News

Stop acting like the news has nothing to do with you! Every story endeavors to make even the most bizarre international news relevant to our lives in Barrie.

Ontario health officials urge caution as bat exposures climb

In the quiet hours of summer, a new threat has crept through open windows and attic vents: bats. Ontario’s Peterborough Public Health, now merged with Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, is sounding the alarm after a spike in bat-related exposures left residents and officials on edge. Across the region, an uptick in encounters […]

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Tariffs Cloud Canada-U.S. Trade Even as CUSMA Stands

Trenton’s loading docks once buzzed with the certainty of steady shipments to the United States, but tariffs have made every crate a gamble. At first glance, the numbers sound reassuring: Prime Minister Mark Carney cites 85 per cent of Canada’s trade with its southern neighbour as “tariff-free.” The reality, though, is stitched together with caveats

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Barrie’s encampment closure exposes city and province tensions

Sirens fade, police tape flutters in the wind, and Barrie’s wooded encampment between Victoria, John, and Anne streets stands silent—its fate now tangled in a web of municipal and provincial authority. Ten days after a major police investigation cordoned off the area, Barrie officials stepped into territory that had become both a crime scene and

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Ontario’s summer job losses test local resilience

Forty-one thousand jobs vanished across Canada in July, a stark number with outsized meaning for working families in Ontario’s towns and cities. Yet, the official unemployment rate held its breath at 6.9 per cent, according to Statistics Canada, masking the churn beneath the surface. Ontario’s job market, already weathered by economic uncertainty, absorbed the brunt

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Canadian youth groups rethink trips amid policy shifts

When the Girl Guides of Canada announced the suspension of all travel to the United States, the ripple spread beyond a handful of postponed excursions—signalling a profound unease at the border for youth groups rooted in inclusion and safety. The Girl Guides’ decision, effective September 1, arrived after what the organization described as “careful consideration.”

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Single-digit measles cases signal a turning point for Ontario

For the first time since winter, Ontario’s public health officials find themselves reading a measles report with a small, almost reassuring number. Eight new cases—down from the triple-digit weekly surges that marked the start of 2025—have prompted a rare sigh of relief, even as the shadow of the outbreak lingers. Ontario’s encounter with measles in

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