Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE MUSKOKA — As word spread yesterday about fourth booster shots being available today, local pharmacies and primary care physicians’ offices were swamped with calls about booking an appointment. One anxious 60+, with mild immunity symptoms, said he’d been to four pharmacies Wednesday to find out how to at least get on […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist Cancel culture. What will the “right” or “left” cancel next? It can be reductive and harmful to reduce shifting societal norms to a catch phrase. No one is ever “cancelled,” but careers can end when past deeds are no longer condoned by a new generation, or by sea changes in […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Among the many historical accounts of Gravenhurst, the loss of the Rubberset toy and paint brush factory was the one of the most telling tales of the modern decline of the town. It was not only a valuable employer of thousands of men and women for much of the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — A student in Matt Richter’s class said she wouldn’t vote for him. And wouldn’t encourage others to do so either. “I don’t want to lose you as a teacher,” the little girl at Riverside Public School told the Green candidate. Fortunately for Richter, a lot of other parents, grandparents, […]
BRACEBRIDGE — A man missing since last Friday has been found today. Police had said earlier today that they were asking the public to help find him. The OPP were investigating after Shawn Doucette’s family called them Monday, March 28, at 10:00 a.m. to say the 29 year-old had left his residence in Bracebridge and […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Yesterday, as Ottawa unveiled ambitious national climate change goals, a group of local scientists and supporters took a micro approach to environmental concerns deeply affecting the district. Friends of Muskoka Watershed (FMW), a highly-regarded — if lesser known — group of lake experts tackled as important issues affecting waters […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — Drivers along two stretches of highways that run through Muskoka will be able to pick up speed on a trial basis as of April 22. A 45-kilometre stretch of Hwy. 11 north — from Emsdale to South River; and a 55-kilometre part of Hwy. 400 in west Muskoka — […]
HUNTSVILLE — An outbreak declared today in the east wing of the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital (HDMH) means no visitors are allowed in that wing after the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit placed it under unit-specific COVID-19 outbreak status. As of March 29 testing of patients and staff there is occurring as part Muskoka Algonquin […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — Graydon Smith is a lot like Norm Miller, the affable MPP he’s running to replace. Both are popular politicians in a small-town way. Like the Parry Sound farmer, they represent small-c conservative values. So if Smith is successful in replacing Miller June 2, constituents should see little change […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — Local hospitals, which have struggled for decades to make year-ends meet, will get a special one-time COVID cash injection to help the Bracebridge and Huntsville sites recoup lost pandemic revenue, the province said today. The Ontario government announced Friday that is it giving Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) $2,001,899.68 extra […]
GRAVENHURST — A spring thaw has town officials preparing for the worst — as it reminds residents Mother Nature is in firm control. The Town of Gravenhurst says in a release this Friday afternoon that the warming temperatures trend and winter snowpack runoff are again creating threatening annual high water levels in lakes and rivers. […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — Rain and melting snow are causing water levels and river flows to rise. That mild temperatures and precipitation mix has the province to declare a “water safety” advisory for the local area for at least the next week. A forecast of cold weather through the weekend and into […]
BRACEBRIDGE — The body of a missing Huntsville man has been found here near the High Falls hydro dam. Mark Nevins, 60, was reported missing Monday and the OPP had asked the public to assist in their search for him or his SUV. Yesterday police were alerted by a member of the public who noticed a […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — A fourth vaccine coming possibly later this year has the health unit already planning how to re-arm you. “As we move towards a ‘learning to live with COVID-19’ approach,” Dr. Charles Gardner said today: “It does not mean that it is gone or that the pandemic is over. We […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Day 1 of unmasking looked a little different than yesterday. No longer the law, face covering were still evident on some faces, notably those remaining apprehensive about Monday’s mandate change. On the streets, the cautious kept them tight around their noses; freedom-seekers were ready to tan their lower cheeks; […]
HUNTSVILLE — An ATV rider missing since Friday was recovered from Lake Vernon yesterday. Police say they were called just after 6 p.m., March 18, to a home on Brennan Circle in Huntsville. Karel van Denheuvel hadn’t returned home after going out onto Lake Vernon on his all-terrain vehicle earlier in the day. Huntsville OPP […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com HUNTSVILLE — On the first day of spring, hope springs eternal for Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison as he kicked off his official campaign for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. “Canadians want leadership that restores hope in the future. Leadership that inspires us to fulfil that unwritten commandment that […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — Can an obscure MP from the middle of the country become leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada? We’ll find out starting this afternoon when Scott Aitchison officially declares his “bold, ambitious and hopeful” federal leadership campaign candidacy at the Canvas Brewing Company in Huntsville, where he […]
PARRY SOUND-MUSKOA — The province says it is providing more than $6 million for long-term care staffing in Parry Sound-Muskoka. They say in a government release Friday — ahead of June’s Ontario election — that it’s part of $673 million to hire and retain up to 10,000 staff province-wide. They say the money builds on […]
GRAVENHURST — During this week’s virtual town council meeting, Mayor Paul Kelly introduced this year’s successful recipients of Terence Haight Community Funding. This was an opportunity to formally recognize each community group for their valuable contributions and learn more about how they intend to use the awarded grant funding for the betterment of the community. […]