Peterborough Currents

Peterborough Currents is going through some big changes.  A key piece of our funding has dried up, which has necessitated some tough conversations about what lies ahead for our community-powered local news outlet. At the same time, we're transitioning to become a non-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. It's a lot!  In this episode, karol orzechowski interviews Currents...

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents has interviewed four of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP.  In this episode, we chat with Andrew Roudny, who is running for the New Blue Party of Ontario.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP.  In this episode, we chat with Jen Deck, who is running for the Ontario New Democratic Party.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP.  In this episode, we chat with Lucas Graham, who is running for the Green Party of Ontario.

Ontario is heading to the polls on February 27, 2025, and Peterborough Currents interviewed three of the candidates running to be Peterborough-Kawartha's next MPP.  In this episode, we chat with Adam Hopkins, who is running for the Liberal Party of Ontario.

Welcome to Peterborough Currents' podcast coverage of the city's 2025 budget process!  In this episode, Brett Throop and Will Pearson discuss what's behind next year's proposed tax increase and how the city might solve its budget troubles without resorting to tax hikes. We also discuss a couple of key topics we've reported on, including the city's capital shortfall and discretionary benefits for s...

In 2023, the City of Peterborough implemented two new initiatives to respond to homelessness in the city and to offer low-barrier services for people whose needs were not being met by the existing shelter system at the time. Those two initiatives were the modular housing community on Wolfe Street, where 50 sleeping cabins replaced a tent encampment, and the Trinity Community Centre, which was fund...

Peterborough has a budget! Councillors gave it their final approval at the city council meeting on December 11, 2023.  During the council meeting, councillors made a couple of last-minute changes to lower the tax increase  to 7%, including dipping ever further into the city's reserves and voting to raise transit fares by $0.25 per ride. Sebastian, Abbigale, and Will discuss what the implications o...

Episode four of our series on the 2024 municipal budget, which we're producing in partnership with Arthur Newspaper. In this episode, we dive into the capital budget. We start this episode on Sherbrooke Street near the city's western limit, where there's stretch of road that is nasty to navigate as a pedestrian. Folks who walk along this part of Sherbrooke wish the city would build a sidewalk to m...

City councillors went through the 2024 draft budget page by page and line by line last week. By the end of the process, they'd whittled the proposed property tax  increase down from 9.59 percent to 7.38 percent. But they accomplished that by shifting some of the tax burden away from residential property owners and on to business property owners — they didn't make any major cuts to the 2024 spendin...

In this episode of our podcast series covering Peterborough's 2024 municipal budget deliberations, we discuss the November 14 and November 15 finance committee meetings, where citizens and community groups addressed city council about the draft budget. What happened? A variety of community groups pleaded with councillors to reverse a proposed cut to their municipal grants. The proposed 3.6% cut to...

Peterborough city staff presented councillors with a draft of the 2024 municipal budget on November 6. The budget proposes hiking property taxes by 9.6 percent next year to continue delivering municipal services. What's behind the increase? Inflation is one cause. Another is a big budget ask from the Peterborough Police — they're asking for $4.6 million more in 2024 than they received in 2023. But...

On October 5, 2023, Peterborough Police Chief Stuart Betts announced a new "no tolerance" approach to policing illicit drug use in public. Effective immediately,  police officers will direct people who are using drugs in public to move along to a different location. If they don't, officers will arrest them, Betts said. "Police officers will not tolerate people injecting and smoking up in front of...

A conversation about growing up and fighting for what you believe in featuring two generations of young people from Peterborough. Ella Cunningham and Eloise Harvey are two local teenagers who are members of the cast of Give 'Em Hell, a new play about the efforts waged by students to save PCVS during the school's final year. Collin Chepeka and Sara Farley are both PCVS alumni — they were students a...

In this episode, two stories from Trent Radio's Local Journalism Initiative reporter Eddy Sweeney. First up: Peterborough's roller derby team is prepping for a doubleheader this weekend. Learn about the team and the sport in advance of the bouts.  And second: The Theatre on King celebrated its tenth anniversary last weekend. Eddy interviewed founder Ryan Kerr about the theatre and asked other memb...

On this episode, two stories brought to you through Peterborough Currents's partnership with Trent Radio and their Local Journalism Initiative reporter Eddy Sweeney. Plus, an update on the City's big affordable housing initiative, and why some families are worried the plan will lead to their displacement. Timestamps: PHC Update (0:45) Six Young Rowers From Spain Visit Peterborough (2:05) John Clim...

Eddy Sweeney speaks with Andrew MacGregor and Aurynn Jacobs Parkin, the new owners of Dreams of Beans cafe in downtown Peterborough. MacGregor and Parkin discuss:  How the two decided to open a business together while working side by side at the One Roof Community Centre Why they're operating as a social enterprise, and what that means Why they've decided to pay employees $25 per hour, but not all...

Peterborough is one of the toughest places in Ontario to find an affordable home to rent. A report from earlier this year put Peterborough at the very bottom of Ontario cities for rental vacancies, with only a one percent vacancy rate. The same report also showed that the average rent for vacant units was increasing at a much steeper rate than the average rent for occupied units.  Because of these...

Earlier this month, Peterborough’s board of health sent a letter calling for the provincial government to take more action to curb the harms of the opioid crisis. The letter includes a call for the province to support and advocate for the decriminalization of drugs at the federal level, to expand safe supply programs, and revise the requirements for safe drug consumption sites.  As the provincial...

In Ontario, each municipal police force is overseen by a police services board.  These boards play a key role in setting the tone of policing in their community. Among other responsibilities, police services boards set priorities for their local police service, appoint members to the force, recruit and appoint the chief of police and monitor the performance of the chief. In Peterborough, the local...

The 2022 Ontario election is on June 2. In Peterborough—Kawartha, six candidates are trying to unseat the Progressive Conservative incumbent Dave Smith, who is running for reelection. Those candidates are: Jen Deck (New Democratic Party), Greg Dempsey (Liberal Party), Robert Gibson (Green Party), Tom Marazzo (Ontario Party), Rebecca Quinnell (New Blue Party), and Dylan Smith (None of the Above Par...

The Greatest Show was a performance art production that took over Peterborough’s collective imagination in the summer of 1988. Local musicians, performing artists, theatre technicians and more were brought together by renowned Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. They put their creative efforts together to create a “circus of the damned” in Del Crary Park. This haunted and twisted circus was an ex...

Peterborough Public Health (PPH) is facing two compounding health crises: the third wave of the COVID pandemic fueled by the Omicron variant and the epidemic of opioid-related deaths. In the midst of these concerns, the organization has taken on a new medical officer of health, Dr. Thomas Piggott.  Piggott took up the post in December, moving to Peterborough from Labrador, where he was medical off...

With less than a week to go until the 2021 federal election, housing continues to be one of the most important issues facing Canada. And it’s a key issue in Peterborough, too. According to United Way Peterborough, average rents have risen so much recently that there are no longer any types of apartment in the city which are affordable to someone who makes $30,000 per year. Meanwhile, the local hot...

Election Day is a matter of days away, and to help you make an informed decision about who to vote for, Peterborough Currents has interviewed all six candidates running for Peterborough–Kawartha in the 2021 federal election. We asked each candidate to introduce themselves, why they're running for office and what are the key takeaways from their platform.  Take a listen and meet the candidates who...