A Peterborough artist is $500,000 richer after winning a Maxmillions prize in the October 15 Lotto Max draw.

Lisa Martini-Dunk, a scratchboard artist and printmaker who is the owner of L’immaginaria and also an instructor at the Art School of Peterborough, says she has been playing both Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 for the past few years.

When the self-described dog mom received an email from OLG notifying her that she was a winner, she logged into her OLG.ca account and at first thought she had won $500.

“Then I noticed the additional zeros,” said Martini-Dunk while visiting the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to claim her winnings.

“I felt like I was dreaming and got up to get my glasses so I could see better. Even then, I didn’t believe it. I asked my family to review the email and my OLG.ca account. Once we were all convinced the win was real, we were so excited.”

“This win feels like freedom,” she added. “It feels like a gift and a blessing. My heart is full of gratitude.”

Martini-Dunk says she will use part of her winnings to pay off her mortgage.

“I’ll put the rest aside as I figure out my next steps,” she said. “I may travel and complete some home renovations.”

Martini-Dunk bought her winning ticket online at OLG.ca.

Arts organizations in Peterborough are among those expressing dismay at the City of Peterborough’s draft 2025 budget which, to keep the 2025 property tax rate increase to 7.8 per cent, is recommending — among other things — a 25 per cent across-the-board cut of city funding to community organizations and the elimination of $150,000 in funding to the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area.

The 393-page draft budget, which was presented to city council on Monday (November 4) and released to the public, also lists a wide range of “discretionary” service eliminations or reductions that would be required to limit the property tax rate increase to five per cent as requested by council — including eliminating city funding for the Art Gallery of Peterborough and the Trinity Drop-In Program for people experiencing homelessness.

Back in June, city staff made presentations to city council’s general committee on a preliminary estimate for the 2025 budget that included a property tax hike of 8.42 per cent. Council directed staff to develop the budget using a five per cent rate hike and, after reducing operating budget requests by over $1 million and capital requests by $51 million, staff were only able to reduce the rate increase by 0.62 per cent instead the 3.42 per cent reduction requested by council.

The proposed 7.8 per cent rate hike would add $145.56 to each $100,000 of residential property assessment, so an increase of $378.46 for a residential property assessed at $260,000.

“Any further decrease will result in significant service level reductions,” reads the 2025 draft budget document.

While it includes an increase in funding for some municipal services, such as police, fire services, paramedics, and the library, the draft budget proposes a 25 per cent cut to the city’s community projects grants and community investment grants program, including existing service grants to Hutchison House and Kawartha Food Share.

PDF: Proposed funding cuts to community organizations in the 2025 draft budget
Proposed funding cuts to community organizations from the City of Peterborough 2025 draft budget

It also proposes a 25 per cent across-the-board cut of city funding for the following organizations: Artspace, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Peterborough AIDS Resource Network, Community Care Peterborough, Peterborough Musicfest, Peterborough Folk Festival, Native Learning Program, Community Race Relations Committee, Council for Person with Disabilities, Showplace Performance Centre, Peterborough Lions Club, Peterborough GreenUP, New Canadians Centre, Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, and Peterborough Drug Strategy.

Sustainable Peterborough’s entire $39,738 budget would also be eliminated, as the organization — currently under the auspices of Peterborough & The Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) — is dissolving at the end of this year along with PKED, with the city using the $1 million in funding it previously provided to PKED to support the city’s own economic development and tourism activities.

In an emailed statement, Artspace director Leslie Menagh says the proposed 25 per cent cut to the Peterborough’s artist-run centre will “set us miles back in our work to see the city legitimize the work of artists and the arts in general.”

“I and my colleagues are taken aback, and gutted at the thought of this coming to fruition,” Menagh writes. “The overall budget deals a devastating blow to the arts community and sets an alarming precedent.”

Menagh adds that she will be attending the general committee city council meeting on Tuesday (November 12), when councillors will hear registered public delegations on the draft budget, and is encouraging artists, arts workers, and arts supporters to contact city councillors and city staff and attend the public meeting about the draft budget from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday (November 7) at the Healthy Planet Arena.

Another organization that would be dramatically affected by the 2025 draft budget is the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA). Primarily funded by a $351,500 levy collected from DBIA members, the DBIA also receives $150,000 in annual funding from the city as well as services including street cleaning and event support such as park rentals, road closures, and paid-duty policing.

The city’s $150,000 in annual funding to the DBIA was the result of a 2017 settlement between the DBIA and the city, after the DBIA agreed to drop its appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board of the city’s decision to allow a casino at 1400 Crawford Drive instead of in the downtown core. Under the settlement, the city agreed to pay the DBIA $150,000 annually for 20 years — funding that the DBIA has been using for events, promotion, and security.

However, the 2025 draft budget has eliminated the $150,000 payment to the DBIA, at least for 2025. The budget document refers to an upcoming report from the city solicitor (Report LSOCS24-008 Review of OMB Appeal re OPA 173 and Zoning By-law 16-053, dated November 18, 2024) where “staff recommend redirecting the $150,000 annual payment back to the city to reduce the 2025 net tax levy requirement.”

Along with funding reductions to community organizations and the DBIA, the draft budget also includes a long list of “discretionary budget areas and service level reductions” for city council to consider if it wishes to reduce the property tax rate increase from 7.8 to five per cent.

The most significant budgetary items on the list include saving $880,000 by reducing preventative maintenance of city facilities, saving $886,237 by entirely eliminating the community services grant programs (which would affect 75 organizations), saving $771,000 by eliminating city funding for the Art Gallery of Peterborough (which would see six staff lose their jobs and the possible closure of the city-owned building), saving $400,000 by eliminating sidewalk snow-clearing (requiring residents to clear their own sidewalks of snow), and saving $390,000 by eliminating city funding for the Trinity Drop-in Program for unsheltered people (operated by One City Peterborough).

PDF: Discretionary cuts in the 2025 draft budget
Discretionary cuts in the 2025 draft budget

Other potential service eliminations or reductions include closing city-operated daycares (saving $125,000), eliminating two positions at the Peterborough Public Library and paying other positions less (saving $120,000), no longer operating the Centennial fountain in Little Lake (saving $111,800), and no longer maintaining the Trent Canal for public winter skating (saving $100,000). Other items on the list include reducing staffing hours for lifeguards at Rogers Cove and no longer funding fireworks or the Canada Day parade (each saving $40,000) and eliminating the recreation subsidy program for low-income people (saving $37,500).

On the other side of the ledger, the draft 2025 budget would see the operating budget of the Peterborough Police Service increase by three per cent to $36.1 million, although the Police Services Board has requested an 8.8 per cent increase to $44 million — which would require an additional 0.95 per cent to the property tax rate increase.

The draft 2025 budget would also see a 4.6 per cent increase for fire services, a 4.7 per cent increase for the paramedic service, and a 10.9 per cent increase for the Peterborough Public Library, which includes the costs of operating the new branch in Miskin Law Community Complex at Morrow Park.

In addition to Thursday evening’s public meeting about the 2025 draft budget in the Banquet Hall at the Healthy Planet Arena, which will include a brief presentation followed by an opportunity for residents to speak with city staff, the city is hosting a drop-in session from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the main foyer at city hall on Tuesday (November 12), prior to the general committee meeting where city council will hear public delegations on the budget. The drop-in session will not include a presentation on the budget, but members of the public will be able to speak with city staff.

Prior to the general committee meeting on Tuesday evening where registered public delegations will be heard, city council will hear presentations on the budget from invited local boards and agencies beginning at 3 p.m. After those meetings, general committee will review, discuss, and debate the draft 2025 budget from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 18 and 19. No public delegations will be allowed at these meetings. The mayor will present the draft budget to city council on December 9, when registered delegations will have another opportunity to present to council.

Last year, one lucky winner received more than $14,000 for generously supporting turtle welfare in Peterborough and across Ontario. This year, the winner of the 50/50 cash raffle held by the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) could walk away with even more.

Despite only launching on October 25, the third annual fundraiser has already surpassed $20,000, with 19 days still left to go as of the date of this story. Half of the final pot will go to the registered charity’s outreach and educational programming, with the other half making one supporter thousands of dollars richer.

“It’s an exciting way to host a fundraiser and raise money while also giving the community a bit of fun and the chance to win something,” says Katy O’Day, the OTCC’s general manager of non-veterinary programming.

Tickets for the 50/50 draw are available until Monday, November 25, with the draw happening the following day at 11 a.m. On sale now at www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/otcc-nov2024, raffle tickets are priced at $10 for one ticket, $20 for three, $50 for 12, or $100 for 40.

Home of the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre, the OTCC is a Peterborough-based registered charity that protects and conserves Ontario’s native turtle species and their habitats through several capacities, not limited to treating, rehabilitating, and releasing injured turtles, conducting extensive field research, and running an education and outreach program.

“People might think summer is peak season for us, but the peak season doesn’t end and care doesn’t end,” O’Day notes. “Some turtles have injuries that are a bit too severe, and it might take a couple of years of physiotherapy for them to get their mobility back and then be released. Usually recovery goes on for months, and depending on the case, it can go on even longer.”

The 50/50 raffle happens as the OTCC nears the end of one of its busiest years. On top of a major move to an all-new purpose-built facility in October, the organization surpassed last year’s totals with more than 2,300 turtle intakes so far and over 4,000 released throughout 2024.

There’s no way to know for certain if such high rates are a result of a greater need for turtle care, or if it means OTCC has been successful in educating the public about of their services and the need to protect Ontario’s eight native turtle species — all of which are designated as at risk, either provincially or federally.

The funds raised from the 50/50 draw will go towards supporting the OTCC’s education and outreach programming to ensure even more community members become aware of the need for conservation efforts.

“We like to go out to schools, community groups, and different events around Ontario to educate the public and educate youth on the importance of turtles and wetlands, and how we want to work towards their sustainability,” O’Day explains.

While adult turtles — which have few natural predators and enjoy a long lifespan in the wild — have high survival rates, less than one in 100 laid eggs will hatch and grow into adult turtles. Nests are easily found and destroyed by predators, while those that do hatch are vulnerable, resulting in very few turtles reaching maturity.

Habitat destruction also create survival issues for turtles, as wetlands have been drained, filled, or altered by new roads and buildings, while other threats include vehicle strikes, boating mortality, fishing bycatch, and illegal catching.

“We try to educate on these threats the turtles are facing, the issues at play, what can be done if you find a turtle, and how the hospital operates,” O’Day says. “But we usually come back to the underlying reason why these animals are important to the wetland ecosystems and the threats they face.”

When going into schools and to organizations, the OTCC can customize programming to fit the needs of their audience, whether it entails a small chat, a larger workshop, or a virtual presentation.

“For classrooms, we can tailor to the age groups or even what they’re learning through their curriculum,” O’Day says. “If they want to learn more about the conservation aspect or if they want to learn more about the medicine aspect, we can do that.”

“We’re always trying to reach out to different groups that maybe haven’t experienced the turtles before, and we’re trying to hit new audiences that might not have species at risk conservation at the top of their mind, but also would be genuinely interested,” O’Day adds.

With its recent move to the 100-acre donated plot at 2785 Television Road in Peterborough that will support its expansion and growth, the OTCC will now have a designated educational centre.

Though not currently open as the OTCC had focused on outreach during the move, when the facility is open in the near future, it will offer more space for people to come in and learn about turtles in the ecosystem and their care in the hospital.

“We’ll be able to hold more groups, bring more kids into the classroom, and be able to offer more interactive, educational components, with learn-on-your-own tools,” O’Day says. “There’s so many animals and we want to be able to grow too, so this move definitely facilitates so many different things.”

While recent community donations have gone towards the move through the OTTC’s capital campaign, participants of the 50/50 draw can be assured their donations will support the education and outreach programs and, as such, will directly benefit the turtles.

“You might win a bunch of money which is lovely but, if not, you just ending up supporting the turtles and that’s really a win-win either way,” O’Day says. “Even just a few dollars gives you a chance to win. It’s a good sum of money and every dollar counts towards the turtles, so we appreciate any amount, and the turtles appreciate it, too.”

To learn more about the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, visit ontarioturtle.ca.

For the third year in a row, Peterborough’s Little Lake Cemetery is hosting a public sunrise service on Remembrance Day.

The service will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Monday (November 11) at the war memorial in the veterans’ section of Little Lake Cemetery, located at 915 Haggart Street.

“With Remembrance Day falling on a Monday, many people are not able to attend the traditional service at 11 a.m. so this is another opportunity to formally pay your respects,” says Little Lake Cemetery Co. CEO James Belk in a media release.

The sunrise service will again be officiated by Regimental Chaplain Nancy Wilson of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, and will include playing of “The Last Post” followed by two minutes of silence.

Staff will be at the main gates of Little Lake Cemetery to direct attendees to the service.

Little Lake Cemetery and Highland Park Funeral Centre are also continuing to work with various area schools in association with the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation, which focuses on educating youth in Canada about Canadian veterans. Local students have been placing Canadian flags at individual veteran’s graves in the days prior to Remembrance Day.

“Build, build, build.”

That was the often-repeated message from Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal as he announced the release of the 15-recommendation report of the Mayor’s Task Force for Housing Creation at a media event on Tuesday (November 5) in Peterborough’s East City.

The event took place near the site of Ashburnham Realty’s six-storey building currently under construction along the Rotary Greenway Trail just north of Robinson Street, part of a three-building residential-commercial development with two buildings already completed along the trail at Hunter Street East.

Several members of the task force were at the event, including Ashburnham Realty principal Paul Bennett and Habitat for Humanity Peterborough & Kawartha Region CEO Susan Zambonin, as well as city councillors Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk, Lesley Parnell, Keith Riel, and Kevin Duguay and city staff.

The mayor announced the creation of the task force last October, with a selection of builders and housing development professionals tasked in January with recommending specific actions the City of Peterborough can take to meet the provincial government’s housing target for Peterborough of constructing 4,700 new housing units by 2031.

Along with Bennett and Zambonin, other members of the task force are Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services policy director Chelsea Combot, Peterborough Homes principal Brian Fenton, Atria Development principal Hans Jain, Peterborough Housing Corporation former CEO Hope Lee, Peterborough & the Kawarthas Home Builders Association executive Rebecca Schillemat, and AON Inc. president and CEO Brad Smith.

Mayor Leal served as chair of the task force with councillor Duguay as vice chair, and councillors Riel and Dave Haacke providing input.

The recommendations of the task force’s report fall under three themes: speeding up development, cutting building costs, and fostering partnerships.

Mayor Leal addressed the report’s first two recommendations at Tuesday’s announcement.

“For multi-residential housing that meets a minimum unit threshold, we would guarantee an approval timeline of one year, from pre-construction to full land use approval, that would include both the planning, and site plan, and so on,” he said.

The one-year approval timeline would include both non-profit housing and commercial developments that propose at least 25 new dwellings (or at least 10 in the central area of the city).

To accomplish this “ambitious task,” the mayor said, the city would establish a dedicated group of staff, including a project manager, to make non-profit and multi-unit residential developments the priority.

The report’s second recommendation would see city staff identify, by April 2025, all studies, reports, plans, and drawings that the city currently requires for the development approval process, that are within municipal discretion to impose.

“(The city) will ask this fundamental question: is there something we can cut, or something that we can reduce?” Mayor Leal said. “Every discretionary requirement we appropriately remove will decrease the cost, and increase the speed of development.”

Other recommendations of the task force report include directing city staff “to identity, prioritize, and pre-zone underused properties” within the city’s strategic growth areas, providing financial incentives for multi-unit residential development projects (especially those incorporating affordable housing), and seeking “sustained funding from all levels of government to support incentive programs for affordable housing and Indigenous non-market housing.”

Following the event, the mayor told kawarthaNOW that Ashburnham Realty development was the type of higher density housing that was needed, especially given the costs of servicing land.

As for next steps, the mayor will bring the task force recommendations to city council in early December.

“I want to thank the members of the task force for sharing their time and expertise on this critical issue for our community,” Mayor Leal stated in a media release. “It was invaluable to hear about how we can improve our processes and policies from the builders who must navigate them each and every day. I believe these recommendations will make a difference for our community, and I encourage my council colleagues to support them when I bring the report forward next month.”

The task force’s complete report with all 15 recommendations is available on the City of Peterborough’s website.