The Women’s Business Network of Peterborough (WBN) has donated $5,632.35 to the YWCA Peterborough Haliburton in support of the organization’s programs and safe spaces for women and children fleeing gender-based violence.

The funds were raised in December at WBN’s annual holiday gala, which included an online auction open to the public and a silent auction available to WBN members during the gala.

For more than 30 years, WBN has supported YWCA Peterborough Haliburton, including through its annual holiday gala.

“We couldn’t be more grateful to the WBN and to all of their members who donated so generously to make this event such a success,” said Tina Thornton, YWCA Peterborough Haliburton’s philanthropy director, in a media release. “Their support is making a difference in the lives of those experiencing gender-based violence.”

YWCA Peterborough Haliburton operates the Crossroads Shelter in Peterborough, the Support Team for Abuse Response Today (START) program, the Transitional Housing and Outreach program, the Family Court Support program, the Women’s Well-Being counselling and peer support program, and provides basic necessities and food for women and children staying in safe spaces.

WBN is a networking organization for women in the Peterborough area who want to enhance and expand their business contacts and grow their businesses, including through monthly member meetings from September to June. For more information, visit wbnptbo.ca.

While the weather outside is frightful, members of a student fraternity in Peterborough will camp outdoors for 48 hours with the goal of drawing attention to the pressing need for affordable housing in the community.

Volunteers from the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) student fraternity will once again be camping out in the parking lot of the Venture North building in downtown Peterborough from February 7 to 9, when they will be collecting donations for Habitat for Humanity Peterborough & Kawartha Region (Habitat for Humanity PKR).

Proceeds from the 14th annual “TKE in a Box” fundraiser will specifically support Habitat for Humanity PKR’s efforts to provide individuals and families with opportunities for affordable homeownership. Donations will also be accepted online at give-can.keela.co/tke-in-a-box.

“For the past 13 years, TKE in a Box has been a tradition for our fraternity, bringing us together with the community to raise both awareness and funds for local charities in Peterborough,” said TKE chapter president Benjamin Hofmann in a media release.

“As the housing crisis continues to impact so many in Peterborough, it’s vital to support organizations like Habitat for Humanity PKR that provide affordable housing for families and individuals in need of stability. We’re hoping to raise over $5,000 to highlight the importance of addressing the lack of affordable housing in our community.”

Over the years, TKE in a Box has supported various local organizations, including One City Peterborough and One Roof. This year marks the fourth consecutive year it has partnered with Habitat for Humanity PKR.

Holly O’Connor, Habitat for Humanity PKR’s communications and marketing manager, said the organization is grateful to once again be the recipient of the fundraiser.

“We’re thrilled to partner with TKE again for this impactful event that takes place right in our downtown core,” O’Connor said.

“The last two years we’ve received over 400 calls from families in our community seeking affordable housing — a clear reminder of the urgent need for safe, decent and affordable homes in Peterborough.”

O’Connor told kawarthaNOW it would be “amazing” if the group hit its $5,000 target.

“But, even more than that, I hope the community comes out to visit, cheer them on, and really take the opportunity to connect with why affordable housing matters. At Habitat for Humanity PKR, we rely so much on community support, whether it’s advocacy, financial donations, volunteering, or gifts-in-kind from local businesses. That support is what keeps us building,” O’Connor said.

“Investing in affordable homes is investing in a stronger, more stable Peterborough and Kawartha Region. And the more people who are invested in our mission, the more we can actually build, and that means more families gaining the stability and opportunity that comes with affordable homeownership,” she explained.

Money raised from TKE in a Box will directly support Habitat for Humanity PKR’s efforts to build more affordable housing across the Peterborough and Kawartha Region. One upcoming initiative includes a multi-unit condo project that could provide up to 41 affordable homeownership opportunities for local families and individuals, including seniors and single parents.

Habitat for Humanity PKR provides local families and individuals with a “hand-up” into affordable homeownership, with no down payment and geared-to-income mortgage payments.

With Habitat’s assistance, the organization said homeowners “can achieve the stability, strength, and self-reliance they need to build better lives and are empowered to overcome the barriers that so often stand between their families and healthier, more financially stable futures.”

As for Tau Kappa Epsilon, the Peterborough chapter strives to help male-identifying students from Fleming College and Trent University improve and become better men for a better world.

The City of Peterborough has confirmed that Canadian Flight Academy will be a tenant at the Peterborough Airport, but not everyone is happy about it.

According to a media release from the city, the flight school will begin construction of a new facility at the airport this year. When the facility is operational, it will generate 50 jobs and an estimated $20 million in gross domestic product.

“Attracting this tenant, which is a significant established employer, is another major milestone for the airport,” Peterborough Mayor Leal says in the release.

“The Peterborough Regional Airport is much more than transportation infrastructure — it’s a significant employment centre for the broader Peterborough region. I’m excited to welcome Canadian Flight Academy to our community and I look forward to celebrating when they complete their new facility.”

However, at a January 22 meeting of Peterborough County council, some councillors expressed concerns about the addition of a new flight school at the airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Peterborough but located in Cavan Monaghan Township and adjacent to Otonabee-South Monaghan Township.

The concerns were expressed following a presentation on airport activities to county council by airport manager Kyle Bruce, who was accompanied by the city’s municipal operations commissioner Ilmar Simanovskis.

Deputy warden and Selwyn Township mayor Sherry Senis said she had received complaints about “students who continually buzz over certain areas,” referring to current flight training activities at the airport.

Bruce said that there are already defined flight training areas around the airport and that the new flight school would be using these areas. He added that, while the airport received more than 800 noise complaints in 2024, these complaints came from 20 area households, with 90 per cent of the complaints coming from around five households.

Otonabee-South Monaghan Township mayor Joe Taylor said that activities at the airport affect township residents “more than anyone else” and that the city shouldn’t operate the airport “as if it is on an island,” criticizing the lack of consultation with surrounding townships prior to communicating the decision about the flight school coming to the airport.

“It’s simply not right to ignore its impact on the surrounding area,” Taylor said, later telling Bruce, “This flight school, sir, this is not good news.”

According to reporting in the Peterborough Examiner, six tenants of the airport have also expressed concerns about the impact of the new flight school on airport operations, increased air traffic, and noise complaints.

“The addition of an additional large flight school will directly affect the residences [sic] of the Township of Cavan Monaghan and Otonabee Township with additional aircraft movements,” the letter states.

According to the city’s media release, the city’s municipal operations department that oversees the operation of the airport “is committed to ensuring a smooth transition while integrating this new tenant at the airport.”

“Peterborough Regional Airport will safely integrate operations of Canadian Flight Academy into airport activities,” the release states.

Originally operating at the Oshawa Executive Airport, Canadian Flight School was purchased in 1998 by Toronto Airways, which began offering flight training services in 1963 from the Buttonville Municipal Airport. After Buttonville Municipal Airport was closed, Toronto Airways amalgamated its operation with Canadian Flight Academy and moved to the Oshawa Executive Airport in 2016.

After years of a dispute between the City of Oshawa and Canadian Flight Academy over a lease renewal and after years of noise complaints from neighbouring residents, the municipality announced a mutual agreement with the flight school in June 2024 to resolve the ongoing litigation.

As part of the agreement, Canadian Flight Academy would cease all in-air flight training activities at the Oshawa Executive Airport by December 31 and would depart the airport by March 31, 2026. In the interim, the flight school also agreed to restrict its in-air flight training departures at the airport to after 8 a.m. on all days and before 9 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

An August 2023 settlement offer proposed the city would pay Canadian Flight Academy $5.2 million to take over its leasehold improvement along with $200,000 in relocation costs to find another location for its operations. According to the City of Oshawa, these were not the financial terms of the final settlement, which the city declined to release, citing that they were “confidential and privileged, and neither party is at liberty to comment any further on the resolution.”

During a marathon six-hour meeting on Monday night (February 3), Peterborough city council approved the city’s 2025 budget.

Despite a number of motions by individual councillors on specific items, council approved the budget with no additional changes — although both of the city’s finance co-chairs voted against it.

With the budget approved, residents will see a property tax increase of 6.72 per cent in 2025, which equates to to $10.44 per month per $100,000 of property assessment for the typical residential property.

That increase includes two items that council discussed and approved at its January 20 general committee meeting: restoring $150,000 in funding for the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) and allocating $141,692 for an additional paralegal position at the city. Prior to these two decisions, the property tax increase would have been 6.6 per cent.

During Monday night’s meeting, council also discussed a number of items not related to the budget, including deferring the inclusion of the trails and bikeways network plan in the city’s official plan pending a review by city staff or trail and network planning, and whether to include a requirement for electric vehicle charging stations as part of the city’s comprehensive zoning by-law.

A number of public delegations first spoke to council about these and other items on the agenda.

As for the budget, councillor Andrew Beamer — co-chair of the city’s finance portfolio along with councillor Dave Haacke — said he would not be supporting the budget because of the 6.72 per cent property tax increase, repeating some of the same criticisms he levelled after council adopted the 2024 budget with a property tax increase of seven per cent.

“The justification for the 2024 seven per cent tax increase was that it was going to be a one-time course correction increase,” Beamer said. “We needed a one-time larger tax increase to make to make some key strategic investments in the community to ensure we were moving forward.”

“Six to seven per cent tax increases could not become the norm,” he said, adding the many city residents cannot afford these increases due to the cost of living crisis. “We needed to look at a four to five per cent tax increase — that was a fair balance between investing in the community and respecting the taxpayer’s ability to pay.”

Reflecting comments he said he had heard from residents, Beamer asked city CAO Jasbir Raina why the city can’t do “a better job finding efficiencies or more effective ways to run the corporation.”

Raina replied that he “knew this question would come” and read from prepared notes, indicating he would be bringing forward a budget request for the 2026 budget to hire an “independent subject matter expert, third party, to undertake a detailed, grass-root level, service delivery needs evaluation as well as service delivery efficiency and effectiveness review.”

“Each department, each division, each section will be scrutinized and evaluated with a laser-sharp focus on efficiencies, lean delivery, as well as return on investment,” he said.

Raina added that, if the budget request is approved, it would take six to eight months in 2026 to complete the detailed review, with city staff bringing a report back to council with recommendations in January 2027, which will help the next council set its priorities.

Council voted 8-3 in favour of the 2025 draft budget, with councillors and finance co-chairs Beamer and Haacke voting against it along with councillor Keith Riel.

After voting on the budget as a whole, council also discussed specific recommendations from city staff to reduce the property tax increase in the budget, including eliminating a lifeguard at Rogers Cove to save $40,000 and no longer maintaining the skating rink on the Trent Canal in 2024-25 to save $100,000. All city staff recommendations were supported by council.

Council spent considerable time discussing whether to defer the inclusion of the trails and bikeways network plan in the city’s official plan pending a review by city staff or trail and network planning.

Councillor Kevin Duguay had introduced the original deferral motion, which was endorsed by general committee, out of his concern about introducing bike lanes on major arterial roads and the potential for duplication. Duguay said he was withdrawing his support for the motion after he was reassured by city staff that councillors would be able to review projects proposing new bike lanes, adding that “I am not against bike lanes — I support multi-modal transportation.”

Councillor Lesley Parnell expressed concerns that there was no written procedure to ensure that projects with bike lanes come before council and proposed an amendment with such a requirement, specifying the intention of reducing “duplication of service with on-street and off-street bike lanes/trails.” Although several councillors argued the amendment was not necessary as city staff would identify any such issues, council voted 7-4 in favour of the motion, with councillors Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk, Gary Baldwin, and Keith Riel voting against it.

Council then voted 10-1 in favour of the main motion, without the deferral item and with Parnell’s amendment, with only councillor Bierk voting against it.

On the matter of whether to include a requirement for electric vehicle charging stations as part of the city’s comprehensive zoning by-law, councillor Matt Crowley proposed an amendment that city staff “consider opportunities to require electric vehicle charging facilities in the city’s land use regulatory tools such as the forthcoming community planning permit by-law.” Council voted 9-2 in favour of the amendment, with only councillors Haacke and Beamer voting against it.

Taking the meeting well past midnight, council then discussed a motion by councillors Bierk and Riel to allocate $150,000 from the social services reserve to create a temporary emergency shelter for unhoused people during the remaining months of winter.

Prior to the council meeting, both Bierk and Riel had shared a joint public statement supporting the motion, after which Mayor Leal shared a public statement objecting to the motion that was signed by several other councillors.

After a heated discussion by councillors, the motion lost 4-7, with councillors Lachica, Bierk, Crowley, and Riel voting in favour.

Dr. Thomas Piggott will be leading the region’s newly merged health unit, effective immediately.

The board of health for the Haliburton Kawartha Northumberland Peterborough Health Unit announced on Tuesday (February 4) that Dr. Piggott, previously the medical officer of health and CEO for Peterborough Public Health, will be assuming the same roles on an acting basis for the new health unit, subject to the Minister of Health’s approval.

Dr. Natalie Bocking, previously medical officer of health and CEO for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, will be the deputy medical officer of health for the merged health unit.

“We had two great candidates who challenged the board process and both incumbents were very effective leaders of their respective organizations,” said Selwyn Township deputy mayor and board of health chair Ron Black in a media release.

“Dr. Piggott brings excellent knowledge of our community and public health to the role, and we are confident that our mandate of protecting and promoting the health of all residents will be met and exceeded upon.”

Dr. Piggott joined Peterborough Public Health as medical officer of health and CEO during the pandemic in December 2021, following the retirement of Dr. Rosana Salvaterra. He was previously the medical officer of health of Labrador-Grenfell Health in the northern regions of Labrador, where he also served as the executive lead for population health and rural and remote health in the region.

Prior to working at Labrador-Grenfell Health, Dr. Piggott worked as a field doctor with Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is a public health and preventive medicine specialist as well as a family physician. Dr. Piggott’s wife is also a family physician and they have two young daughters.

As medical officer of health and CEO for the Haliburton Kawartha Northumberland Peterborough Health Unit, Dr. Piggott will be working to design senior leadership team responsibilities and the design of a second public health physician position, which is part of a plan for strengthened medical coverage for the new organization.

The previous boards of health for Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit approved a voluntary merger of the two health units in December 2024, after considering a merger since 2023 in response to an offer from the provincial government for additional one-time funding for health units that decide to merge.

The merger, which took effect on January 1, will see the Haliburton Kawartha Northumberland Peterborough Health Unit receive $10.1 million in new provincial funding.

Although the legal name of the merged health unit is Haliburton Kawartha Northumberland Peterborough Health Unit, the original health units remain operational with no immediate impact on programs and services provided to the public. Later in the year, the merged health unit will announce its official name and branding.

Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal says he is using his strong mayor powers “to help expedite” Brock Mission’s proposed transitional housing project by amending the city’s zoning by-law and exempting the project from the city’s site plan requirements.

In a statement emailed from his office on Monday afternoon (February 3), the mayor says he is using his strong mayor powers at Brock Mission’s request.

“When there are opportunities to address our critical need for housing, I will do whatever is within my authority as mayor to support those projects moving forward for the benefit of our community,” the mayor’s statement reads.

Brock Mission is proposing a six-storey building in a residential neighbourhood at 738 Chemong Road, where the organization’s Cameron House is located.

Located between Chemong Road and Bethune Street, Cameron House includes a 12-bed emergency shelter for women as well as eight transitional housing units for women transitioning from homelessness. Cameron House would remain at the location, with the new building providing 52 suites for men and women transitioning from homelessness.

Mayor Leal says he has directed city staff to prepare two by-laws for city council to consider at a special general committee meeting on Monday, February 24. The first by-law would amend the city’s zoning by-law “to facilitate this project” — the mayor provides no details on what this entails — and the second by-law would exempt it from the city’s site plan requirements.

According to the city’s website, a site plan is a requirement that must accompany building permit applications to show the proposed construction and/or demolition of a property.

As part of its 2025 draft budget deliberations, city council has endorsed providing $250,000 to Brock Mission to cover the initial costs for the project, including costs associated with site planning and building permit processes.

Under the strong mayor powers of the Municipal Act provided by the provincial government in 2023 to 45 municipalities, including Peterborough, heads of council can propose municipal by-laws under provincial legislation — including the Municipal Act and the Planning Act — if they believe the proposed by-laws could potentially advance the provincial priority of housing.

“I believe that these powers are meant to be used in very specific circumstances — for planning matters that advance important housing developments,” Mayor Leal states. “This project meets that criteria. Not only will Brock Mission contribute 52 units towards the City of Peterborough’s housing target of 4,700 homes by 2031, but these units will also provide critical supportive housing to help people in our community transition away from homelessness.”

Brock Mission estimates the construction cost of the building at $16 million, which it plans to cover with federal government funding and through fundraising, with operational funding to be requested from the provincial government.

“The team at Brock Mission has made it clear to me that expediting their project will save them time and money and will put them in an ideal position to compete for funding opportunities from the provincial and federal government,” Mayor Leal states.

Describing the Brock Mission project as “a crucial next step for our community’s response to homelessness,” the mayor notes that some people who enter the shelter system or who currently live in the modular bridge housing community on Wolfe Street are ready to move into supportive housing, “but there are no available transitional housing units in our community, so these individuals are forced to stay where they are, occupying beds that could otherwise go to people who need them.”

“Municipalities don’t have the resources to build supportive housing ourselves, but using strong mayor powers to expedite the approval of this project is something that is within our control,” the mayor states.

After noting the building’s proposed location on Chemong Road is in one of the city’s strategic growth areas, which the city’s official plan has designated for intensification, Mayor Leal states that Brock Mission has “clearly signalled to me that they will operate in a way that has minimal impact on the surrounding neighbourhood,” adding that the building’s residents “will be individuals who have been in a shelter for some time and are ready to take the next step.”

A by-law made under strong mayor powers is passed if more than one-third of all council members — in the case of Peterborough city council, four out of of 11 — vote in favour of the by-law.

“This project is critically important for the future health and well-being of our community. I ask my council colleagues for their support.”

Mayor Leal’s complete statement is provided below.

PDF: Statement from Mayor Jeff Leal
Statement from Mayor Jeff Leal

This story has been updated with a correction provided by the City of Peterborough. Brock Mission’s original proposal in 2024 for a 10-storey building is now for a six-storey building, which Mayor Leal is supporting.