Latest / North Shore News / January 28th, 2026

Transcript

January 28th, 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 approved
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  another $20 ,000 in funding for their Family
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  Physician Recruitment Incentive Program as they
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  welcome more new doctors to the area. According
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  to staff, discussions are underway with three
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  new family physicians interested in setting up
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  their practices in Loyalist under the incentive
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  program. The Township would see two new doctors
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  in Bath and one in Amherst View. The Township's
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  operating budget in 2026 approved an additional
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  $40 ,000 on the basis that two new physicians
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  could be expected to join the program. But as
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  interest exceeded staff expectations, the extra
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  $20 ,000 was needed. The program began in 2023
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  with an incentive of $100 ,000. paid over five
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  years in return for five years of practice in
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  Loyalist with a roster of at least 1 ,200 patients.
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  Since then, four physicians have joined the Loyalist
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  family health team in Amherstview under the program.
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  The latest of the four to join, Dr. Jamil, was
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  recently approved by the province to join the
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  Loyalist family health team and will be taking
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  over provision of services to Dr. Goldstein's
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  patients. Staffs report noted the payment is
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  due once physicians obtain the roster of 1 ,200
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  patients. This is expected to happen quickly
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  but could still take... until later this year
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  to be confirmed. Mayor Jim Hagedorn spoke about
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  the importance of new physicians in the area.
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  I've had very positive feedback. It's great to
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  see the residents really happy that they finally
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  have a doctor and there's opportunities there
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  for them. Deputy Mayor Nathan Townand noted the
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  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 neighboring municipalities for them to pay
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  the incentive. So if the 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 is
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  an 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 Tad 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 award 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 Townand
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  added an amendment that would see further discussion
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  left until 2027. Townand 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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  you know, if we just take the motion as it stands
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  today, you know, there's essentially nothing.
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  We're agnostic about any future process. What
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  this does is it ensures that whether the next
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  council wants to do a ward boundary review or
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  not, that it comes to that council for sure to
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  be dealt with. It provides some degree of certainty
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  for those who, you know, who might be upset with
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  the fact that we are status quo for 2026. You
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  know, this will be dealt with in the next term
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  of council. Councillor Jake Ennis opposed the
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  amendment. I'm not going to be supporting the
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  amendment or the original motion. My view is
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  that we should finish the ward review that we
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  started and we should finish it as soon as possible.
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  We should not stop or cancel the ward review
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  before it's finished. The ward review will be
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  finished when a change to the status quo is passed
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  and it is not appealed or it survives an appeal.
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  That's when the ward review will be over. So
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  essentially if this amendment passes, it's going
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  to shut down the debate. a bit. The Township's
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  own, our own expert Watson consultants found
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  that the status quo awards 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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  in 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 cost $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. uh, anything more than re the report
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  is appropriat spoke about the upcoming staffing
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  costs. Anything m an election year, I think to
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  be extremely confusing. the waters. And I always
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  l lineup of candidates. And alone may deter some
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  from I'm even more concerned that the electorate
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  will have concerns and be confused during the
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  election because we're going to finish a review.
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  We'll come up with a with a response or a bylaw.
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  It 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
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  one 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 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 robots.
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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 love to do it for free,
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  but finding that sustainable source of funding
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  is important. I think with the Loyalist Township
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  Grant. We definitely are looking forward to applying
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  for it again at least next year but in the time
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  being like we saw how successful this was and
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  how much the kids enjoyed it and learned from
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  it so we're looking at other opportunities. I
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  mean we obviously can't offer the, we do like
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  field trips for a small cost 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 an 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
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  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
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  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
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  in winter. For Amherst Island Radio and the Local
• 14:38
  Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is
• 14:41
  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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  1am and 7am. 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,
• 15:10
  visit Loyalist .ca. For Amherst Island Radio
• 15:14
  and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted
• 15:16
  Evans. This is North Shore News. This has been
• 15:22
  North Shore News and Interviews. If you have
• 15:25
  an idea for a story, or want to create stories
• 15:28
  for the show, consider joining our volunteer
• 15:31
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