Tag: Provincial Politics

Police get Provincial Funding

John Draper

Cobourg Police recently released their updated Strategic Plan – and it includes a fresh summary of major public concerns:  1. Drugs (prevention, support, enforcement) 2. Mental Health 3. Community Involvement 4. Homelessness 5. Traffic Enforcement.  It’s significant that Mental Health is now near the top of the list for concerns and Homelessness is on the list.  Many calls to Police are really calls for help for people with these issues and not crimes so Police are changing what they do.  Yesterday, MPP David Piccini announced that the Province is providing $860K in funding over 3 years to help Cobourg Police with programs aimed at Mental Health and Homelessness.  Now supported are the Homelessness Addictions Response Project (HARP – $410K), a… Read complete articlePolice get Provincial Funding

Provincial Election Campaign Has Started

John Draper

Last night the Liberal Candidate, Jeff Kawzenuk, had a grand opening of his campaign office at the top end of Division Street (901) and on Saturday the Conservative Candidate and incumbent, David Piccini, will be opening his campaign office at the other end of Division Street (239). In addition, late Wednesday, the Green Party announced their Candidate, Lisa Francis.  The NDP have not yet announced a candidate but say they are working on it.  But in this election there are at least three other parties vying for our vote – one of these, the New Blue Party has also announced a Candidate, Joshua Chalhoub.  I’ll leave speculation on who’ll win etc to readers of this blog although I have collected… Read complete articleProvincial Election Campaign Has Started

Next Step of Re-opening will be Earlier

John Draper

The Province originally said that Ontario would move into Step 3 of re-opening once 70 to 80% of adults had received one dose of vaccine and 25% had received two.  Now that 77% of people 12 and over have received one dose and 50% have received two doses – that threshold has been met already.  Also required were a lower ICU occupancy rate and generally a low new case rate and these have also happened. The numbers for our region (HKPR) are not quite that good but may well be soon.  Given the good results, the Province has announced that we will move into Step 3 five days earlier on July 16 (at 12:01 am) and has released detailed regulations… Read complete articleNext Step of Re-opening will be Earlier

Health Coalitions Survey LTC workers

John Draper

Three groups have teamed up to survey Long Term Care workers to uncover deficiencies.  Using the results, they are now lobbying the Provincial Government to make improvements.  Their Press Conference on Tuesday, June 22 was on Zoom and recorded on Facebook with the video plus full survey results available via Links below.  This report will focus on their key findings and recommendations.  Their survey shows that the big problem is staffing which was a problem pre-Covid but is now worse.  The group believe that Government promises to increase the number of beds are both insufficient and unrealistic.  They also want a focus on public facilities and not “for-profit” homes.  To be clear, they are not talking about Retirement Homes but… Read complete articleHealth Coalitions Survey LTC workers

Jeff Kawzenuk wins Liberal Nomination

John Draper

In April, Nicole Beatty and Jeff Kawzenuk entered a competition to be nominated as Liberal Candidate for the 2022 Provincial election.  If nominated, and if she won against MPP David Piccini, Nicole would then not be running for Council in the 2022 Municipal Elections.  However, Liberal Party members in the Riding (Northumberland Peterborough-South) voted for Jeff Kawzenuk with an announcement yesterday – June 5.  Jeff retired in July 2020 from a 35 year career as teacher and principal in several Northumberland High Schools.  Both Nicole and Jeff campaigned online (see links below) and it did not seem to impact Nicole’s Council work.  With the announcement of the vote result, Nicole offers congratulations to Jeff on her Facebook page.  She continues… Read complete articleJeff Kawzenuk wins Liberal Nomination

Cobourg Cultural Community Lobbies for Action on Brookside

John Draper

A group of 14 of Cobourg’s Community organizations have joined together to ask MPP David Piccini to support re-development of Brookside and Strathmore House into multi-purpose spaces that would meet the growing needs of Cobourg’s Cultural organizations.  They have jointly submitted a letter that describes their ideas and needs and although no numbers were provided, they say that some groups are currently paying over $1,000/month for storage and rehearsal space that is not suitable to their needs. Their letter concludes: “With Strathmore House at the centre, we believe the repurposing of Brookside Youth Centre could become a vibrant cultural hub that inspires collaboration, facilitates a platform for cross sector partnerships and stimulates multi-generational learning opportunities for members, Cobourg residents and… Read complete articleCobourg Cultural Community Lobbies for Action on Brookside

Should the Town Buy the Brookside property?

John Draper

At tonight’s regular Council meeting, Council received a memo from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee which recommended that Council “consider making an attempt to acquire the Brookside property as a community benefit”.  Although this memo was terse, it was triggered by a letter to the Committee by member Richard Pope who included more rationale as well as some suggested uses for the property.  It’s hard to know what the property might be sold for by the Province but at a cost of $40,000 per acre, the reported 70 acres would cost $2.8M.  (The $40k figure is based on recent sales at Lucas Point Industrial Park).  Since at least some of the land is described as being in a flood… Read complete articleShould the Town Buy the Brookside property?

Nicole Beatty Seeks Provincial Liberal Nomination

John Draper

Cobourg Councillor Nicole Beatty today announced that she will seek the nomination of the Liberal party as its candidate for Northumberland Peterborough South in the June 2022 Provincial election. The MPP currently in the riding is Conservative David Piccini – at the last election he was opposed by Liberal candidate Loui Rinaldi who had held the seat off and on since 2007 and I’d guess he won’t want to run again. In the last Municipal election, Nicole received the most votes and has been quite active in her role as Councillor so looks like a strong candidate. The next Council election will be October 2022 so if she wins the nomination and wins the Provincial vote, she would be leaving… Read complete articleNicole Beatty Seeks Provincial Liberal Nomination

Brookside has Closed

John Draper

Last Summer, Councillor Nicole Beatty moved a motion that was passed by Council to ask the Province for a report on what was happening at Brookside Youth centre at 390 King Street East. She was not the only one concerned.  Many people have asked MPP David Piccini the same question since it was no secret that occupancy was dropping.  As Mayor Henderson said at today’s Zoom announcement, in 2014 the Auditor General asked about the low occupancy and in fact occupancy at the facility has dropped 81% since 2004/05.  So now the Province has acted and today the facility was closed and the youth were re-assigned.  All staff will be able to continue working for the Provincial Government although not… Read complete articleBrookside has Closed

Provincial Grants Help Local Non-Profits

John Draper

The pandemic is hurting businesses and individual workers and to date Governments have to some degree provided relief for them. Now, the Province has announced significant help for local non-profit organizations that are hurting. MPP David Piccini announced that six local non-profit organizations will receive a total of $555K. They include four Arts organizations, one sports club in Oshawa and Cornerstone which provides shelter to women suffering domestic violence. The amounts are significant and are welcomed by the affected groups. In making the announcement MPP Piccini said “Non-profit organizations are a crucial and valued part of any community. These organizations enrich the lives of people in our communities, while playing an important role in building a strong and prosperous Ontario… Read complete articleProvincial Grants Help Local Non-Profits