Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh returned to Peterborough on Tuesday afternoon (May 31), two days before the Ontario election, to once again show his support for provincial Peterborough-Kawartha NDP candidate Jen Deck.

Singh’s return visit came almost three weeks to the day when he was aggressively accosted by a small group of protesters outside Deck’s campaign office in downtown Peterborough. The protesters’ treatment of Singh made national headlines and was roundly condemned.

Singh and Deck, along with NDP supporters and local media, gathered in front of the Peterborough Lift Lock. The event was originally scheduled to take place under the Hunter Street bridge, but was moved as a precaution after word of the original location leaked out. Two Peterborough police officers were also present in the background during the event, at the request of the local NDP.

A small group of invited supporters applauded Singh after he arrived at the Parks Canada property.

“I’m excited to be back in Peterborough,” Singh said, to more applause and cheers, before showing his support for Deck. “I know the people of Peterborough will be better served by New Democrats. We’ve shown it time and time again: when people are down and out, when they need help, New Democrats have been there for them.”

“New Democrats are the ones people are turning to for hope. They’re turning to New Democrats to lift them up, and here in Peterborough they’re turning to Jen Deck,” he added.

VIDEO: Jen Deck welcomes Jagmeet Singh back to Peterborough

After making an Indigenous land acknowledgement and noting the approaching one-year anniversary of the discovery of burial sites of Indigenous children at former residential schools, Deck addressed what happened during Singh’s previous visit.

“I really want to thank you for coming to Peterborough,” she told Singh. “I can tell you that the people of Peterborough-Kawartha were shocked and embarrassed at what took place outside of the office when you came.”

Deck pointed out that no-one is immune from the kind of hate that was on display during Singh’s previous visit.

“Even the most progressive and thoughtful and well-educated person carries within them internalized racism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, sexism — you name it,” Deck said. “We all carry that as a legacy of the world that we’ve grown up in. If we cannot acknowledge that there is hate within every single one of us, I don’t think we can truly address the issues that we’re really struggling with.”

Deck said she has spoken to many people who have expressed upset and outrage about what happened during Singh’s earlier visit, adding “I would like to think it has shaken us out of our complacency.”

After speaking with supporters, Singh then held a media conference and took questions.

VIDEO: Jagmeet Singh comments on his first visit to Peterborough

“I’ve had many great experiences in Peterborough, so I wasn’t going to let one isolated incident in any way discourage me from coming back,” he said. “Jen Deck and the team wanted me to come back and I wanted to come back myself, so it was both of those things.”

Singh went on to say the NDP is offering solutions to address the housing crisis, home affordability, and investments in health care.

“Jen is going to be a strong voice for you in Queen’s Park. I’ll continue to fight for you at the federal level.”

Singh mentioned NDP provincial leader Andrea Horwath’s plan for mental health coverage under OHIP, working with the federal NDP on a national dental care program to bring in a provincial one as well, as well as a pharmacare program.

When asked if he was aware Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien and city council resolved on Monday night to invite him back to Peterborough, Singh said he was “honoured.”

“First of all, I accept — of course — the invitation,” Singh said. “I will definitely be back. I hope we get a chance to meet with more folks from Peterborough and the Kawartha area, get to hear their concerns, chat with them, and let them know I’m here to listen and her to fight for the solutions that you need, to fight to get you the help that you need. And that’s what you can count on, not just with me as leader but with Jen as your local representative.”

Singh’s stop in Peterborough, which was only announced earlier today, came as the federal leader was on his way to Ottawa to support provincial Ottawa Centre NDP candidate Joel Harden. Earlier in the day, he was in Oshawa for the ground-breaking of Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park, named after former long-time federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent who also attended that event.

Singh said he was happy to be in Peterborough again to support Deck and to meet with volunteers, and he had some words of praise for Peterborough.

“It’s very beautiful,” Singh said, gesturing towards the Peterborough Lift Lock. “I think you all are very lucky to have such a beautiful city — not just the canal and the infrastructure behind me, but the large downtown core. There’s lots of food shops. I actually stopped by a vegetarian restaurant, of which there’s a couple in the city, which is quite exciting.”

Singh also had praise for Deck.

“Jen is an incredible communicator,” he said. “If you’ve ever spoken to Jen, she really cares about people, hears their concerns.”

Singh returned to the May 11 incident in response to a reporter’s question.

“What happened when I was first here, in terms of the folks that were in front of the office, that’s not representative of Peterborough,” Singh said. “There are people that are genuinely frustrated and angry, and I think we have to listen to that frustration. People are upset about a lot of things — it’s hard to get by, things are harder and harder to afford — I think these are some of the frustrations.”

“But some of the folks there were anti-public health folks that don’t believe in some of the public health measures that we need to take. And they’re entitled to their position, but they don’t represent Peterborough.”

Singh expressed concerns about the “toxicity” in behaviour and language intended to harass or intimidate people — particularly its impact on those who may be considering going into politics.

“I worry about what that says to maybe to a new politician or a young person who wants to be a leader, and to people that are marginalized,” he said. “Women are often not represented in politics the way they should be. I worry that those type of intimidating and harassing events will discourage young people.”

“I’m not going to be discouraged, but it shouldn’t be that you have to be a martial artist or trained in being able to fight to be able to be comfortable in the public sphere.”

It should be noted that Singh is himself a trained martial artist. He was bullied as a child and began training to defend himself, later winning the Toronto championships in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“People should be able to protest, to dissent, but it should not come to the point where someone is going to be intimidated or harassed or afraid to come forward because they don’t want to deal with that,” Singh said. “That to me is an eroding of our democracy, and something that I worry about.”

Branches and brush from the May 21st storm that are piled on residential boulevards in the City of Peterborough will be removed by city crews, but it may take at least another month before this happens.

At the Peterborough city council meeting on Monday night (May 30), council directed the city to allocate resources and equipment to manage and remove green waste debris from private property.

However, that work will begin after the city has removed storm debris from city-owned property. including right-of-ways, streets, sidewalks, trails, and parks.

The city estimates it may be four to six weeks before green waste debris can be collected from residential boulevards. Council is asking residents to remain patient while the city manages resources for the clean-up effort.

To assist residents cleaning up their properties, city council also decided to waive the fees for disposal of tree branches and brush at the Peterborough landfill on Bensfort Road until June 30. Previously, there was a fee of $7 for 100 kilograms or less of green waste, or $95 per tonne for an entire load.

The city has also opened a fee-free temporary drop-off site at 425 Kennedy Road where residents can dispose of tree branches and brush.

Kawartha Lakes Food Source recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its own brand of salsa, a social enterprise that has produced more than 6,000 jars of salsa since it launched on May 20, 2021.

Proceeds from the sale of the salsa help offset operating expenses such as rent for the non-profit organization, which procures and distributes food to 35 local agencies and delivers food literacy programs.

According to Kawartha Lakes Food Source executive director Heather Kirby, the organization hopes the social enteprise will help the organization be “financially resilient in the midst of any future economic uncertainty.”

“The project will be an ongoing, self-sustaining source of revenue that compliments our regular fundraising efforts,” Kirby says. “Diversifying our streams of income is a priority for our team as a way of mitigating risk and ensuring we can always be relied on by our member agencies and our community during times of need.”

The idea to produce a food product began with an online poll in early 2020, when Kawartha Lakes Food Source asked members of the community what type of food product produced by the organization they would be most interested in purchasing. Move than 70 per cent of respondents voted for salsa.

The organization then worked on recipe development, marketing assessments, and regulatory compliance. The final salsa recipe was developed in collaboration with George Brown College’s Food Innovation and Research Studio, with the salsa produced by Kawartha Lakes Food Source staff and volunteers alongside employees of the Ontario Agri-Food Venture Centre.

The salsa was originally launched at seven retail locations in Kawartha Lakes — Reid’s Valu-Mart (422 Russell St. W., Lindsay), Farmers Butcher Shop (3 Commerce Place, Lindsay), Mariposa Woolen Mill (1275 Highway 7, Oakwood), Fresh FueLL (172 Angeline St. N., Lindsay), and Burns Bulk Food (118 Kent St. W., Lindsay) — where it continues to be available.

Locations have since expanded to eight other retailers in Kawartha Lakes and the Peterborough area, including Bigley’s Shoes and Clothing (39 Bolton St., Bobcaygeon), Craftworks and Antiques at the Barn (124 Lindsay Rd., Selwyn), Living Local Marketplace (1179 Chemong Rd., Peterborough), The Food Shop (374 Water St., Peterborough), Sobeys Fenelon Falls (15 Lindsay St., Fenelon Falls), Foodland Coboconk (6708 Highway 35, Coboconk), Foodland Havelock (38 Ottawa St. W., Havelock), and The Kawartha Living Store (1475 Highway 7A, Bethany).

The salsa will also be available for sale at pop-up locations including regional farmers’ markets.

In 2021, Kawartha Lakes Food Source received the Not for Profit Excellence award from the Lindsay and District Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, visit kawarthalakesfoodsource.com/salsa.

Peterborough police are investigating after three puppies were stolen from a home on Saturday afternoon (May 28).

At around 1:15 p.m., officers were called to the home in the area of High Street and Brown Street in Peterborough.

Upon arriving, officers learned a woman had entered the home and left with two male and one female American Bulldog mix puppies.

The puppies were described to police as a brindle male puppy with a white patch on his chest, a white male puppy with brown ears and brown around his eyes, and a female puppy with a brindle back, white chest, and white stripe between her eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call Peterborough Police Crime Line at 705-876-1122 x555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at stopcrimehere.ca.

Peterborough police are searching for a male suspect after $19,000 of necklaces, watches, and cash was stolen from a jewellery store in Lansdowne Place Mall on Monday morning (May 30).

At around 6 a.m. on Monday, officers were called to the mall after an alarm went off. After arriving, police learned a man has broken into the mall and then into the jewellery store.

The man stole 83 silver necklaces (several with intricate detailing), 19 men’s and women’s Citizen brand watches, and $200 in cash, with a total value of around $19,000.

The suspect was last spotted heading eastbound on Lansdowne Street on a bicycle.

He is described as wearing a black sweater with red and white lettering, grey pants, a black face covering, black shoes, a black hat, and a backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to call Peterborough Police Crime Line at 705-876-1122 x555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at stopcrimehere.ca.

Robert Gibson is a 33-year-old graduate of Trent University’s Environmental Science Studies program. He currently works as a janitor and, thanks to the high cost of housing, lives with his parents just like so many others in his peer group.

Compared to his competitors for Peterborough-Kawartha MPP, you could be forgiven for thinking Gibson’s resume is slight and his life experiences minimal. What you may not know is that he lives on the autism spectrum and has overcome barriers others need not ever consider in order to stand for public office. This gives Gibson a kind of seriousness that belies his seemingly limited experience.

“As someone with lived experience with low support needs,” Gibson told me, “I can be better informed about policy and if a certain policy is as effective as it could be.”

Indeed, watching Gibson perform at two debates, it occurred to me that forcing all our candidates to squeeze their answers to often very difficult questions into 30 seconds is not just senseless, it’s also deeply unfair to anyone who might have a speech or cognitive limitation. Thoughtful solutions to tough problems can come from just about anywhere, but they might not come at all if people with differences are continually forced to conform to ableist rules.

Without the artificial time constraints of a debate, Gibson and I had a relaxed conversation over Zoom. I wanted to get a better understanding of who he is, what he’s passionate about, who influenced him growing up, and why he decided to run for public office.

As I’ve said in other profiles, it was also important for me to be sure to centre the concerns of kawarthaNOW readers in my questions about party policy. To get a sense of what’s on your minds, kawarthaNOW published a poll that asked you to rank 11 issues of concern, as well as to tell us what we may have missed. With that in mind, what follows is our lightly edited (for length and clarity) conversation.

Justin Sutton: We know you earned a degree in Environmental Science Studies, and you’ve written about environmental issues, but what else motivates you?

Robert Gibson: I’m interested in improving society at large and I know that the housing crisis is huge. I have an interest in municipal relationships — that’s something I’ve written about along with environmental issues. Relationships between municipal and provincial governments. I was also a student until the pandemic started. I graduated right at the same time, so I know the value of community groups and how integral students are to informing discussions.

I am primarily focused on the environment because I do think it touches on everything, not just climate change. It also influences housing. For example, if people’s houses flood, that impacts rent prices. I’m young myself and I want to be able to afford a place of my own one day. Transparency in government decisions and public participation is definitely one area I’m worried about.

JS: Could you tell me about your influences? Who along the way has impacted the way you see the world, and your interests?

RG: Definitely my teachers in elementary and secondary school. I had a high school class in science which put me on a path to environmental studies. Groups like the Ontario Public Interest Research Group that highlights social inequalities. Definitely college professors, and I have to say my parents.

I started watching the news regularly at an early age and saw how people were being impacted as a result of climate change, including the city of Peterborough. I was camping with Scouts at the time of the 2004 Peterborough flood and when my parents picked me up, they told me about the flood. I watched the news coverage at the time and that’s how I started to get a sense of different issues. Before the campaign I was involved with the Arthur Newspaper (Trent University’s student newspaper), and I learned a lot from them.

JS: Have any other experiences along the way influenced you and the way you see the world?

RG: I do live on the autism spectrum, so I have faced some barriers. I’ve overcome a lot of them, but there’s still some stigmatization around autism as well as mental illness. I saw a display once at the Ontario Science Centre that talked about how garbage stays preserved for thousands of years because of the lack of oxygen when garbage is packed tightly in a dump, so I have learned from museum displays. I’ve also learned from the REDress Project about missing and murdered Indigenous women, so I’ve learned from arts and cultural educational displays as well as from personal experience being on the autism spectrum.

JS: Did your personal experience living on the autism spectrum inform your choice to enter politics? For example, has overcoming the barriers you’ve faced made you want to actively help others do the same?

RG: I know that I can be an inspiration to someone else who is on the autism spectrum, but I don’t want it to be a highlight. It’s definitely not the main reason why I chose to run but it is included in the decision-making process to a limited extent.

JS: In addition to wanting to know more about who you are, I wanted to centre this interview on the concerns of our readers. We published a survey that asked our readers to rank 11 broad issues. We also asked them to tell us if we missed anything. As I’ve said to the other candidates, our savvy readers quickly pointed out that ranking broad, interconnected issues is nearly impossible.

So, accepting that our results are imperfect because of that limitation, the number one issue of concern to 27 per cent of survey respondents is healthcare. Several respondents linked their concerns to Bill 124, which limits wage increases for nurses, nurse practitioners, and other health-care professionals. Others suggested mental healthcare should be a central feature of our healthcare system, not an add-on. Can you tell me about the Green Party’s plan?

RG: The Green Party’s plan includes repealing Bill 124 because nurses should be paid fairly, and collective bargaining is an important process to retain. Right now there’s a shortage of healthcare professionals. We also want the role of chief medical officer of health turned into an ombudsman — a legislative officer — because healthcare shouldn’t be a political issue. There should be regular reporting on how healthcare can be improved.

Supportive housing is also important, and 10 per cent of Green Party budget would go directly towards mental health. There should also be an inquiry into how the government handled the pandemic so that we can better learn how to prepare for the future. ODSP should definitely be doubled.

JS: Do you see the doubling of ODSP as related to healthcare?

RG: Yes, I do because health, environment, and income are all part of the determinants of health. If you can’t afford safe shelter, then that’s a problem, which is why the Green Party supports prescriptions for housing.

JS: Climate change/environment was chosen by 20 per cent of respondents as their second ranked issue of concern. I think we’ve covered that issue quite extensively in our coverage of the environmental debate at Trent University, so I’ll ask you about housing, which 15 per cent of our readers are deeply anxious about. From your perspective, why is housing top of mind for so many and how would a Green government respond?

RG: It’s concerning because people are having a challenging time getting into the market as first-time home buyers. The housing that is being built is spread out, contributing to urban sprawl and climate change. Forty percent of greenhouse gasses come from buildings.

I’m currently living at home with my parents and I hope to live on my own, but with rent ever-increasing it’s a challenge to find employment that will allow me to stay connected to my family and the community which I’ve grown to love and participate in. Something that isn’t discussed enough is that housing impacts employment. Workers need somewhere to live; if there’s nowhere to live, it’s hard to attract workers.

The Green Party believes that homes should be for people, not speculators. That’s why anyone who owns three properties or more would face additional taxes, and there would be a vacancy tax to discourage people from buying a property and leaving it empty. We want to change the planning act to encourage building duplexes, triplexes, tiny homes, and other forms of housing. Province-wide we would build 60,000 affordable, supportive units, which works out to be 480 units within Peterborough-Kawartha. Freezing urban boundaries to limit the amount of urban sprawl is also important as low-density housing is not affordable for municipal governments.

JS: When we asked our readers to tell us what issues we left off of our list, by far the biggest issue of concern to our readers is the seeming rise of political polarization. We saw what happened to the federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh when he visited Peterborough on May 10. How will you, if elected to represent Peterborough-Kawartha, help to ease seemingly entrenched polarization?

RG: Early on the campaign one person phoned me and opened up the conversation by swearing at me. I definitely haven’t experienced it as badly as other candidates; partly that’s because I’m a white male, but I do know that it’s an important issue to address. It’s happening to city councillors and federal politicians, racialized individuals and women especially.

I think it’s more complex than just being pandemic related, (but) it’s definitely unacceptable behaviour. People sometimes brush these things under the rug. They don’t address it with their friends, but we have to have tough conversations with our friends and families because I think it starts at the micro level and builds up. It’s important that all political parties come together after the election to discuss solutions.

JS: Let’s end on a light-hearted note. How do you keep yourself well in the context of spending so much time thinking through important issues like the ones we’ve just discussed? Do you have a practice or a guilty pleasure you enjoy? What do you do to maintain good mental health?

RG: My guilty pleasure is Pokémon GO. I also look forward to Dr. Who and other sci-fi shows. Those are the two pleasures I turn to.

VIDEO: Robert Gibson responds to May 21, 2022 storm