There are those in Cobourg who will tell you it is the epicentre for those living rough. Then, some people argue the other municipalities in Northumberland County are not stepping up to do their fair share.

That may no longer be true.

Brighton Council has a Homelessness Task Force, and on today’s show, you will hear about its efforts to help people living on the streets. The chair of the task force, Jeff Wheeldon, will describe how the municipality is working to coordinate services with the county and local organizations, churches, and the business community to ensure support and dignity for those who are living unsheltered. And, Wheeldon will explain how the municipality is paving a way for residents to help those in need while addressing concerns.

Nationally, the picture is grim, and the numbers are crushing. More than two million Canadians used food banks in March this year alone. The final figures for 2025 are not in yet.

Locally, the situation is mirrored. In this interview, with Meghan Flindall, Executive Director of the Northumberland Fare Share Food Bank, she will outline the increasing number of people using its services in Port Hope and Cobourg. She will also discuss new initiatives, including a Mobile Food Market. You will learn about the drop in food donations, but the rise in people and organizations giving cash, as everyone feels the pinch at the grocery stores.

Listen and see what you think as everyone struggles to eat properly. 

Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf delivered his 2026 budget, which includes a whopping 20.5 percent increase. It is the largest police budget increase in living memory.

The police services board approved it unanimously, although board member Sean Graham was absent. It was sent to the town for approval.

This increase is five times the target set by Cobourg’s mayor, utilizing his strong mayor powers.

In this interview, the Chief will defend his decision. He argues a number of factors are at the root of the increase. This includes current demands by residents for services and a budget reduction in 2025. The Chief also says there is nothing left to cut. Finally, if his budget is passed, he promises a single-digit increase next year.

Listen carefully and see if you think the Chief makes his case.

The Northumberland County ambulance service celebrated its 10th Survivor’s Night recently. It is a chance for patients to connect with paramedics who saved their lives.

Yet, at a recent Northumberland County council meeting, questions were raised about ambulance response times. One key area slowing down paramedics is the time it takes to drop off patients at local hospitals. This is called off-loading.

The province provides funding for a dedicated hospital staff member to process patients upon their arrival by ambulance. It should take about 30 minutes. However, in most cases, it takes longer.

A big problem is the province. It pays for the dedicated hospital staff. Yet, the money arrives late in the fiscal year and in amounts that are less than requested.

Ambulance Chief Susan Brown will explain what is going on and what can be done.

Take a moment to hear what she has to say and see if it makes sense to you.

Users of the municipal water system in Grafton could be on the hook for a $17.5 million upgrade, according to a study presented to Alnwick Haldimand Township council recently.

About 30 years ago, the township created a water system for the village.

In this interview, Mayor John Logel says the aging system and future development in and around the village are putting pressure on the council to take action now and in the future. He says, besides replacing and upgrading the current water system, there is also a need to expand the capacity to ensure services for any future development.

The system is user-pay. So, while it may not impact all taxpayers in the township, those on the system will face rate increases to pay for the upgrades, while new homes will be charged development fees.

Listen to see if you feel the mayor can justify the study’s recommendations as council considers what is next.

In the face of an ongoing debate over the fate of people living on the margins in Cobourg, a former activist and artist has created an interactive installation on display in the downtown in hopes of increasing awareness and humanizing some of these individuals.

Former Greenwood Coalition Executive Director David Sheffield recently launched the I Belong Here project. It combines oral history, art, and community engagement to highlight the stories of individuals in Cobourg who are often labeled in negative terms.

In this interview, Sheffield will discuss the art installation he created since retiring from the Greenwood Coalition, unpacking details about the individuals he interviewed and his own creative path to making the installation.

Listen and decide if art can make a difference in addressing critical challenges within Cobourg.

Rural taxpayers in Northumberland County could be facing an 11 percent increase in policing costs next year.

When it comes to oversight, the Cobourg and Port Hope police services garner a lot of attention, but the Northumberland OPP receives much less.

In this interview, John Davison, the chair of the Northumberland OPP Detachment Board, will defend this increase. As a councillor for Hamilton Township, he knows first-hand how this will affect local taxes. He is not alone. His fellow board members from Trent Hills, Brighton, the townships of Cramahe and Alnwick-Haldimand face the same dilemma.

The detachment board is new, having been in place for just over a year. But it is already working hard at keeping track of what is going on with the OPP and public concerns. Davison will also talk about rising domestic violence, speeding, and unsolved cases like Rohan Pyne, the owner of the Jamaican Patty House in 2022, and Vienna Irwin, a little girl who died in 2023 at a daycare in Baltimore.

Listen and see if you think the OPP is giving good value for the money.

Hamilton Township residents using the municipal water system will see a possible 60 per cent increase in rates by 2035. That means the base rate will rise to more than $100 a month for the average user. About 600 people on the system will get hit. This does not cover the more than $11 million needed to pay for new equipment and systems over the same period.

In this interview, Hamilton Township CAO Arthur Anderson will go into detail about a recent study presented to council regarding water rates. He will not only look at the financials, but also at current needs and the impact of potential growth.

Have a listen and see how all this is going to affect your rates now and in the future.

Northumberland County Warden Brian Ostrander says there is a 50/50 chance no warming room will be offered by the county this winter.

In this interview, Ostrander says this is an option on the table. It will be debated at an emergency meeting to be held just under a month from now, on November 10.

County politicians ran out of time to have a debate over a possible location for a warming room. However, Ostrander said councillors ran out of time and agreed to hold a meeting to make a final decision.

Several options are being considered. Cobourg and Port Hope have made it clear they are not an option for hosting a warming room. Ostrander said if the county chooses not to host a warming room, it will be up to other organizations to step in and get local approval from respective councils.

In this interview, Ostrander outlines some options, costs, and other factors going into the November meeting.

The Port Hope Police Services Board and the Chief were asked to sharpen their pencils after the $8.4 million draft police budget was presented to council recently.

In this interview, Port Hope Police Chief Tim Farquharson digs into the details of the budget. He explains why 80 percent of the budget is allocated to salaries and benefits, with another major chunk set aside for mandated provincial requirements. He says the alternative is to find innovative ways to provide the level of service needed.

Have a listen and see if you have any idea where the police can cut costs.

Recently, temperatures in Northumberland County dropped into the single digits at night. A frost warning was issued earlier this week. For those living rough, it makes survival even tougher.

Since August, the hub at 310 Division Street has been closed. It was one place where those living on the streets could find respite from the heat and cold. Since then, there is nowhere for them to go.

Northumberland County council held a special closed-door meeting to discuss the warming room on Wednesday. According to a motion passed by council in open session, the county solicitor was given a mandate to negotiate something, but there were no specifics.

In this interview, Rebecca Carman, Associate Director, Housing and Homelessness for Northumberland County, will focus on the urgent need to establish a winter warming room. It is to be located outside Cobourg or on county property. Some community organizations have stepped forward to host the warming room. But Carman remains tight-lipped on any details. You will want to hear what she says, especially about any public engagement and what is involved in creating this service.

The Rural Outreach Clinic in Colborne is open.

That is a message the Ontario Health Team of Northumberland wants residents to understand clearly. It is booking appointments. But the hours are reduced as the health team settles some staffing issues.

However, the future is less certain.

Taryn Rennicks is executive director of Community Health Centres of Northumberland and co-chair of Ontario Health Team - Northumberland. In this interview, she will talk about the future of the outreach clinic. It is complex, as there are many factors contributing to a series of decisions going forward. Staffing and a memorandum of understanding between Cramahe council needs to be negotiated. Then, there are finances and many more things.

Yet, there is something residents and users can do, as Rennicks will explain. A decision is expected to be made by the end of October, Rennick said.

Listen carefully to get the picture and understand what can be done.

With everything going on in the world today, democracy can feel fragile. So, when Cramahe council recently discussed the voting process for the 2026 municipal election next fall, some residents became concerned.

While the public is calling for in-person voting at polling stations on election day, the township will be using Internet and telephone voting. This is similar to the method used in the last election. says

In this interview, Cramahe Township Mayor Mandy Martin will explain the council's recent decision, provide background on the reasons behind it, and address concerns some residents have expressed about the lack of in-person voting.

Listen and consider your thoughts on the decision and its impact on local democracy.

Early in September, Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie lost a critical leadership review with 57 percent support. She resigned and launched a leadership review. It is the third Liberal leadership race since 2020.

Dorothy Noronha, the former Liberal candidate for Northumberland Peterborough South, was there. She ran for the party in the last election. In this interview, she will share her experiences from the convention floor as events unfolded. Noronha discusses her critique of the party, but also her thoughts and insights moving forward as the third-place Liberals attempt to regain their stature with voters across the province and within the local riding. Please have a listen and measure her analysis against your own.

Since the amalgamation of the town of Port Hope and the former Hope Township in 2001, it has been a strained marriage. Taxes, services, and the urban versus rural tensions have fueled heated debates over the years.

The ongoing battle over the handling of a low-level radioactive waste reserve fund used to compensate rural residents went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, only to be dismissed. You will learn more about what that is in the interview.

There were also attempts to reverse the amalgamation in 2014. Those went nowhere.

The current system divides the municipality into two Wards, with Ward 1 consisting mainly of urban residents living in the town. It has four councillors. Then, there is Ward 2, which is primarily rural residents. It has two councillors. The mayor is elected by both wards.

In this interview, Port Hope Deputy Mayor Viki Mink will discuss a public review of the boundaries and ward system initiated by council recently. She will discuss the fairness of the current system and its ability to represent both urban and rural residents. Mink will also explore the rationale for the review and the nearly quarter of a million dollars being spent on this just before a municipal election next fall.

Labour Day has a long history in Canada. It was first declared in 1894 as a federal statutory holiday. But its roots can be traced back to multiple local demonstrations and celebrations decades earlier.

Just under one-third of Canadian workers, or 5.3 million people, are represented by a union. Yet, this past Labour Day, the commemoration was concentrated in only a few cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Oshawa, Windsor, and Thunder Bay in Ontario.

Meanwhile, the amount of unrest between unions and employers is on the rise. Air Canada, Canada Postal Worker, the rail and port strikes recently demonstrate a growing strain.

Northumberland Labour Council President Dan Tobin will share his thoughts on current union actions and his response to attempts to legislate union members back to work. Plus, he will also explain why Labour Day is not such a big deal as it was in the past. See if you agree with him or not.

Municipalities across Northumberland are already working hard to set budgets for 2026. For all the staff, it is a busy time. For residents, it is a time to keep an eye on what it all means for property taxes.

With all the rising costs of groceries, gas, and other essentials, the pressure is on to keep any increases reasonable. Often, when cuts come, a favourite target are soft services like arts, culture, grants, and the like. But what about libraries?

In this interview, Councillor Aaron Burchat will discuss the budget pressures on the Cobourg Public Library. He is the councillor assigned to sit on the library board. The Cobourg Public Library serves Cobourg and multiple locations in Hamilton Township.

Cobourg’s Mayor Lucas Cleveland used his strong mayor powers to set an overall target of a three percent increase. He set a five percent target for the overall draft budget. It will go before council for further deliberation and final approval.

Burchat will talk about the current level of service for both Cobourg and Hamilton Township. He will also look at some of the impacts, plus give his position going into budget deliberations.

Recently, the Ontario Bird Atlas completed a multi-year project counting all the various bird species that live and migrate through Northumberland County.

The project is done by many volunteers who go to multiple pre-designated spots. Sometimes it is at the crack of dawn, and other times when birds are at their peak.

The results are entered into a massive database, which is then compiled into a book and made available as an open resource for researchers and officials to study.

In this interview, you will meet the two regional coordinators for Northumberland, who will tell you how all this happened and what it means for everything from backyard bird feeders to major migrations. Have a listen.

Every August, local politicians truck off to the annual conference for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario or AMO. It is a chance to learn and network. But most importantly, it is a chance to lobby. All the provincial cabinet ministers, associate ministers, and the like attend. It is a rare opportunity to speak directly to those in power to express concerns or make a case for funding.

On today’s show, Cobourg Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty shares her insights after attending multiple meetings with her fellow councillors and others, raising concerns and seeking funds.

During this interview, Beatty will discuss municipal service organizations. These are independent corporations that provide key services. Think of Lakefront Utilities as an example. She will also mention development charges, often referring to them as DCs. 

Listen carefully as she presents her case for the time, money, and other resources allocated to this event. Is it a good deal for taxpayers?

Grab the kids, get out your bike, and don’t forget the leash for the dog. The annual Hike, Bike, and Bark for Hospice is taking place in Victoria Park on September 28. So, why talk to them now? Well, it is early bird registration, and there are prizes for those who enter early.

This is a major fundraiser for Ed’s House. It is the hospice care centre providing compassionate end-of-life and palliative care for resident of Northumberland County and their families.

Trish Baird, CEO of Community Care Northumberland, will share all the details about the event.

Community Care is the organization behind Ed’s House. She will provide all the details and give an update on what is happening at Community Care. Have a listen.