Category: News 2019

Cobourg District Sports Hall of Fame First inductees

John Draper

The startup of the Cobourg’s Sports Hall of Fame was held Sunday afternoon at the Cobourg Community Centre.   Joel Scott was the MC but the spotlight was on the organizing board, the display cabinets and the first eight inductees.   Ross Quigley introduced and spoke for the Board who presented certificates of appreciation to supporters and donors.  One supporter was the Peterborough Sports Hall of Fame who had provided a lot of help and took the opportunity to present a cheque for $2000 – see the list of all major supporters below.  When the Town of Cobourg was recognized, Mayor John Henderson acknowledged that Council support had happened when Gil Brocanier was Mayor so he shared the recognition.  The first eight… Read complete articleCobourg District Sports Hall of Fame First inductees

Conservatives choose Candidate for October election

John Draper

An estimated 600 people showed up for the Conservative Nomination meeting held at St. Mary’s school today to hear speeches by each of the 5 candidates.  More than 50% of party members in the riding voted – some voted without hearing the candidates’ final speeches probably because they couldn’t get there in time since the parking lot was full to overflowing.  The school auditorium was also overflowing and the voting took close to the full two hours allocated.  The voting used ranked ballots which allowed voters to indicate their second, third and even fourth choices.  The vote was very close for all candidates but in the end Philip Lawrence was declared the winner after four rounds of vote counting (more… Read complete articleConservatives choose Candidate for October election

Drug Trafficking in Cobourg

John Draper

We tend to think that the drug trade only happens in Toronto and not in Cobourg but on Tuesday Feb 26, Cobourg and Port Hope Police arrested two men caught in the act of buying/selling cocaine.  The seller, 24 year old Daniel Campbell-Johnson of Ajax, also had a loaded .45 semi-automatic and was held overnight for a bail hearing. The buyer, 69 year old Floyd Graham of Cobourg, was released pending a court appearance.  The Cobourg Police Press release said that “Officers were in the area of John Street and James Street in the Town of Cobourg and observed a drug transaction between two males.  Both males were arrested and a loaded firearm was recovered along with a substantial quantity… Read complete articleDrug Trafficking in Cobourg

Development News

John Draper

Plans continue for expansion of housing in Cobourg with two projects getting attention at Monday’s Council meeting.  The biggest expansion in the long term will be in the North East with thousands of homes planned starting with 1700 at the north end of Brook Road (see link below).   This is expected to one day require a new interchange on the 401 near Nagle Road.  Preliminary work includes an Environmental assessment which will start soon (maybe Spring – stay tuned) and include a public meeting.  A smaller more immediate development will be at the south end of Brook Road at 425 King East where 27 Townhouses will be built.  This is still in preliminary stages but at some point, a public… Read complete articleDevelopment News

Les AMIS to make Cobourg a Beacon for the High Arts

John Draper

In 2014, after “35 Terrific years in Toronto”, classical composer and artistic director Michael Pepa moved to Cobourg bringing his concerts with top performers with him.  Since then he has produced a number of concerts with some of Canada’s top violinists, cellists and pianists.  Initially planned to be in St Peter’s Church, the Concerts moved to the Loft when repairs were required for St Peter’s roof.  So far, one concert has been in Victoria Hall but the word is getting out and the Loft may not be big enough to stage future concerts so more may be coming to Victoria Hall.  The concerts are called Les AMIS concerts and their program plus more about them can be found on the… Read complete articleLes AMIS to make Cobourg a Beacon for the High Arts

Budget Highlights and more

John Draper

Cobourg Council is continuing with its review of budget submissions by its various departments.  There’s a lot of detail but buried in the minutiae are some projects that many citizens want to know about.  For example, CCC costs, Marina profit, the subsidy for transit, profit from parking, Marina profit, campground profits and the estimated cost to fix the East Pier.  In addition, we get an insight to how departments are managed and some minor snippets of information that would not otherwise yet be public. So before you say “boring”, you might find this report has lots of stuff you want to know.  The departments covered in this report are the Works Department, managed by Director Laurie Wills and the Parks,… Read complete articleBudget Highlights and more

Busy Council Meeting – Feb 19

John Draper

The Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) Council meeting last Tuesday was a marathon.  It followed a public meeting to get input on Community Grants and some of the grant applications spilled over into the C.O.W. time.  In addition, there were seven delegations scheduled – one of which also requested money from the Town.  Apart from those, there was also a presentation by Derek Paul, C.E.O of L.U.S.I. explaining why water rates were going up so much plus a number of contentious issues were decided.  But although the Agenda included the much requested Q & A session in the form of an “Open Forum”, no-one asked anything!  This was possibly because by the time it came up at 10:15, there was… Read complete articleBusy Council Meeting – Feb 19

Community Grant Requests

John Draper

Although there won’t be a decision until March 14, community groups were given the opportunity to present their case to Council on Tuesday at a 5:00 pm public meeting.  Thirteen groups took advantage of that and made their case.  There are others who applied last October who did not make a presentation – Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin commented that the total “asks” amounted to $76,000 and given the goal of an increase of about 2% on last year’s awards of $43,000, council would be saying no to a number of the applicants.  The time allocated was an hour but with up to 10 minutes that each were allowed, the presentations over-flowed into the 6:00 pm Committee of the Whole meeting… Read complete articleCommunity Grant Requests