Archives 2021

Have a sweet summer with Serve a Sweet Slice baking camp in Innisfil

baker Angelique Hardy is back in the kitchen this summer for another kids’ cooking camp.

“The was such a hit. I had so much wonderful feedback from it,” Hardy said.

This time, she’s extending the age group to 12.

“I will be showing the children how to grow your own food and how that connection can influence your choices,” she said. “It’s amazing when you see their eyes light up when they pluck their own lettuce and tomatoes. They want to create something awesome with it.”

The camps run July 2 through to the week of Aug. 6 from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

Cost is $39 a day, which includes two snacks, lunch and all materials.

For more details, call Hardy at or email .

Flush crunch coming in Innisfil

A building boom is leaving the town a little flushed out.

According to staff, the town’s sewer treatment capacity is going to be full by 2023 if changes aren’t made.

And although upgrades have been on the books for a while, the town’s growth is creating a sewer shortfall as well as a cash crunch.

“Since the 2012 master plan, we have known there should be a waste water expansion plan in the future,” town CAO Jason Reynar said.

A staff report shows the estimated cost for expansions to the waste water treatment plant on St. Johns Road is $87 million.

The bad news: to date, only $13.5 million has been collected from development charges.

The current waste water treatment plant opened in 1987 with four holding tanks, with four more tanks added in 1996.

There are 100 kilometres of gravity-fed sewer pipes buried beneath the roads, which all lead to the plant.

Septic trucks also drop off their haul.

Once taking in the sewage, aluminum sulphate, or alum, is added to the liquid, which helps suspended particles bind together so they can settle to the bottom.

The liquid flows through a screen to remove grit, getting rid of anything that sinks or floats.

After that, the liquid is put into bubbling aeration tanks, where micro-organisms go to work eating the biodegradable matter.

“It’s all biological, basically this is a biological zoo,” waste water operations team lead Dave Sparrow said.

Some of the older sludge, rich with micro-organisms, is added to the mixture to enhance the treatment.

Next, the fluid goes to a clarifying tank, where the sludge settles to the bottom and a large stirring arm collects the sludge into a central hopper.

After that, the mostly clean water is sent through a filter, which includes an ultraviolet disinfection system.

It is then poured back into Lake Simcoe, and the process repeats itself.

Some of the remaining sludge is also sent away to be used on secondary crops like sod or soy.

While council is ready to debate the expansion plan on Sept, 5, interim plans are in the works.

One of the solutions to help with capacity has been adding a $5 million Lystek membrane system, which takes up less space than the old sand filter system. Those membranes can filter water faster than the older system.

Another piece of that puzzle is upgrading the water treatment plant so it doesn’t have to backwash every few hours, saving what amounts to about a thousand homes worth of wastewater.

And finally, there is submitting a new application to the Ministry of Environment and Conservation and Parks to adjust the plant’s capacity to 17,000 cubic metres a day.

However, if that is approved, the town would still reach its sewage capacity by 2023.

“There’s no doubt in the last two years, we’ve seen a spike in the number of housing permits,” Reynar said.

He was clear in saying the town isn’t behind where it should be.

“We’ve got the money to do a design, so we’ve got some time, but we’re talking about $60 million to $80 million to be front-end financed,” Reynar said. “We need the money up front to build it so the capacity is available when they want to turn the water on for that new house.”

However, he added, it’s not like the town could collect the $73.5 million in development charges and start building the expansion tomorrow.

“It’s challenging to ask for this at a time when we’re asking for development charge increases,” he said. “We were nervous about this with respect to how Innisfil Heights was going to be funded, because there isn’t the same guarantee if we bring the services, there will be development charges to offset the costs.”

Residential developers are prepared to pay up-front costs because they know the housing market is hot, Reynar said.

The town has already been working on an environmental assessment for the expansion, along with a new Master Servicing Plan.

“We are looking at extending servicing to areas that are underserviced, look at Innisfil’s growth areas and reduce impacts to Lake Simcoe,” InnServices CEO Wally Malcolm said during a council presentation Aug. 8.

Malcolm is updating the Master Servicing Plan to accommodate growth to 2031 and beyond.

Residents can comment on the Master Servicing Plan until Aug. 24, and Malcolm knows there’s a lot to take in.

“The short-term projects from 2019 to 2023, (including) the expansion of the Lakeshore Water Pollution Control Plant, amount to over $146 million,” Malcolm said.

And projects slated for 2024 to 2031 total another $85 million.

For now, staff is suggesting council delay adding any more housing or business wastewater commitments until a proper strategy is in place.

Staff is also hoping to work with the development community to get the front-end financing.

Angel ‘gateway’ into Penetanguishene could change

Penetanguishene is considering making enhancements to the angel gateway into town.

Two trumpet-playing angels fixed on concrete blocks currently sit on either side of Main Street at Thompsons Road. The town hired WSP to study the existing location of these angels and what could possibly be done with them.

“We did an assessment of where they are and any potential impacts that may (occur) through the Main Street reconstruction project,” said Greg Bender of WSP Canada.

The report concluded that the angels should remain together, be kept opposite each other on either side of the road and should be relocated south.

“Where the angels are right now used to be the informal gateway to the town … and development is encroaching on that gateway,” said Bender.

“We heard from the heritage committee that it would make sense to relocate the angels to the municipal boundary to really ensure people know they are entering Penetanguishene at the municipal boundary and not at Thompsons Road.”

Bender proposed a series of redesigns, which included angels on pedestals ranging three to eight metres in height with walls, signage, banners or a connecting archway. Eight proposed designs had estimated costs as low as $331,000 and as high as $1.2 million.

Council has yet to debate the options.

Midway returns to Wasaga Beach

The main beach area is always a fun spot to be, but now there is even more to do with the arrival of the midway.

Albion Amusements Ltd. has its midway set up at , 40 Mosley St., near Beach Area One, from Friday, July 6, until Sunday, July 15.

Hours of operation are 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., subject to weather and customer demand.

Enjoy fun rides, games, and carnival food at the longest freshwater beach in the world.

Please note that due to the midway, parking will not be available to the public at Playland Park Square parking lot from July 4 to July 17. For a list of parking lots nearby please visit

Collingwood’s Olde Red Hen ripped after Trump staffer booted from U.S. eatery

The distance between Collingwood and Lexington, Va., is about 1,000 kilometres.

But don’t try telling that to some south of the border.

The Olde Red Hen has been a fixture in the community since 1946, but this week the restaurant received some unwanted online backlash over an incident in the Virginia town.

Earlier this week, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, the White House press secretary, was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant.

When the news broke online, angry Americans started to leave negative comments and reviews on the Facebook page of the Collingwood eatery.

“Glad to know which restaurant we will never eat at, we do not support low life Liberal scum run business,” was one of the comments.

Others said her restaurant wasn’t clean and hoped she goes out of business.

“I first got a couple Friday night and I responded, ‘You’ve got the wrong restaurant,’” she said. “It just kept coming and coming.”

However, the comments started to impact her restaurant’s rating on Facebook and Trip Advisor.

She said people have since been countering the negative comments with positive support and reviews.

Amanda Sexton wrote on the page, “This American is so sorry for what is happening to you. I am so embarrassed.”

New walk-in clinics in Barrie and Orillia to help people with addictions

The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre is opening new walk-in clinics to better serve people fighting addictions.

Two new rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) service centres in Barrie and Orillia officially opened on June 25, and a third is set to open in Midland in July.

“People can come and get some help related to their addictions,” explained Angela McCuaig, manager of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s outpatient mental health and addiction services. “That can be anything from some brief counselling, some information about treatment centres, or they might need medication to help them that day with some of their struggles.”

An interprofessional staff consisting of counsellors, nurse practitioners, social workers, and more help identify a treatment plan and connect individuals with community services, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association or local housing supports.

“It’s for any individual or family member who is concerned about their substance use problem, or a family member’s,” said McCuaig. “It’s not a clinic where we keep people long term but we want to provide a place where people can come and get that help right away.”

When people struggling with the effects of addictions decide to seek help, that immediacy is important, McCuaig said.

“When they need to talk to somebody … when they are ready, they want to have somebody available.”

The RAAM services are being offered in response to a spike in opioid overdoes across the province, McCuaig said, noting the North Simcoe/Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), the regional authority that provides funding for health services, received $1.6 million to fund RAAM services in this area.

While June 25 was the official launch, the two locations have been open for a week and the Barrie location has already had one client.

The Barrie RAAM service centre is located 70 Wellington St. W. The Orillia RAAM service centre is located at 169 Front St. S.

If you can’t make it to those physical locations, the RAAM service centres can serve you online through the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN)

“We want to make sure the people we can’t get here, we can get to them.”

For more information, call or toll free at 1-833-797-3095.

Stayner cranker to demonstrate sock cranker at art festival

Anne Hanna can crank out a pair of socks in an hour and a half, literally.

Hanna is one of a small group of “crankers” in Stayner, who use hand-powered sock knitting machine called a sock cranker to produce socks.

Hanna is one of the artists who will be bringing her art to the Stayner Art Festival on July 15.

Hanna saw a demonstration at a craft show and it piqued her interest.

When she received her own machine as a Christmas gift she said she knew she had to learn.

“I took lessons, and I’ve had a little trouble. It’s quite a thing to get,” Hanna said. “But I’ve done really well with it.”

To knit each sock, Hanna, cranks the machine a specific number of times, then a series of half-cranks to form the heel, and then another set of full-cranks. To complete each sock, Hanna sews one end shut.

“I like working with wool,” Hanna said, “but some is polyester which is very fine.”

Hanna’s socks, as well as a demonstration of the sock cranking machine will be at the Stayner Art Festival on July 15 at 7244 Highway 26.

Shaughna Ainsworth — Barrie Ward 1

I have lived in Ward 1 for over 20 years and have always had a keen interest in municipal politics.

I have for many years been a secondary school teacher with the Simcoe County District School Board with a bachelor of education and an honours degree in political science. Being my mother’s daughter has given me invaluable insight into local municipal politics.

While patiently waiting in the wings for this opportunity, I have acted as a sounding board for my mother during common place discussions and deliberations on local issues. At the cost of blushing, I am pretty sure even as a new member of council I can hit the ground running, ardently advocate for the ward while making a strong contribution at the council table.

Among other things, I will enthusiastically stand up for Old Barrie and the needs of Ward 1, including:

The reconstruction of failed roads. Because of many years of neglect, roads in the ward have gone beyond the point of resurfacing and now require total replacement. Infrastructure renewal will be a top priority.

Protecting and maintaining the North Shore Trail, publicly owned green spaces and waterfront properties, including Johnson’s Beach, is equally important.

Spending is always about priorities and, of course, essential services must come first. I will only make informed decisions while considering taxpayer benefit and municipal value. I believe in a balanced community while cautiously holding the line on spending and tax increases.

Speeding is a huge concern on our neighbourhood streets. I would like to investigate reducing speed limits on local roads.

Please vote Shaughna Ainsworth. I am a motivated, community-minded person always willing to help others. I am capable of setting targets and reaching goals and will always keep your best interest in mind. I have a full understanding of the commitment required to be a ward councillor and I won’t let you down. Thank you.

If you have questions or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact me at , email or visit my website

Portrait of a Barrie opioid dealer: ‘Dispensing drugs like bullets.’

A disturbing glimpse into the ravages of the opioid crisis has been revealed through the sentencing report for a 21-year-old Barrie man who now faces seven years in prison.

In his June 20 submission, Justice Jonathan Bliss goes into great detail about the circumstances surrounding the fentanyl overdoses of five users in downtown Barrie Oct. 2, 2016, and how they led to the arrest of Tony Mastromatteo.

Mastromatteo was the supplier who laced cocaine with fentanyl and sold it to a street-level dealer who sold the drugs to five people in downtown Barrie that night.

All five later overdosed in the bar district with near-fatal consequences. If it wasn’t for police and paramedics administering the anti-opioid drug Naloxone, they could have died.

“Words fail to convey the human cost of the fentanyl crisis that communities across the country, and this community in particular, are facing. To put it bluntly, people are dying,” Justice Bliss wrote.

There were 74 confirmed and four probable opioid-related deaths in Simcoe Muskoka last year.

Mastromatteo showed disregard for the ruinous impact of his high-level dealing despite the fact both his parents died from opioid use, Justice Bliss said.

“He was essentially an illicit pharmacy dispensing drugs like bullets for the buyers to play Russian roulette with.”

Mastromatteo’s Facebook page showed him adorned in oversized rings, necklaces, with grill on his teeth, holding a wad of bills like a fan, with lyrics copied from The Game’s Gucci Everything:  “We got all the money, if y’all was looking for it.  My life is a movie, my Gucci imported.  I just do this shit for a hobby. Wearin’ all this jewelry exciting the federalies.”

“Mr. Mastromatteo wasn’t just posing as a gangsta, he acted like one.”

His cellphone, which contained hundreds of drug-dealing text messages and Facebook messenger chats, revealed the depth of his drug-dealing lifestyle to Barrie police.

Many of those messages were between Mastromatteo and the Chinese website he used to order his drugs which came to him in the mail via the United States.

“So easy was the process, and so confident was Mr. Mastromatteo in it, that he used his own name and his own address for the packages of drugs to be delivered,” the judge wrote.

Justice Bliss took Mastomatteo’s tragic upbringing into account, but said his prison sentence had to act as a deterrent to other drug dealers who profit from the opioid crisis.

“Dysfunction fails to convey the family life that he and his siblings were exposed to. It was marked by appalling parenting and tragic consequences,” he wrote.

When he was nine, Mastromatteo’s mother crashed her car while driving drunk, leaving his father a quadriplegic. 

When his mother got out of jail for the offence, she continued on a destructive path of drug use.

Mastromatteo was introduced to marijuana at age seven and was smoking it regularly by the time he was 12. By fourteen he progressed to crack cocaine and then moved, as a 16 year old, to opiates and heroin.

Bentley’s serves up classic sandwiches in Collingwood

Have a hankering for a veal sandwich or a corn dog?

There is now a place to go in Collingwood.

Bentley’s Sandwiches & Poutinerie is open to serve the community at , with a menu of classic sandwiches.

The menu includes veal, Philly cheese steak, eggplant, pork schnitzel and smoked back bacon sandwiches as well as the popular corn dogs. You can add toppings such as jalapeno peppers and mushrooms to make it your own.

They also have several poutines on the menu including pulled pork, bacon and cheeseburger.