The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC), at its annual inaugural meeting held last week in Kingston, appointed City of Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham as the 2020 chair and warden Rick Phillips as the 2020 vice-chair.
Roderick Benns recently interviewed Andrew Wallen, general manager of Kawartha Lakes Community Futures Development Corporation (KLCFDC). Wallen departs this week — after 20 years at the helm — to take on a new position in Western Ontario at the Western Ontario CFDCA.
Benns: You’ve seen this community grow in many ways over the years. What are the top two or three things in that regard that stand out in your mind as it relates to CFDC?
Wallen: For me in terms of the gains in our community related to the KLCFDC …that might not have ever happened as it starts with us becoming a member of the Community Futures Program in 2001—something that the organization was not part of previously.
Members of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) held a meeting with their provincial counterparts recently to discuss issues of interest for Eastern Ontario such as affordable housing, health care, emergency services and financial impacts on municipal service delivery.
The meeting, co-hosted by EOWC Chair Andy Letham and MPP Todd Smith (also Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade), is an annual gathering of Provincial MPPs and the heads of Council from across the region.
The Ontario government is investing $71 million to improve mobile broadband and reliable cellular coverage across eastern Ontario, through the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN).
The project will help residents, visitors and businesses get the broadband and cellular connections they need no matter where they are in the region.
About 10 per cent of rural eastern Ontario has no mobile broadband connection, leading to dropped calls, missed emergency services and a lack of opportunity.
It’s the first thing on the minds of people who are considering the possibility of moving to Kawartha Lakes – or any largely rural municipality. ‘How’s the Internet?’
Bell today announced the expansion of its Wireless Home Internet wireless broadband service to more communities in the Kawartha Lakes region and Peterborough County, including Kirkfield, Lindsay and Little Britain.
In recorded votes on Tuesday council voted to support private recreational cannabis retail storefronts in Kawartha Lakes but rejected a motion that would have supported pipeline development.
If there was an overarching theme for the meeting it maybe had to do with connections.
As proceedings began, Councillor Pat O’Reilly congratulated Mayor Andy Lethem on being elected 2019 chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC), a position that will allow him to advocate on behalf of the 103 municipalities and the 750,000 property taxpayers across rural Eastern Ontario, including for improved cellular and mobile broadband connections.
The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC), at its annual inaugural meeting held last week in Kingston, elected City of Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham as the 2019 chair and Warden Jennifer Murphy as the 2019 vice-chair. Murphy is warden of the County of Renfrew and Mayor of the Township of Bonnechere Valley.
The role of the EOWC chair and vice-chair, elected on an annual basis, is to provide the main point of focus and contact for the Caucus and ensure that the key priorities move forward.
