Two upcoming debates in Peterborough in advance of the February 27th provincial election will focus on two important issues in the community: housing and homelessness and the economy.

The United Way of Peterborough & District, One City Peterborough, the Research for Social Change Lab at Trent University, and All Saints’ Anglican Church have partnered to host an all-candidates debate on homelessness from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday (February 12) at All Saints’ Anglican Church at 235 Rubidge Street in Peterborough.

According to a media release from the United Way, all registered candidates in the Peterborough-Kawartha electoral district have been invited to participate.

“The issue of homelessness and the ravages it has on those experiencing it, cries out for — indeed demands — leadership, in particular political leadership,” says United Way CEO Jim Russell in the release. “We are keen to hear how these candidates will lead our community in ensuring safe affordable, supportive housing for all. It is critical that all candidates of each respective political party speak directly to this crisis.”

So far, the candidates for the Peterborough-Kawartha riding who have registered with Elections Ontario are Jen Deck of the Ontario NDP, Lucas Graham of the Green Party of Ontario, Adam Hopkins of the Ontario Liberal Party, and incumbent Dave Smith of the PC Party of Ontario. Other candidates may still be announced, as nominations are open until 2 p.m. on Thursday (February 13).

The February 12th debate will also be livestreamed on the All Saints’ YouTube channel. Questions will be sent in advance to all of the participating candidates, and there will also be an an opportunity for community members to ask questions, both in-person and virtually, during the debate.

As for the economy, the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Peterborough and the Kawarthas Home Builders Association, Central Lakes Association of Realtors, the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area, Peterborough and District Construction Association, and YourTV to host an all-candidates debate on business issues from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 18th at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre at 140 Charlotte Street in Peterborough.

“Businesses in our community are facing significant economic challenges, making it essential for our elected leaders to understand both the repercussions and the opportunities that come with them,” says the chamber’s interim president and CEO Gail Moorhouse in a media release.

Everyone is welcome to attend the debate, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Questions can be submitted in advance by emailing Joel Wiebe at the chamber at joel@pkchamber.ca. Written question submissions will also be available at the event, which will be recorded and aired on YourTV.

Prior to the February 18th debate, the chamber and its partners (except for YourTV) are also hosting a “Coffee with the Candidates” event from 9 to 10 a.m. on Thursday (February 13) at Lakefield Community Centre at 20 Concession Street in Lakefield. Everyone is welcome to attend. Editor’s note: This event has been rescheduled due to inclement weather. It now takes place on Thursday, February 20 at the same location and time.

Election day is Thursday, February 27. Elections Ontario will release voting location information after Friday (February 14).

In August 2024, Premier Doug Ford said Ontario would not be adopting the federal electoral boundary changes for the next provincial election, so the existing riding boundaries will remain the same, including for Peterborough-Kawartha. However, the new riding boundaries will be in effect for the next federal election, expected this spring.

Peterborough native Michelle McLeod has chalked up another award in her acting career.

Now based in Toronto, the actor will be in Los Angeles on February 22 when the cast of the Hulu and Disney+ series How to Die Alone will receive the Independent Spirit Award for ensemble cast in a new scripted series.

Produced by Onyx Collective, a Disney content brand that produces projects created by people of colour and from underrepresented communities, How to Die Alone stars Natasha Rothwell — best known as spa manager Belinda in the first season of HBO’s The White Lotus — as Mel, a down-on-her-luck Black woman working at JFK airport who decides to take control of her life and begins a journey of self-empowerment and personal transformation after a near-death experience.

McLeod stars in the series as Patty, Mel’s co-worker and nemesis.

This is the second Independent Spirit Award for an ensemble cast that has included McLeod. In 2022, Sarah Polley’s film Women Talking received the Robert Altman Award, which is presented to a film’s ensemble cast, director, and casting director.

In that film, McLeod plays Mejal, one of a group of eight women in an American Mennonite colony who discuss their future following their discovery of the men’s history of raping the colony’s women. The film is based on Canadian author Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name, which was inspired by real-life experiences of more than 130 women who were drugged, raped, and gaslighted by men in an ultraconservative Bolivian Mennonite colony between 2005 and 2009.

Women Talking received a total of 151 award nominations and 57 wins, including the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and the Screen Actors Guild Awards award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.

McLeod began her acting career in Peterborough when she was eight years old, participating in her first St. James Players community play. She went on to take various roles in several St. James Players musicals and Peterborough Theatre Guild productions, where she won theatre awards from both groups.

“My daughter grew up in the Peterborough theatre community,” her father Greg McLeod told kawarthaNOW in 2017. “She still says director Shirley Rolufs gave her first big break (at 11 years old) when she cast her in the St. James Players production of The Music Man.”

McLeod continued to act in Peterborough until she was accepted into the theatre studies at the University of Guelph. After graduating, she went on to complete the film and television program at Humber College, and is also a graduate of Second City’s Conservatory program.

She appeared in commercials and on the web and also produced her own improv shows in Toronto’s comedy community before landing her breakout role in the 2017 feel-good movie Don’t Talk to Irene, starring alongside Bruce Gray, Geena Davis, Scott Thompson, and Anastasia Phillips.

The film went on to win both the Comedy Vanguard Award and Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, the Audience Choice at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, the Galet d’Or at the 5th Canadian film festival of Dieppe, France, and the best feature and best writing in a feature Canadian Comedy Awards.

As for How to Die Alone, it’s not all good news for the show’s creator Natasha Rothwell and the rest of the cast.

VIDEO: Michelle McLeod speaks about “How To Die Alone” creator Natasha Rothwell

Despite the series’ critical success (it has a 91 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has three pending nominations for NAACP Image Awards in addition to the Independent Spirit Award win), Onyx Collective announced on Tuesday (February 4) that the show has been cancelled after one season, ostensibly due to low viewership.

In a statement to Variety, Rothwell said she was “shocked, heartbroken and frankly, baffled” by the decision, but it hoping to continue the series on another streaming platform.

“This show took me eight years to bring to life, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in that time, it’s resilience,” Rothwell said. “I’m not giving up. My team and I are committed to finding ‘How to Die Alone’ a new home because stories like this matter.”

“Now more than ever, television that amplifies previously unheard voices, and that prioritizes hiring and casting decisions that accurately reflect the diversity of the world, is essential. Representation isn’t just about visibility — it’s about ensuring that our stories, our existence and our cultural contributions are not erased.”

YWCA Peterborough Haliburton has announced the end of its community food initiative, the Nourish Project, effective March 31, due to inadequate funding.

The idea for the Nourish Project developed out of the Peterborough Community Food Network when its members decided there was a need to address the gaps in food access, production, consumption, and knowledge in the city and county of Peterborough.

With its decades of experience in food literacy and advocacy from supporting women and children fleeing gender-based violence, the YWCA received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2012 for a two-year research project, supported by partners Peterborough Public Health, Community Opportunity and Innovation Network, Peterborough Centre for Social Innovation, the Community Garden Network, Fleming College, the City of Peterborough, and the Social Planning Council.

The ambitious vision of the Nourish Project was to establish places for food in the City of Peterborough, in each township in Peterborough County, and in First Nations communities, with each place including space and tools for learning about food, such as a community kitchen, rooms for workshops, and a gathering space, as well as other options such as farmers’ markets, community gardens, greenhouses, or public outdoor brick ovens.

Since then, the Nourish Project has worked with volunteers and community partners including Peterborough Public Health and Peterborough GreenUP to grow access to healthy and locally produced food, food literacy, and food advocacy and civic engagement. Nourish and its partners have focused on the four pillars of eating, cooking, growing, and advocacy with programs that created spaces where people felt they belonged.

In 2017, the Nourish Project received a grant of $749,900 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and was able to expand with programs in Havelock, Lakefield, and Curve Lake First Nation. The Nourish Project has also received grants in the past from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough and United Way Peterborough & District, and the YWCA’s annual “Empty Bowls” fundraiser has also generated funds to support the project.

However, according to the YWCA, over the past four years inadequate funding has reduced the Nourish Project to just three initiatives: supporting community gardens, operating the Curve Lake Community Market, and providing monthly JustFood boxes.

The continued lack of stable, annualized funding has led the YWCA Peterborough Haliburton to a decision to end the Nourish Project as of March 31, according to a media release from the organization.

“The success of the Nourish Project is a result of the vision, passion and expertise of the Nourish team members, the community partners, and volunteers who contributed in-kind resources and expertise, local donors and funders, and the program participants who helped us all learn and grow over the years,” says the YWCA’s executive director Kim Dolan in the release.

“We know the growing gap between income and rising costs for basic needs is creating more food insecurity in our communities. To assist other organizations in their food action initiatives, the YWCA has distributed Nourish Project resources, reports, and program information to a number of community partners to support their efforts.”

The decision to end the Nourish Project also means that proceeds from this year’s Empty Bowls fundraiser on February 21 will instead be used to support food insecurity programs at One City and Kawartha Food Share — a decision the YWCA made after consulting with the Kawartha Potters Guild, which has donated bowls every year to the fundraiser.

“We are truly grateful to donors who have supported the Nourish Project, the potters and woodturners who have crafted hundreds of bowls, and the local restaurants who have shared delicious food,” says the YWCA’s director of philanthropy Tina Thornton.

As the YWCA winds down the Nourish Project, the organization says program participants will receive information and referrals to other community food initiatives, and anyone who has Nourish Dollars can call the YWCA for information about how to redeem them.