Bancroft this Week

Response to Don Taylor

The history of the water issue in our community is indeed complicated. I appreciated the information and insight Don Taylor brought to the topic in his recent letter. I am writing to continue the conversation because I have reached a different conclusion after learning the same background story. I still believe that council needs to roll back the rates.

Council considers safety regulations after rally

On Jan. 9 some 50 Bancroft residents, including members of the Gnomes for Social Justice and Equality, entered a closed session of council at the Club 580 and refused to leave. Since then, Bancroft Mayor Paul Jenkins and CAO Hazel Lambe have been reviewing the town’s and the province’s policies and procedures to ensure the safety of council members and staff.

21st century learning comes to North Hastings

Some North Hastings students are exploring a new educational practice that encourages them to temporarily trade in their textbooks and pursue curriculum they care about.

Library union proposed for area

Three North Hastings library CEO resignations in rapid succession have brought rural public libraries — and the way they’re run — to the forefront of the community consciousness. Especially when, as Southern Ontario Library Service CEO Barbara Franchetto tells Bancroft This Week, the high turnover rate is not common in the industry generally.

Public health warns of cold injuries

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health recommends that people take precautions to prevent cold injuries such as frostbite and hypothermia during cold spells, says senior public health inspector for public health John Cannan.

The great water and sewer debate

For most of a year now we have been consumed by ongoing discussions as to the affordability of municipal water and sewer rates. This became an issue in early 2017 with the doubling of the wastewater portion of these bills however the problem didn’t start then. At the advent of the municipal water system, the council of the day was basking in the prospect of potential limitless growth. We had several new mines which brought overnight growth and this, coupled with the baby boom, meant that we would be a city in short order. These factors among others, seem to have, masked the need for a plan to replace this infrastructure in the future and choices then certainly would not have been framed with any regard to the current reality of stagnant growth.

Cold shmold

Take the last Skate Maynooth, for example. Bancroft This Week’s Nate Smelle reported “some 20 brave souls” made it to Maynooth’s outdoor rink Jan. 5 — during an extreme cold weather warning. It was -41 degrees with the wind chill. To put that in perspective, the Canada 150 rink in Ottawa moved hockey games indoors over the holidays when temperatures dropped below -18 degrees. Is it our lack of ability to feel the cold that makes us ignore it, or the fact that skating on an outdoor rink, or any winter sport really, is very much a rite of passage for most Canadians?

Extreme cold doesn’t scare away skaters in Maynooth

Despite the -41 degree wind chill outside, some 20 brave souls came out for the second Skate Maynooth event of the season last Friday night.

Frigid winter triggers call for shelters

Concerns are being raised for North Hastings’s most vulnerable residents as the second half of winter 2017-’18 holds nothing back.

An exciting year ahead for Algonquin Nation

Since taking on the position of Algonquin Negotiations Representative last June, Stephen Hunter has been working diligently to improve the lives of Algonquin people and enhance the relationship between the Algonquin nation and the broader community. To accomplish these goals, he has dedicated a great deal of time to strengthen existing relationships and establish new partnerships with local municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and community members throughout the Madaouskairini Algonquin territory/Bancroft area. Doing so, he said, has resulted in the creation of several opportunities for the Algonquin community to share its rich heritage and foster reconciliation with local residents and visitors to the Bancroft area.

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