Grey County County Council Meeting Transcript — November 27, 2025

00:06:59 Speaker 02: call to order this council meeting

00:07:01 Speaker 02: of November twenty seventh, twenty twenty

00:07:03 Speaker 02: five. At this point in time,

00:07:05 Speaker 02: as you're able, please join us

00:07:06 Speaker 02: in the standing and singing of

00:07:08 Speaker 03: "O Canada." O Canada, our home

00:07:23 Speaker 04: and native land, true patriot love

00:07:30 Speaker 04: in all of us command. With

00:07:36 Speaker 05: glowing hearts, we sing. Hearts, we

00:07:39 Speaker 05: see thee rise, the true North,

00:07:43 Speaker 05: strong and free. From far and

00:07:48 Speaker 05: wide, O Canada, we stand on

00:07:53 Speaker 05: guard for thee. God keep our

00:07:59 Speaker 05: land, glorious and free. Oh, Canada,

00:08:06 Speaker 05: we stand on guard for thee.

00:08:14 Speaker 05: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Could you

00:08:29 Speaker 05: please conduct our roll call? Councillor

00:08:30 Speaker 05: Mackie, Councillor McKay, Councillor Carleton, Councillor

00:08:39 Speaker 06: Pringle, Councillor McQueen will be

00:08:42 Speaker 06: joining us in a minute. Councillor

00:08:45 Speaker 06: Nielsen, excited to be here. Councillor

00:08:48 Speaker 06: Patterson, Councillor Dickert, Councillor Kentner, Councillor

00:08:51 Speaker 06: Keaveny, Councillor Body, Councillor Greg,

00:08:56 Speaker 06: Councillor Milne. Present. Councillor Dobrine.

00:09:01 Speaker 06: Present. Gordon Matrasovs. Councillor Bourdignon.

00:09:05 Speaker 06: Present. Councillor Eccles. Councillor Hutchinson.

00:09:09 Speaker 06: Present. Do have all members

00:09:14 Speaker 07: in attendance today? Thank you. Excellent.

00:09:16 Speaker 02: Thank you. Let us begin by

00:09:20 Speaker 02: acknowledging with respect that we are

00:09:23 Speaker 02: gathered on the traditional territory of

00:09:25 Speaker 02: the Anishinaabeg Nation, the people of

00:09:27 Speaker 02: the Three Fires, known as the

00:09:29 Speaker 02: Ojibwe. Odawa, and Potawatomi nations, we

00:09:31 Speaker 02: give thanks to the Chippewas of

00:09:34 Speaker 02: Saugeen and the Chippewas of Nawash,

00:09:36 Speaker 02: known collectively as the Saugeen Ojibwe

00:09:38 Speaker 02: Nation, the traditional keepers of these

00:09:42 Speaker 02: lands and waters since time immemorial.

00:09:43 Speaker 02: In our south lies the traditional

00:09:47 Speaker 02: territories of the Six Nations of

00:09:49 Speaker 02: the Grand River and the Haudenosaunee.

00:09:50 Speaker 02: We are dedicated to honouring Indigenous

00:09:53 Speaker 02: history and culture, and committed to

00:09:55 Speaker 02: moving forward in the spirit of

00:09:57 Speaker 02: truth. reconciliation, and friendship with all

00:10:00 Speaker 02: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

00:10:03 Speaker 02: So, on our county council agenda

00:10:12 Speaker 02: this morning, the next item is

00:10:13 Speaker 02: number five, which is any declarations

00:10:15 Speaker 02: of interest for this agenda for

00:10:17 Speaker 02: council. Looking to the screen, looking

00:10:19 Speaker 02: around the room, I see no

00:10:22 Speaker 02: hands up, so we will proceed.

00:10:23 Speaker 02: Next, we will move to the

00:10:25 Speaker 02: adoption of the minutes. Item six

00:10:26 Speaker 02: a. It's. Item 6A. It's recommended

00:10:28 Speaker 02: that the minutes of County Council

00:10:29 Speaker 02: meeting and the Committee of the

00:10:31 Speaker 02: Whole meeting dated November 13, 2025,

00:10:33 Speaker 02: and the resolutions contained therein be

00:10:36 Speaker 02: adopted as presented. May I ask

00:10:38 Speaker 02: for a mover and a seconder?

00:10:39 Speaker 02: Moved by Councillor Kivney, and seconded

00:10:44 Speaker 02: by Councillor Eccles. Any discussion? Seeing

00:10:50 Speaker 02: no hands, then I'll call the

00:10:52 Speaker 02: vote. All those in favour? And

00:10:55 Speaker 02: that motion is carried. The next

00:10:58 Speaker 02: one is for closed sessions, so

00:10:59 Speaker 02: it's recommended that the closed session

00:11:01 Speaker 02: committee, the whole meeting minutes, dated

00:11:03 Speaker 02: November thirteenth, twenty twenty-five, be adopted

00:11:05 Speaker 02: as provided. May I ask for

00:11:07 Speaker 02: a mover and a seconder? Moved

00:11:08 Speaker 02: by Councillor Patterson, seconded by Councillor

00:11:10 Speaker 02: Do Green. Any discussion? Okay, seeing

00:11:16 Speaker 02: none, I'll call the question. All

00:11:17 Speaker 02: those in favour? And that motion

00:11:21 Speaker 02: is carried. Item six C is

00:11:24 Speaker 02: our long-term. care committee of management,

00:11:26 Speaker 02: and it is recommended that the

00:11:28 Speaker 02: long-term care committee of management meeting

00:11:30 Speaker 02: minutes dated November twelfth, twenty twenty-five,

00:11:32 Speaker 02: be adopted as presented, and the

00:11:34 Speaker 02: following resolutions contained therein be endorsed:

00:11:36 Speaker 02: Number one, that the report LTCCRCM

00:11:38 Speaker 02: twenty four twenty five regarding a

00:11:41 Speaker 02: long-term care director update be received

00:11:43 Speaker 02: for information; Number two, that report

00:11:45 Speaker 02: LTCCRCM twenty five twenty five regarding

00:11:48 Speaker 02: long-term care operational report dated August

00:11:51 Speaker 02: fifteenth to October fourteenth. To October

00:11:54 Speaker 02: 14th be received for information, and

00:11:57 Speaker 02: third, that report LTCRCM 2625 regarding

00:12:01 Speaker 02: the proposed 2026 long-term care budget

00:12:04 Speaker 02: be received, and item four that

00:12:08 Speaker 02: 2020 the 2026 proposed long-term care

00:12:11 Speaker 02: budget be presented, be be forwarded

00:12:14 Speaker 02: to County Council as part of

00:12:15 Speaker 02: the overall corporate budget package

00:12:17 Speaker 02: for consideration. May ask for a

00:12:20 Speaker 02: mover. Moved by Councillor Patterson, seconded.

00:12:22 Speaker 02: by Councillor Mackie. Sorry, did I

00:12:25 Speaker 02: say Patterson? So, Carlton. Well, we'll

00:12:28 Speaker 02: go with the. That's right. One

00:12:29 Speaker 02: of the two suits. So we'll

00:12:30 Speaker 02: go with Councillor Carlton, Madam Clerk.

00:12:33 Speaker 02: That's right. At least I got

00:12:33 Speaker 02: the Mackie part right. So, and

00:12:36 Speaker 02: and Councillor Mackie have moved and

00:12:39 Speaker 02: seconded. So it's now on the

00:12:39 Speaker 02: floor for any discussion. And I

00:12:43 Speaker 02: believe Jennifer is is Director Cornell

00:12:45 Speaker 02: going to speak to anything, or

00:12:46 Speaker 02: just if there are questions? Oh,

00:12:50 Speaker 02: I'm sorry, Director Cornell. It's I.

00:12:51 Speaker 02: Director Carnell, it's it's going to

00:12:52 Speaker 02: be a bit of a challenge

00:12:54 Speaker 02: keeping track online this morning. Good

00:12:56 Speaker 02: morning, online, and the floor is

00:12:59 Speaker 08: yours. Great, thank you, Madam Warden,

00:13:01 Speaker 08: and good morning, County Council. I'll

00:13:04 Speaker 08: just give a high level update

00:13:06 Speaker 08: and summary of the meeting in

00:13:09 Speaker 08: the director's update report. We

00:13:11 Speaker 08: had some good discussion, particularly around

00:13:16 Speaker 08: legislative changes that are coming for

00:13:20 Speaker 08: resident support assistance or. resident support

00:13:22 Speaker 08: personnel, which we call care support

00:13:26 Speaker 08: assistance, and the PSW certification changes

00:13:30 Speaker 08: and the upcoming registration with HISCAPA,

00:13:33 Speaker 08: which is the short form for

00:13:34 Speaker 08: a very lengthy title on

00:13:38 Speaker 08: a regulatory authority for personal support

00:13:42 Speaker 08: workers. In the operating report, the

00:13:45 Speaker 08: the staff gave some

00:13:47 Speaker 08: highlights and information around ministry inspections.

00:13:49 Speaker 08: had a really good discussion and

00:13:51 Speaker 08: overview of the Lee Manor mock

00:13:55 Speaker 08: evacuation experience, and a bit of

00:13:57 Speaker 08: a shoutout and celebration of making

00:13:59 Speaker 08: the halfway mark in a three-year

00:14:02 Speaker 08: project in partnership with RNAO for

00:14:06 Speaker 08: the clinical pathway best practices. And

00:14:09 Speaker 08: then, as the warden indicated, the

00:14:11 Speaker 08: bulk of the meeting was spent

00:14:14 Speaker 08: discussing the proposed long-term care draft

00:14:17 Speaker 08: budget with. some really good discussion,

00:14:19 Speaker 08: and I'll leave it there. If

00:14:25 Speaker 09: there's any questions, okay. Thank you.

00:14:26 Speaker 09: I'll look to. I'm looking for

00:14:27 Speaker 09: it. I'll look for any virtual

00:14:29 Speaker 09: hands that get raised, and I'll

00:14:31 Speaker 09: look around the room. And I'm

00:14:32 Speaker 09: not seeing hands go up in

00:14:34 Speaker 09: either place, Director Furnell. So thank

00:14:35 Speaker 09: you very much for the extensive

00:14:37 Speaker 09: details that you provided. With that,

00:14:39 Speaker 09: I'll call the question. All those

00:14:41 Speaker 09: in favour? And that motion is

00:14:46 Speaker 09: carried. Thank you. Item seven: We

00:14:47 Speaker 09: do not have any closed meeting

00:14:49 Speaker 09: matters nor reports. In item eight,

00:14:50 Speaker 09: that allows us to go to

00:14:52 Speaker 09: the bylaws. It's recommended that

00:14:55 Speaker 09: bylaws fifty-two, fifty-seven, twenty-five,

00:14:58 Speaker 09: fifty-two, fifty-eight, twenty-five, fifty-two, fifty-nine,

00:15:01 Speaker 09: twenty-five, fifty-two, sixty, twenty-five, and fifty-two,

00:15:04 Speaker 09: sixty-one, twenty-five be introduced and taken

00:15:06 Speaker 09: as read first, second, and third

00:15:08 Speaker 09: time. Finally, passed, signed by the

00:15:09 Speaker 09: warden and clerk, with and and

00:15:11 Speaker 09: sealed with the seal of the

00:15:13 Speaker 09: corporation and engrossed into the bylaws.

00:15:15 Speaker 09: And engrossed into the bylaw book,

00:15:16 Speaker 09: the first one is a bylaw

00:15:18 Speaker 09: to authorise the execution of a

00:15:20 Speaker 09: memorandum of understanding between the Corporation

00:15:22 Speaker 09: of the County of Grey and

00:15:23 Speaker 09: the Municipality of Grey Highlands and

00:15:26 Speaker 09: Bright Shores Health System. The second

00:15:27 Speaker 09: is a bylaw for an agreement

00:15:29 Speaker 09: between the Federation of the Canadian

00:15:31 Speaker 09: Municipalities and Grey County through the

00:15:34 Speaker 09: Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation Programme,

00:15:36 Speaker 09: and the third one is a

00:15:37 Speaker 09: bylaw to authorise the Warden and

00:15:39 Speaker 09: Clerk to execute an agreement between

00:15:42 Speaker 09: the Lutheran Social Services and Lutheran

00:15:43 Speaker 09: Outreach Ministries. and the Corporation of

00:15:45 Speaker 09: the County of Grey for provision

00:15:49 Speaker 09: of funds through the Canada Ontario

00:15:51 Speaker 09: Community Housing Initiatives, and number five

00:15:54 Speaker 09: a bylaw to confirm number four

00:15:55 Speaker 09: a bylaw to confirm all actions

00:15:57 Speaker 09: and proceedings of Council, and fifth

00:16:01 Speaker 09: a bylaw to approve the delegation

00:16:02 Speaker 09: of duties policy. So with that,

00:16:06 Speaker 09: I'll look for a mover and

00:16:08 Speaker 09: a seconder. I see the Deputy

00:16:11 Speaker 09: Warden has moved, and Councillor Pringle

00:16:12 Speaker 09: has seconded. It's now on the

00:16:18 Speaker 09: floor for discussion. Any discussion? Yes,

00:16:22 Speaker 09: Councillor Eccles. Just one comment on

00:16:24 Speaker 10: the bylaw fifty two sixty one

00:16:30 Speaker 10: twenty five. The delegation of duties

00:16:34 Speaker 10: in the schedule. There's a lot

00:16:36 Speaker 10: in there. Did we haven't highlighted

00:16:41 Speaker 10: what are being added to, or

00:16:46 Speaker 10: is this all added to the

00:16:53 Speaker 10: delegation, delegating authority? Okay, I'll look

00:16:54 Speaker 11: to the clerk. Thank you, and

00:16:56 Speaker 11: through you, Madam Warden, it is

00:16:58 Speaker 11: a combination of our current delegation

00:17:00 Speaker 11: of duties bylaw and then some

00:17:02 Speaker 11: additional new pieces being incorporated in.

00:17:05 Speaker 11: So it's a bit of a

00:17:07 Speaker 11: a combination. The report that came

00:17:09 Speaker 11: at the last. meeting did highlight

00:17:10 Speaker 11: some of the major changes. It

00:17:12 Speaker 11: didn't. It didn't speak to all

00:17:14 Speaker 11: of them because many were housekeeping

00:17:16 Speaker 11: or administrative. But I can send

00:17:17 Speaker 11: that report out again if it's

00:17:19 Speaker 12: helpful, so you can see the

00:17:25 Speaker 12: the changes that were more significant.

00:17:27 Speaker 12: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

00:17:30 Speaker 13: Okay, I'll call the question. All

00:17:32 Speaker 13: those in favour? And that motion

00:17:36 Speaker 02: is carried. Thank you. That allows.

00:17:38 Speaker 02: us to move on to news

00:17:40 Speaker 02: and celebrations, and we have three

00:17:41 Speaker 02: three pieces of news to celebrate

00:17:43 Speaker 02: with staff. And so the first

00:17:45 Speaker 02: one, it's I'm going to call

00:17:48 Speaker 02: upon Director Kevin McNab of Paramedic

00:17:50 Speaker 14: Services, because we have some exciting

00:18:12 Speaker 15: presentations to make today. Good morning,

00:18:14 Speaker 15: Warden and County Council. Happy to

00:18:15 Speaker 15: be here today to celebrate with

00:18:18 Speaker 15: our Gray County paramedics for receiving

00:18:21 Speaker 15: their exemplary service medal. The exemplary,

00:18:24 Speaker 15: the Emergency Medical Services Exemplary

00:18:26 Speaker 15: Service Medal, created on July seventh,

00:18:28 Speaker 15: nineteen ninety-four, recognizes professionals in the

00:18:30 Speaker 15: provision of pre-hospital emergency medical services

00:18:32 Speaker 15: to the public who have performed

00:18:35 Speaker 15: their duties in an exemplary manner.

00:18:39 Speaker 15: characterized by good conduct, industry, and

00:18:40 Speaker 15: efficiency. Recipients must have been employed

00:18:42 Speaker 15: with emergency medical services on or

00:18:45 Speaker 15: after October 31, 1991, and have

00:18:47 Speaker 15: completed 20 years of exemplary service,

00:18:50 Speaker 15: including 10 years in which their

00:18:53 Speaker 15: performance of duties involved potential risk.

00:18:55 Speaker 15: To date, approximately 2,500 medals have

00:18:59 Speaker 15: been awarded to Ontario's over 9,000

00:19:01 Speaker 15: paramedics. This distinction is not

00:19:03 Speaker 15: simply a longevity of

00:19:06 Speaker 15: service. Simply longevity of service. It

00:19:08 Speaker 15: reflects exceptional commitment, professionalism, and meaningful

00:19:10 Speaker 15: contributions both in the workplace and

00:19:12 Speaker 15: within the community. So happy to

00:19:16 Speaker 15: be here with four of the

00:19:18 Speaker 15: recipients today. First, Paula Trombley, 20

00:19:22 Speaker 15: years of exemplary service. She works

00:19:24 Speaker 15: in Markdale. She's she's the co-chair

00:19:26 Speaker 15: of our Joint Health and Safety

00:19:29 Speaker 15: Committee. She's done a number of

00:19:33 Speaker 15: duties, CPAR supervisor through her years.

00:19:35 Speaker 15: So congratulations. to Paula, Joe Draper

00:19:36 Speaker 15: on the far right here. He's

00:19:38 Speaker 15: a supervisor with us. Works out

00:19:40 Speaker 15: of One Sound. Does a number

00:19:41 Speaker 15: of duties, but he does spend

00:19:44 Speaker 15: a lot of time coordinating our

00:19:47 Speaker 15: Honour Guard and all our special

00:19:49 Speaker 15: events. Jessica Rob, she's our Deputy

00:19:51 Speaker 15: Chief of Operations. She came to

00:19:54 Speaker 15: us and with Wellness and Support

00:19:56 Speaker 15: Deputy Chief, then developed a number

00:19:59 Speaker 15: of programmemes to support our paramedics

00:20:01 Speaker 15: within the service. And not able

00:20:03 Speaker 15: to join us today for 20

00:20:05 Speaker 15: years is Naomi Liverance. She's a

00:20:07 Speaker 15: full-time paramedic in Bruce County, part-time

00:20:11 Speaker 15: with us, and she's worked throughout

00:20:13 Speaker 15: the county on multiple different bases.

00:20:14 Speaker 15: And special honour here today doesn't

00:20:16 Speaker 15: often reach in this field. It

00:20:18 Speaker 15: is a difficult job, and to

00:20:20 Speaker 15: say we have somebody here that's

00:20:23 Speaker 15: worked 40 years in service deserves

00:20:25 Speaker 15: special recognition. Leo, he's worked in

00:20:27 Speaker 15: Bruce County and Gray for a

00:20:28 Speaker 15: number of years. He is retired,

00:20:30 Speaker 15: but. he still comes back and

00:20:32 Speaker 15: participates in our honour guard, and

00:20:35 Speaker 15: so happy to have Leo here.

00:20:36 Speaker 15: So thank you, Leo. So, wish

00:22:45 Speaker 16: congratulations to everybody, and so happy

00:23:30 Speaker 16: for their honour guard. Okay. For

00:23:31 Speaker 02: those of you that might not

00:23:33 Speaker 02: have heard, Leo of forty years

00:23:35 Speaker 02: service just shared that he started

00:23:36 Speaker 02: forty years ago as an ambulance

00:23:38 Speaker 02: driver and can't believe all the

00:23:39 Speaker 02: kinds of changes that have come

00:23:41 Speaker 02: today, and the kind of complexities

00:23:43 Speaker 02: that go with the role as

00:23:45 Speaker 02: you've developed and as you've seen

00:23:47 Speaker 02: your your whole work environment change.

00:23:49 Speaker 02: in order to be able to

00:23:51 Speaker 02: best deliver needs to the individuals

00:23:52 Speaker 02: who need you. So it is

00:23:53 Speaker 02: phenomenal, and we thank all of

00:23:55 Speaker 02: you for your 20 years and

00:23:57 Speaker 02: your 40 years service. And I

00:23:58 Speaker 02: will note too that there are

00:23:59 Speaker 02: family members here today that have

00:24:01 Speaker 02: come to celebrate you through the

00:24:04 Speaker 02: snow. That's wonderful to hear. We

00:24:05 Speaker 02: we're very appreciative that you've been

00:24:06 Speaker 02: able to take time out today

00:24:19 Speaker 17: to come to council and we

00:24:20 Speaker 17: celebrate your accomplishments. So, with that,

00:24:21 Speaker 02: we will move on to another

00:24:23 Speaker 02: piece of good news. We're going

00:24:24 Speaker 02: to step a little bit into

00:24:26 Speaker 02: the youth mode now. At this

00:24:28 Speaker 02: point in time, to talk about

00:24:30 Speaker 02: some up-and-coming leaders that we have

00:24:32 Speaker 02: entertained through the Youth Climate Action

00:24:35 Speaker 02: Conference. It was held again. It

00:24:36 Speaker 02: is such a tradition. I was

00:24:37 Speaker 02: so pleased to be able

00:24:40 Speaker 02: to be there in the morning.

00:24:43 Speaker 02: Fantastic, you know, fantastic introduction. The

00:24:46 Speaker 02: top-notch agenda programme. that was planned.

00:24:47 Speaker 02: These are grade five students that

00:24:49 Speaker 02: are coming from all over the

00:24:51 Speaker 02: county, coming from everywhere, from different

00:24:53 Speaker 02: schools, selected by their schools to

00:24:55 Speaker 02: come with their teachers and to

00:24:56 Speaker 02: participate and get to know others

00:24:58 Speaker 02: in other schools. Which I think

00:25:01 Speaker 02: is a fantastic. It's so nice

00:25:02 Speaker 02: when somebody's interested in something like

00:25:03 Speaker 02: climate change and what they can

00:25:04 Speaker 02: do to help and how they

00:25:06 Speaker 02: can be a young leader. It's

00:25:08 Speaker 02: so empowering for them to come

00:25:10 Speaker 02: to a room that is just

00:25:12 Speaker 02: full of young people their age,

00:25:14 Speaker 02: just like them. from right across

00:25:15 Speaker 02: the county who also want to

00:25:16 Speaker 02: do the same kind of thing.

00:25:18 Speaker 02: It was an incredible experience as

00:25:20 Speaker 02: well because for the first time,

00:25:22 Speaker 02: because of the Youth Climate Action

00:25:23 Speaker 02: Fund, we were able to have

00:25:25 Speaker 02: some young adult leaders too. So

00:25:26 Speaker 02: there were high school students there

00:25:28 Speaker 02: that had come for the day

00:25:29 Speaker 02: who might have actually been part

00:25:32 Speaker 02: of the programme earlier, but nonetheless

00:25:34 Speaker 02: had a passion from wherever they

00:25:35 Speaker 02: had started. I asked them. I

00:25:36 Speaker 02: had a lunch with them. They

00:25:37 Speaker 02: they they sat with me and

00:25:39 Speaker 02: had lunch, and I asked each

00:25:41 Speaker 02: each and every one of these

00:25:42 Speaker 02: young adult leaders. what it was

00:25:43 Speaker 02: that drew them to want to

00:25:46 Speaker 02: apply to be part of this

00:25:48 Speaker 02: programme, and every answer was different.

00:25:49 Speaker 02: It was everything from I used

00:25:51 Speaker 02: to help my grandmother with a

00:25:52 Speaker 02: you know planter garden, and so

00:25:54 Speaker 02: I thought a community garden would

00:25:56 Speaker 02: be a good idea. To I'm

00:25:57 Speaker 02: really worried about climate change, and

00:25:58 Speaker 02: I'm worried about what the planet's

00:25:59 Speaker 02: going to look like, and this

00:26:02 Speaker 02: was one way I could help.

00:26:04 Speaker 02: Every answer was was different about

00:26:05 Speaker 02: what what it was that drew

00:26:08 Speaker 02: them to be there, and what

00:26:09 Speaker 02: models those young adults are for

00:26:11 Speaker 02: those grade five. Are for those

00:26:13 Speaker 02: grade fives who are there, seeing

00:26:16 Speaker 02: that there is there is a

00:26:18 Speaker 02: way to participate and to do

00:26:20 Speaker 02: something together collectively. That of course

00:26:22 Speaker 02: doesn't happen without the true support

00:26:24 Speaker 02: and and dedication of the staff

00:26:26 Speaker 02: that we have with our sustainability

00:26:27 Speaker 02: staff here, as well as all

00:26:29 Speaker 02: the community partners. Definitely, I know

00:26:31 Speaker 02: when you speak, you're going to

00:26:33 Speaker 02: talk about all the other people

00:26:34 Speaker 02: involved that help make this happen

00:26:36 Speaker 02: each and every year. So with

00:26:37 Speaker 02: that, I would like to I

00:26:41 Speaker 02: would like to bring up Megan

00:26:42 Speaker 02: and Linda. if you would like

00:26:49 Speaker 02: to come and tell us a

00:26:51 Speaker 02: little bit more about the details

00:26:53 Speaker 02: about this year's event. Thank you,

00:26:56 Speaker 18: Warden Matrissovs. So, as the Warden

00:26:58 Speaker 18: shared, this was our fourth annual

00:27:01 Speaker 18: Youth Climate Action Conference. It was

00:27:04 Speaker 18: hosted in Owen Sound at the

00:27:06 Speaker 18: Bayshore Community Centre, but really was

00:27:08 Speaker 18: a cross-county event. We were

00:27:12 Speaker 18: lucky to host with. Hosted with

00:27:14 Speaker 18: a variety of partners, including the

00:27:16 Speaker 18: two school boards, along with various

00:27:16 Speaker 18: nonprofit organisations. I'm going to talk

00:27:18 Speaker 18: a little bit about the conference

00:27:20 Speaker 18: overall, and then Megan's going to

00:27:23 Speaker 18: tell you some of the specifics

00:27:25 Speaker 18: of the day. So, by the

00:27:28 Speaker 18: numbers, there were 24 schools from

00:27:30 Speaker 18: across Gray and Bruce who participated.

00:27:32 Speaker 18: Each school sent five elementary age

00:27:34 Speaker 18: students. They had to apply to

00:27:37 Speaker 18: attend. This is a hot ticket

00:27:41 Speaker 18: in the the elementary school. The

00:27:45 Speaker 18: elementary schools of our region, 125

00:27:46 Speaker 18: students, more than 125 students, joined

00:27:49 Speaker 18: us to really learn about sustainability,

00:27:52 Speaker 18: but also leadership. This really is

00:27:55 Speaker 18: a leadership development programme that uses

00:27:57 Speaker 18: sustainability, climate action, and environmentalism as

00:27:59 Speaker 18: the hook. There were 27 educators

00:28:00 Speaker 18: who also received a full day

00:28:02 Speaker 18: of professional development. So this is

00:28:04 Speaker 18: an opportunity for them to hone

00:28:06 Speaker 18: their skills, to learn about programmemes

00:28:08 Speaker 18: and supports available to that. And

00:28:11 Speaker 18: supports available to them to continue

00:28:14 Speaker 18: this kind of leadership and sustainability

00:28:15 Speaker 18: work in the classroom. That's supported

00:28:16 Speaker 18: by a national nonprofit called Learning

00:28:20 Speaker 18: for a Sustainable Future. As the

00:28:22 Speaker 18: warden mentioned, there were also some

00:28:24 Speaker 18: high school students there to act

00:28:26 Speaker 18: as role models. And this year,

00:28:28 Speaker 18: an overwhelming level of community support,

00:28:31 Speaker 18: with over fifty-four volunteers coming to

00:28:33 Speaker 18: spend the day, doing everything from

00:28:37 Speaker 18: handing out pizza to facilitating workshops

00:28:41 Speaker 18: on solar power. So, really, an

00:28:43 Speaker 18: opportunity. for for all ages to

00:28:46 Speaker 18: get involved in this work. The

00:28:49 Speaker 18: power of partnership. There's what happens

00:28:51 Speaker 18: in the day, which is really

00:28:53 Speaker 18: quite remarkable. But there's also the

00:28:55 Speaker 18: partnerships and the resource leveraging that

00:28:57 Speaker 18: this event catalyzes. There's over twenty

00:29:00 Speaker 18: one twenty one organisations working together

00:29:03 Speaker 18: on this. It started as a

00:29:04 Speaker 18: grassroots initiative from a local resident,

00:29:05 Speaker 18: and over the last three iterations,

00:29:08 Speaker 18: has. really grown to something that

00:29:10 Speaker 18: national organisations are holding up and

00:29:13 Speaker 18: saying this is our flagship event

00:29:16 Speaker 18: of the year. What is happening

00:29:19 Speaker 18: in Gray County is remarkable. There's

00:29:20 Speaker 18: over forty thousand dollars of external

00:29:24 Speaker 18: funding leveraged from a variety of

00:29:25 Speaker 18: funders and partners. And this year

00:29:27 Speaker 18: we also were very lucky to

00:29:28 Speaker 18: have a lot of engagement from

00:29:30 Speaker 18: Sogdian Ojibwe Nation. The day opened

00:29:32 Speaker 18: with the Sogdian Ojibwe Nation drummers

00:29:34 Speaker 18: and a land blessing, and then

00:29:36 Speaker 18: there were also remarks from the

00:29:38 Speaker 18: Saugyeen First Nation Chief Conrad Ritchie

00:29:41 Speaker 18: and the Acting Chief of the

00:29:42 Speaker 18: Chippewas and Naish, Jessica Keishing Martin.

00:29:43 Speaker 18: So, really trying to bring that

00:29:44 Speaker 18: Indigenous and reconciliation piece into sustainability

00:29:49 Speaker 18: as well. So, with that, I

00:29:51 Speaker 18: will hand things over to Megan

00:29:53 Speaker 18: to tell you a little bit

00:29:55 Speaker 19: more about the highlights. It's Linda.

00:29:57 Speaker 19: So, speaking of partnership, I just

00:29:59 Speaker 19: wanted to highlight a few kind

00:30:01 Speaker 19: of new and improved elements for

00:30:02 Speaker 19: the 2025 conference, and as a

00:30:04 Speaker 19: result. of some really great collabourations.

00:30:07 Speaker 19: So thanks to the city of

00:30:09 Speaker 19: Owensound, we had a perfect venue

00:30:11 Speaker 19: for the number of attendees that

00:30:13 Speaker 19: allowed for both indoor and outdoor

00:30:14 Speaker 19: sessions, and we had a beautiful

00:30:16 Speaker 19: day. Thanks to student feedback and

00:30:17 Speaker 19: through a youth advisory group, students

00:30:19 Speaker 19: actually joined sessions ahead of the

00:30:20 Speaker 19: conference to kind of give input

00:30:23 Speaker 19: on what worked well last year,

00:30:25 Speaker 19: and then we were able to

00:30:28 Speaker 19: incorporate that input this year to

00:30:30 Speaker 19: really make for really more engaging

00:30:32 Speaker 19: and relevant sessions. As Linda mentioned,

00:30:34 Speaker 19: thanks to so. To mention, thanks

00:30:37 Speaker 19: to Sauk Nation Environment Office staff,

00:30:39 Speaker 19: we were able to really get

00:30:40 Speaker 19: their input into the programmeming, which

00:30:42 Speaker 19: they described as kind of an

00:30:46 Speaker 19: unprecedented level of engagement. Thanks to

00:30:47 Speaker 19: our network of community volunteers, each

00:30:49 Speaker 19: school is matched with a community

00:30:51 Speaker 19: mentor to help support their action

00:30:52 Speaker 19: projects after the conference. And as

00:30:56 Speaker 19: Warda Matrasov mentioned, with a partnership

00:30:57 Speaker 19: with the Town of Blue Mountains

00:30:59 Speaker 19: Youth Climate Action Fund, we were

00:31:01 Speaker 19: able to bring those high school

00:31:02 Speaker 19: student leaders as well. Last year,

00:31:05 Speaker 19: many of the action projects were

00:31:07 Speaker 19: related to tree planting and naturalization.

00:31:09 Speaker 19: So we decided to have a

00:31:12 Speaker 19: dedicated workshop on how to plan,

00:31:14 Speaker 19: plant, and steward a planting project.

00:31:19 Speaker 19: And thanks to several partners and

00:31:20 Speaker 19: permission from the city, we planted

00:31:22 Speaker 19: a mini forest of 160 trees

00:31:23 Speaker 19: and shrubs on site between the

00:31:25 Speaker 19: Bayshore and the boat launch. Even

00:31:27 Speaker 19: more important than what happens at

00:31:30 Speaker 19: the conference is what happens after.

00:31:32 Speaker 19: So. the conference is really a

00:31:34 Speaker 19: launching point, giving the students the

00:31:37 Speaker 19: knowledge, skills, and inspiration to implement

00:31:40 Speaker 19: action projects in their schools and

00:31:41 Speaker 19: communities. We know that youth are

00:31:42 Speaker 19: experiencing quite a bit of climate

00:31:47 Speaker 19: anxiety, and we know that participating

00:31:49 Speaker 19: in these tangible action projects helps,

00:31:51 Speaker 19: and we can see that from

00:31:52 Speaker 19: the reports that we're getting back

00:31:54 Speaker 19: from their teachers following the projects.

00:31:56 Speaker 19: This past May, each school submitted

00:31:58 Speaker 19: a final report on their action.

00:32:00 Speaker 19: projects from last year. So although

00:32:03 Speaker 19: we don't have those reports yet

00:32:05 Speaker 19: for this year's conference, we have

00:32:06 Speaker 19: last year's numbers, and these numbers

00:32:08 Speaker 19: really demonstrate the ripple effect and

00:32:09 Speaker 19: are a testament to the impact.

00:32:11 Speaker 19: And now, with Rob's assistance, we're

00:33:25 Speaker 03: just going to share just a

00:33:28 Speaker 20: quick one-minute highlight reel just to

00:33:33 Speaker 20: give you a sense of the

00:33:34 Speaker 20: sense of the day. Thanks so

00:33:36 Speaker 20: much. Wonderful! I can see that

00:33:37 Speaker 20: video being an excellent tool for

00:33:42 Speaker 20: recruiting the next year. And with

00:33:45 Speaker 20: that, we also have some good

00:33:48 Speaker 20: news also coming about National Housing

00:33:50 Speaker 20: Day. Into that, I will look

00:33:52 Speaker 21: to Director Shaw online. Good morning.

00:33:54 Speaker 21: Thank you. Good morning. Good morning.

00:33:56 Speaker 21: County Council. November twenty second was

00:33:58 Speaker 21: National Housing Day. It's a day

00:34:00 Speaker 21: dedicated to raising awareness about the

00:34:03 Speaker 21: importance of safe and affordable housing

00:34:05 Speaker 21: for all Canadians. It serves as

00:34:06 Speaker 21: a reminder of the ongoing housing

00:34:08 Speaker 21: crisis in Canada and the need

00:34:11 Speaker 21: for collabourative efforts to ensure that

00:34:13 Speaker 21: everyone has a place to call

00:34:16 Speaker 21: home. It is also time to

00:34:18 Speaker 21: reflect on what is being accomplished

00:34:20 Speaker 21: in our community and recognize the

00:34:22 Speaker 21: existing efforts for affordable housing and

00:34:25 Speaker 21: the people that. it it assists.

00:34:27 Speaker 21: In celebration, staff attended all of

00:34:28 Speaker 21: our buildings and set up hot

00:34:30 Speaker 21: chocolate stands for residents to enjoy

00:34:33 Speaker 21: and talk about what affordable housing

00:34:35 Speaker 21: means to them. I'd like to

00:34:37 Speaker 21: thank staff for all that they

00:34:44 Speaker 21: do every day to keep our

00:34:46 Speaker 21: buildings clean and safe, provide tenants

00:34:48 Speaker 02: with supports, keep our office running

00:34:50 Speaker 02: and inquiries answered, and provide services

00:34:51 Speaker 02: to people experiencing homelessness. Thank you.

00:34:55 Speaker 22: Okay, excellent. So with that, then

00:35:07 Speaker 14: that concludes the staff announcements that

00:35:10 Speaker 23: we have. So next, I'll look

00:35:12 Speaker 23: to county council members for any

00:35:13 Speaker 23: news they wish to share. We'll

00:35:15 Speaker 23: start with Councillor Kibney. Thank you,

00:35:18 Speaker 23: Warden Matroussov, and good morning, everyone.

00:35:20 Speaker 23: Next weekend. I know I've mentioned

00:35:23 Speaker 23: this before. Is our Christmas on

00:35:24 Speaker 23: the Bay from December fourth to

00:35:27 Speaker 23: the seventh, with our Kinsmen Santa

00:35:30 Speaker 23: Claus Parade on December the sixth,

00:35:32 Speaker 23: but and our Golden Aers Ladies

00:35:36 Speaker 23: Concert on the seventh at the

00:35:38 Speaker 23: United Church at two o'clock. But

00:35:41 Speaker 23: I also wanted to focus on

00:35:44 Speaker 23: Thursday. So next Thursday, December the

00:35:46 Speaker 23: fourth, is our second annual Spirit

00:35:48 Speaker 23: of Inclusion Concert. This one is

00:35:49 Speaker 23: entitled Joy and Harmony. Performers are

00:35:51 Speaker 23: coming from Reach, Events for Life,

00:35:54 Speaker 23: Dancing with Parkinson's, and the Roxy

00:35:55 Speaker 23: Star Company. And anyone who saw

00:35:58 Speaker 23: this last year, there wasn't a

00:36:00 Speaker 23: dry eye in the house. It

00:36:02 Speaker 23: was so touching. So I strongly

00:36:03 Speaker 23: encourage anyone who can to come

00:36:05 Speaker 23: and take in that concert. And

00:36:06 Speaker 23: also on the Sunday at Mifflin

00:36:09 Speaker 23: Hall, there's going to be a

00:36:10 Speaker 23: showing of One Magic Christmas, which

00:36:12 Speaker 23: is a movie that was filmed

00:36:14 Speaker 23: in Mifflin 40 years ago. So

00:36:16 Speaker 23: this is the 40th anniversary. and

00:36:17 Speaker 23: it was filmed in the old

00:36:23 Speaker 24: food land and the Bank of

00:36:27 Speaker 24: Montreal and so on in Nefford.

00:36:29 Speaker 25: So that's also a special event.

00:36:32 Speaker 25: So lots to do in Nefford

00:36:34 Speaker 25: next weekend. Thank you. Thank you.

00:36:36 Speaker 25: And other news. We'll go to

00:36:37 Speaker 25: Councillor Carleton. Thank you, Warden Matress

00:36:39 Speaker 25: House. Tomorrow night, Friday, November 28,

00:36:42 Speaker 25: starting at six o'clock at Shallow

00:36:43 Speaker 25: Lake Community Centre, is Sparkle and

00:36:46 Speaker 25: Skate. So. we have two large

00:36:48 Speaker 25: trees out front that will get

00:36:50 Speaker 25: lit up. There are vendors in

00:36:52 Speaker 25: the upstairs and from Georgian Bluffs,

00:36:54 Speaker 25: so there'll be lots of things

00:36:58 Speaker 25: on sale. There's the minor hockey

00:36:59 Speaker 25: has the food booth running, and

00:37:01 Speaker 25: there will be the opportunity to

00:37:03 Speaker 25: skate with your family. So that

00:37:04 Speaker 02: starts at six o'clock tomorrow night.

00:37:07 Speaker 02: Excellent, thank you. And I'll keep

00:37:09 Speaker 02: an eye out for any hands

00:37:10 Speaker 02: raised online. I'll just look to

00:37:17 Speaker 02: the those that are in person

00:37:19 Speaker 10: if they're. Those that are in

00:37:23 Speaker 10: person, if there are any other

00:37:26 Speaker 10: news to share, oh, we'll go

00:37:28 Speaker 10: to Councillor Eccles, and then I'll

00:37:29 Speaker 10: go to anyone online. There is

00:37:32 Speaker 10: numerous tree lightings in the municipality

00:37:33 Speaker 10: of West Grey, starting yes this

00:37:34 Speaker 10: weekend in Elmwood and Aiton. You

00:37:37 Speaker 10: may have to speed to

00:37:40 Speaker 10: get to both them. Ones at

00:37:44 Speaker 10: five thirty and ones at six

00:37:47 Speaker 10: o'clock. So depending on how quickly

00:37:50 Speaker 10: the light. Depending on how quick

00:37:55 Speaker 10: the lights get on, and you

00:38:02 Speaker 10: can get from Elmwood to Aiton

00:38:05 Speaker 10: in the following weekend. Following Thursday,

00:38:07 Speaker 10: December fourth is tree lighting in

00:38:09 Speaker 10: Durham, and then the Santa Claus

00:38:11 Speaker 10: parade is on Saturday afternoon, Saturday

00:38:15 Speaker 10: at noon, hosted by our firefighters,

00:38:17 Speaker 10: and then on Sunday, the evening.

00:38:21 Speaker 10: parade in Newstead, December the seventh.

00:38:22 Speaker 10: They have an evening parade, so

00:38:23 Speaker 10: all the lights are sparkling and

00:38:27 Speaker 10: whatnot. And then the tree lighting

00:38:28 Speaker 10: in front of the Newstead Community

00:38:29 Speaker 10: Centre after the parade. So, if

00:38:31 Speaker 10: you haven't got Christmased out, Miss

00:38:32 Speaker 10: Kevney and Neeford, come on down

00:38:35 Speaker 10: and share some time in West

00:38:38 Speaker 10: Grey as well, too. Thank you.

00:38:39 Speaker 26: And I think there'll be plenty

00:38:41 Speaker 26: of snow to share all the

00:38:42 Speaker 26: way around as. Know to share

00:38:44 Speaker 26: all the way around as well.

00:38:45 Speaker 26: So many choices. We'll go to

00:38:47 Speaker 26: I'll go online then. I'll go

00:38:48 Speaker 26: to Councillor Borden first, and then

00:38:51 Speaker 26: to Councillor Nielsen. Thank you, Madam

00:38:52 Speaker 26: Warden. Through you to County Council.

00:38:54 Speaker 26: If you feel like travelling just

00:38:55 Speaker 26: a further east, we have a

00:38:57 Speaker 26: couple events coming up for the

00:39:00 Speaker 26: first two weekends of December. Of

00:39:01 Speaker 26: course, we start with Clarksville. We

00:39:03 Speaker 26: have the Christmas stroll on Friday,

00:39:05 Speaker 26: December fifth, five to late, with

00:39:07 Speaker 26: the tree lighting at the Saint

00:39:09 Speaker 26: George's at eight thirty, and then

00:39:10 Speaker 26: the Christmas market the next day.

00:39:12 Speaker 26: The following week, we have our

00:39:14 Speaker 26: own warden acting as our mayor

00:39:16 Speaker 26: lighting the tree again at for

00:39:17 Speaker 26: old-fashioned Christmas in downtown Thornburg where

00:39:20 Speaker 26: we do close the street and

00:39:21 Speaker 26: have all the shops open and

00:39:22 Speaker 26: just it's a great family atmosphere

00:39:25 Speaker 26: to come out for that that's

00:39:28 Speaker 26: on the following Saturday and then

00:39:30 Speaker 26: I believe on the Sunday there

00:39:32 Speaker 27: is Christmas cheer at the local

00:39:34 Speaker 27: at the local Legion in downtown

00:39:36 Speaker 27: Clarksville so lots going on over

00:39:37 Speaker 27: the next couple of weeks as

00:39:39 Speaker 27: we build up to the holiday

00:39:41 Speaker 27: season thank you Councillor Nielsen. Thank

00:39:43 Speaker 27: you very much, Ward Matrosov. Just

00:39:45 Speaker 27: wanted a shout out to a

00:39:47 Speaker 27: local organisation in Grey Highlands, the

00:39:49 Speaker 27: Hanley Institute. Last Thursday, it was

00:39:50 Speaker 27: the recipient of the Peace Medal

00:39:52 Speaker 27: from the YMCA, and it was

00:39:54 Speaker 27: a a pleasure to be there

00:39:55 Speaker 27: in attendance as the Hanley Institute

00:39:56 Speaker 27: was awarded that. My children, my

00:40:00 Speaker 27: wife, and myself all, in some

00:40:01 Speaker 27: way or another, volunteer and participate

00:40:03 Speaker 27: with the Hanley Institute. It's a

00:40:05 Speaker 27: pleasure to have that organisation in

00:40:06 Speaker 27: Grey Highlands and in Flesherton servicing

00:40:10 Speaker 28: all the youth. So I just

00:40:13 Speaker 28: wanted to. Servicing all the youth,

00:40:15 Speaker 28: so I just want to give

00:40:17 Speaker 28: them a big shout out and

00:40:18 Speaker 28: a big hug. Thank you, and

00:40:20 Speaker 29: we'll go to the deputy warden.

00:40:23 Speaker 29: Thank you, Madam Warden, and I

00:40:27 Speaker 29: just wanted to relate that if

00:40:29 Speaker 29: you want to hear a reading

00:40:35 Speaker 29: of the Christmas Carol at the

00:40:39 Speaker 29: Egremont Optimist Club, with the readings

00:40:40 Speaker 29: will take place on the fifth

00:40:44 Speaker 29: and sixth of December. That's the

00:40:45 Speaker 29: Friday night and Saturday night. And

00:40:48 Speaker 29: if you want to hear a

00:40:49 Speaker 30: really good rendition of Jacob. Mole,

00:40:52 Speaker 30: you might want to come and

00:40:53 Speaker 30: watch because I'm going to be

00:40:55 Speaker 30: doing that part. Scrooge. Enough said.

00:40:57 Speaker 30: Thank you. Thank you. I'll cut

00:40:58 Speaker 30: your mic off at this point,

00:41:00 Speaker 30: and we'll go to we'll go

00:41:02 Speaker 30: to Councillor McQueen, and then back

00:41:06 Speaker 30: over to Councillor Carlton. Thank you,

00:41:08 Speaker 30: Madam Ward, and good morning, County

00:41:09 Speaker 30: Council. A couple Santa Claus. three

00:41:12 Speaker 30: Santa Claus parades going to be

00:41:16 Speaker 30: happening in Gray Highlands first Friday

00:41:17 Speaker 30: night, and in Markdale it's going

00:41:19 Speaker 30: to be an evening parade. It

00:41:23 Speaker 30: starts at six o'clock. St. Hampton

00:41:24 Speaker 30: is going to have their evening

00:41:28 Speaker 30: parade in Farmers Market, five thirty

00:41:29 Speaker 30: in St. Hampton, which is sort

00:41:30 Speaker 30: of a coalition between Gray Highlands

00:41:35 Speaker 25: and and Clearview, Gray and Simcoe

00:41:37 Speaker 25: getting together, and and ends up

00:41:38 Speaker 25: at the fire hall for hot

00:41:40 Speaker 25: chocolate and hot dogs, and then

00:41:42 Speaker 25: on. Sunday, the seventh of December,

00:41:44 Speaker 25: the Kinsmen and Feversham will be

00:41:48 Speaker 25: having their parade at ten o'clock.

00:41:50 Speaker 25: Well, lots of things. Lots of

00:41:52 Speaker 25: Santa Claus is being busy throughout

00:41:54 Speaker 25: Gray County. Thank you, Warden. I've

00:41:57 Speaker 25: realized that I missed two events

00:41:59 Speaker 25: that will take place before our

00:42:02 Speaker 25: next County Council meeting. So, December

00:42:04 Speaker 25: sixth, Cobble Beach has a tree

00:42:10 Speaker 25: lighting. They will have horse drawn

00:42:12 Speaker 25: rides, wagon rides, and hot chocolate

00:42:14 Speaker 25: on hand for every. Hot chocolate

00:42:15 Speaker 25: on hand for everyone, starting at

00:42:17 Speaker 02: six o'clock, I believe. And downtown

00:42:18 Speaker 02: Shallow Lake will have mingle and

00:42:20 Speaker 02: jingle with the residents and the

00:42:23 Speaker 02: businesses of Shallow Lake getting together,

00:42:27 Speaker 02: with Santa arriving later in the

00:42:28 Speaker 02: evening. So that'll be December sixth.

00:42:29 Speaker 02: Thank you. Anything else? Looks like

00:42:31 Speaker 02: we've got it all. Okay, so

00:42:47 Speaker 14: with that, then, in order to

00:42:49 Speaker 02: close off this meeting, then I'll

00:42:51 Speaker 02: make a call out for a

00:42:52 Speaker 02: motion to adjourn. may ask for

00:42:53 Speaker 02: a mover. Move by Councillor McQueen,

00:42:55 Speaker 02: seconder, seconded by Councillor Kevany. Any

00:42:58 Speaker 02: discussion? All those in favour? And

00:43:00 Speaker 02: that motion is carried. We'll give

00:43:04 Speaker 02: a moment to switch the technology

00:43:05 Speaker 02: over to Committee of the Whole.

00:43:08 Speaker 02: Okay, so I'd like to call

00:43:10 Speaker 02: to order this committee, the whole

00:43:11 Speaker 02: meeting of November twenty seventh, twenty

00:43:14 Speaker 02: twenty five. At this point in

00:43:15 Speaker 02: time, on this agenda, I'll put

00:43:18 Speaker 02: out a call for any declarations

00:43:20 Speaker 02: of interest. Seeing no hands in

00:43:23 Speaker 02: the chamber or online, we'll go

00:43:24 Speaker 02: to business arising for minutes. Seeing

00:43:29 Speaker 31: nothing, we'll go to. We do

00:43:34 Speaker 31: not have any delegations scheduled today,

00:43:41 Speaker 32: and next we will move on

00:43:45 Speaker 32: to item five, which is to

00:43:49 Speaker 32: determine any items for separate discussion.

00:43:51 Speaker 32: So, if we look at the

00:43:52 Speaker 32: consent agenda, we have four different

00:43:55 Speaker 32: reports listed under six. Are there

00:44:03 Speaker 33: any that Council Member, a Committee,

00:44:06 Speaker 33: the whole member would like to

00:44:09 Speaker 02: pull for separate discussion? Okay. Yes,

00:44:12 Speaker 02: Councillor McKay. Yeah, I wonder if

00:44:14 Speaker 02: we'd discuss more on six B.

00:44:16 Speaker 02: Six B is in Bob. D

00:44:18 Speaker 02: is in dog. Dog. Okay, David.

00:44:20 Speaker 02: Thank you. D is in David.

00:44:22 Speaker 02: Okay, so six D we will

00:44:24 Speaker 02: pull for separate discussion, and anything

00:44:26 Speaker 02: else. Okay, I'm not seeing any

00:44:28 Speaker 02: further hands in, so it is

00:44:30 Speaker 02: recommended. Item six is recommended that

00:44:31 Speaker 02: the following consentage items be consent.

00:44:33 Speaker 02: agenda items be received and that

00:44:37 Speaker 02: staff be authorised to take the

00:44:39 Speaker 02: actions necessary to give effect to

00:44:48 Speaker 02: the recommendations and staff reports and

00:44:50 Speaker 02: that the correspondence be supported and

00:44:52 Speaker 02: received for information as recommended in

00:44:54 Speaker 02: the consent agenda. This is for

00:44:57 Speaker 02: items six A, B, and

00:44:59 Speaker 02: C. D will be for further

00:45:03 Speaker 02: discussion. So may I ask for

00:45:05 Speaker 02: a mover? Move by Councillor Patterson,

00:45:07 Speaker 02: seconded by Councillor Dobrin. Any discussion?

00:45:10 Speaker 02: All those in favour? And that

00:45:11 Speaker 02: is carried. Okay, so we'll go

00:45:14 Speaker 02: to the items listed in seven

00:45:16 Speaker 02: before we return back to

00:45:19 Speaker 02: sixty. So we'll go to seven

00:45:22 Speaker 02: A. It's recommended that the Planning

00:45:24 Speaker 02: and Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting

00:45:26 Speaker 02: minutes, dated November sixth, twenty twenty

00:45:32 Speaker 02: six, twenty twenty five. That should

00:45:34 Speaker 02: be be adopted as presented and

00:45:35 Speaker 02: fall and the following resolutions there.

00:45:40 Speaker 02: And the following resolutions therein be

00:45:41 Speaker 02: endorsed. That the report E D

00:45:42 Speaker 02: T C P E D A

00:45:44 Speaker 02: C thirteen twenty five regarding the

00:45:46 Speaker 34: Economic Development Tourism and Cultural Culture

00:45:48 Speaker 34: Strategic Progress Report November twenty twenty

00:45:52 Speaker 34: five be received for information. May

00:45:54 Speaker 34: ask for a mover and a

00:45:56 Speaker 34: seconder. Moved by Councillor Patterson, seconded

00:45:57 Speaker 34: by seconded by Councillor Pringle. It's

00:45:59 Speaker 34: now on the floor for discussion.

00:46:01 Speaker 34: So I'll call up Director Myers.

00:46:02 Speaker 34: Thank you, through you, Madam Warden.

00:46:04 Speaker 34: I'm going to start us off,

00:46:06 Speaker 34: and then Scott is going to

00:46:10 Speaker 34: finish up with a conversation about

00:46:11 Speaker 34: Bill 60. I'm not touching that

00:46:13 Speaker 34: one. So we had another great

00:46:14 Speaker 34: Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting.

00:46:16 Speaker 34: It was really good, and I

00:46:19 Speaker 34: appreciate that it says 2026 in

00:46:21 Speaker 34: the minutes because I wrote this

00:46:23 Speaker 34: entire report as 2026 because we're

00:46:25 Speaker 34: so embedded in thinking of next

00:46:27 Speaker 34: year at this point in time.

00:46:28 Speaker 34: But this really was our final.

00:46:32 Speaker 34: report to PDAC on progress from

00:46:34 Speaker 34: 2025. There will be another

00:46:36 Speaker 34: annual report, so our

00:46:39 Speaker 34: second annual report will come

00:46:41 Speaker 34: to you in January, February of

00:46:45 Speaker 34: next year, to talk about everything

00:46:46 Speaker 34: from January through December. But this

00:46:47 Speaker 34: one goes from August to November,

00:46:49 Speaker 34: and it really was focused on

00:46:51 Speaker 34: our continued drive towards the progress

00:46:53 Speaker 34: around the theme of study in

00:46:55 Speaker 34: year two of master plan delivery.

00:46:56 Speaker 34: So since August, our team has

00:46:58 Speaker 34: been really focused on that. study

00:46:59 Speaker 34: theme: understanding consumer behaviour, evaluating site-specific

00:47:00 Speaker 34: readiness, analysing broader provincial/national trends, and

00:47:01 Speaker 34: trialing new programme offerings. We also

00:47:03 Speaker 34: talked a little bit about some

00:47:05 Speaker 34: of the lean work that our

00:47:07 Speaker 34: department has been doing, and we

00:47:10 Speaker 34: did our very first EDTC team

00:47:12 Speaker 34: building and development day, which we

00:47:13 Speaker 34: hosted as a grateful gathering. And

00:47:16 Speaker 34: we were on a bus and

00:47:17 Speaker 34: we toured South Grey. We will

00:47:19 Speaker 34: hit North Grey next year, but

00:47:21 Speaker 34: it was a really great opportunity

00:47:22 Speaker 34: to get out, get our feet

00:47:25 Speaker 34: on the ground, go see. all

00:47:26 Speaker 34: the different elements of our department

00:47:29 Speaker 34: as a broader team, and just

00:47:30 Speaker 34: celebrate together. So that was wonderful.

00:47:31 Speaker 34: We also did another training in

00:47:33 Speaker 34: November on Lean. So we've now

00:47:34 Speaker 34: done four different, I guess, buckets

00:47:35 Speaker 34: of Lean training, which we're getting

00:47:39 Speaker 34: more excited about every time we

00:47:41 Speaker 34: go down this path, and we're

00:47:43 Speaker 34: starting to use that work already,

00:47:44 Speaker 34: which is really exciting. So

00:47:46 Speaker 34: we did complete all of our

00:47:48 Speaker 34: job reviews and restructurings underway, so

00:47:50 Speaker 34: that we can achieve that highest

00:47:53 Speaker 34: and best value for human resources.

00:47:55 Speaker 34: and that's something that

00:47:57 Speaker 34: we talked about yesterday in the

00:47:59 Speaker 34: Budget and Finance Committee, and we'll

00:48:00 Speaker 34: talk about again when we go

00:48:01 Speaker 34: through budget in December. But the

00:48:03 Speaker 34: most notable improvements have been that

00:48:05 Speaker 34: we're really coming together to find

00:48:07 Speaker 34: more alignment right across the department,

00:48:08 Speaker 34: efficiencies, and cross departmental collabouration. So

00:48:10 Speaker 34: that's making the best time of

00:48:13 Speaker 34: our staff time and resources. In

00:48:15 Speaker 34: terms of priority one, leadership and

00:48:17 Speaker 34: collabouration, we hosted another successful Economic

00:48:18 Speaker 34: Development Leadership Forum. This was the

00:48:19 Speaker 34: largest one yet, the most. energy

00:48:21 Speaker 34: in the room. I'm still getting

00:48:23 Speaker 34: my voice back from yelling over

00:48:24 Speaker 34: that crowd of more than 90

00:48:25 Speaker 34: people who were very excited and

00:48:27 Speaker 34: engaged. So it's really nice to

00:48:28 Speaker 34: see this continue, the progress, continue

00:48:30 Speaker 34: the conversations, the education and training

00:48:32 Speaker 34: where we can all come together

00:48:33 Speaker 34: and share in that mindset to

00:48:37 Speaker 34: grow, to ask questions, and to

00:48:38 Speaker 34: not be afraid to challenge one

00:48:39 Speaker 34: another. I think that's a really

00:48:40 Speaker 34: positive thing coming out of these

00:48:43 Speaker 34: events, and the fact that they

00:48:45 Speaker 34: now include all of senior management

00:48:48 Speaker 34: teams as well from each municipality

00:48:49 Speaker 34: is important. So we're all speaking

00:48:50 Speaker 34: the same language because economic development

00:48:51 Speaker 34: doesn't stop at an economic development

00:48:53 Speaker 34: title; it hits every single one

00:48:54 Speaker 34: of us. The Team Gray MOU—that

00:48:58 Speaker 34: is a project that has been

00:49:00 Speaker 34: on my plate and that will

00:49:02 Speaker 34: be coming to you next month

00:49:03 Speaker 34: as well. That has gone through

00:49:04 Speaker 34: a lot of conversation with your

00:49:06 Speaker 34: CIOs, with your economic development staff,

00:49:07 Speaker 34: multiple rounds of engagement. So we

00:49:10 Speaker 34: think that we're at a point

00:49:11 Speaker 34: now where we've got a good

00:49:14 Speaker 34: draft to bring forward and present

00:49:15 Speaker 34: to you, and that really is

00:49:17 Speaker 34: meant to kind of hone. our

00:49:19 Speaker 34: skill of working collabouratively, and so

00:49:21 Speaker 34: put something on paper that gives

00:49:23 Speaker 34: us a commitment as the county

00:49:24 Speaker 34: to each of your municipalities and

00:49:27 Speaker 34: your municipalities to the county, and

00:49:28 Speaker 34: how we're going to do economic

00:49:30 Speaker 34: development and investment readiness together. So

00:49:32 Speaker 34: there will be a fulsome report

00:49:34 Speaker 34: coming forward in a couple weeks.

00:49:35 Speaker 34: We looked at business retention and

00:49:36 Speaker 34: expansion, talked about sector scans and

00:49:37 Speaker 34: the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs, how

00:49:40 Speaker 34: difficult that is on our businesses.

00:49:42 Speaker 34: The one thing that we will

00:49:43 Speaker 34: highlight, and we did talk about

00:49:45 Speaker 34: it then. we're not hearing the

00:49:46 Speaker 34: same kind of impact as

00:49:49 Speaker 34: other areas because we are a

00:49:51 Speaker 34: diversified economy. That is something that

00:49:53 Speaker 34: all of our teams, locally in

00:49:55 Speaker 34: your municipalities and at the county,

00:49:57 Speaker 34: have strived for to make sure

00:49:59 Speaker 34: we don't have all of our

00:50:01 Speaker 34: eggs in one bucket. So

00:50:03 Speaker 34: even though there is absolutely uncertainty

00:50:05 Speaker 34: out there, we just want to

00:50:07 Speaker 34: know where is it going to

00:50:09 Speaker 34: land so that people can make

00:50:11 Speaker 34: decisions, those long-term investment decisions, hiring

00:50:13 Speaker 34: decisions around workforce, all of those

00:50:16 Speaker 34: pieces. That's where we're seeing the

00:50:17 Speaker 34: greatest uncertainty for tariffs. Our work

00:50:19 Speaker 34: with Georgian College is continuing. We

00:50:22 Speaker 34: had a great experience at

00:50:24 Speaker 34: AMO. I think that really landed

00:50:25 Speaker 34: well with the Ministry of Colleges,

00:50:27 Speaker 34: Universities, Research Excellence, and Security. It's

00:50:30 Speaker 34: a long name for Ministry, but

00:50:32 Speaker 34: they absolutely understand where we're coming

00:50:36 Speaker 34: from, the importance of our rural-serving

00:50:38 Speaker 34: campuses, and what that means for

00:50:39 Speaker 34: the region when we have really,

00:50:41 Speaker 34: truly fine-tuned exactly what programmemes are

00:50:44 Speaker 34: going to be delivered because that's

00:50:45 Speaker 34: what's needed here in this region.

00:50:48 Speaker 34: From the business. Enterprise Centre, Courtney

00:50:50 Speaker 34: provided a presentation on the work

00:50:51 Speaker 34: to date and talked about the

00:50:54 Speaker 34: trends that we're seeing in those

00:50:55 Speaker 34: couple of months. She had 134

00:50:57 Speaker 34: inquiries, 44 consultations were conducted. There

00:50:59 Speaker 34: were many workshops. There's a lot

00:51:01 Speaker 34: going on in the small business

00:51:04 Speaker 34: world. There's a lot of interest.

00:51:07 Speaker 34: It absolutely ebbs and flows, and

00:51:08 Speaker 34: there seems to be a trend

00:51:09 Speaker 34: now going towards that—not necessarily a

00:51:11 Speaker 34: second career, but what can you

00:51:13 Speaker 34: do on the side, a side

00:51:15 Speaker 34: hustle? As the economy tightens, that

00:51:18 Speaker 34: has been where we have seen

00:51:20 Speaker 34: some shifts happening. But the interest

00:51:22 Speaker 34: does not stop, and bricks and

00:51:23 Speaker 34: mortar again is becoming more popular.

00:51:24 Speaker 34: So that is a positive. With

00:51:26 Speaker 34: Sydney Campus, we hired or we

00:51:27 Speaker 34: highlighted that we had in the

00:51:29 Speaker 34: month of September more than four

00:51:30 Speaker 34: thousand people came through that door.

00:51:33 Speaker 34: So it is going very very

00:51:35 Speaker 34: well. A couple of large scale

00:51:36 Speaker 34: events. There were eighty rentals during

00:51:37 Speaker 34: that period, and. the maker space

00:51:38 Speaker 34: has also exceeded 100 members. So

00:51:39 Speaker 34: that was the goal when they

00:51:42 Speaker 34: launched. Within the first year, it

00:51:43 Speaker 34: was a year and I think

00:51:45 Speaker 34: two months, and they made it

00:51:47 Speaker 34: to 100 members, which is phenomenal.

00:51:49 Speaker 34: So we're very proud of the

00:51:50 Speaker 34: work they're doing. Kalina also took

00:51:51 Speaker 34: us through a long conversation about

00:51:54 Speaker 34: data because that was a question

00:51:56 Speaker 34: that we had at the last

00:51:58 Speaker 34: PDC meeting. So we came back

00:52:01 Speaker 34: with something a little bit more

00:52:03 Speaker 34: fulsome to talk about where are

00:52:04 Speaker 34: we focusing on in terms of

00:52:06 Speaker 34: those KPIs? Because really, at the

00:52:07 Speaker 34: end of the day, we have

00:52:09 Speaker 34: the opportunity to decide what do

00:52:11 Speaker 34: we want to track, what actually

00:52:13 Speaker 34: matters to us in the work

00:52:15 Speaker 34: that we're trying to advance, and

00:52:17 Speaker 34: the focus around those KPIs was

00:52:19 Speaker 34: website engagement, brand awareness, visitor and

00:52:21 Speaker 34: business support, and the storytelling impact.

00:52:23 Speaker 34: So there's lots pages of details

00:52:25 Speaker 34: if you want in the report

00:52:26 Speaker 34: that you can take a look

00:52:28 Speaker 34: at. But all that to say,

00:52:29 Speaker 34: we've definitely seen dips in some

00:52:32 Speaker 34: areas because we're trialing new things.

00:52:34 Speaker 34: We've seen incredible and explosive growth

00:52:37 Speaker 34: in others. So that's why we

00:52:39 Speaker 34: continue to study and. understand what

00:52:40 Speaker 34: is going to land. We also

00:52:43 Speaker 34: shared the new look of the

00:52:45 Speaker 34: Visit Gray website, which is very

00:52:47 Speaker 34: exciting. It's been ten years that

00:52:49 Speaker 34: we've had the same Visit Gray

00:52:51 Speaker 34: website, the same brand. We thought

00:52:52 Speaker 34: it was time for a refresh.

00:52:54 Speaker 34: So Gather is now the new

00:52:55 Speaker 34: look and feel of Visit Gray

00:52:57 Speaker 34: as a whole. And finally, turning

00:52:59 Speaker 34: to Gray Roots, we talked about

00:53:01 Speaker 34: leadership and collabouration in terms of

00:53:03 Speaker 34: the expert stewards. We have officially

00:53:04 Speaker 34: officially launched the Gray Gallery. which

00:53:06 Speaker 34: has been years in the making.

00:53:08 Speaker 34: We received over three hundred and

00:53:10 Speaker 34: fifty-five thousand dollars in federal support

00:53:12 Speaker 34: to make that project happen. We

00:53:14 Speaker 34: have set ourselves up for the

00:53:15 Speaker 34: long term. The way that it

00:53:16 Speaker 34: has been designed gives us the

00:53:17 Speaker 34: ability to change the look, the

00:53:20 Speaker 34: field, the design, the size, and

00:53:21 Speaker 34: scope without having to rebuild anything.

00:53:22 Speaker 34: So that's what we were looking

00:53:25 Speaker 34: for: was a sustainable build. And

00:53:27 Speaker 34: what that did was transition us

00:53:29 Speaker 34: from the old Gray Gallery had

00:53:31 Speaker 34: ninety-four artifacts. Now we have three

00:53:33 Speaker 34: hundred and four artifacts. in there.

00:53:34 Speaker 34: So the intent is to get

00:53:36 Speaker 34: more out to the public instead

00:53:38 Speaker 34: of having it in the back

00:53:41 Speaker 34: of the house where it's being

00:53:42 Speaker 34: protected. But now it can be

00:53:44 Speaker 34: a story around it, and we

00:53:46 Speaker 34: can learn more about Gray. We

00:53:50 Speaker 34: also talked about the partnership with

00:53:52 Speaker 34: the corporation as a whole and

00:53:54 Speaker 34: hosting the very first Truth and

00:53:55 Speaker 34: Reconciliation Day for staff at Gray

00:53:59 Speaker 34: Roots, which was phenomenal, and we

00:54:04 Speaker 34: look forward to building on that

00:54:06 Speaker 34: event as we go forward. And

00:54:09 Speaker 34: then just the highlight around that

00:54:10 Speaker 34: Lean project. that we did in

00:54:11 Speaker 34: the summer for the village and

00:54:13 Speaker 34: the volunteer impact we had over

00:54:15 Speaker 34: 1,100 hours, so 360 volunteer shifts

00:54:17 Speaker 34: over the course of the summer,

00:54:18 Speaker 34: which was averaging 40 shifts per

00:54:20 Speaker 34: week. And the visitation impact we

00:54:21 Speaker 34: had more than 9,200 visitors through

00:54:23 Speaker 34: Morriston, and 5,414 visitors participated in

00:54:25 Speaker 34: the engagement activities. More than half

00:54:26 Speaker 34: of them actually hands-on, so we

00:54:28 Speaker 34: we know that we've hit the

00:54:30 Speaker 34: mark and we. look forward to

00:54:32 Speaker 34: continuing that next year. So, as

00:54:35 Speaker 34: we continue to prioritize our programmeming

00:54:36 Speaker 34: and operations review, we're looking at

00:54:38 Speaker 34: how we do exhibits. We're looking

00:54:39 Speaker 34: at how we do events to

00:54:40 Speaker 34: make sure that we are doing

00:54:51 Speaker 35: the best that we can with

00:54:53 Speaker 35: fewer resources, because we don't always

00:54:56 Speaker 36: need to go big to have

00:54:57 Speaker 36: a good impact. So that has

00:54:58 Speaker 36: been a real shift, and a

00:54:59 Speaker 36: great roundtable to end out that

00:55:01 Speaker 36: meeting, listening to success stories from

00:55:03 Speaker 36: Georgian College and from others, and

00:55:05 Speaker 36: just sharing initiatives for awareness. So

00:55:07 Speaker 36: I will. end it there and

00:55:09 Speaker 36: turn it over to Scott to

00:55:11 Speaker 36: talk about Bill 60. All right,

00:55:13 Speaker 36: thanks, Savannah. Good morning, Ward Matrosa,

00:55:15 Speaker 36: and members of Council. I realize

00:55:17 Speaker 36: Council has stopped believing me when

00:55:19 Speaker 36: I say this, but I promise

00:55:21 Speaker 36: I will keep this one brief.

00:55:23 Speaker 36: I mean it this time. So

00:55:26 Speaker 36: at PDAC, we did have the

00:55:28 Speaker 36: the Bill 60 presentation, which touched

00:55:30 Speaker 36: on the potential changes, both. in

00:55:31 Speaker 36: the planning sphere, the transportation sphere,

00:55:32 Speaker 36: and the housing sphere, council should

00:55:33 Speaker 36: be well aware of this because

00:55:35 Speaker 36: we had a similar presentation on

00:55:37 Speaker 36: November the 13th at the committee

00:55:39 Speaker 36: of the whole meeting, and and

00:55:40 Speaker 36: just as a bit of an

00:55:42 Speaker 36: update on Bill 60 on November

00:55:43 Speaker 36: 24th, so Monday of this week,

00:55:46 Speaker 36: the the province Bill 60 did

00:55:47 Speaker 36: receive third reading. So we haven't

00:55:48 Speaker 36: been able to find a final

00:55:50 Speaker 36: version of the bill yet to

00:55:52 Speaker 36: see if there was anything that

00:55:53 Speaker 36: was changed from from the initial

00:55:56 Speaker 36: draft that was released. but we

00:55:57 Speaker 36: are actively monitoring that. As you

00:56:01 Speaker 36: may be aware, if you were

00:56:02 Speaker 36: scanning your inboxes late Saturday afternoon,

00:56:04 Speaker 36: the county was able to submit

00:56:06 Speaker 36: comments. So thank you for council

00:56:08 Speaker 36: support in in submitting comments to

00:56:10 Speaker 36: the province in that regard. And

00:56:11 Speaker 36: and some of the comments we

00:56:12 Speaker 36: submitted were on the legislative changes

00:56:14 Speaker 36: in Bill sixty itself, and some

00:56:15 Speaker 36: of the comments were on some

00:56:20 Speaker 36: other related consultations. For so for

00:56:24 Speaker 36: some of those related consultations, there

00:56:26 Speaker 36: may still be avenues to to

00:56:27 Speaker 36: go back and forth with the

00:56:29 Speaker 02: province and and put forward. Gray's

00:56:31 Speaker 02: point of view there with respect

00:56:33 Speaker 02: to those potential impacts, both positive

00:56:34 Speaker 02: and potentially negative, on the county

00:56:41 Speaker 02: and the member municipalities. So, with

00:56:42 Speaker 02: that, turn it back to you,

00:56:45 Speaker 02: Madam Warden, and be happy to

00:56:48 Speaker 02: take any questions if there are

00:56:49 Speaker 02: any. Okay, I'll look online, and

00:56:51 Speaker 02: I will look over here, and

00:56:53 Speaker 02: I'm actually not seeing questions come

00:56:56 Speaker 02: forward. So, thank you very much

00:56:58 Speaker 02: for providing that information. It has

00:57:00 Speaker 02: been moved and seconded. We've also

00:57:03 Speaker 02: heard further verbal updates. So I'll

00:57:06 Speaker 02: call the question. All those in

00:57:07 Speaker 02: favour? And that motion is carried.

00:57:09 Speaker 02: Next, we'll move on to item

00:57:12 Speaker 02: seven B. It's recommended that report

00:57:14 Speaker 02: PDRCW sixty four twenty five is

00:57:21 Speaker 02: received, and that a copy of

00:57:24 Speaker 37: this report be shared to the

00:57:25 Speaker 37: member municipalities within Gray County, and

00:57:48 Speaker 37: with MPs MPPs for Gray Bruce

00:57:51 Speaker 38: Owen Sound and Simcoe Gray for

00:57:54 Speaker 38: information purposes. May I ask for

00:57:55 Speaker 38: a mover and a seconder? Move

00:57:56 Speaker 38: by Councillor Nielsen, and seconded by

00:57:57 Speaker 38: Councillor Dobrin. It's now on the

00:57:59 Speaker 38: floor for discussion. And with that,

00:58:02 Speaker 38: then I will invite our senior

00:58:04 Speaker 38: policy planner, Liz Buxton, to come

00:58:06 Speaker 38: speak to it. Wonderful. Thank you

00:58:09 Speaker 38: very much. Welcome to be here

00:58:10 Speaker 38: today. We'll just be to get

00:58:13 Speaker 38: the presentation ordered there. Thank you

00:58:15 Speaker 38: very much. Okay, minor technical difficulties,

00:58:16 Speaker 38: but we're on. We're ready to

00:58:19 Speaker 38: go. So thank you so much.

00:58:20 Speaker 38: Really glad to be here today.

00:58:23 Speaker 38: A little bit of a snowy

00:58:24 Speaker 38: day, but glad to make. the

00:58:26 Speaker 38: the trip over from from Aitford,

00:58:28 Speaker 38: where where I am, and my

00:58:30 Speaker 38: neighbour, Councillor Kentner, has also made

00:58:31 Speaker 38: the trip. So that's good; we're

00:58:33 Speaker 38: in sync. So today, I just

00:58:38 Speaker 38: i I wanted to speak through

00:58:41 Speaker 38: the report that has been shared

00:58:43 Speaker 38: within the package. This does offer

00:58:47 Speaker 38: an update regarding the housing action

00:58:48 Speaker 38: plan and various actions that have

00:58:49 Speaker 38: been happening under that portfolio over

00:58:51 Speaker 38: the past year. And just for

00:58:54 Speaker 38: reference, here have noted the recommendation

00:58:55 Speaker 38: of that report with. Of that

00:58:57 Speaker 38: report, which is that be received

00:58:59 Speaker 38: for information, and as noted, that

00:59:01 Speaker 38: we will share that on to

00:59:05 Speaker 38: the member municipalities and the MPs

00:59:07 Speaker 38: and MPPs for their information as

00:59:08 Speaker 38: well. So my presentation will follow

00:59:10 Speaker 38: fairly closely in terms of the

00:59:12 Speaker 38: structure of the report. And firstly,

00:59:15 Speaker 38: I guess what I just wanted

00:59:17 Speaker 38: to offer is just a little

00:59:18 Speaker 38: bit of background information to to

00:59:19 Speaker 38: see how we got here. So

00:59:22 Speaker 38: that housing action plan of the

00:59:25 Speaker 38: county was. The housing action plan

00:59:27 Speaker 38: of the county was endorsed by

00:59:29 Speaker 38: county council in August of 2023.

00:59:32 Speaker 38: There has been ongoing action by

00:59:34 Speaker 38: both county and local staff on

00:59:36 Speaker 38: that variety of actions since that

00:59:37 Speaker 38: time, and an update report was

00:59:38 Speaker 38: offered in October of 2024. So

00:59:40 Speaker 38: last fall, in that regard, and

00:59:42 Speaker 38: I would just further identify here

00:59:46 Speaker 38: for those that may not be

00:59:49 Speaker 38: familiar, we did also have a

00:59:50 Speaker 38: report just back in September relating

00:59:53 Speaker 38: to some of the elements under

00:59:55 Speaker 38: the housing action plan relating to

00:59:57 Speaker 38: surplus lands. and so the report

01:00:00 Speaker 38: offered within the package. It's not

01:00:03 Speaker 38: a fulsome, comprehensive report. We are

01:00:05 Speaker 38: looking at certain elements, and so

01:00:06 Speaker 38: I just suggest within and here

01:00:08 Speaker 38: as well that to get that

01:00:10 Speaker 38: most fulsome picture of all of

01:00:12 Speaker 38: the various elements of work underway,

01:00:14 Speaker 38: I would refer the reader to

01:00:17 Speaker 38: to those other reports that are

01:00:19 Speaker 38: linked as well. So within the

01:00:22 Speaker 38: report offered within the package, we

01:00:24 Speaker 38: have split that out into two

01:00:25 Speaker 38: sections, roughly in half. So the

01:00:29 Speaker 38: first focus of the first half

01:00:33 Speaker 38: of the report is regarding some

01:00:34 Speaker 38: select ongoing items that we've highlighted

01:00:36 Speaker 38: for an update. The second half

01:00:38 Speaker 38: that report speaks to some of

01:00:40 Speaker 38: the more abstract actions that are

01:00:41 Speaker 38: identified within the Housing Action Plan.

01:00:43 Speaker 38: So they're not quite as concrete

01:00:44 Speaker 38: in terms of the specific things

01:00:45 Speaker 38: to be done, and those relate

01:00:49 Speaker 38: to nonprofit sector capacity building as

01:00:50 Speaker 38: well as exploration of innovative financial

01:00:52 Speaker 38: tools. and so I think with

01:00:55 Speaker 38: planning, we're always kind of living

01:00:58 Speaker 38: in two time spaces. So we're

01:01:01 Speaker 38: we're we're in the current moment,

01:01:02 Speaker 38: delivering tasks and actions, and we're

01:01:03 Speaker 38: also have an eye ahead to

01:01:04 Speaker 38: the future and and what opportunities

01:01:08 Speaker 38: might be there and how we

01:01:11 Speaker 38: position ourselves for those. So these

01:01:12 Speaker 38: two sections of the report speak

01:01:14 Speaker 38: a little bit along those lines.

01:01:18 Speaker 38: So what's going on now, and

01:01:20 Speaker 38: where do we see us going

01:01:22 Speaker 38: in the future potentially as well?

01:01:23 Speaker 38: And I guess what I would

01:01:26 Speaker 38: further say is just around that