A few days after the new Canadian Canoe Museum opened its doors on the shores of Little Lake and an international houseboat rental company launched its new base on the Otonabee River, a hit Canadian-made television show for boating enthusiasts has named Peterborough and the Kawarthas the inaugural winner of its “destination of the year” award.

Steven J. Bull, an award-winning broadcaster and comedian and executive producer and host of Water Ways, made the announcement on Wednesday (May 15).

“Peterborough and the Kawarthas caught our eye in 2024 by welcoming the newest base for world’s largest fleet of luxury houseboats, Le Boat, while also opening the stunning new waterfront Canadian Canoe Museum which houses the world’s largest collection of paddled watercraft,” Bull said in a media release.

“These incredible boat-based attractions add to the already storied history of the region which features the world’s highest hydraulic lift lock and some of the most beautiful and popular waters along the entire 9,500 kilometre-long Great Loop,” Bull added. “This certainly sets the bar high.”

The annual Water Ways Destination of the Year award recognizes communities for bringing world-class boating experiences to locals and visitors from around the world. As the first-ever winner of the award, Peterborough and the Kawarthas will have an entire episode dedicated to its waterways in the series’ third season, Water Ways: Ontario, coming in September.

“Ontario is a fitting launch for our slate of new regional shows — with Florida and the Pacific Northwest planned for 2025 — and will celebrate destinations from Toronto to Temiskaming, and experiences from wakesurfing to walleye fishing, yachting to kayaking,” Bull said.

VIDEO: “Peterborough” – Water Ways

Debuting in 2022, Water Ways is a boating and lifestyle program designed specifically with boaters in mind. The first season featured the Trent-Severn Waterway, including an episode dedicated to Peterborough. The second season debuted on Global TV in Canada last fall, and is also available on America’s Boating Channel and Sportsman Channel Canada.

“This recognition appropriately celebrates Peterborough and the Kawarthas’ thriving boating culture, which has for decades motivated locals and visitors alike to take to its waters to explore the region’s natural beauty and wealth of recreational opportunities on offer,” said Ontario minister of tourism, sport, and culture Neil Lumsden.

“I am proud that Waters Ways: Ontario will showcase the best boating destinations across our province and the small business owners and operators that continue to connect us to the water, benefiting local economies and reinforcing Ontario’s reputation as a choice destination for endless adventure.”

Rick Layzell, CEO of the Boating Ontario Association, said he is also looking forward to the new season of Water Ways.

“Water Ways: Ontario is set to shine a positive light on the exceptional recreational boating opportunities across our incredible province,” Layzell noted. “Boating Ontario members have a ground floor opportunity to engage with this new series and benefit from the anticipated consumer engagement.”

Joe Rees, director of tourism with Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development, said it is “truly an honour” for the region to receive the inaugural Water Ways award.

“As the official destination marketing organization for the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County, our team works diligently to position the waterway and recreational boating at the heart of our story,” Rees explained. “2024 is an incredible year for Peterborough and the Kawarthas and this recognition couldn’t have arrived at a more celebratory moment for our sought-after destination.”

The 18th edition of Jukebox Mania has raised $40,000 for Community Counselling Resource Centre (CCRC).

The Peterborough-based organization’s largest fundraiser returned as an in-person event on Friday night (May 10) at The Venue in downtown Peterborough, hosted by Megan Murphy and featuring a friendly name-that-tune trivia competition as well as an online auction.

A total of 35 teams participated, with Lyrical Labourers taking the top prize, followed by TrentU Trivializers cCambium & Tennille.

“We were so thrilled to see so many people back in person this year,” says CCRC’s executive director Kirsten Armbrust in a media release. “Thank you to all of our sponsors, donors, and participants for making JBM 2024 fabulous. We are looking forward to seeing you all again next year.”

Of the $40,000 raised from the event, $20,500 is net revenue that will directly support CCRC’s programs and services.

CCRC provides professional counselling for individuals, couples, and groups, and housing support for anyone who is homeless or at risk of losing their housing.

The Peterborough & the Kawarthas Home Builders Association (PKHBA) has joined the growing chorus of those objecting to Fleming College’s recent decision to cancel 29 programs.

On Monday (May 13), PKHBA president Jennifer Hurd and executive officer Rebecca Schillemat sent a letter to Fleming College board chair Don Gillespie and president Maureen Adamson expressing their “deep concern” about the impact of the program suspensions on the building industry in Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes, and urging the college to reconsider the decision.

PKHBA, which represents over 115 member companies comprising builders, renovators, tradespeople, and industry professionals, states that over half of the suspended programs support the residential construction industry.

“PKHBA is appalled and concerned about this decision due to the repercussions of losing these programs,” the letter reads. “This decision will affect our community in many ways: teachers lose their jobs; students go further away to get their education and may not settle back in the Kawarthas; the industry must attract talent from outside our area; and our municipalities lose the economic benefits of a thriving college.”

PKHBA is especially concerned about the cancellation of the Heavy Equipment Techniques program. The organization says over 24,000 housing units are being planned in Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough over the next decade, all of which will need heavy equipment operators to move soils for both greenfield and infill developments.

“The Heavy Equipment Techniques program at Fleming College has been instrumental in launching countless graduates into successful careers within the field,” Hurd and Schillemat write. “Notably, it has served as a vital pathway for students from Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNC), Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB), and Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPR) to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for employment in the heavy equipment industry.”

“Suspending the Heavy Equipment Techniques program not only deprives current and prospective students of valuable educational opportunities but also creates a significant inconvenience for those who now must travel long distances to access similar training,” the letter reads.

“Given the pressing need for skilled workers in this specialty, the discontinuation of the program is both surprising and concerning.”

PKHBA has sent a copy of their letter to Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, Premier Doug Ford, and Minister of College and Universities Jill Dunlop. The complete letter can be viewed below.

PDF: PKHBA Letter to Fleming College (May 13, 2024)

From the soccer pitch to the pool, Tessa Scates has gained confidence and made new friends by participating in sports in Peterborough.

Scates, 27, along with 19 other athletes, are warming up for the Special Olympics Ontario Spring Games, which run from May 23 to 26 in Waterloo at Wildred Laurier University.

Peterborough will be sending three teams from 10-pin bowling, basketball, and swimming to the upcoming games, which have been long awaited for athletes after the 2020 Spring Games in Waterloo were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The athletes are pumped to participate in their respective events, Jenn Scates, Tessa’s mom and manager of the Peterborough swim team, told kawarthaNOW.

“Our goal for the athletes is to (number one) have fun and (number two) do their best,” Scates said. “Our hope is they enjoy the experience and understand that hard work pays off.”

As the swim team manager, Scates takes care of team expenses, organizes pool rentals, and helps organize the team’s connection to the community by participating in different events.

Tessa is a distance swimmer and specializes in 200-metre freestyle, 100-metre freestyle, and the 50-metre backstroke. She made her debut with Special Olympics about 10 years playing soccer.

“The coach on the soccer team asked Tessa what she was doing in the winter and invited Tessa to swim on the Thursday swim team. Tessa has been a swimmer ever since,” Scates said.

For her daughter, the Special Olympics experience has had a positive impact.

“Special Olympics has helped Tessa with her confidence and has helped her develop friendships. She is driven to try as hard as she can. She has learned to be a teammate,” Scates added.

Wilfrid Laurier University welcomes athletes, coaches, staff, volunteers and spectators to the Waterloo campus for the event. Hosted by Waterloo Region Police Services, the Spring Games celebrate the achievements of Special Olympics athletes in Ontario.

Laurier is an official Games partner. Laurier residences will serve as the athletes’ village, while the athletic complex will host select basketball and swimming events. More than 750 athletes will be competing in five sports, including basketball, swimming, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, and 10-pin bowling.

“We are thrilled to host the exceptional athletes of the Special Olympics Ontario Spring Games on our Waterloo campus,” said Deborah MacLatchy, Laurier president and vice-chancellor, in a media release. “Laurier is proud to be a part of supporting an inclusive and thriving community.”

Scates said the Peterborough team members have been training all winter in anticipation of the Spring Games.

Here are the Peterborough athletes headed to the games:

• 10-pin bowling: Michael Biroux, Crystal Cochrane
• Basketball: Kacee Quinlan, Candiance Bushie, Jesse Campbell, Mark Crowder, Hannah Goode, Kristin Lackey, Max Lagrous, Cotton Nancarrow
• Swimming: Jasmine Davis, Miriam McHugh, Gillian McHugh, Merecedes Laking, Lisa Butler, Steve Caban (nominee for the Peterborough Hall of Fame), Breanne MacKenzie, Dominic Wickham, Tessa Scates, Nick Gardner.

It was the happiest of McHappy Days to date for Five Counties Children’s Centre.

The children’s treatment centre, which serves kids and youth with special needs in Peterborough, Northumberland, and Haliburton counties and City of Kawartha Lakes, is celebrating the amount raised during the recent fundraiser in Northumberland County.

Held last Wednesday (May 8) at the McDonald’s locations in Port Hope and Cobourg, McHappy Day raised $30,000 for two charities, including Five Counties Children’s Centre.

It’s the best result ever locally for the annual event. Every year, McDonald’s restaurants across Canada support local children’s charities by collecting donations and dedicating a portion of sales on McHappy Day.

Bill Eekhof, spokesperson for Five Counties Children’s Centre, shared with kawarthaNOW his thoughts on why the event was an unprecedented success.

“I think it was a combination of things,” Eekhof said.

“We were able to spread the word ahead of McHappy Day and on the actual day we had tremendous support from our volunteers, families, community partners and (Lisa Wilson, owner and operator of the two McDonald’s) and her entire McDonald’s team.

“I think something even more important is that we are fortunate to live in a very generous and supportive community,” Eekhof continued. “Despite how expensive everything seems to be these days, people still saw value in supporting two important kids’ charities in their community — Five Counties and Ronald McDonald House Charities — and came through in a big way.”

For this McHappy Day, three-quarters of the money raised in Cobourg and Port Hope — about $22,500 — will go to support the “Building Abilities for Life Campaign” at Five Counties Children’s Centre. The campaign helps to cover high-demand services like speech and occupational therapies at Five Counties, ensuring more kids can get the care they need in a timely manner, the children’s centre noted.

The remaining McHappy Day proceeds — around $7,500 — will go to support Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides out-of-town families with a place to stay while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital.

“McHappy Day was an amazing success, and we want to thank the incredible generosity of everyone who came out to support our kids,” said Scott Pepin, CEO of Five Counties, in a media release.

“We had wonderful support from our staff, volunteers, kids, families, partners, and supporters on McHappy Day. We also want to thank Lisa and her entire team at McDonald’s for selecting Five Counties to be the local charity to benefit from McHappy Day. The McDonald’s team members were gracious and enthusiastic hosts for the event.”

Meanwhile, Wilson said she is also “overwhelmed” by the results of McHappy Day.

“Every year, we look forward to McHappy Day, and once again our amazing communities in Port Hope and Cobourg have come through to show their support,” Wilson stated. “What a successful day, and we are so pleased to know that these funds will help Five Counties bring much needed treatment services to children and families in Northumberland County.”

Many supporters and organizations participated in McHappy Day. Those who took part included Five Counties families, staff, board members and volunteers, as well as representatives from Port Hope Police, Cobourg Police Service, Port Hope Fire Department, Cobourg Fire Department, Trinity College School, Bewdley Lions Club, area high school students, and many local residents.

Five Counties Children’s Centre has supported children and youth with physical, developmental and communications needs for nearly 50 years. Last year, Five Counties provided treatment services for more than 1,615 children and youth in Northumberland County.

In total, across its entire region, more than 6,200 children and youth benefited last year from the centre’s programs, which include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and other treatment services.

There was no opportunity for discussion about a motion by Town Ward councillor Joy Lachica on the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment plan at Peterborough city council’s general committee meeting on Monday night (May 13), after councillor and committee chair Andrew Beamer ruled the motion out of order and six of the 11 committee members supported his ruling.

Lachica’s motion had proposed that council be granted final approval authority for the controversial $4.4 million redevelopment plan, which includes the installation of 16 pickleball courts, an expanded skate park, a bike pump track, and an 80-vehicle parking lot.

A group of neighbourhood residents are concerned about the noise impact that the pickleball complex will have on their quality of life, the loss of their neighbourhood greenspace, and what they claim was a flawed process in terms of notification that the park was being considered for redevelopment and what the scope of the plan was.

“The redevelopment project for Bonnerworth Park has generated significant concern over the loss of greenspace, its impacts on current park users, and its compatibility with surrounding residential neighbourhoods,” Lachica’s motion states, adding “the city has acknowledged that the public engagement process for the redevelopment of Bonnerworth Park could have been improved and been more inclusive of park neighbours.”

Lachica’s motion requested that city staff provide a report to council for approval that includes the recommended site plan, final technical studies (for traffic and parking, noise, stormwater management, and geotechnical items), a record of the input of stakeholder and community consultation on these studies as well as the final draft plan, a list of revisions made to the technical studies and the changes to the draft site plan as reflected in the site plan, and the assigned budget apportioned for each aspect of the work to be contracted for construction.

At city council’s April 8th meeting, a motion by Lachica to delay the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment plan for further consideration and consultation lost in an 8-3 vote, clearing the way for the project to proceed in the hands of city staff with no further council oversight. Only councillors Lachica, Alex Bierk, and Keith Riel voted in favour of delaying the project.

At the May 13th meeting, a premonition that something was going to happen came with Beamer’s introduction of Lachica’s motion, which is printed in its entirety below.

“You can read your notice of motion and I will make a ruling, but you go ahead and read it,” Beamer said.

After Lachica read the motion, Beamer said he was making a ruling that “the motion in my opinion is contrary to the direction previously provided by council.”

“Council has debated this project and has voted to proceed,” Beamer said, adding that council has already voted to give staff direction to proceed and to establish a budget for the project.

“Once the chair rules a motion out of order, there is no debate. However, councillor Lachica, you can challenge the chair if you would like.”

Lachica was then offered the opportunity to “procedurally tell the council why she is challenging the chair,” which would followed by a vote on the challenge.

On a point of information, Bierk asked Beamer for a further explanation of the ruling and Beamer replied, “I have made my comments, councillor Bierk,” before yielding the floor to Lachica.

“I don’t feel that there are grounds for this to be ruled out of order based on our procedural by-law,” Lachica began. “By no means is this a motion to rescind or to reconsider. It’s not asking for a pause, nor is it proposing a different redevelopment plan. This is a brand new motion, scaffolded upon the current approval and current direction of council on the existing Bonnerworth redevelopment plan, of the 16 pickleball courts and 80 parking spots.”

Lachica said council will not know the results of the final technical studies or the site plan unless they come back to council for review and approval.

“How is this responsible? How is this respecting our residents, our users, our taxpayers? For this to remain only with staff, and not reviewed by elected decision makers, is problematic. It’s our duty to listen, to learn, and be open to recommendations of the studies.”

“This new motion is calling for the site plan and the studies to come back to council, in order for us to responsibly authorize and budget for the work ahead. Will it cost more than expected for sound and lighting mitigation? If so, this is crucial to inform our upcoming budget talks. If 16 courts —”

At this point, councillor Lesley Parnell interrupted Lachica on a point of order.

“Mister chair, I do believe we are getting off the procedural reason for your ruling, sir, and getting into debate.”

Lachica replied that she had five minutes to speak, but Beamer said that did not apply to the procedural challenge, at which point Lachica asked if she “could finish my sentence.”

“If 16 courts were to be installed 50 metres from any of our own homes, we would want to know the measures that were in place to assuage our fear and our uncertainty of a new normal,” she continued. “If this is the will of council to see the site plan and technical studies before work commences, a motion to request this is absolutely in order.”

After Lachica finished, Beamer said “I see the hands in the air,” referring to members of the public in the gallery showing their support for Lachica, before asking for a motion on his ruling to be put to a vote. An affirmative vote would support Beamer’s ruling that Lachica’s motion is out of order.

On a point of order, Lachica requested a verbal vote in addition to a recorded electronic vote.

“It’ll be in the minutes,” Beamer said.

“It will be in the minutes, but sometimes it disappears very quickly,” Lachica replied, referring to the display of the electronic vote on monitors.

“I don’t think we have that in our procedure right now, councillor Lachica, but this will be a recorded vote that everyone in the community will see, and it will be on the website, and it will be in our minutes — in three weeks.”

Courtesy of media coverage of council, you don’t have to wait three weeks to find out how councillors voted.

The motion to support the chair’s ruling was carried 6-5, with Mayor Jeff Leal and councillors Beamer, Gary Baldwin, Don Vassiliadis, Kevin Duguay, and Parnell voting in favour, and councillors Lachica, Bierk, Keith Riel, Dave Haacke, and Matt Crowley voting against the chair’s ruling.

Notice of Motion – Bonnerworth Site Plan

WHEREAS, the Bonnerworth redevelopment project is multi-faceted in scope and has implications for a wide range of park users, neighbourhood residents, and the environment;

WHEREAS, the redevelopment project for Bonnerworth Park has generated significant concern over the loss of greenspace, its impacts on current park users, and its compatibility with surrounding residential neighbourhoods;

WHEREAS, the city has acknowledged that the public engagement process for the redevelopment of Bonnerworth Park could have been improved and been more inclusive of park neighbours;

WHEREAS, the City’s Strategic Plan promotes a corporate culture of transparency, engagement and openness, collaboration, and partnership;

WHEREAS, the City can foster public trust and confidence by adapting the current approval process for Bonnerworth Park;

WHEREAS, it is the fiduciary duty of members of Council to ensure that budget-approved resources are safely and responsibly applied to any approval of the redevelopment plan;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

That Council be granted final approval authority for the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment plan after being provided with the following via a Report of the Commissioner which includes:

a) the recommended site plan
b) the final technical studies identified in the Invitation to Tender, for traffic and parking, noise, stormwater management, and geotechnical
c) a record of the input of stakeholder and community consultation, including First Nations engagement, on these studies as well as on the final draft plan
d) a list of revisions made to the technical studies and the changes to the draft site plan as reflected in the site plan presented for Council approval
e) the assigned budget apportioned for each aspect of the work to be contracted for construction.

Cobourg police have announced a new initiative to reclaim abandoned shopping carts.

In collaboration with local businesses and apartment complexes, the “Cart Reclaim Project” will see shopping carts left on properties, other than the retail locations to which they belong, collected and returned to their owners.

“We are taking action to ensure that our streets, parks, and properties remain clean and safe for everyone to enjoy,” reads a media release from the Cobourg Police Service. “This initiative not only helps to beautify our community but also prevents potential hazards these carts can cause when left unattended.”

Police are encouraging Cobourg residents to report any abandoned shopping carts they encounter by calling the Cobourg Police Service at 905-372-6821 or emailing Sergeant Janice MacDonald at janice.macdonald@cobourgpolice.com.

“Your vigilance and cooperation are vital to the success of this project,” the release states.

The collection of abandoned shopping carts is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 18th. Police are asking property owners who have abandoned shopping carts on their premises to ensure they are ready for collection by that date.