What the Haliburton?

In what we hope will be the first of several discussions during his final year as Mayor, Murray Fearrey reflects on his 55 years in politics, most of them leading the largest municipality in the county. What is he proud of? Are there any regrets? And what does he see for the future of Haliburton County? All that and more in this podcast.

Minden Mayor Bob Carter gives straight answers to tough questions in an interview demonstrating what transparency and accountability sound like. It's hard enough keeping a small, rural town going with the Province continually offloading costs. Add a school board, Province and health system that refuse to communicate and cooperate, and the job looks close to impossible.

Royal LePage Lakes of Haliburton is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the real estate business this year. Owner and broker, Anthony vanLieshout, joins us to discuss one of Haliburton County's favourite topics: real estate. In this episode we cover historical price and activity patterns, changing cottager dynamics, short term rentals, the insane COVID period and subsequent cooling-off. Anthony gives his predictions for 2026 and explains why he has a pretty good idea which year prices will start rising again and why he's confident they will. Spoiler alert: it's not 2026. When exactly? We wanted to know too. Listen and find out!

Depending on how you define it, the county has at least two downtowns: one in Haliburton Village, and one in Minden. And depending on what time of year you visit, they can be nearby and friendly stops to get what you need, or crammed with cottagers and out-of-towners taking up all the parking. A Business Improvement Area (BIA) is often set up to maximize the functionality and attractiveness of a downtown, bringing local business owners together with a member of council, aiming to align municipal policies with good economic development practices. Haliburton Village has one. Minden doesn't. In this episode, Brandon Nimigon, president of the Haliburton BIA, tells us what they're working on and what he'd like to see happen next. Will he succeed bringing something similar to Minden? And why does Minden clear its piles of snow on the curbs when Dysart doesn't? Are people in Dysart more spry? Brandon shares his thoughts on that and much more. Bonus: our first lighting round!

Ontario has many programs for children and parents who need help. So why is it that someone in Haliburton with a full time job still struggles financially to support herself and two kids? And how can we call ourselves a society that supports families when we consistently make decisions to not adequately fund services like affordable daycare? Our guest shares some of her challenges as we brainstorm a few ideas to make life better for local parents, including the example of a school district in New York where they have programming from 7am to 7pm to support working parents. Is that something we could try here?

Mike Waller, president of the Royal Canadian Legion, Haliburton Branch, joins Bram for a chat about the important work our Legions do supporting veterans and the wider community. With many of our veterans aging and experiencing mobility issues, Mike takes us through their efforts to have a crosswalk installed between their building and public parking across the street. Spoiler alert: if you thought the safety of our veterans would be more important than technical requirements for crosswalk locations, you would be wrong. Our veterans will continue to have to play the Mountain Street version of Frogger, with walkers and canes, until someone with authority cuts the excuses and does the right thing. Take Action: If you'd like to sign Mike's petition to get a crosswalk installed between the Haliburton Legion and municipal parking lot, email rcl129@outlook.com with your name, town of residence, and a message to "add me to the crosswalk petition".Learn More: Go to thehighlander.ca/veterans for archived interviews with some of our local veterans. In 2015, The Highlander interviewed several to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The videos include Mabel Brannigan, namesake of the Minden Legion branch, and Murray Whetung, who shared what it was like to be a First Nations soldier in the Canadian military. Billy Pickard describes the critical role played by wartime postal services in connecting servicemen and women with their families, while Chuck Viner shares his impressions from the Korean War and Parry Huiser explains some of the difficulties our soldiers have experienced both in and coming home from Afghanistan. These videos and more can be found at thehighlander.ca/veterans.

Bram and Deputy Editor, Mike Baker, welcome guest Greg Bishop for a discussion about Dysart's plans to permit small structures on shorelines. Is allowing gazebos at the waterfront the beginning of the end of decades of conservation efforts, or is it a reasonable accommodation for property owners? Could it even be a back door to better environmental protection? Join us as Greg explains why shoreline regulation exists and why opening things up at this point could be a problem.

One episode wasn't enough to fully explore local democracy with our guest, Carol Moffatt. Carol is back this week with Lisa and Bram to talk about a perennial favourite: amalgamation. Should Haliburton County's five municipal governments in two tiers be consolidated into one government? Naturally, we have some opinions about that.

Guest Carol Moffatt from the Healthy Democracy Project joins Bram and Lisa for a discussion about why people don't run for office and what needs to change so they do. With the experience of 12 years as mayor of Algonquin Highlands and two terms as County Warden, Carol gives us an inside look at the world of local politics.

Why are local councils, non profits and businesses still posting their information on social media platforms filled with slop and misinformation? Bram and Lisa talk to communications expert Lauren Hunter about how we can post and get information without being manipulated by secret algorithms. As social media becomes increasingly unreliable and confusing, where should citizens get their information and how should organizations get it to them?

You can't get where you're going if you don't know where 'there' is. Bram and Lisa compare modestly-developed Haliburton to hyperactive Muskoka and note that we seem to be heading in that direction but without a plan or mandate to do so. What is Haliburton County supposed to be? Why don't our councils seem to have any kind of vision for the future of our community? Letting others do what they like in our towns and on our lakes is not a strategy; it's a failure of imagination.

Bram and Lisa talk about County Council's reaction to a report saying $30mm will be needed to build adequate, affordable housing in the area and debate an expert's suggestion to use public lands for housing. Are we going to keep waiting for 'someone' to build us the housing we need, or might we just have to do it ourselves?

Bram and Highlander Editor Lisa Gervais discuss a group effort in Haliburton County to get more candidates running for local office and other news happening in the County this week.