Latest / North Shore News / February 2nd, 2026

Transcript

February 2nd, 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. This February, the Lenox and Addington
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  County General Hospital Foundation invites the
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  community to express their gratitude and celebrate
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  the care provided by health care professionals
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  in the area through the Grateful Patient Program.
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  This program is a way to honor nurses, doctors,
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  technicians and staff who make a difference in
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  patients' lives every day. All throughout February,
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  caregivers and teams that are chosen to be recognized
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  will have their name proudly displayed on a heart
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  on the Foundation office window. Donations through
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  the Grateful Patient program directly support
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  critical hospital needs, such as new equipment
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  and patient -focused improvements. Past contributions
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  have made a significant difference, including
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  upgrades to emergency department monitors and
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  enhancements to diagnostic imaging services.
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  Donations can be made online at www .lachfoundation
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  .com or by contacting the foundation office at
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  613 -354 -3301, extension 4400. Stories about
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  caregivers or a team who went above and beyond
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  can be shared by visiting lacghfoundation .com
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  slash stories. Participants in the Grateful Patient
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  program not only recognize the care they've received,
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  but also help ensure that the Lennox and Addington
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  County General Hospital continues to provide
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  top quality healthcare for everyone in the community.
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  This news story comes from the Beaver. For Amherst
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  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
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  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. Nominations
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  are open for Loyalist Township Civic Awards until
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  Monday, March 9th, 2026. Residents are encouraged
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  to nominate a person or organization that deserves
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  to be celebrated for their meaningful contributions
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  to Loyalist Township. That includes community
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  champions or groups who have volunteered their
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  time and made a positive impact in the community
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  through projects, initiatives, events or goodwill
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  service. The Township celebrates the impact of
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  volunteers, non -profit organizations and dedicated
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  individuals who shape the heart of the community.
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  These champions lead the way, whether it be by
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  organizing events that bring neighbors together,
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  mentoring youth to reach their full potential
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  or driving environmental initiatives that protect
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  our natural spaces for future generations. Through
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  their passion and commitment, the Township thrives
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  as a vibrant, welcoming and resilient place to
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  live, work, and grow. Nominees must be a resident
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  of, business owner within, or directly serve
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  Loyalist Township. The same individual group
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  or nonprofit organization can be nominated for
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  multiple categories, but will only receive recognition
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  for one award per year. Award categories are
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  Citizen of the Year, Junior Citizen of the Year,
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  Senior Citizen of the Year, Organization of the
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  Year, and Resilient Community Award. Nominations
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  can be submitted online, and applicants are encouraged
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  to provide thoughtful submissions that highlight
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  - achievements and contributions. Eligibility
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  requirements, category criteria, and nomination
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  forms are available at www .loyalist .ca slash
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  civic awards. This news story comes from the
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  Napanee Beaver. For Amherst Island Radio and
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  the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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  This is North Shore News. Loyalist Township Council
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  approved another $20 ,000 in funding for their
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  family physician recruitment incentive program
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  as they welcome more new doctors to the area.
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  According to staff, discussions are underway
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  with three new family physicians interested in
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  setting up their practices in Loyalist under
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  the incentive program. The Township would see
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  two new doctors in Bath and one in Amherst View.
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  The Township's operating budget in 2026 approved
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  an additional $40 ,000 on the basis that two
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  new physicians could be expected to join the
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  program. But as interest exceeded staff expectations,
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  the extra $20 ,000 was needed. The program began
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  in 2023 with an incentive of $100 ,000, paid
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  over five years, in return for five years of
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  practice in Loyalist, with a roster of at least
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  1 ,200 patients. Since then, four physicians
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  have joined the Loyalist family health team in
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  Amherstview under the program. The latest of
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  the four to join, Dr. Jamil, was recently approved
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  by the province to join the Loyalist family health
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  team, and will be taking over provision of services
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  to Dr. Goldstein. patients. Staff's report noted
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  the payment is due once physicians obtain the
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  roster of 1 ,200 patients. This is expected to
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  happen quickly but could still take until later
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  this year to be confirmed. Mayor Jim Hagedorn
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  spoke about the importance of new physicians
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  in the area. I've had very positive feedback.
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  It's great to see the residents really happy
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  that they finally have a doctor and there's opportunities
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  there for them. Deputy Mayor Nathan Townand noted
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  the work of staff and the Township's CAO. I know
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  she's worked very hard on this. This has been
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  a priority of council from the beginning of our
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  term and it's So nice to see it continue to go
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  from success to success. CAO Rebecca Murphy noted
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  how the program has benefited the area. One of
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  the doctors that's in Bath now was going to go
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  to Kingston but Kingston, their money had run
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  out and so they didn't have the incentive available
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  this year and so they came to us and that's really
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  great. But the even better news is that he feels
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  that they're looking at expanding and doing renovations
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  in Amherstview and in Bath to add more and more
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  physicians. And I've begun talks with Kingston
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  and neighbouring municipalities for them to pay
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  the incentive. So if a doctor does set up here,
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  but doesn't fully roster loyalist residents and
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  sort of shares in that, that we can benefit as
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  a region too, through this model. Murphy also
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  spoke about a company looking to bring doctors
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  to the area under their own model, partnered
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  with the township's incentive. program. This
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  is a interesting model where a company is interested
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  in essentially helping pharmacies with their
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  business by setting up clinics within a pharmacy
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  and then they work on recruiting physicians here.
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  The model is where the pharmacist manages the
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  head lease and then the physician and the clinic
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  only pay overhead to this company to sort of
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  manage the clinics. The company doing this is
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  Verismo Health and they have 33 clinics throughout
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  Ontario and ran out of spaces for these kind
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  of functions in the GTA and looked to Loyalist
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  Township because of our incentive. For Amherst
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  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
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  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. Loyalist
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  Township Council voted 4 -3 to table further
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  discussion until 2027 on a ward boundary review.
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  This decision came after the Ontario Land Tribunal
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  repealed a previous ward reconfiguration by -law
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  from May of 2025. At that time, Council passed
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  a by -law to establish a new ward boundary configuration.
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  A notice of appeal was filed with the Ontario
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  Land Tribunal in October of 2025, and on December
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  18th, the Tribunal issued an order that repealed
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  that by -law. This means there are no changes
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  to the existing council composition and ward
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  boundaries for the 2026 municipal election. At
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  their latest meeting, staff originally recommended
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  receiving the report and increasing the review
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  budget by $40 ,000. Deputy Mayor Nathan Townend
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  added an amendment that would see further discussion
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  left until 2027. Townend spoke about the need
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  for adding the amendment and why he supported
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  it. My intent with the amendment is it doesn't
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  If we just take the motion as it stands today,
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  there's essentially nothing. We're agnostic about
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  any future process. What this does is it ensures
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  that whether the next council wants to do a ward
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  boundary review or not, that it comes to that
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  council for sure to be dealt with. It provides
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  some degree of certainty for those who... you
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  know, who might be upset with the fact that we
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  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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  uh 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 word
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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 bit
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  the township's own our own expert watson consultants
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  found that the status quo wards uh to be problematic
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  and that they do not ensure effective representation.
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  All citizens have the right to effective representation
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  and government. This is a democratic right enshrined
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  in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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  And as spoke about a previous option, which he
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  still supports. The OLT has taken one of the
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  final options proposed by our Watson consultants,
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  one of the final options for change off the table,
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  but there was a second final option. And the
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  OLT did also conclude that final option two was
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  reasonable. So in my view, I would like to see,
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  and it doesn't cost taxpayers any more money,
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  that staff bring forward final option two to
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  council for consideration for adoption at a future
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  meeting. The need for change to the wards hasn't
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  changed. The reasons we undertook the ward review
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  haven't changed. If anything, it's become more
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  imperative to finish the ward review and be clear
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  with the public. We should finish the ward review
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  that we started. We should not delay it to a
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  future council and we should finish it as soon
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  as possible. Councillor Lorna Willis pointed
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  out the cost of the last appeal. If there's an
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  appeal, the last one costs $53 ,000. So any new
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  decision could likely be appealed and could likely
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  cost that $53 ,000 again or more. Councillor
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  Paul Proderick noted the money the township had
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  already spent on the review. Having been to all
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  the town halls and numerous events and I don't
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  hear in the community right now anyways a big
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  urge to move ahead with anything right now and
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  I'm looking at if I read the report correctly.
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  spent almost $125 ,000 on this, and I don't think
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  at this time anything more than receiving the
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  report is appropriate. Mayor Jim Haganorn spoke
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  about the upcoming election and additional staffing
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  costs. Anything more than this during an election
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  year I think is just going to be extremely confusing.
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  It's going to muddy the waters, and I always
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  like to see a healthy lineup of candidates. and
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  I believe that the confusion alone may deter
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  some from actually putting their name forward.
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  I'm even more concerned that the electorate will
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  have 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 response or a bylaw. It may be
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  amended or, sorry, it may be appealed. So just
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  that significant confusion and the length of
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  10 months I think is just for one thing I don't
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  think it's fair to the electorate that they would
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  have to figure out in October what they're actually
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  voting on. The other thing is you know related
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  to cost staff are already going to be working
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  on an election. Staff that are working on the
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  election would be the ones that would be administering
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  the review and bringing it back to council so
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  they can only work on one thing at a time. So
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  in all reality, we probably would have to bring
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  in an external source to be able to assist council
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  through the remainder of this process. That is
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  an additional cost. It's not in the budget. It
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  would be over and above the budget that the taxpayers
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  would be absorbing. Council passed the motion
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  with the amendment in a close four to three vote.
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  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. 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 at
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  Merced Island. So they took the ferry and our
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  bus met them at the ferry. and brought them to
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  BGC and then dropped them off at the at the ferry
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  again. So yeah, we were able to reach all the
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  schools in Loyalist Township, which was just
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  really, really nice to see. Guarino Marais talks
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  about what the students experience on the field
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  trips. It obviously varies a little bit depending
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  on their age range. But really, we were doing
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  like hands on workshops in robotics, coding,
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  and 3D design and fabrication. So they varied
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  a little bit. But most of them, they were using
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  what 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
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  have our after school evening STEM and robotics
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  programs. And so a lot of the kids wanted to
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  know more about that and some of them even signed
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  up. So it was just really nice for them to learn
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  about this resource in the community. Teachers
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  were sending us like emails after the sessions,
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  like completely unprompted like odd. the kids
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  were like singing on the bus back to school and
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  things like that. So that was just really, really
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  heartfelt when, you know, we don't, we're not
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  asking for testimonials. They're just kind of
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  thanking us and giving us some praise. So it
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  just, you know, it helps us keep going. Guarino
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  Marais talks about the importance of funding
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  going forward. The constraint is really just,
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  just the funding. We would love to do it for
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  free, but finding that sustainable source of
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  funding is important. I think with the Loyalist
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  Township grant. We definitely are looking forward
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  to applying for it again at least next year but
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  in the time being like we saw how successful
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  this was and how much the kids enjoyed it and
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  learned from it so we're looking at other opportunities.
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  I mean we obviously can offer the we do like
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  field trips for a small class where parents can
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  pay a little bit for their kids to come but we
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  then it obviously becomes a bit of an obstacle
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  but that is always option until we find more
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  grants to support this. For Amherst Island Radio
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  and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted
• 16:51
  Evans. This is North Shore News. Loyalist Township
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  is reminding residents as winter sets in, stormwater
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  ponds are not safe for any type of winter recreation.
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  These ponds have constant water movement, incoming
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  runoff and fluctuating water levels that prevent
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  ice from forming evenly or safely. Ice may look
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  solid but can be extremely thin in hidden areas.
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  Snow can cover weak or unstable spots and winter
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  salt applications entering the ponds can weaken
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  ice and speed up melting, even during very cold
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  temperatures. The township reminds parents and
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  guardians to take a moment to speak with your
• 17:33
  children about the dangers of walking, playing,
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  or skating on stormwater ponds. Loyalist Township
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  does not permit recreational activities on or
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  near stormwater ponds at any time of year. These
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  facilities are designed for water management,
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  not recreation, and can be hazardous, especially
• 17:48
  in winter. For Amherst Island Radio and the Local
• 17:50
  Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is
• 17:54
  North Shore News. A seasonal overnight parking
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  reminder for Loyalist Township. From December
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  1st until March 31st, 2026, parking is prohibited
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  on any road or street in Loyalist Township between
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  1 a .m. and 7 a .m. This restriction is in effect
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  regardless of weather conditions. Vehicles in
• 18:20
  violation of this bylaw will be ticketed. For
• 18:22
  more information, visit Loyalist .ca. For Amherst
• 18:26
  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
• 18:29
  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. This
• 18:34
  has been North Shore News and Interviews. If
• 18:38
  you have an idea for a story or want to create
• 18:41
  stories for the show, consider joining our volunteer
• 18:44
  team. Contact Amherst Island Radio for more details.