The City of Peterborough has announced that construction at the bus terminal on Simcoe Street in downtown Peterborough has been completed.

Bus routes through the downtown will revert to their designated stops at the terminal effecting Sunday (November 14).

Transit routes were relocated out of the terminal’s bus bays in July due to rehabilitation work being done at the Simcoe Street parking garage structure.

Routes that will resume stops directly into the bus terminal include Route 2 Chemong (northbound and southbound), Route 4 Weller (eastbound and westbound), Route 5 The Parkway, Route 6 Sherbrooke (eastbound to Trent University), and Route 10.

Route 6 Sherbrooke (westbound to Fleming College) and Route 11 Water will continue to serve the bus terminal from the westbound bus stop on Simcoe Street.

The temporary bus stop on southbound Aylmer Street at Simcoe Street for Route 4 Weller will be removed.

The northbound bus stops on Aylmer Street at Sherbrooke Street and at King Street will be reinstated.

With new COVID-19 cases trending higher again in Ontario, the provincial government has put the brakes on lifting capacity limits on night clubs, strip clubs, and similar settings.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore made the announcement during a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon (November 10). However, he also expressed optimism the pandemic remains under control in Ontario.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are pausing the next step of the plan to reopen Ontario and manage COVID-19 for the long term,” Dr. Moore said. “This means that the planned lifting of capacity limits in remaining settings where proof of vaccination is required will not be moving ahead on November 15.”

These settings include food or drink establishments with dance facilities, such as nightclubs and wedding receptions in meeting/event spaces where there is dancing, strip clubs, and sex clubs and bathhouses.

The pause — which will remain in place until December 15 when the province will reevaluate the decision — comes after Ontario has seen an increase in some of its key indicators over the past two weeks, including the effective reproductive number, the percentage of positive tests, and weekly case rates.

On Thursday, the provincial government reported 642 new cases, the highest increase in daily cases since October 9 when 654 new cases were reported. Some regions of the province, such as Sudbury, Simcoe Muskoka, and Windsor-Essex, have recently seen rapid double-digit case increases.

Dr. Moore said the province was always anticipating an increase in cases with the easing of restrictions and as more people move indoors due to the colder weather.

“It’s spreading mostly from the 20 to 39 year old age group, it’s mostly in social settings where we take off our masks, where we have close contact as we move indoors in closed spaces, and that’s where most of the transmission is occurring,” he said.

Dr. Moore pointed out that the rate of transmission in schools, especially secondary schools, remains low due to increased vaccinations among the 12 to 17 year old age group.

“As we go forward to have vaccinations for five to 11 year olds, I think our elementary schools will even be further protected,” he added.

After the province revisits the pause on lifting capacity limits on December 15, the next major decision date will be on January 17, when the government will decide whether to lift vaccine certificate requirements for restaurants and bars, sports and recreational fitness facilities, waterparks, and casinos and bingo halls.

“The plan will continue to be, in the second week of January, to reassess the data that will reflect the holiday season, the return to school, colleges, and universities, and at the time make any further determination on further removal of public health measures,” Dr. Moore said. “It will be driven by the data and the analysis.”

Despite the recent increase in cases, Dr. Moore remains optimistic, citing the province’s capacity for lab testing and public health follow-up, the coming vaccine for five to 11 year olds, new antiviral medications, and the fact Ontarians are still adhering to public health practices.

“I have to thank Ontarians for continuing to remain vigilant, continuing to come forward to get vaccinated and now, with our third doses, we’ll even be better protected,” he said. “Some people will look at the cup and say it’s half empty, I’m saying it’s half full — that we have systems in place to best protect Ontarians going forward, that caution and vigilance is required, but we’re in a much better place than we’ve even been before, with new tools at our disposal very soon.”

Dr. Moore also assured Ontarians the province as a whole will not be “stepping backwards” because of recent increases, but will instead take additional public measures with individual health units as required.

When asked by a reporter what new developments would give him cause for alarm, Dr. Moore referred to two “major gamechangers” that could threaten the province’s strategy.

“An influx of returning travellers with high positivity and/or a new strain that the vaccine doesn’t prevent against always keeps me up at night,” he said, adding that international surveillance, some testing of returning travellers, and genome sequencing of positive results from returning travellers would be needed.

As we mark the 100th anniversary of the poppy as Canada’s official flower of remembrance, I am drawn once again to the symbolism and mysteries of this plant.

“In Flanders Fields” was written by poet and soldier John McCrae, who was born in Ontario.

McCrae noticed the red poppy (Papaver rhoeas) was one of the first flowers blooming in and around the crosses marking the graves of soldiers after the 1915 battle in Belgium’s Ypres Salient. This phenomenon was noticed across the battlefields of Europe in the wake of the terrible loss of life and environmental devastation of the First World War.

In a November 2020 story in CBC News’ What on Earth? newsletter, Meneka Raman-Wilms asks why — of all plants — “were poppies the first to grow there? And why did they grow in such abundance?”

Raman-Wilms reached out to Egan Davis for answers. Davis is the principal instructor for the horticultural training program at the University of British Columbia’s Botanical Garden.

“A poppy is one of those pioneer, ruderal plants,” explains Davis. “Their role is basically to patch [a] site after major disturbance.”

Davis explains that seeds from these pioneer plants, like fireweed in Canada, are waiting in the soil to respond to a disturbance that removes most trees and vegetation, like a forest fire, flood, or human activity.

“I can’t imagine anything more disturbing to the earth and to human society than war,” Davis says. “But when poppies germinate after the war, that’s a sign of promise.”

Hence the red poppy is a symbol that helps us remember both the devastation of war and the promise of peace.

Did you know that the common poppy is actually considered a weed? The beautiful red poppy is known by common names like the corn poppy or field poppy, because of its propensity for being first and fast to take over over agricultural fields shortly after they’ve been tilled and new crops have been planted.

Studies suggest that poppies can regenerate poor-quality soil, making way for the return of other plant species.

“I love growing poppies,” shares Jill Bishop, whom you may know from the Nourish Project and as the Urban Tomato Lady. “They are very beautiful — both the flowers and the seed heads that they create. They are incredibly abundant. Each seed head generally contains dozens of seeds. They are pretty easy to grow and don’t need rich soil. They will self-seed and come back year after year. In my opinion, a worthwhile addition to any garden.”

The species of poppy that John McCrae described has variations in pink, orange, yellow, white, blue, and purple.

There is also variation in the commemorative poppies that people may choose to wear in addition to the traditional red poppy on Remembrance Day. White poppies — sometimes controversial — are symbols of peace and remembrance for all victims of war, including civilians, and as a challenge to the glamorization or justification of war.

Purple poppies are sometimes worn to remember the millions of horses, donkeys, and other animals that served and lost their lives in war.

This delicate nature of the poppy also symbolizes the fragility of life itself.

“I appreciate the delicate beauty of the poppy,” Bishop says. “They grow great in the garden, but they wilt quickly as cut flowers and in storms — fleeting beauty to be enjoyed while in full bloom.”

That delicate nature also presented a bit of a challenge when, 100 years ago, the precursor to the Canadian Legion first proposed the poppy be Canada’s official flower of remembrance. How can people wear a poppy at Remembrance Day ceremonies if they wilt so quickly as cut flowers?

Silk or cloth poppies were the original solution. Today, the Royal Canadian Legion is in charge of manufacturing the plastic poppies we wear each year. Proceeds from sales go to the Legion’s Poppy Trust Fund to support veterans.

Many First Nations artisans and leaders find it meaningful to create beaded poppies to commemorate lost loved ones and all veterans. As Laurie Leclair points out in an article in Anishinabek News, this practice is a bit controversial in regards to how poppy production and sales are regulated by the Legion.

First Nations, Métis, and Inuit are too often overlooked in colonial narratives and commemorations of war. While people may often associate November with Remembrance Day, November is officially recognized as Indigenous Peoples Awareness Month, and this month features several other days in honour of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people — including Indigenous Veterans Day (November 8) Treaty Recognition Week (November 1 to 7), Louis Riel Day (November 16), and Inuit Day (November 7).

As Leclair points out, from 1914 to 1918, “4,000 status First Nations people enlisted in the war. This number does not include those who joined up but did not self-identify as Indigenous.”

While the red poppy was introduced to North America, the wood poppy or celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) is a member of the poppy family native to North America. The wood poppy is listed as endangered in Canada.

“This is the most protected species of flower in Canada,” says Joseph Pitawanakwat, an Anishinaabe plant medicine teacher from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island. “There are only three known populations of [wood poppy in Canada], all along the Thames River in London.”

“What makes this plant super special is that you have a couple of communities of it growing along the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, and where this plant is from is the Kentucky, Missouri area of the United States, which is over 800 kilometres away. That’s the nearest population of this plant.”

Pitawanakwat explains that, in order to germinate, the seeds of the wood poppy must fall within eight to 12 inches of the parent plant. Any farther, and they won’t grow.

Given that the wood poppy is limited to spreading eight to 12 inches per generation, it is remarkable — and mysterious — that we have isolated wood poppy populations in Ontario and 800 kilometres further south in Kentucky, with nothing in between.

The poppy is a captivating plant. This beautiful and delicate pioneer species helps rejuvenate soil after human-caused and natural disturbances. Symbolically, the red poppy helps us honour veterans and remember all those who lost their lives in war.

The 25th annual Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign in the Peterborough area, which ran in September, has raised $68,991.15 to support mental health care at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

During the week of September 13th, people were encouraged to buy Tim Hortons chocolate chunk “Smile Cookies” for $1 each at one of the 14 participating Tim Hortons locations in Peterborough, Lakefield, Bridgenorth, and Curve Lake, with all proceeds going to the PRHC Foundation for mental health care services at the regional hospital.

The donation from Tim Hortons to PRHC means that almost 68,000 Smile Cookies were baked, decorated, and purchased during the week-long campaign.

“Thank you so much to everyone — our Tim Hortons restaurant partners and their hardworking teams, the volunteers who helped ice the signature smiles, everyone who purchased and enjoyed those delicious Smile Cookies, and those who shared our social media posts and their own Smile Cookie selfies in support of this wonderful initiative,” writes the PRHC Foundation in a Facebook post on Wednesday (November 10).

According to Melinda Wall, director of mental health services at PRHC, there were more than 35,000 mental health related patient visits to PRHC last year, an increase of 3,000 from the year before.

“In the past decade, the number of visits by adults and adolescents seeking support in our mental health and addictions crisis unit has doubled to 3,600 visits in 2020,” adds Wall, who attributes the increases in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic impacts.

The Tim Hortons Smile Cookie program started in 1996 to help raise funds for the Hamilton Children’s Hospital in Ontario. Today, more than 625 local charities and organizations in communities across Canada benefit from Smile Cookie sales, receiving 100 per cent of the proceeds (excluding taxes).

Cobourg police are seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect linked to multiple vehicle thefts in Cobourg in October and November.

Police received a total of six reports of theft from vehicles around Cobourg over the weekends of October 22 to 24 and November 5 to 8. In all cases, a vehicle window was smashed and personal property was taken from the vehicles.

In addition to these reports, police received multiple reports of theft from unlocked vehicles over the same time period.

Most recently, police responded to a call from a resident on Munson Street who reported their car window was smashed and a wallet stolen from the vehicle overnight on Saturday (November 6).

Thefts took place on October 22 on Westwood Crescent, October 23 on Fairbanks Road, October 24 on Sutherland Crescent, November 5 on Fraser Crescent, November 6 on Daintry Crescent, and November 7 on Munson Crescent.

Police have obtained home surveillance video footage and are releasing images of a person believed to be linked to several of the incidents.

VIDEO: Vehicle theft suspect (October 24 on Sutherland Crescent in Cobourg)

Anyone who recognizes the suspect, or anyone with video surveillance or dash cam footage of the areas of the incidents, is asked to contact Criminal Investigation Branch Detective Sgt. Linney at 905-372-6821 ext. 2229.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or visit stopcrimehere.ca.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole announced the official opposition’s shadow cabinet for the 44th Parliament of Canada on Tuesday (November 9), and all four MPs in the greater Kawarthas region are represented.

The new shadow cabinet replaces the previous one for the 43rd Parliament, which O’Toole formed in September 2020 after the Conservative leadership election.

First-time Peterborough-Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri has been named shadow minister for tourism, with returning Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale retaining his role as shadow minister for Indigenous services.

First-time Hastings-Lennox and Addington MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman becomes the shadow minister for seniors, and returning Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Philip Lawrence moves from his previous role as shadow minister for national revenue to become shadow minister for the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario.

The corresponding ministers in the Liberal government are Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault (minister of tourism and associate minister of finance), Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu (minister of Indigenous services), Brampton West MP Kamal Khera (minister of seniors), and Markham-Stouffville MP Helena Jaczek (minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario).

Members of the shadow cabinet, usually referred to as opposition critics, are tasked with holding the government to account and for developing the opposition party’s policy positions in their respective portfolios.

Peterborough police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating missing 57-year-old Michael Scheib.

Scheib was reported as last being in the Ashburnham Drive and Highway 115 area around 6 p.m. on Monday (November 8).

Police and Scheib’s family are concerned for his well-being.

Scheib is described as an Indigenous male, 5’7” and 200lbs with shoulder-length brown/gray hair and a thick grey beard.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Peterborough Police Service at 705-876-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at stopcrimehere.ca.