Fake news and alternative facts 

Post-truth. That’s the era pundits and professors say we’ve now entered. A time with such an overwhelming excess of information much of it circulated through the digital tentacles of the Internet that finding information that…

Decreasingly rural 

This weekend members of the Haliburton County Fair board will get together for their annual general meeting. Among the topics of conversation will be the future of the fair itself. With a need to replenish…

Extra! Trump's inauguration speech 

You read it here first! Through fantastic reporting I have obtained Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration speech. Obviously I can’t reveal how I got it except to say that brilliant reporting was involved. So while the…

A losing trade 

By Chad Ingram Published Jan. 12 2017 The Wynne government is starting 2017 with its promise to reduce Ontarians’ Hydro One bills but with the introduction of the province’s cap-and-trade system on Jan. 1 it…

Toilet tissue in a bonfire 

By Jim Poling Published Jan. 12 2017 Few things hurt more than making a mistake that costs money. It hurts even more when the mistake is combined with being ripped off. I made a mistake…

The top 10 

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The top 10

A s is an annual tradition around here here are the top 10 news stories of 2016 for Minden Hills and Algonquin Highlands. Originally scheduled for end-of-summer completion an expansion of the Algonquin Highlands township…

Better than the last?

By Jim Poling Published Jan. 5 2017 The hootin’ and hollerin’ over the passing of the old year has subsided as we move along trying to make this one better than the last. More folks…

A cash-for-access party 

A courier arrived at my door and handed me an envelope embossed with the Canadian coat of Arms. You know the one with the scowling lion and a silly unicorn each holding a flag. I tore…

Live streaming done cheap 

By Chad Ingram Published Dec. 22 2016 Minden Hills council recently made a decision to forgo the live streaming of council meetings to the Internet at least for now. While it’s true one could argue…

Ham-fisting it 

Like a drunken Vaudeville performer the Trudeau government is doing a ham-fisted jig away from its promise to create a new federal voting system in this country. It’s awkward to watch. In the lead-up to…

Our drug overdose epidemic 

Back in 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) arrived in Toronto from China. Roughly 400 people got it 43 died Ontario declared a public health emergency and the rest of the country lived in fear…

Deja vu all over again 

By Jim Poling Published Dec. 8 2016 There are none so blind as those that cannot see. He didn’t say those words but that’s the real message delivered last week by Michael Ferguson the federal…

Dying wish 

Haliburton County is a community that takes care of its own. It’s something I’ve always admired about the place and have seen play out again and again and again. Take the more than $20000 that…

Our disappearing trees 

My daughter’s steep-sided backyard in California has a strangely shaped tree. It grows out of the hillside naturally but then bends forms an arch and follows the ground down the hill to the patio. This…

Rewriting warden 

Published Dec. 1 2016 As she chaired her final county council meeting as warden for 2016 last week Algonquin Highlands Reeve Carol Moffatt tabled a report suggesting that during the final two years of the…

Community hubs

At the beginning of this school year the Minden Ontario Early Years Centre long located at the Sears building along Bobcaygeon Road was relocated into Archie Stouffer Elementary School. That relocation was celebrated with a…