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Month: September 2021

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‘It’s all unknown’: As Wasaga pushes to build new rink and library, ratepayers raise red flags

Sep 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Wasaga Beach’s arena is more than 45 years old, and a 2013 report indicated it was at the end of its useful life.

The public library has also outgrown its existing facility based on the town’s population. Ontario Public Libraries Guidelines suggest an appropriate size for a public library is one square foot per capita — which would mean Wasaga’s library should be around 22,000 square feet, or about five times its current size.

The cost to replace both with a new multi-use facility on a River Road West property comes with a $60-million price tag, and in the absence of infrastructure funding from the upper levels of government, more than half of that cost is expected to be put on the town’s credit card.

That has the Wasaga Beach Ratepayers Association concerned about how fast the town is moving to begin construction (expected to start in 2021). Association president Faye Ego says the town needs to have more financial resources in hand — either in reserves or in commitments from upper levels of government — before it proceeds with construction.

“We’ve received numerous letters on this,” Ego said. “The words that keep coming up in every single piece of correspondence are ‘delay’, ‘unknown’, ‘assumptions’, and ‘assure us’.”

Ego said there is no question the facilities are needed — just not at this point in time. The ratepayers association have posted a petition on its website () asking for the project to be paused.

The full impact of the project is expected to hit taxpayers in 2024, when the carrying costs of a $31-million debenture are included on the tax bill.

Operationally, the rink and arena will add more than $1.08 million to the town’s spending, which equates to a $71.06 increase to the average assessed home ($339,000), or 3.44 per cent. The carrying costs of $1.5 million will add another $99.38, or equal to a 4.82 per cent.

However, according to figures provided by the town’s treasury department, it’s expected there will be a 2.47 per cent decrease in the town’s revenue needs — excluding the arena and library project — which would absorb about $30.

There would also be a decrease of 3.75 per cent, or $77.39, due to assessment growth.

The bottom line, according to the figures provided by the treasury department, would be an overall 2.04 per cent hike for the average home, or $62.55.

“As the assessment base increases, there are more taxpayer assessment dollars to help pay the total taxes that must be raised,” treasurer Jocelyn Lee wrote in an email to Simcoe.com. “This growth in the assessment helps to absorb some of the taxation increases, making the actual increase to each taxpayer less than if the assessment base had not increased.”

Ego said the association’s position is the town’s numbers are based on speculation.

“It’s all unknown, and that is the frightening part. It looks like they’re hedging their bets on development charges (the beachfront and Sunnidale Trails), but you can’t base the future on an unknown,” she said. “You can’t put this on a debenture and draw on a reserve — it’s just not responsible to do that.”

Ego said the pandemic also creates a huge unknown for the project, and what would be the building’s anticipated use once it is complete.

“The most sound decision would be to delay it,” she said. “Why the race to do this? They’re like a horse racing to the finish line to get this done when everyone knows they should pause this until funding is secured or they know they have the money (from development)

“They’re placing the costs on taxpayers with largely fixed incomes — it just does not make sense. It’s unreasonable.”

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With questions raised about the potential costs of a new arena and library, Simcoe.com dug into the numbers to find out the impact on taxpayers.

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LIVE VIDEO: Ontario Premier Doug Ford provides daily update on COVID-19 December 1

Sep 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Watch Premier Doug Ford’s daily COVID-19 update now.

At a news conference in Brampton, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott, Ontario’s solicitor general Sylvia Jones and retired general Rick Hillier, chair of the province’s new COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force make an announcement and provide an update on the Ontario government’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has asked for more clarity on the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, including the date vaccines are expected to arrive in Ontario.

NATIONAL UPDATE: On Parliament Hill, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, and Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer, join ministers Dominic LeBlanc (intergovernmental affairs), Patty Hajdu (health) and Anita Anand (public services and procurement) for an update on the federal response to COVID-19.

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‘They’re not going to shut me up’: Wasaga council defends staffer against corruption allegations

Sep 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Town of Wasaga Beach has taken the dramatic step of defending its top staffer against suggestions of corruption.

Council emerged from a 30-minute behind-closed-door session at its Nov. 25 meeting to issue a lengthy and vigorous defence of chief administrative officer George Vadeboncoeur against what it says are false allegations levelled at him by resident Giorgio Mammoliti.

Citing the need to protect the CAO’s “long-established reputation as a dedicated and professional civil servant,” the referred to comments Mammoliti has made online and in the community as “false, malicious, and vile.

“The town has a responsibility to defend itself when people make false allegations of corruption about the town and town employees, as such statements are harmful to the town and the reputation of its staff,” read the statement issued after council passed a motion in support of the CAO. “Our community is a place where people should be able to live and work without fear of having their character or conduct attacked through falsehoods.”

Vadeboncoeur declined to make comment.

Mammoliti, a former City of Toronto councillor who has maintained a residence in Wasaga Beach for several years, has self-styled himself as the Wasaga Beach Advocate,.

He has hosted several community meetings regarding municipal issues, such as council’s decision to go ahead with a $60-million twin pad and arena project.

He has also questioned whether it is appropriate for Vadeboncoeur to be both CAO, and a municipal councillor with the Town of Penetanguishene.

He was elected in 2018, during a period in which he had ostensibly retired as CAO for Wasaga Beach earlier in the year. He was reappointed as CAO six weeks after the election.

While he has a video on his Youtube channel titled ‘CAO Corruption in Wasaga Beach’, Mammoliti denied he has called Vadeboncoeur corrupt.

However, he did defend asking the question of whether Vadeboncoeur’s dual role as a CAO of one municipality and a municipal councillor in a neighbouring town represented a conflict.

“I don’t know if there’s a conflict; maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t declared conflicts on it,” Mammoliti said. “Municipalities struggle and compete to get transfer payments from other levels of government, so it could put him, at times, in a very difficult position.

“If I’m wrong about that, if I’m wrong about his dual roles, then I’ve been misinformed and would definitely apologize for that — but I don’t think I am wrong.”

There is nothing legislatively preventing Vadeboncoeur from holding both positions.

Mammoliti added he has raised the issue of “the potential for corruption” with regard to his view the council was making decisions with little opportunity for public input.

Mammoliti also posted videos calling for a forensic audit of town hall’s books.

When asked if he had evidence of corruption, Mammoliti maintained he had never pointed to anyone being corrupt.

“They’re not going to shut me up, if that’s what they’re thinking, and I’m not about to sit and roll over and say ‘mea culpa, mea culpa’ — I’m not going to do that,” Mammoliti said.

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Two people facing trafficking charges after police execute search warrant in Innisfil

Sep 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Two people have been charged with drug possession and trafficking following an investigation in Innisfil.

South Simcoe police say the investigation spanned about two months, culminating on Dec. 4 when police executed a search warrant at an address in the 7th Line and Webster Boulevard area of town.

Police say a quantity of suspected cocaine and fentanyl was seized. Two people were arrested.

A 49 year-old woman and a 56-year-old man were each charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of suspected cocaine, possession of suspected fentanyl, trafficking, and possession of a prohibited weapon.

The accused were released with a future court date.


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Requests for mental health services in Toronto reached a pandemic peak at the end of September

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Requests for mental health services in Toronto have increased over the course of the pandemic, reaching their highest peak to date in the last week of September. But some seeking mental health support aren’t being connected to the services they need, new data shows.

Calls for mental health services through 2-1-1, a national public line that connects people with social services in their area like food agencies, housing assistance and health supports, have spiked in Toronto as cases increased in the city and surrounding areas, with callers requesting services for anxiety, loneliness and addiction supports.

Now, with the Canada Emergency Response Benefit ending as of Oct. 3 and children returning to school, 2-1-1 is experiencing its highest volume of mental health-related phone calls yet since April.

When COVID-19 cases began to slightly decline at the end of April, 2-1-1 received 157 mental health-related calls for services. Between Sept. 20 and Sept. 26 — when reports of a second wave of cases were beginning to emerge in Ontario — the number of calls was 249.

Carrie Moody, director of strategic solutions at 211 Ontario, said it’s difficult to determine concrete trends in the data as the pandemic is still ongoing, but she said many of the recent mental health calls have been related to anxieties about children returning to school, as well as CERB ending. The benefit has financially helped 8.5 million Canadians who lost their income as a result of the pandemic.

“There’s also just fear about going inside and the summer being over,” Moody added, compounded with the number of COVID-19 cases going up significantly as the city inches closer to the winter months.

A worrying trend, however, is that mental health-related calls in Toronto have accounted for the highest percentage of unmet needs through 2-1-1, meaning many who are calling for services aren’t receiving them.

Moody said requests for mental health services account for 74 per cent of the total unmet needs of callers. An overwhelming majority of those callers — 93 per cent — are looking for addictions and substance use services, but weren’t connected to the help they needed.

“There’s not enough detox centres in the city,” Moody said. Operators try to offer them other types of supports and continue to call back until the detox services they’re seeking become available.

Throughout the pandemic, around 55 per cent of people who called for mental health-related concerns were seeking assessment or treatment, and half of those callers were seeking some type of crisis intervention. The second-most requested service, however, is help for substance use disorders, which make up about 25 per cent of total mental health-related calls since the pandemic began in Toronto.

The data provided to the Star by 2-1-1 also shows that 9.6 per cent of calls province-wide were related to mental health. But in Toronto, the percentage of calls for mental health services jumps to 25 per cent.

Over the course of the pandemic, Moody said the majority of mental health-related calls in Toronto were coming from women and seniors. Seniors in particular were suffering with loneliness and feelings of depression when lockdown began earlier in the spring. Some were struggling without their personal support workers and the transition to online services.

Around May and June, 2-1-1 began fielding calls from people talking about their own experiences of racism, past trauma and violence. Moody said this coincided with the rise in anti-racism protests that coincided with the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis earlier this summer.

“We were getting some calls from people who were triggered and were thinking about issues that had happened to them in the past, and just were looking for someone who would listen to them talk about their experiences,” Moody said.

People who are calling about discrimination or racism-based trauma would often get referred to agencies like Across Boundaries, a local mental health and addictions service centre that provides anti-racism support and serves Toronto’s racialized communities.

Other callers were referred to agencies like the Gerstein Centre, Progress Place and the Distress Centres of Greater Toronto.

The City of Toronto announced a partnership with the city’s mental health supports through 2-1-1 at the beginning of April to streamline connections between people and the help they seek, due to an anticipated increase in demand for services as pandemic-related struggles continue. The service is also funded with the help of United Way Greater Toronto, Moody said.

While the demand for help is at a peak, Moody said 2-1-1 is well equipped to field calls from the community should the number of calls become even higher. But her worry, she said, lies with the communities who are experiencing significant struggles that are compounded by the pandemic — many of whom from lower-income and racialized backgrounds.

“I do think that over the next little while, we’re going to see significant increases in mental health calls,” Moody said. “I worry about those people who aren’t connected to services.”

Nadine Yousif is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering mental health. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘Hopeful we have peaked’: No new COVID-19 deaths reported Oct. 7 at Simcoe Manor in Beeton, but case count still climbing

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Two more residents have tested positive for COVID-19 at Simcoe Manor in Beeton, but no new deaths have been reported.

In an update provided Oct. 7, the County of Simcoe said 27 residents have tested positive for the virus, an increase of three from the 24 cases reported the previous day.

All residents were tested Oct. 2 when the outbreak was declared, and most of the results for the home’s 120 residents have been received. Ninety of them came back negative and the results of four tests are still pending.

Three residents have died so far from the virus, including two on the weekend and another earlier this week.

Seven staff have also been infected, and this number remains unchanged over the previous day.

“We are hopeful, with the vast majority of our test results now being received, that this will give us an indication of the COVID exposure,” said Jane Sinclair, the county’s general manager of health and emergency services. “Moving forward, we are hopeful we have peaked and are more stable of our outbreak status.”

All of the staff were tested Oct. 5. They have been tested once every two weeks over the course of the pandemic. Another mass testing will take place again, but Sinclair didn’t say if it would happen before the next scheduled date, which would be around Oct. 19.

She said the home is working with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit to determine the testing requirements for residents, but individual testing will be done if needed.

“If any resident develops any sign or symptom, we will automatically test them at that time immediately,” she said.

Eighteen of the residents are asymptomatic, and while Sinclair didn’t provide specifics on the residents who are experiencing symptoms, she said all of them are being cared for at the home.

“There’s a range of response to COVID,” she said. “As we’ve seen in the general population, individuals tend to respond differently.”

Sinclair talked again about all the measures that are in place to prevent further spread, such as enhanced cleaning, personal protective equipment requirements, and cohorting of staff.

“We have been very, very active in our prevention strategies, and we feel this indicates a positive sign for us that our steps are in fact working,” she said.

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Justin Trudeau offers help to mayors in COVID-19 hot spots

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

OTTAWA – Prime Ministerhas promised help to big city mayors in Ontario and Quebec’s hot spots as rising coronavirus infections expose ongoing gaps in health care and the social safety net in the two provinces.

In Toronto, help is expected soon via a revised business aid package that Mayor John Tory said he’s been assured will be retroactive to Oct. 1, and that he hopes will be simpler and more flexible than the last round of commercial assistance and rent relief, in order to address fears expressed by many small business and restaurant owners they cannot survive a new round of closures.

In Ottawa, that federal help could come via a surge in COVID-19 testing and laboratory capacity at a federal building Trudeau is offering to make available to local public health authorities.

The federal government is already providing hundreds of federal workers to do contact tracing in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec, and agreements with other provincial governments, which are responsible for testing and contact tracing.

In several phone calls over the past three days, Trudeau spoke to mayors in Toronto, Peel Region, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City to determine their needs.

The messages from Tory and Ottawa’s Jim Watson were similar, according to the two mayors: the spike in new cases is an immediate challenge, putting a strain on testing and contact tracing in their cities, as well as on housing and shelter resources.

Tory said the pandemic has created a “huge” housing problem for Toronto, and he told Trudeau the $1 billion fund to rapidly convert buildings to support immediate isolation housing needs “was a great start” to address what is also a longer-term problem.

“We had to literally move 3,000 people into alternate accommodations because the existing shelter system didn’t allow for physical distancing,” Tory said in an interview. He also wants more support for mental health service needs, and underlined Toronto’s testing and contact tracing backlog challenges.

Watson told Trudeau the $1 billion rapid housing initiative announced last month is set to end Mar. 31 when the need for help is likely to run into summer months. He asked Trudeau to speed up a federal offer of the use of a federal building in the southern Ottawa suburb of Fallowfield with an on-site lab to expand COVID-19 testing capacity – a plan that Watson said might be finalized in the next week or two.

The mayors flagged their concerns for small businesses, especially the hospitality sector, and the strain on municipal funding as public transit costs remain high while ridership remains low.

Money from the $19-billion federal Safe Restart Agreements with provinces has begun to flow to municipalities in the past few weeks, Tory and Watson said.

Toronto has received around $600 million so far, and the second phase will require the city to apply for another $600 million. Ottawa has received about $75 million of $124.5 million it has been allocated. Both cities still face big shortfalls in their fiscal years – Ottawa’s is about $67 million, while Toronto’s could be around $300 million if it receives the $1.2 billion from the Safe Restart pool.

The mayors impressed upon Trudeau the need for future support, while thanking him for federal help to date.

“Justin Trudeau gets cities,” said Tory. Still, he said he “didn’t miss the opportunity to say we’d probably need to have something, albeit perhaps more modest, that would be called Safe Recovery 2.0 because in 2021 the pandemic will still be taking its toll.”

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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It’s ‘important we remember’: Remembrance Day services scaled back in Midland and Penetanguishene

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Donate to the Poppy Campaign and watch Remembrance Day services from the safety of your own home.

That’s the advice of Dan Travers of the about this year’s services.

Legions across the country are grappling with how to proceed with the Poppy Campaign and Remembrance Day services while keeping veterans and the public safe from the risk of contracting COVID-19.

Details are to be worked out, but ceremonies will be held in Midland and Penetanguishene at the cenotaph for a small number of people.

The Midland Legion has partnered with Rogers TV Midland this year to live stream its Nov. 11 service.

“This year, safety and public health has to be our No. 1 priority. We are discouraging in-person attendance, but we are hoping as many people as possible can join us by livestream on Rogers,” said Travers.

The is planning on limiting the service to 25 essential people at the cenotaph, said president and District E Commander Paul Howe.

“Legionnaires, the Ladies’ Auxiliary and veterans representing the First World War, Second World War, Korea, Bosnia and Afghanistan — as long as we recognize those who have fought for our country, as long as we lay wreaths for the different wars, that’s the best we can do,” Howe said.

Travers said despite the changes this year, “It’s immensely important we do remember the individuals who served our country and died for our country and the freedom we enjoy today.”

This year, there will be no Remembrance Day church services, parade or after-service meal. No cadets, first responders or military will be invited to the service.

Wreaths can be purchased in advance, but there will no lineup of people placing wreaths. They will likely be placed before the service.

The Poppy Campaign remains a cash collection. Legion members are working on details to safely collect funds. Monies raised go to local veterans and their families, not to Legion operating funds.

Poppy Campaign donations can be made online and directed to local branches through the website at .

The Penetanguishene Legion is also selling poppy masks for $10.

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‘Please, just make decisions based on the evidence’: Halton mayors lobby against expanding Stage 2 restrictions as COVID-19 hits new highs in Ontario

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

As Ontario hit a grim new milestone , leaders in some of the province’s harder-hit areas urged the provincial government not to impose more restrictions on regions that haven’t already been rolled back to Stage 2.

The province reported 978 new cases in its morning update, a single-day record that has also pushed Ontario’s rolling seven-day average to a pandemic-high 803 cases daily. Locally, the province reported 348 new cases in Toronto, 170 in Peel, 141 in York Region, 89 in Ottawa and 51 in Durham.

Meanwhile, open letters from politicians in Halton Region — one to and one to Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams — said the province shouldn’t impose new restrictions there. Earlier this month, the province imposed a return to a “modified Stage 2” in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel Region and York Region, all of which continue to see higher rates of infection than in Halton.

Halton’s showed an increase of 35 cases.

“A blanket approach that unfairly punishes small businesses with no explanation will hurt our local economy and impact buy-in from our residents,” said the letter to Ford, signed by mayors of four cities and towns in Halton, as well as regional chair Gary Carr.

The letter to Williams, meanwhile, demanded the release of being used when reinstating or lifting COVID-related restrictions.

“During the height of COVID-19, the majority of Ontarians accepted unprecedented restrictions in order to stop the spread and flatten the curve. Now, nearly seven months later the public is demanding more than just the blanket statement of ‘on the advice of medical experts,’ ” said the letter, signed by Carr, two mayors and a pair of Progressive Conservative MPPs.

Burlington mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who signed both letters, said the message to provincial officials was simple.

“Please, just make decisions based on the evidence,” Ward said in an interview.

Ward said she was hopeful the province wouldn’t roll Halton back to the modified Stage 2. The letter to Williams added that the region has taken a number of steps after York was rolled back to Stage 2 a week ago, including a ban on using municipal facilities for team sports and fitness classes.

“There is no evidence to suggest that moving Halton to a modified Phase 2 will have any meaningful impact on reducing case counts. One thing that is certain, is that many people and businesses cannot financially withstand another shutdown,” the letter added.

The mayor of Oshawa also urged the province not to clamp down in Durham Region, saying the economic toll would be disastrous, and unnecessary.

“I understand that everyone’s health and well-being has to be the top concern. But I just don’t think a return to Stage 2 is justified, based on the numbers,” Mayor Dan Carter said in an interview. “It would be devastating for the economy, especially in the restaurant industry.”

As of Saturday evening, Durham and Halton have the sixth- and seventh-highest rate of new cases per capita in the province, at 35 and 34 cases per 100,000 people per week, respectively.

In an email, Ford spokesperson Ivana Yelich defended the provincial government’s pandemic performance.

“While the numbers in Halton and other parts of the province are concerning, we are working very hard to control the spread of the virus as much as possible,” said Yelich, who also gave some broad details of which criteria are used in assessing regional COVID risk.

“These include COVID-19 spread and containment, public health capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management, the type and setting of outbreaks, incidence tracking, increases in hospitalization and ICU admission and testing capacity,” Yelich said. “As we have done in the past, we will continue to provide a clear account of the data and evidence if and when a region needs to be moved into modified Stage 2.”

Toronto General Hospital infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch suggested the province should wait another week before imposing restrictions on new areas, to see if the return to Stage 2 is working elsewhere.

“Next week will be crucial, because that’s when we’ll start to really see what kind of impact the restrictions brought in for Toronto and Peel will have. Right now, it’s still a bit too early to tell,” Bogoch said.

Jean-Paul Soucy, a University of Toronto PhD student in epidemiology and co-founder of the COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group, disagreed, saying the province should act sooner rather than later in regions like Halton and Durham.

“The earlier you act, the more your return is compounded,” he said.

Soucy also noted that Ontario’s numbers would likely have been higher sooner if the province hadn’t changed the testing system to be appointment-only earlier this month. Since then, the province has reported fewer completed tests daily on average.

“The fact that we’re seeing higher numbers like this despite the changes in testing is concerning,” Soucy said.

Josh Rubin is a Toronto-based business reporter. Follow him on Twitter:

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Affordable housing coming to Bradford after Simcoe County approves land transfer

Sep 21, 2021 , , , , by shlf

More affordable housing is coming to Bradford West Gwillimbury after a decision at the county level.

Simcoe County has approved the transfer of land from Bradford West Gwillimbury to the county and directed staff to move forward with the design of an affordable housing development.

The affordable housing project is a part of a larger redevelopment strategy for 7.2 hectares of town-owned property bounded by Simcoe Road to the west, Edward Street to the north and Marshview Boulevard to the south and east. 

The four-storey apartment building and parking lot will be built on nearly 1 hectare of land at the northeast corner of Simcoe Road and Marshview Boulevard.

The apartment building will contain about 50 units with one, two and three-bedroom rental apartments for families and seniors. It will be owned and managed by the Simcoe County Housing Corporation.

“I am very pleased that this project has come together because affordable housing is badly needed in BWG, where housing prices have continued to rise and rental units are scarce,” says Mayor Rob Keffer. “It’s an ideal location, close to downtown and to the GO Train station, as well as to our future civic campus where residents will be able to access a wide variety of services.”

Simcoe County council adopted its “Our Community 10-year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy” in 2014. The strategy set a target of delivering at least 2,685 new affordable housing units throughout the region by 2024, which includes 202 units in Bradford.