Latest / North Shore News / January 19th, 2026

Transcript

January 19th, 2026 · North Shore News

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  Welcome to North Shore News and Interviews on
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  Amherst Island Radio. Each week we keep you updated
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  on newsworthy events, happenings and conversations
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  that we've had with people in the local community
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  and beyond. Loyalist Township Council voted 4
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  -3 to table further discussion until 2027 on
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  award boundary review. This decision came after
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  the Ontario Land Tribunal repealed the previous
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  ward reconfiguration bylaw from May of 2025.
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  At that time, council passed the bylaw to establish
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  a new ward boundary configuration. A notice of
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  appeal was filed with the Ontario Land Tribunal
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  in October of 2025, and on December 18th, the
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  tribunal issued an order that repealed that bylaw.
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  This means there are no changes to the existing
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  council composition and ward boundaries for the
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  2026 municipal election. At their latest meeting,
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  staff originally recommended receiving the report
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  and increasing the review budget by $40 ,000.
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  Deputy Mayor Nathan Townand added an amendment
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  that would see further discussion left until
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  2027. Townand spoke about the need for adding
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  the amendment and why he supported it. My intent
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  with the amendment is it doesn't, you know, if
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  we just take the motion as it stands today, you
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  know, there's essentially nothing. We're agnostic
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  about any future process. What this does is it
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  ensures that whether the next council wants to
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  do a ward boundary review or not, that it comes
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  to that council for sure to be dealt with. It
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  provides some degree of certainty for those who,
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  you know, who might be upset with the fact that
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  we are status quo for 2026. You know, this will
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  be dealt with in the next term of council. Councillor
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  Jake Ennis opposed the amendment. I'm not going
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  to be supporting the amendment or the original
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  motion. My view is that we should finish the
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  ward review that we started and we should finish
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  it as soon as possible. We should not stop or
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  cancel the ward review before it's finished.
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  The ward review will be finished when a change
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  to the status quo is passed and it is not appealed
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  or it survives an appeal. That's when the ward
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  review will be over. So essentially if this amendment
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  passes, it's going to shut down the debate. a
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  bit. The township's own, our own expert Watson
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  consultants found that the status quo awards
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  to be problematic and that they do not ensure
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  effective representation. All citizens have the
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  right to effective representation and government.
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  This is a democratic right enshrined in the Canadian
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  Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And as spoke
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  about a previous option, which he still supports.
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  the OLT has taken one of the final options proposed
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  by our Watson consultants, one of the final options
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  for change off the table, but there was a second
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  final option. And the OLT did also conclude that
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  final option two was reasonable. So in my view,
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  I would like to see, and it doesn't cost taxpayers
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  any more money, that staff bring forward final
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  option two. to council for consideration for
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  adoption at a future meeting. The need for change
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  to the wards hasn't changed. The reasons we undertook
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  the ward review haven't changed. If anything,
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  it's become more imperative to finish the ward
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  review and be clear with the public. We should
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  finish the ward review that we started. We should
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  not delay it to a future council, and we should
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  finish it as soon as possible. Councillor Lorna
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  Willis pointed out the cost of the last appeal.
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  If there's an appeal, the last one cost $53 ,000.
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  So any new decision could likely be appealed
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  and could likely cost that $53 ,000 again or
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  more. Councillor Paul Proderick noted the money
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  the Township had already spent on the review.
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  having been to all the town halls and numerous
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  events. And I don't hear in the community right
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  now anyways, a big urge to move ahead with anything
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  right now. And I'm looking at, if I read the
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  report correctly. spent almost $125 ,000 on this
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  and I don't think at this time anything more
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  than receiving the report is appropriate. Mayor
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  Jim Haganorn spoke about the upcoming election
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  and additional staffing costs. Anything more
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  than this during an election year I think is
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  just going to be extremely confusing. It's going
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  to muddy the waters and I always like to see
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  a healthy lineup of candidates and I believe
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  that The confusion alone may deter some from
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  actually putting their name forward. I'm even
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  more concerned that the electorate will have
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  concerns and be confused during the election
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  because we're going to finish a review. We'll
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  come up with a with a response or a bylaw. It
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  may be amended or sorry, it may be appealed.
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  So just that significant confusion in the next
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  length of 10 months. I think is just for one
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  thing I don't think it's fair to the electorate
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  that they would have to figure out in October
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  what they're actually voting on. The other thing
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  is you know related to cost, staff are already
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  going to be working on an election. Staff that
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  are working on the election would be the ones
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  that would be administering the review and bringing
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  it back to council so they can only work on one
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  thing at a time. So in all reality, we probably
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  would have to bring in an external source to
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  be able to assist council through the remainder
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  of this process. That is an additional cost.
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  It's not in the budget. It would be over and
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  above the budget that the taxpayers would be
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  absorbing. Council passed the motion with the
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  amendment in a close four to three vote. For
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  Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism
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  Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore
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  News. BGC Southeast's first round of STEM field
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  trips were a success, according to the organization.
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  Between September and December 2025, over 500
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  students from schools in Loyalist Township visited
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  BGC's STEM and Robotics Center. Students from
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  grades 5 through 12 were able to take part in
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  free field trips funded by a community grant
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  from Loyalist Township. Associate Director of
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  STEM and Strategic Initiatives at BGC Southeast,
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  Bruno Guarino Marais, explained how the Loyalist
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  Township community grant helped them organize
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  the field trips. We got a Loyalist Township,
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  the community grant, which is how we were able
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  to do this project. So yeah, we had never, never
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  done it before, but I would say that normally
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  we don't get 500 kids in field trips, but yeah,
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  it was, it was very successful. I think having
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  the Loyalist Community Grant be able to fund
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  this, we were able to offer everything for free
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  to all the schools. So We had the BGC bus. So
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  we had transportation. We had all the staffing
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  materials. So we arranged everything for the
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  school. So everyone that we reached out to was
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  really willing to and excited to come. We really
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  wanted to reach everyone. So that was really
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  nice that we were able to get a classroom Amherst
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  Island. So they took the ferry and our bus met
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  them at the ferry. and brought them to BGC and
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  then dropped them off at the at the ferry again.
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  So yeah, we were able to reach all the schools
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  in Loyalist Township, which was just really,
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  really nice to see. Guarino Marais talks about
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  what the students experience on the field trips.
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  It obviously varies a little bit depending on
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  their age range. But really, we were doing like
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  hands on workshops in robotics, coding, and 3D
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  design and fabrication. So they varied a little
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  bit. But most of them, they were using, well,
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  they're these like Lego spike prime robotics
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  kits. So they get to build robots and then they
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  also get to do like coding to program the robot.
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  And then they also got to do a CAD design session
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  where they were designing their own key chains,
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  for example. And then we were printing them off
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  in our 3D printer and they got to go home with
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  it as well, which was nice. And then just getting
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  a tour as well of the STEM Center because a lot
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  of the kids had never been here before. And even
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  though, of course, it's a little bit far for
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  Loyalist residents, it's still really nice that.
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  They know that they have this resource available.
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  Guarino Marais went on to note the interest from
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  students and teachers. Afterwards we had some
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  teachers reaching out wanting to book more field
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  trips or you know then they learned that we have
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  our after school evening STEM and robotics programs
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  and so a lot of the kids wanted to know more
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  about that and some of them even signed up. So
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  it was just really nice for them to learn about
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  this resource in the community. Teachers were
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  sending us like emails after the sessions like
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  completely unprompted like odd. the kids were
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  like singing on the bus back to school and things
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  like that. So that was just really, really heartfelt
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  when, you know, we don't, we're not asking for
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  testimonials. They're just kind of thanking us
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  and giving us some praise. So it just, you know,
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  it helps us keep going. Guarino Marais talks
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  about the importance of funding going forward.
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  The constraint is really just, just the funding.
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  We would love to do it for free, but finding
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  that sustainable source of funding is important.
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  I think with the Loyalist Township grant. We
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  definitely are looking forward to applying for
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  it again, at least next year. But in the time
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  being, we saw how successful this was and how
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  much the kids enjoyed it and learned from it.
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  So we're looking at other opportunities. I mean,
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  we obviously can't offer the... We do field trips
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  for a small class where parents can pay a little
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  bit for their kids to come. But then it obviously
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  becomes a bit of an obstacle, but that is always...
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  option until we find more this for Amherst Island
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  minor hockey matchups, and the annual historic
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  hockey game, recreating Kingston's very first
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  game. There will also be a chance to skate with
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  the Kingston Front Knacks. Thursday, January
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  22nd from 6pm to 8pm, it's the Greater Kingston
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  Curling Demo. Friday, January 23rd from 6 p .m.
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  to 8 p .m., you can enjoy Ringette. Then on Saturday,
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  January 24th from noon to 2 p .m., it's Kingston's
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  historic hockey game. Later that afternoon from
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  4 to 5 p .m., it's your chance to skate with
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  the Kingston Frontenacs. And finally, Sunday,
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  January 25th from 9 a .m. to 4 p .m., there will
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  be kids' minor hockey games taking place. It's
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  Boards Up Rink Sports at Springer Market Square
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  in downtown Kingston. For more information, visit
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  downtownkingston .ca. For Amherst Island Radio
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  and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted
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  Evans. This is North Shore News. Loyalist's Township
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  has announced the launch of recycling depot services
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  at Violet Landfill in Odessa. The service will
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  be running Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
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  from 8am to 4 .30pm. This service change is a
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  response to the loss of access to recycling drop
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  -off services previously available at the Kingston
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  Area Recycling Centre. The change is due to updates
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  to provincial recycling regulations and the absence
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  of long -term funding through circular materials.
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  Violet Road Landfill is located at 1346 Violet
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  Road in Odessa. This service is available to
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  Loyalist Township residents only and is intended
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  for bulk recycling items. All visitors must check
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  in at the scale house upon arrival. Valid identification
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  is required. For more information, visit Loyalist
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  .ca. For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism
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  Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore
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  News. Loyalist Township is reminding residents
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  as winter sets in, stormwater ponds are not safe
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  for any type of winter recreation. These ponds
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  have constant water movement, incoming runoff
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  and fluctuating water levels that prevent ice
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  from forming evenly or safely. Ice may look solid
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  but can be extremely thin in hidden areas. Snow
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  can cover weak or unstable spots and winter salt
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  applications entering the ponds can weaken ice
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  and speed up melting, even during very cold temperatures.
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  The township reminds parents and guardians to
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  take a moment to speak with your children about
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  the dangers of walking, playing, or skating on
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  stormwater ponds. Loyalist Township does not
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  permit recreational activities on or near stormwater
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  ponds at any time of year. These facilities are
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  designed for water management, not recreation,
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  and can be hazardous, especially in winter. For
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  Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism
• 13:33
  Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore
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  News. A seasonal overnight parking reminder for
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  Loyalist Township. From December 1 until March
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  31, 2026, parking is prohibited on any road or
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  street in Loyalist Township between 1 a .m. and
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  7 a .m. This restriction is in effect regardless
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  of weather conditions. Vehicles in violation
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  of this bylaw will be ticketed. For more information,
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  visit Loyalist .ca. For Amherst Island Radio
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  and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted
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  Evans. This is North Shore News. This has been
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  North Shore News and Interviews. If you have
• 14:20
  an idea for a story, or want to create stories
• 14:23
  for the show, consider joining our volunteer
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  team. Contact Amherst Island Radio for more details.