they pertain to the county proper, as well as its eight municipalities.
Back in April 2024, during the inaugural Warden’s Breakfast, the then-pending dissolution of Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development, which provided services to the county, was on the mind of many in the audience who wondered just the county would pivot to provide those services.
On Tuesday, Warden Clark noted the county has since “looked at economic development in a couple of different ways, and has picked priorities.”
“The first one is agriculture. We’ve looked at how we can support, how we can expand, whether it’s food hubs, the overall volume of what is being produced, looking at institutional, looking at restaurants, that kind of thing. Also looking at the agritourism business. It is global and certainly something I think we can expand.”
“Around businesses, our philosophy is to support the businesses we have, first and foremost. It has been hard with the tariffs and going through COVID, and they are a priority. We have a website around economic development that you can follow and reach out for support there. But, in saying that, I don’t think we’re ever going to have a mega manufacturing sector when you look at the lay of the land.”
Key, said Warden Clark, is investment in transportation corridors “to make sure the county is connected.”
“We’re going to need hydro. We’re going to need natural gas. We have to look at our infrastructure. Our water and wastewater — we need a huge investment in that. Hopefully the province steps forward again. We know that Selwyn needs an upgrade of its water system. Cavan-Monaghan got a nice start, but water systems cost a lot. We need a lot of investment, so we’ll be lobbying the (provincial) government hard.”
“But when you get growth, you also get the social side — the need to be able to have young families be able to work. We have a huge waiting list for daycare. There are so many spin-offs involving growth that we have to be very cognizant of and invest wisely.”
Warden Clark also touched on the creation of employment lands: property that already has infrastructure in place to accommodate businesses looking to locate here.
“The county is working with the city (of Peterborough). We’ve always been at the table talking about that. But in saying that, we’re doing our own employment land survey, looking at what we have here in the county. We know there’s a lot of interest in Cavan-Monaghan. There are also opportunities on the Chemong Road commercial corridor. But you do need water and waste (systems) capacity. It takes a long time to put that into the ground.”
“But we are looking at standing on our own two feet, developing our own lands. We can’t wait until that survey is completed because, with the growth plan the province has put out, there are opportunities.”
When the discussion turned to the formation and adoption of a new official plan for the county, Warden Clark expressed some frustration over the delay in that process.
“I can’t tell you what the hold-up is, but I can tell you what the hold-up isn’t and that’s the county,” she said, drawing laughter and hearty applause.
“It was rush, rush, rush to get our official plan done by June of 2022 and we met that deadline, then the province changed it to the provincial planning statement,” she said, referring to the Ontario government’s October 2024 province-wide land use planning policy framework, intended to provide municipalities with the tools and flexibility to build more homes through their official plans.
“That made changes to our official plan. If we had adopted (our official plan), it would have been redundant. We went to the (provincial) minister (Paul Calandra) and asked ‘Do we really have to do this whole thing all over? Can’t we take some sections out?'”
Minister Calandra, says Warden Clark, subsequently approved what is termed a “red line approach” — a process which facilitates the revision of some sections as opposed to a wholesale start-to-finish revision of the entire plan.
“In saying that, our planning department has been working day and night. We had to have public consultations yet again. That takes time. Now we are hopeful — I’m being very optimistic — that by January 2026 it does go through. We are assured it is on the (minister’s) desk. It’s not on the bottom of the pile. It’s on the top. Our red line entries have been accepted.”
Meanwhile, with curbside blue box pickup set to end come January 1st for businesses, institutions, and service points, Warden Clark said the county has lobbied the province hard on that pending change.
“One of the things the province has moved on is multi-residential units — they were going to not pick up recyclables from those. The other thing we’re pushing strong on, especially for rural Ontario, is the fact that recycling (collection companies) can’t pick up from businesses and residences with the same vehicle, which is asinine. You talk about a carbon footprint.”
“Each municipality in the county, as well as the county, has written letters (to the province). We’ve weighed in when there has been calls from the province around our position on this. We will keep pushing. We know that every landfill in Ontario has less than a decade of life. This is just filling those landfills. This is not what we want and we will not move on that (position).”
Other talking points centred around family physician recruitment efforts and increasing tourism to Peterborough County. The latter saw Warden Clark give a shout-out to kawarthaNOW for “a great partnership” which to date has seen the digital media platform publish 23 of 25 “The Local Advantage” stories promoting county businesses and attractions.
As for the county’s ongoing relationship with the City of Peterborough, the ever-optimistic warden refuted any perception the county and city are working less closely together to the detriment of the region. Quite the opposite, she said.
“County council has a very good relationship with city council. We work closely on physician recruitment. There’s the summer job fair for students that the city and the county hosted. We do many things together. I’m thinking of social services, the paramedics the county takes care of for the city and the county, and our waste management. We’re both looking at employment lands. The press (media) likes drama, but there are things happening behind the scenes that people don’t see.”
Prior to Warden Clark’s time on stage, Jason St. Pierre, the CEO of the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN), took to the podium to share progress made in terms of a challenge that has faced rural Ontario for years in the form of cell and internet service connectivity issues.
“There were large gaps across Eastern Ontario and there was no plan to try and close those gaps,” he said.
“The EOWC (Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus) reached to the EORN and tasked us to begin doing the work; doing analysis and creating a business plan. In 2020, the provincial government agreed to the plan and supported that.”
The goal, said St. Pierre, is 99 per cent coverage in Eastern Ontario, including Peterborough County, for people to make and receive voice calls. In addition, 95 per cent of people will be able to receive standard definition services — web browsing, email, online banking, social media access — where they “work, live, and travel.” In addition, 85 per cent of people will receive high-definition coverage, which allows for video conferencing, Zoom calls, streaming and other “intensive applications.”
But such extension of services doesn’t come cheap — addressing the Eastern Ontario cell gap project alone estimated to cost $300 million. The federal and provincial governments are investing $71 million each, with another $10 million coming from the EWOC and the Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus, along with $681,000 from Peterborough County and $564,000 from the City of Peterborough. Rogers, meanwhile, is making a minimum investment of $150 million.
“Broadband networks are no longer a distant promise — they are here, and they’re transforming how we live, work, and connect,” said St. Pierre.
Following the event, Warden Clark told kawarthaNOW that gatherings like this allow her “the opportunity to let people know what we’re working on, and that we’re here to receive input. We’re here as vessels to listen to who we serve, and that is our constituents. We need to hear from them.”
“As a county, we’re creatures of the province. We talked about recycling and how we’re not happy with the way that’s being handled. Tariffs are certainly affecting our businesses, so we’re cognizant of that and how we can support our businesses.”
Over the next year — Clark’s last year in the role of warden — “a laundry list” of issues, both ongoing and new, will require debate and action.
“I feel we have pushed the ball forward and have momentum. I feel we’re gaining. We’re gaining for everyone, for our communities, and that’s fulfilling.”
At the end of the Warden’s Breakfast, Lifloc Holsteins (Thom and Krista Murray and family) was recognized as the 2025 Peterborough County Farm Family of the Year. The annual award is sponsored by the Peterborough County Federation of Agriculture and the Peterborough and Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
