All posts by SHLF

Jazz at the Library in Thornbury back for fall season

Few Canadian musicians can claim such an illustrious career as this virtuosic trombonist, composer, arranger and conductor.

Russ Little will bring his ultimate trombone, exuberance and boundless instrumental artistry to the Thornbury library on Friday, Aug. 24. His highlights so far include having been the lead trombonist with the Woody Herman and Count Basie Bands, founding member of the legendary rock orchestra Lighthouse, member of  Rob McConnell’s the Boss Brass, music director for the famous comedy TV show Second City and arranger/conductor for countless CBC, CTV, ABC and NBC network TV shows.

For this concert he will be joined by Andy Harasymczuk on guitar, Jack McFadden on bass and Ted Warren on drums. Tickets are $25 and available at Thornbury Pharmasave and Blue Mountain Music in Collingwood.

Wayne McGrath will bring his trumpet and be joined by Don Buchanan on keyboard, Peter Rissi on trombone, Jay Burr on tuba and Steve Wood on drums to revisit the Roaring 20s with the jazz music of the day on Sept. 21.

Bill McBirnie will perform the best jazz and bossa nova tunes  on his extreme flute on Oct. 19 with Andy Harasymczuk on guitar, Jack McFadden on bass and Ted Warren on drums.

The Marsh Street Centre will be the venue on Nov. 16 to showcase the Marie-Catherine Pazzano Quintet highlighting undiscovered gems, the many jazz tunes which just didn’t get top billings, but rank with the best mainstream jazz standards any time. Marie-Catherine on vocals, Don Buchanan on keyboard, Jason Hunter on tenor sax, Pat Collins on bass and Steve James on drums make up this enjoyable ensemble.

Thornbury Jazzworks presents the Jazz at the Library and Jazz at the Marsh concerts to promote excellence in musical performance and use the proceeds to support music education programs in our local schools.

Barrie still has one of the highest apartment rental rates in Canada: PadMapper

Barrie continues to be one of the most expensive places in which to rent an apartment in Canada.

The online property rental platform PadMapper released its latest Canadian rent report Aug. 15 and Barrie ranks fourth highest on the list of most expensive markets. On average, a one-bedroom apartment costs $1,350 per month, up 11.6 per cent from the same period last year.

Toronto ($2,140), Vancouver ($2,000) and Burnaby, B.C. ($1,570) finished ahead of Barrie. Montreal ($1,250) placed fifth.

“The report analyzed hundreds of thousands of listings last month to examine rent prices across the 26 largest cities in the country,” PadMapper representative Crystal Chen said. “Listings are then aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market.”

It costs $1,510 per month to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Barrie, up 9.4 per cent over the same period in 2017. Two-bedroom rental is higher in Vancouver ($3,200), Toronto ($2,800), Burnaby ($2,270) and Montreal ($1,700).

Barrie has been among the most expensive places to rent in the country for more than a year, according to previous PadMapper reports.

The report does not include short-term and Airbnb listings.

To view the report, visit .

Lake Simcoe life in balance, despite invasive species

Another invasive species is keeping Lake Simcoe scientists busy this summer.

To the untrained eye, the foreigners are being mistaken as plain old zebra mussels.

But it’s a species called quagga mussels that scientists and anglers are keeping an eye on.

“They look almost exactly like zebra mussels, but they’re a separate species. They are like zebra mussels 2.0,” Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority limnologist Brian Ginn said.

Zebra mussels were first found in Lake Simcoe in 1991, feeding on algae and particles in the water column.

Typically, their invasion is cyclical, eating until food is scarce, then they start to die off.

Quagga mussels also come from the Caspian-Black Sea area in Europe and were first noticed in Lake Simcoe in 2004.

“Quagga mussels can survive on less food than zebra mussels and they can close up and survive periods without food,” Ginn said. “They are also better in cold water.”

Zebra mussels would spring to life once Lake Simcoe reached 12 to 20 degrees, he said.

Quagga mussels are active at 4 C, which in Lake Simcoe is year-round, Ginn said. They also don’t mind a sandy bottom and are found across the lake.

As a result, Ginn has seen changes in the water.

“We used to have this big algae bloom in the spring that would set up the food chain for the entire year,” he said. “Now, the quagga mussels are eating the spring algae bloom.”

However, scientists are also learning the food chain is adapting.

“With the zebra mussels, they actually created more food for bugs in the lake.”

Bugs like shad flies and midges live on mussel debris.

“There were more bugs where zebra mussels were found, and little fish like to eat bugs and big fish eat the little fish,” he said. “In the shallow water, it actually increased the amount of fish.”

Lake Simcoe fishermen are noticing lake trout and whitefish are starting to eat the quagga mussels.

“They are an alternate food source for some of the whitefish and the perch. Gobies also eat them when they are small. You get a lot of fish with red lips,” angler and Lake Simcoe Message Board administrator John Whyte said. “They’re not an invited species, but we have a lake in balance.”

However, quagga mussels aren’t a fisherman’s friend. “They are sharp enough to cut your line if you’re bottom fishing,” he said.  They also cling to boats and docks like zebra mussels.

“But they haven’t done the damage to infrastructure like they thought they might have,” he said.

However, that could change.

“One of the problems with quagga mussels is they are on the bottom and they filter every toxin that goes through the lake. When fish start to eat them and birds eat fish, it could be like the E. coli outbreak we had in Georgian Bay.”

The concern is what the future might hold.

For now, Ginn and his team are taking quagga mussel samples at 40 sites in the lake, using a claw machine to dredge the bottom.

Join in Innisfil community potluck

Bring your favourite meal to share and connect with other members of the town for a community potluck.

Resident Sonia DaSilva is a newcomer to the community herself and saw there are others who are trying to make friends in the area.

She tested the waters by having a ladies’ potluck at her house earlier this summer and had success in connecting with approximately 15 new friends.

DaSilva is stepping it up by hosting a community potluck on Aug. 25 at the at 1 p.m. Guests are asked to bring their favourite dish or dessert to share. Small gifts are welcome for raffle donations.

The event is alcohol-free and everyone is welcome.

Maplelane Farm Events Centre near Alliston is all for the dogs

Sherri Hall and her daughter Jen, owners of Maplelane Farm Event Centre near Alliston, are big believers of keeping their pawed patrons active and fit.

In addition to offering a big agility course, doggy diving area, disc course and lure coursing fields, they are introducing a new training centre.

“It’s a big indoor area where they can play, and we also have the pool they can swim in,” said Jen. “We really want to start pushing exercise and health for dogs.”

This will tie into their doggy daycare and boarding services.

“We are going to have some health programs,” she said. “We will have a big weigh scale for dogs that need to lose weight, and diet will also be part of that. We feed the raw diet here, a species-specific diet, so we will start selling some of that and encouraging proper nutrition and exercise.”

Her mom started the business in 1993, and the licensed breeding-boarding kennel breeds golden retrievers and other types of dogs. They are also a licensed municipal shelter and operate an all-breed rescue.

Their business is made up of various divisions, such as animal and goose control services, bedbug detection services, and dog training and competitions.

“People compete for the love of the sport, and to just get out and do something with their dog that they can both enjoy,” said Jen, who competes with various groups, including Super Dogs. “It’s all about exercise and training, and it’s quite the community, too. There’s a lot of friendships; you travel around.”

The five-acre property boasts a three-acre, fully fenced area for dogs to run and play in a safe environment, and there are also walking trails nearby.

The doggy daycare is available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and they offer daily rates, along with weekly or monthly packages.

“A lot of daycares offer less hours than that, so we are more flexible with drop-off and pickup times. We also will have after-hours drop-off and pickup.”

Basic grooming services are also available.

The facility is at just west of 10 Sideroad.

For more information, visit or call .

Midland’s North Simcoe Tool involved in some unique and impactful projects

Although operates a small shop on the corner of William and Yonge Street, the local plant is manufacturing components for some pretty significant projects.

The machine shop, which specializes in tooling, prototyping and small production runs has been assisting larger companies in the design and machining of components for some unique and impactful jobs.

“Part of the reason for our success is a never say no attitude,” said Mark Losch, who took over the business from his father in 1989. “Often a customer will ask us to step out of our comfort zone and manufacture something challenging. Instead of declining these opportunities our talented team of designers, tool makers and machinist embrace those opportunities and we try to turn them into an advantage.”

Diageo, the company which owns brands such as Johnny Walker, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal and Baileys, reached out to North Simcoe Tool to design a custom chess set for retiring employees. Each piece of this set was a small replica bottle of one of their products.

“It was certainly an interesting project for us and one that was certainly beyond our scope of work,” said Losch, who serves as the company’s president and CEO.

The company is constantly investing in new technology enabling them to expand their capabilities and allowing them to take on new projects.

North Simcoe Tool has worked with McDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. — the company that built the Canada Space Arm — and helped them machine some prototype bushings to replace ones on the space arm that were wearing out.

They were also contracted by the University of Calgary to build a few different mechanical components to be used with a new remote control surgical device they were developing for complex brain surgery. Scalpel holders and other procession components used remotely in the surgical process were created in Midland.

“We worked on prototype drilling equipment used by the Northern Centre for Advanced Research and Technology when they were bidding on the Mars Rover project,” said Losch. “The prototype augers that we built would have drilled holes in the surface of Mars to extract core samples.”

Their willingness to take on new challenging projects and continued investments in new machinery and technology has made their name stand out in the industry.

When Alpine Shredders paper shredding trucks were in need of new parts they sought out North Simcoe Tool to supply them with the components.

“We had just purchased the exact type of machine Alpine needed to manufacture many of their components,” said Losch. “They are now 30 per cent of our business and we are their only supplier of machined components.”

Although many in the industry have suggested North Simcoe Tool expand their business to a bigger facility, Losch believes the small plant allows them to have much-needed flexibility.

“While we certainly want to grow, we always want to keep in mind that our size does make us nimble. We are often able to change gears quickly and able to provide responses and solutions in a timely fashion,” said Losch.

Construction should begin on these Barrie bridge projects in the coming years

Remember the diverging diamond intersection planned for Mapleview Drive’s Highway 400 exit?

Don’t expect it to be built any time soon. The province has excluded funding for construction work on the Mapleview overpass from its 2017-2022 Southern Highways program, Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Katrina Lalor said.

“Improvements at the Mapleview interchange are not included,” she said. “Therefore, the ministry is not planning to begin construction within the time frame.”

The DDI concept has been implemented in jurisdictions across North America.

A DDI is designed to allow through traffic and left turns at the same time. This gives roadways the ability to handle traffic volume more efficiently while cutting down on potential collision points, when compared to a traditional intersection.

However, there is greater certainty on timelines for other bridgework projects within the city.

About 10 underpasses/overpasses in Barrie — excluding the municipality’s recently started Harvie Road bridge construction — need major upgrades. The ministry estimates roughly $78 million in bridge-related construction along the 400 through Barrie is required in the coming years.

Perhaps the most visible project currently underway is at Tiffin Street, which should be complete by fall 2019.

Once finished, the north and south lanes over Tiffin will be replaced, and the grading will be raised to improve sightlines in the area. Work on the northbound lanes should be complete later this year, Lalor said.

“It is expected the (northbound) work will be completed … with (northbound) traffic being shifted to the new lanes and (southbound) traffic being shifted to the old (northbound) lanes, allowing for bridge work and grade work to occur on the (southbound) lanes,” she said.

Meanwhile, the northbound bridge over the nearby Barrie Collingwood Railway line will also be replaced; the southbound bridge will be rehabilitated.

And the Dunlop Street bridge replacement and interchange reconstruction is scheduled to start sometime between 2019 and 2021. The detail design process should start this fall.

Ditto for the construction timeline on a similar project at Essa Road, though detail design is planned for early 2019.

“The Essa project includes bridge replacement and interchange reconstruction and is shown for delivery between 2019-21 in the latest (ministry) Southern Highways program,” Lalor said.

The bridgework was first recommended as part of the Highway 400 planning and preliminary design study unveiled in 2004. That document covers a 30-kilometre stretch of the 400 through Innisfil and Barrie, running between highways 89 and 11. 

A Freedom of Information request filed by Simcoe.com last year revealed the entire plan, stuck largely in preliminary stages of development for more than a decade, has a draft cost estimate of about $464.9 million, though that figure is subject to change and excludes property acquisition, legal fees and utility relocation expenses. The study calls for an expansion in the number of lanes — up to 10 from the current six — between 89 and Duckworth Street. One high occupancy vehicle lane would be included for each direction. Improvements would also be made to the interchanges at 89, Mapleview, Innisfil Beach and Bayfield streets.

Further details on the study are available at .

Closing driveway would drive away boat traffic: Orillia councillor

Size does matter.

At least it could if one of two driveways at the city’s boat launch parking lot is eliminated in tandem with proposed changes to .  

Vehicles hauling boats of more than 30 feet in length would be hard pressed to manoeuvre the parking lot using the sole remaining entrance/exit, councillors heard this week.

That could prove a potential blow to Orillia’s tourist trade, Coun. Rob Kloostra argued.

“In doing this we are limiting who can come down to launch their boat there with a certain size,” Kloostra said.

The waterfront parking lot currently has two driveways, with the southerly driveway serving exclusively as an entry and the northerly driveway as the exit.

Staff is recommending closing the northerly portion and widening the southerly driveway to accommodate two-way traffic.

The closure would be undertaken in conjunction with a realignment of Centennial Drive in 2021/2022.

The realigned Centennial Drive would run behind French’s stand, which would become part of the park.

Shutting the north driveway avoids grading challenges that would otherwise arise, with an extension of the north entrance required to meet the newly realigned road behind the restaurant, staff added.   

 “If the parking lot is empty, (a boat of) greater than 30 foot is no problem,” said Stan Martinello, project engineer. “But if there is other boats at the boat launch waiting to go in or out, greater than 30-foot boats start becoming an issue.”

Closing the driveway would also result in the loss of about 10 parking spaces to accommodate traffic between the lot’s “islands” and the grassed area.

“The marinas like the bigger boats, but we still have people with large boats coming down,” Kloostra said.

The committee supported a motion that the environmental study report for the environmental assessment for the Centennial Drive-area improvements project be published based on closing the northerly driveway.

Once that report is filed with the province, a review period follows with the potential for appeals from the public.

“(The province) could recommend further study or they could recommend modifications to the design solution we came up with or other things,” said Ian Sugden, director of development services and engineering.


Cody Oschefski — Midland Ward 2

Hello Midland!

My name is Cody Oschefski and I am seeking re-election in Ward 2! I am a born-and-raised Midland boy. I currently work as an electrician at ZF/TRW here in Midland.

In my four years on council, I have worked very hard to be an accessible, open and accountable councillor.

I created Floatie Fest and Jaws on the lake, created the Midland Youth Committee, co-created the downtown movies, chair the buttertart festival committee, and I have hosted several community cleanups and fundraised for very worthy causes.

I have sat on several committees, Midland Cultural Center board of directors and Boys and Girls Club board of directors for a few years, as well.

I worked hard to not only fulfil my obligations as a councillor but to also bring new things to the town and to be a great representative and cheerleader for the town of Midland.

I am a committed team player and I am hoping for a dream team to help me make some of my goals come to life, such as:

moving forward with development of Midland Bay Landing, full of public assets, a functional and accessible waterfront for all;

continuing and enhancing our amazing tourism initiatives like events and cruise ships, and upgrade the appropriate areas to better accommodate them;

further developing our partnerships with neighbouring municipalities and local groups to find synergies and efficiencies;  

enhancing Little Lake Park, discuss upgrades and re-explore a camping idea;

getting the downtown revitalization right — a beautiful functional and accessible downtown will be the heart of our town;

improve infrastructure to eliminate discharge into the bay during heavy rains;

work with the county on affordable housing, transit and other important issues;

continued economic development and fiscal responsibility;

help create a welcoming environment for small businesses, entrepreneurs and artisans.

We have moved mountains for four years, now let’s plant some seeds. Thank you for voting!

Orillia OPP seeking driver following hit and run

Police are investigating a hit and run at a business on Atherley Road in Orillia.

On July 13 at about 6:45 p.m., a vehicle entered the parking lot at the unidentified business and struck another vehicle.

A black 2017 GMC Sierra with decals on the back was captured on camera leaving the scene.

Investigators managed to view a licence plate number and know the identity of the vehicle’s owner.

Police have attempted to contact the owner; however he is avoiding police, OPP reported.

The suspect is believed to be living in the Beaverton or Brechin area.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the vehicle’s owner is encouraged to contact police, who want to speak with him regarding the circumstances surrounding the collision.

Orillia OPP can be reached at .