By Chad Ingram
Published Dec. 24, 2018
An annual tradition, here is a list of the top 10 Times stories of the year.
10. Scotch Line landfill
Making
the list for the second consecutive year, issues continue to plague
Minden Hills’ main waste disposal site, including a seagull infestation
and $200,000 deficit.
9. Pinegrove Place
Construction
on Phase 2 of the affordable complex near the arena in Minden is
scheduled to commence in April of 2019. The three-storey building will
have 21 units and it’s anticipated the facility will be open for
occupancy in spring of 2020.
8. Algae bloom
A blue-green algae bloom briefly forms, then dissipates, on a lake in Algonquin Highlands.
7. Double-hatting
The
provincial government passes legislation making it easier for
double-hatters – full-time firefighters who are also members of
volunteer fire departments in communities where they live – to do both.
For two decades, the practice had been fought by firefighting unions.
The news is hugely welcome to communities that rely on volunteer fire
departments.
6. Legalized pot
There
has been a lot of talk around council tables about legal pot this year,
and in December, Haliburton County council, as well as the councils of
its four, lower-tier townships, all opted in to allowing marijuana
stores within their borders.
5. MH fire hall
A
project at least a decade in the making with preliminary work spanning a
number of council terms, Minden Hills opens its new, $2-million fire
hall along Highway 35. The facility provides a state-of-the-art building
for the township’s volunteer fire department located outside Minden’s
flood plain, and opens up the downtown property occupied by the old fire
hall for other purposes.
4. Municipal elections
Local
elections are always newsworthy. While there was not a ton of change
for the councils of Minden Hills and Algonquin Highlands, with two new
ward councillors each, at the upper-tier level of the county, there was a
departure of three, longtime councillors from the table.
3. Arena project
A
proposed renewal of the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena, which would
include a new arena, new gymnasium and refurbished community centre, now
has an estimated cost of nearly $12 million. Minden Hills council is to
discuss what it will do with the project in January.
2. All-women council
In
the October municipal election, voters in Algonquin Highlands elected a
council comprised entirely of women, only one of a very few times that
has ever happened in Ontario’s history. The circumstance garnered a
phone call from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister for Women and
Gender Equality Maryam Monsef.
1. Laurie Scott
After nearly a decade and a half as part of the provincial Opposition, longtime Haliburton-Kawartha-Lakes-
MPP Laurie Scott gets a seat on the government side of Queen’s Park, as
the PCs sweep to power in the spring election. Scott becomes a
high-ranking member of the Ford government cabinet, named Minister of
Labour.
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