High School students at Cobourg’s Collegiate Institute joined a Province wide demonstration to protest the reimplementation of the 1998 Sexual Education curriculum imposed by Premier Doug Ford.  About 200 students of the school’s 1100 pupils stayed out of class at 1:00 pm today to sign a petition and hear speakers critical of the change (see photos below).  Principal Jeff Kawzenuk observed the action and commented to me that the two Sexual Education curricula were not a whole lot different for high school students but it was evident that many of the students were passionate about the issue.  However, in a press release, walk-out organizer Elsa Deperasinski spelled out how the 1998 curriculum doesn’t include topics such as: same-sex marriage, gender… Read complete articleSex Ed Curriculum Protest at CCI

Deborah O’Connor of the Northumberland Coalition Against Poverty organized a rally outside the office of MP David Piccini today to protest changes by the Doug Ford government.  The newly elected Provincial government recently announced that after 100 days of consultation, it will come up with a strategy to break the cycle of poverty and get people working.  A first step is that the Wynn government’s plan to increase social assistance rates by 3% in September will be cut to 1.5%  and the 4000 participants on the basic income pilot project will revert to the same welfare arrangements as everyone else.  But Deborah supports the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty which says that even the 3% was “woefully inadequate” and below the… Read complete articleAnti-Poverty Rally

The Tory candidate for Northumberland Peterborough-South won the riding by a large margin.  Incumbent Lou Rinaldi and NDP Candidate Jana Papuckoski were almost tied in second place – each with about half of David’s vote.  In the 2014 election, Lou’s winning margin was much less (all the numbers are below).  There was no real surprise that the NDP did well to come second with 56% more than their vote from 2014.  But I was surprised that the “other” candidates did so poorly.  The Libertarian Candidate (John O’Keefe) did not campaign yet he got more votes than Derek Sharp from the Trillium party.  But perhaps it’s in line with the drubbing that the Trillium party leader got in Kanata (he got 3.6%… Read complete articleDavid Piccini wins big in local riding

Local radio station Northumberland FM 89.7 organized an All Candidates meeting in Port Hope tonight.  There were five candidates scheduled to debate with the Libertarian Candidate opting not to campaign, but five minutes before the meeting started, a seventh candidate showed up and asked to participate.  Paul Cragg is a retired Medical Doctor and will be on the local ballot as the “Stop Climate Change party” candidate (more below).  The meeting was well organized and as you’d expect from a radio station, had excellent sound.  Retired lawyer John Hill was the moderator and asked questions provided by listeners to the station. Seventeen questions were asked with little overlap and included the hot issues of Hydro costs, the Green Energy Act,… Read complete articleSurprise addition at All-Candidates Meeting

There were about 250 people at the CCC today to greet Doug Ford on a campaign visit to Cobourg.  His team and the team of local PC Candidate David Piccini were there to smooth the way and Doug delivered one of his signature speeches (more below).  Not to let Doug go unchallenged, immediately after the event, Liberal Candidate Lou Rinaldi issued a rebuttal in a Press Release (download at link below).  Doug spoke to the mostly supportive crowd about the waste and debt of the Kathleen Wynn Government and made a point in highlighting the high salary of the CEO of Hydro one.  Doug said that although CEOs of Hydro entities in other Provinces had salaries around $450K to $500K,… Read complete articleDoug Ford campaigns in Cobourg

Although the PC leadership race is not strictly a Cobourg issue, it is of interest to Cobourg citizens, so I’ll try to bring everyone up to date.  During the campaign, local PC candidate David Piccini supported Christine Elliott and said that a strong majority of PC members in the Riding also supported her. As the votes from Party membership were being counted last night, it emerged that there was a problem: the result was scheduled to be announced around 3:00pm but by 7:30 pm, everyone at the Convention was sent home with no result being announced.  The rumour on the floor was that Doug Ford had won.  At around 10:00pm, Doug Ford was declared the winner because “the conclusion of… Read complete articlePC Leadership Election Fiasco

In a meeting at the Cobourg Community Centre tonight, the Green Party of Northumberland Peterborough-South elected their candidate, Jeff Wheeldon, for the provincial Election in June.  Although there was only one person on the ballot, in the interests of democracy they had a ballot with the alternative being “none of the above”.  But the vote was unanimous by the 10 members present (of a membership of 32).  The meeting featured the leader of the Provincial Green party, Mike Schreiner, and he spoke to the faithful (and media).   Mike has been leader since 2009 and this will be his third election – this time he feels there is a good chance of a few Green Party M.P.P.s and they could even… Read complete articleGreen Party Nominates Jeff Wheeldon

The Trillium party of Ontario would let their MPPs vote according to their Riding needs even if that meant they voted against each other.  They are adamant that they would not have a party whip whose job it is to direct MPPs how to vote.  That’s what Bob Yaciuk, Party President, their lone MPP Jack MacLaren and Northumberland Peterborough-South Trillium candidate Derek Sharp all said at a meeting tonight.  The meeting was in Gilligan’s Pub in Colborne where Derek Sharp lives.  At the meeting, it was announced that they now have a Riding Association so can organize volunteers and accept donations.  They are a new force in Ontario; their MPP, Jack MacLaren, quit the PCs last May because he was… Read complete articleA Political Party with a Difference

Starting in April 2018, Cobourg Walmart will sell beer and cider. It will be in 6-packs and at the same price as the beer store.  Hours are also “standardized” – better than the beer store but the same as other grocery stores selling beer.  The addition of a Cobourg location and 86 other new locations will bring the total number of Ontario Groceries selling beer and cider to 370.  70 of these can also sell wine – but not the Walmart in Cobourg.  The “standard hours” will be: Monday to Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  Walmart’s regular hours are 7:00am to 10:00pm, 7 days.  Grocers are required to adhere to uniform and minimum… Read complete articleBeer coming to Cobourg Walmart