The Ontario government will be providing an additional $17,669,000 in funding for Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

The amount includes $6.5 million in operating funding for 2022-23, an increase of 2.6 per cent over last year, as well as $11,669,000 in operational funding to support 43 new hospital beds.

Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith made the announcement on Tuesday (May 3), part of a series of announcements for hospital funding made by MPPs across the province this week.

According to a media release, the funding is part of an additional provincial investment of $827 million in hospitals across Ontario, representing a four per cent increase from last year and ensuring all publicly funded hospitals receive a minimum two per cent increase to their operating budgets.

“This funding is another landmark investment in our hospital to end hallway health care and deliver better services for our region,” Smith said. “This funding marks a significant investment at Peterborough Regional Health Centre.”

PRHC executive vice president and chief of staff Dr. Lynn Mikula said the funding is “absolutely critical,” as the hospital has operated with more than 40 surge beds in recent years to accommodate an increased number of patients, and as the hospital faces ongoing staff shortages due to the pandemic.

“As a regional hospital, PRHC is already bursting at the seams, with patient volumes at or above 100 per cent of our capacity at any given time,” Mikula said.

“We know that significant growth and expansion will be needed in the years and decades ahead. As the population in Peterborough and the surrounding region continues to grow and age, our programs and services at PRHC must also grow to meet the needs of the communities we serve, and today’s investment is an excellent step in that direction.”

According to the media release, the funding for new beds is part of a capital plan expansion with more than 50 major projects that will add 3,000 new beds over 10 years and support the continuation of over 3,100 acute and post-acute beds in hospitals and alternate health care facilities, and hundreds of new adult, paediatric, and neonatal critical care beds.

This story has been corrected to indicate the $11,669,000 in funding is operational funding to support 43 new hospital beds.

Long-time councillor Doug Elmslie has announced his intention to run for Mayor of the City of Kawartha Lakes in the October 24, 2022 municipal election.

Currently Ward 3 councillor, Elmslie moved to Kawartha Lakes in 2001 and was first elected to council in 2006 in Ward 6.

In a media release, Elmslie says his campaign will focus on improving public services.

“The key areas of concern are waste management, roads and infrastructure, and the landfill crisis,” he says. “It is also time that we prioritize the completion of our secondary plans, so that our housing targets can be achieved. We will continue the downtown improvements in our urban areas, and while focusing on these issues, we will also strengthen our collaboration with our citizen and volunteer groups to help them achieve their goals.”

“We will keep fiscal responsibility and the continuation of our 10-year financial plan at the forefront. The Trails and Active Transportation Plans will be completed and implemented. Ensuring service levels through employee retention and recruitment will continue to be a primary consideration. In addition, we will look to streamline and improve turnaround times for planning, permitting, and building inspections.”

Elmslie is currently the only Kawartha Lakes mayoral candidate. Last fall, Lindsay lawyer Jason Ward had announced his intention to run for mayor, but withdrew in March after citing personal health and family reasons.

Long-time Monaghan Ward councillor Henry Clarke will be running for Mayor of Peterborough in the October 24, 2022 municipal election.

A media release states Clarke will file his nomination on Thursday morning (May 5).

He will formally launch his campaign that evening at the Peterborough Lions Community Centre at 347 Burnham Street in East City.

Clarke is the second person to declare an intention to run for mayor. In March, Northcrest Ward Stephen Wright also announced he would be seeking the office. Incumbent mayor Diane Therrien announced in November she would not be seeking a second term.

Clarke was first elected as Monaghan Ward councillor in 1998 and was subsequently re-elected five times. He was deputy mayor from 2004 until 2018, and was also chair of the city’s finance committee from 2007 until 2018.

A lifelong Peterborough resident, Clarke lived in East City as a child where he attended King George School. After graduating from Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, he studied history at Trent University and joined the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment of the Canadian Army in 1971, retiring as its commanding officer in 1997.

After briefly working in banking, he joined Quaker Oats in 1976 where he worked until his retirement in 2019.

Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien will be making a special proclamation outside city hall at 11 a.m. on Wednesday (May 4) in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the sport of lacrosse in Nogojiwanong-Peterborough. A new flag celebrating the anniversary will be unveiled.

Lacrosse is the oldest organized sport in North America, with the original version of the game played by Indigenous peoples for hundreds of years before European settlers adopted it and modified it.

The Indigenous game consisted of teams of hundreds of men on fields several kilometres long and often lasted for days. While Indigenous peoples had different names for the game — including baggataway and deyhontsigwa’ehs (“they bump hips”) and tewaarathon (“little brother of war”) — for all of them it served important spiritual, medicinal, social, and political purposes and was considered a gift from the Creator.

In 1637, French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf described entire villages playing each other in games of what he called “la crosse” (“the stick”). By 1860, lacrosse had become the national game of European settlers in Canada and in 1867 exhibition games were played in England. In 1876, a lacrosse game was played in front of Queen Victoria, who reportedly said “The game is very pretty to watch.”

The first game of lacrosse in Nogojiwanong-Peterborough was played in the spring of 1872 by the Peterborough Red Stockings, using rules published in 1860 by lacrosse advocate and dentist William George Beers. Five years later, Peterborough won its first championship. Since then, Peterborough has won 29 junior and senior national titles and more than 150 provincial titles including minor lacrosse.

A local committee headed by Tim Barrie, former championship goaltender and inductee into the 1998 Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame, revealed the 150th anniversary logo earlier this year and announced a series of events coinciding with the 2022 lacrosse season.

The season has already begun with the recreational league the Boro Boys, youth field lacrosse, and junior teams preparing to take the field before the Century 21 Lakers senior team plays their first game, a home game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre, on Thursday, June 2nd at 8 p.m. against the Cobourg Kodiaks.

The Lakers will be seeking their fourth consecutive national championship after a two-year absence of Major Series Lacrosse play due to the pandemic. The team will celebrate the 150th anniversary with a special ceremony at every home game.

For Lacrosse Day in Peterborough on Saturday, June 18th, all six Major Series Lacrosse teams will play in a triple-header at Peterborough Memorial Centre. The Brooklin Lacrosse Club will take on the Cobourg Nissan Kodiaks at 1 p.m., Oakville Rock will play against Owen Sound Lacrosse at 4 p.m., and the Lakers will challenge the Six Nations Chiefs at 7 p.m.

The Ontario government is providing the Peterborough Police Service with more than $2.9 million over three years, with most of the funding going to support the police service’s special victims unit.

Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith made the announcement at the Peterborough police station on Monday morning (May 2).

“This funding will bring significant support to victims of crime — helping them heal and bring criminals to justice,” Smith said.

Peterborough police will use most of the $2,947,380 grant for its special victims unit, which will focus on investigating crimes related to human trafficking, child exploitation and sexual abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence, and sexual violence and harassment.

The funding will also be used for a new major crime investigator to assist with unit’s investigations and projects, a situation table coordinator to assist the police service’s community development and engagement coordinator, assist with the service’s data analysts, and provide advanced training courses for officers.

“The funding allows the service to work on more proactive projects, provides advanced training courses, allows officers in the major crime unit to work on investigating overdose deaths which may lead to more positive outcomes for for our community and more connections to our victims services unit for victims of crime,” said Inspector John Lyons of the Peterborough Police Service.

The funding is part of the province’s $267 million Community Safety and Policing Grant Program, announced last November.

A total of 90 police service boards across Ontario are receiving funding under the program for 147 public safety initiatives focusing on local and provincial priorities such as gun and gang violence, sexual violence and harassment, human trafficking, mental health and addictions, and hate-motivated crime.

Police services will be required to report twice a year on the financial activities and outcomes of their initiatives.

With just three weeks to go before the opening of the summer season at Riverview Park and Zoo in Peterborough, staff have discovered the zoo’s much-loved miniature train has been damaged by vandals.

In a Facebook post on Saturday morning (April 30), zoo manager and curator Jim Moloney said vandals broke into the train tunnel — where the train was being stored over the winter.

Along with damaging the train, the vandals stole the train’s signature brass bell.

“In addition to the cost of repair/replacement, thoughtless acts like this really have a negative impact on our team of dedicated and passionate staff,” Moloney said.

The zoo has also been subject to other acts of vandalism in March, which have been reported to police. It is not known if the train was vandalized and the bell stolen during that time.

The popular miniature train ride runs during the zoo’s summer season, which begins on the Victoria Day weekend. Until the extent of the damage to the train has been evaluated, it’s not clear whether the train ride will be ready for the beginning of the summer season.

The zoo is asking anyone with information about the vandalism or the theft of the bell to contact Peterborough Police at 705-876-1122 x555. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.stopcrimehere.ca.

If you want to donate to the zoo to help them with the cost of repairs or to replace the bell, visit forms.riverviewparkandzoo.ca/Donations.

Riverview Park and Zoo is Peterborough’s largest park and Canada’s only free-admission, CAZA-accredited zoo.

Established in 1974 by James Hamilton, the miniature train ride features a miniature replica of an 1860 locomotive (nicknamed “Rosco”). Last fall, the zoo began a $300,000 fundraising campaign to replace the aging locomotive by 2023, and raised almost $20,000 in 2021.