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New Year Levee: Adapting to growth, change, and opportunities

New Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp with County Mayor Steve Ferguson

Story and photos by Sharon Harrison
Welcoming in 2025 at the County’s New Year’s Levee Sunday afternoon, mayor Steve Ferguson highlighted numerous projects in 2024 where gains were made, such as ground-breaking for the new hospital, successful doctor recruitment, progress on the municipality’s long-term care home, and provincial government funding for a regional water plant.

He also spoke to the continued challenges faced with affordable and attainable housing, the re-development of the former Queen Elizabeth School, the proposed roundabout at the intersection of Highway 62 and County Road 1, and, of course, the poor condition of County Road 49 and its hoped-for rehabilitation.

Referring to the hospital’s Back the Build campaign, Ferguson noted how the municipality, along with many residents and local businesses, have proudly backed the build for many, many years.

“When I look back at 2024, I can’t help but think of the day back in August when a dream became a reality,” said Ferguson. “To witness shovels in the ground for the new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital was truly remarkable. We all very much look forward to seeing the new hospital take shape as we move towards its opening in 2027.”

Held at the Prince Edward Community Centre again this year, the mayor’s annual levee was re-branded a little this year to include a winter family fun day, in the hope of making it more of an informal family event.

Sparky the Fire Dog visits with Everly Allsopp while she works on decorating her gingerbread cookie

Activities for the kids included gingerbread cookie decorating, gingerbread colouring, reading corner with County Kids Reads, a big fire truck to explore (with giveaways about fire prevention – and Sparky, fire prevention and awareness mascot, also put in an appearance), along with a museum display.

Judging by the number of skaters having fun on the ice, of every age and ability it seemed, the big hit of the afternoon was the free skating on the rink adjacent.

Joining the mayor (not on the rink) were most members of council, (while some didn’t make the event for varying reasons) where Ferguson went into lengthy explanation about how much members of council do on a daily basis, listing those committees and boards each member sits on.

The Allsopp family decorating gingerbread cookies, Everly and Riley, 3.5-year-old-twins and Olivia, 5, with mum Jennifer

Council was joined by new Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp who brought his entire family. The event also welcomed representatives from other municipalities, including Jim Harrison (Quinte West mayor), Neil Ellis (Belleville mayor), and Bob Mullin (Hastings County warden), among them.

Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison chats with councillor Phil St.-Jean

Progress, when it comes to the County‘s health care for County residents, was another positive highlight, where Ferguson noted how County Docs (physician recruitment program) continues to make progress on addressing the local family doctor shortage in the community.

“In January, there were approximately 2,000 Prince Edward County residents on the provincial wait list for a family doctor; 750 of those residents have been rostered since then, and another 750 intend to be rostered by March 2025.”

He said, this represents a 75 per cent reduction in the provincial wait list, in just one year.
“We have made significant strides in 2024, and we are hopeful we can get more residents off the wait list in 2025.”

Another ground-breaking ceremony to look forward to in early 2025 will be municipality’s re-development of its long-term care home as that project moves forward.

“The re-developed facility will give people access to quality long-term care they deserve in a safe, home-like environment,” outlined Ferguson. “Increasing the number of beds in the facility will also go a long way to reducing the pressure of local hospitals so more residents get the right care in the right place.”

Speaking to the former Queen Elizabeth School property the municipality purchased, Ferguson noted how the municipality is aiming to re-develop the property for the needs of the community, specifically for affordable housing, as well as large space for community-based agencies offering services in healthcare, child care, youth, education and training, food security, and community support services.

“The municipality has entered into detailed negotiations with New View Holdings who is facilitating the re-development project, with more details and a public consultation process taking place this year.”

The challenges of affordable and attainable housing continues to be top of mind for the municipality, Ferguson said, noting the opening of Leeward House in 2024, a transitional housing facility, and the first of its kind in Prince Edward County.

“It moved nine people directly from homelessness to a supported congregate living environment with on-site staff,” he said. “Residents can access programs, services and the supports they require as they move towards permanent sustainable housing.”

The mayor noted how the municipality has seen a willingness from upper levels of government to invest in Prince Edward County as a growing and thriving rural community, stating how the provincial government‘s investment in the new hospital as a clear example of that.

Ferguson also highlighted the visit of Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, to Wellington last September to announce $18.3 million in funding for the County through the province of Ontario’s housing-enabling water systems fund to support a regional water plant and new intake in Wellington.

“A new plant will provide the necessary capacity for 4,200 housing units of all types, including rentals, seniors’ communities, and long-term care spaces over the next seven years, with another 4,500 units between 2033 and 2043.”

“We broke ground on new water main and sanitary sewer for Wellington in 2024: new water and wastewater perspectives will continue to be a focus in 2025.”

And lastly, but by no means least, the vastly deteriorating state of County Road 49 got mention as the mayor noted how the County has applied for $20 million from the housing-enabling core services stream to support rehabilitation of the road.

“The state of disrepair of this vital entry point to and out of the County is understood by Premier Ford and other ministers, and certainly by our MPP, Tyler Allsopp, which has helped us immensely with this issue as a top priority at Queen‘s Park,” he said.

Ferguson spoke to “adapting to growth and change”, but also to “exciting opportunities” over the next 12 months, noting also “obstacles along the way” and rising together as a community to the challenges ahead.

“We recognize that these large but necessary infrastructure projects can often cause a certain amount of disruption to the community,” Ferguson said. “We have heard the concerns expressed by residents and that’s why we will be doing everything we can to limit the impact as much as possible, while also better communicating about these projects in a timely manner.”

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  1. Paul D Cole says:

    Affordable Housing is very likely the most important item on County council’s agenda. It would be nice to see a little more effort on that item. Disraeli Street seemed like the jump start the affordable housing file needed since then nothing has happened at the property. Absolutely nothing…

  2. Mark says:

    Nice to see Mayor Harrison from Quinte West present. Great leader.

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