All posts by SHLF

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.


What’s going on here? New optometry clinic proposed on Centre Street in Alliston

All eyes are on a vacant piece of land that could soon be home to a new optometry clinic in Alliston.

Just the facts:

• A minor variance application has been approved to adjust the maximum lot coverage to permit a new building to be constructed at the Centre Street, just south of the Shoppers Drug Mart parking lot.

• The application was submitted to increase the maximum lot coverage from 70 per cent to 81 per cent to allow for the construction of new building for the New Tecumseth Optometry Clinic.

• The purpose of the increase was to better accommodate and serve the clients and patients.

• The town’s lot coverage standard of 70 per cent is meant to “maintain an appropriate balance of open space and buildings on the property” while also allowing natural areas to provide storm water run-off. However, the town’s planning department considers the increase “minor in nature” and didn’t object to the application.

• The property is designated downtown core commercial and clinics/health care facilities are permitted uses.

• It is zoned urban commercial core and a health service facility is permitted within that designation

• Normally the town requires clinics to provide six parking spaces, but the applicant will provide two and compensate the town for the remaining spaces in cash-in-lieu of parking. Clients will be able to use the municipal parking lot across the street.

• The applicant has yet to submit a site plan application, which will address various engineering matters.

For more information visit

Joel Plaskett, Hollerado, Ron Hawkins headlining Barrie’s Troubadour Festival

Some big names from the music world will play downtown Barrie next month.

Joel Plaskett Emergency, Hollerado, and Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins are among the notables performing in venues throughout the core during the Troubadour Festival Sept. 21 to 23. The concerts will be held at Donaleigh’s, Homestead Bakery, St. Andrew’s Church, Flying Monkeys and Meridian Place.

In total, nearly 30 musical acts will perform, including Born Ruffians, Zeus, the Weather Station, Land of Talk and Basia Bulat. A songwriters workshop will also be hosted by Mitch Rossell and Dave Turnbull.

The event is produced in partnership with the City of Barrie and Ontario government.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 17 at noon. For more information, including a full list of performers, visit .

Police seek two suspects in Innisfil razor theft

South Simcoe police have released photos of two men wanted in connection to a theft of razors at an Innisfil store.

Officers said the men went into the Innisfil Beach Road store Aug. 1 and went straight to the aisle with the razors. A large quantity was taken, without either man paying for the items.

They got into a van and drove west.

The first suspect is white approximately 30-40 years old, tall with an average build. His head was shaved bald and he had a clean shaven face. He was wearing a blue golf shirt and brown khaki pants.

The second suspect is white, an average height with a thin build. He was also clean shaven and wore a black Nike ball cap, a white Canada T-shirt and dark shorts.

Their van is a white commercial panel van with black tinted windows and a ladder on the roof.

Anyone with tips can call 705-436-2141, 905-775-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477(TIPS).

Many unknowns on the horizon as Canada prepares to legalize pot

On Oct. 17, Canada will become one of the first Western nations to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

And it’s only fair that we go first, since we were one of the first countries to ban it. A Liberal government under William Lyon Mackenzie King added marijuana to the list of substances banned by the Opium Act almost 20 years before the Americans outlawed pot.

Then, when the United States banned weed in 1938, Canada banned it again. It was such a non-problem that the King government forgot they’d already made it illegal.

We can expect some serious issues to arise next fall. For one thing, the sale of marijuana in Ontario is still up in the air. The previous provincial government planned to open a chain of marijuana stores similar to the LCBO. The new Progressive Conservative government appears to be leaning toward free enterprise. A decision needs to be made soon: decriminalization is only three months away.

The new law has other traps. Growing pot will be legalized, but only for four plants for personal use. Commercial growing and selling will be just as illegal under the new law as they are now. In fact, some penalties for growing and dealing will be harsher.

Some advocates of a wide-open market are, for now, simply ignoring the law. Marijuana “dispensaries” are open in most cities and towns, selling marijuana, hashish and edibles. In at least one Eastern Ontario First Nation, Tyendenaga, dozens of new marijuana outlets have opened in defiance of the old and new laws.

It will be interesting to see how the government reacts to these outlets. Until recently, pot growers were simply ignoring the federal narcotics law. The RCMP and local police forces went after growers, especially in the fall, but more than enough pot was grown illegally to supply the Canadian market. Now, it’s not just a matter of breaking the law. Unlicensed commercial pot growers and dealers will be competing against well-connected licensed growers and government retailers.

It’s one thing for pot growers and dealers to compete against each other. It may be quite another for them to compete with governments that have become desperate for new revenue streams.

And no one is sure what will happen about impaired driving. It has always been illegal to drive under the influence of drugs. Now, the challenge for the police will be to find a way to convince judges that people who drive stoned are “impaired”. No one has come up with a quick test similar to a breathalyzer.

People who want to smoke pot will need to be careful not to break several new rules. While the regulations of the decriminalization law haven’t been published, it’s clear that it will be rather easy to break the new law.

Under the new law, you can possess up to 30 grams of legal cannabis, dried or equivalent in non-dried form in public. And you can share up to 30 grams of legal cannabis with other adults. But you’d better make sure they are adults: give or sell pot to someone under 18 and you’re looking at up to 14 years in jail.

You can only buy dried or fresh cannabis and cannabis oil from a provincially-licensed retailer or online from the federal government. The law says nothing about hashish. Edibles are excluded, as are marijuana vapes. And, while you can “share” your marijuana, but you can’t sell it. That’s illegal dealing.

And you’ll have to buy seeds, seedlings or clones from a licensed dealer. Presumably, the new regulations will make it illegal to sell seeds and clones.

You can make cannabis products, such as food and drinks, at home as long as organic solvents are not used to create concentrated products. But the law is not clear about the legality of baking with cannabis and transporting the stuff to a friend’s place. Will there be a rule like Ontario’s law against transporting an open bottle of wine or case of beer?

I think the government has made things far too complicated. People will still be charged, either under provincial laws, which do not carry a criminal record, or federal laws, which do. It will be up to the police to decide which charges will be laid.

As well, the people convicted of simple possession will not have their criminal records erased. In several of the U.S. states where marijuana was legalized, criminal records were destroyed. That should be done here; people who have done something now recognized as relatively harmless should not be stuck with records that affect their ability to get a job or travel.

There will likely be a class action lawsuit filed in the next few months to try to force the government into suspending the criminal records of people convicted of offences for things that will be legal under the new law, things like simple possession and cultivation of four or fewer plants. If I had a marijuana record, I probably wouldn’t wait for this lawsuit to grind through the courts. I’d get the forms and apply now.

(To get them, simply google “Official PBC Record Suspension Application Guide and Forms” and the material you need will show up on the National Parole Board website. Ignore the ads for companies that offer help. This is something you probably can handle yourself.)

Mark Bourrie

Mark Bourrie is a lawyer practicing in Lanark County and Ottawa. He is also a part-time professor of History and Canadian Studies and an author. You can reach him at [email protected] or 613-255-2158.