Barrie & Area: 1) Barrie Expansion: Oro-Medonte council votes to support Barrie boundary proposal, subject to conditions; 2)Coughlin uses strong mayor powers to authorize Barrie’s annexation framework in Springwater; 3)High level of food insecurity as cost of living crunch takes bite out of budgets in Simcoe Muskoka; 4)With speed cameras going dark, City of Barrie seeks millions from province to fund other traffic calming measures

1) Barrie Expansion: Oro-Medonte council votes to support Barrie boundary proposal, subject to conditions;

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Ian MacLennan, November 4, 2025

lands in Oro-Medonte to be annexed by the City of Barrie (for Photos please see: https://barrie360.com/oro-medonte-barrie-boundary-proposal-2/)

At a special council meeting on Tuesday night, Oro-Medonte councillors approved the City of Barrie’s boundary proposal, subject to conditions agreed to by Barrie and recommendations to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

There are four amendments recommended by Oro-Medonte that township staff consider to be administrative.

In endorsing the boundary proposal, the township also requests that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing consider:

• deferring any decision on employment land subject to further study on regional and servicing analysis, as this is not a time-sensitive matter
• consider provisions or further protections to ensure the Oro-Medonte land proposed to be annexed are used solely for community purposes

Community land refers to housing and institutional.

“We will continue the fight,” said Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw. “The fight is not over. It’s now in the hands of negotiation. I feel the best position we are at this time is to try to ensure that these securities get put on.”

In a staff report to Oro-Medonte council, there are 457 hectares (1,129 acres) of land in the annexation proposal, and of that, 274 hectares (677 acres) are considered developable.

The total land area considered for annexation has been reduced from Barrie’s original proposal, the staff report noted.

“Only 0.77% of Oro-Medonte’s total land area is being impacted,” it states. “Only 1.9% of Oro-Medonte’s agricultural land is proposed for residential/community use.”

Ward 5 Councillor Richard Schell was the only one to vote against the recommendation from staff. He feels the entire process has been driven by the need to build more housing.

“I said it a long time ago, if we need to build more houses, don’t change the boundary line. Build them in Oro-Medonte. If they take our property and our land, it’s still going to be built on our land, but the boundaries changed. The tax dollars go to Barrie.”

As part of the agreement, the township will receive $15,000 per developable acre from the City of Barrie, or $10.15 million to be paid in a lump sum on January 1, 2026. In comparison, 26 properties in Oro-Medonte would be impacted by Barrie’s proposal, which provides just over $43,000 in municipal tax revenue.

The report warned that an outright rejection of the proposal could “negatively impact the township’s relationship with the province.”

Next up in the boundary batter’s cage is Springwater Township, where a decision is expected to be made at a council meeting on Wednesday, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The recommendation to council from staff will be the same as the one presented on October 15 when it was originally expected to be voted on.

Simply put, the report gives councillors the option of rejection or acceptance.

Springwater stands to lose the most land in Barrie’s boundary proposal, 1,126 hectares (3,005 acres), of which 596 hectares (1,472) are considered to be developable.

Springwater would receive $15,000 per developable acre or more than $22 million.  An additional $850,000 over five years would be given to Springwater related to economic development initiatives.

The restructuring in Springwater would be a mix of employable and community lands.

As well, Barrie has offered water and wastewater servicing to 453 acres of Springwater, 500 City of Barrie waterfront parking passes for five years, and access to Barrie’s recreational programs and facilities for five years.

Barrie city council has already approved the boundary proposals.

If Springwater approves the annexation request, the resolutions from all three councils go to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, with a request to implement the restructuring proposal through a minister’s order, which would be in accordance with the Municipal Act.

Earlier on Tuesday, Simcoe County councillors voted in favour of the annexation, conditional on requirements that safeguard the economic interests of county taxpayers.

These include continued consideration to remove key employment lands from the annexation process; full, unconditional compensation to the county if these lands are not removed; two critical regional approvals from the Ontario government to help offset the anticipated economic losses; and continued infrastructure support.

The City of Barrie wants the restructuring in place by January 1, 2026.

2) Coughlin uses strong mayor powers to authorize Barrie’s annexation framework in Springwater

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Julius Hern, November 6, 2025

Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin’s use of strong mayor powers was the difference in its council giving the OK to the City of Barrie’s annexation framework during Wednesday’s meeting.

In a negative vote, put on the floor after an amending motion, the vote to reject Barrie’s proposal passed 4-3. However, Coughlin enacted her strong mayor powers to follow through with the City’s boundary adjustment agreement, despite impassioned opposition.

The passing of the framework, while under different circumstances, comes after the Township of Oro-Medonte council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to conditionally accept Barrie’s proposal.

The overall expectation among Springwater Township council was that some of its land would go to the City of Barrie, no matter what. It was the method—either annexation or legislative restructuring—that was in question.

The negative vote came after Coun. Anita Moore’s motion to amend the first votable option, which, if agreed upon, would be in favour of annexation. Seen as a compromise, her motion detailed a different map that removed the key employment lands from the annexation, as proposed by the County of Simcoe at a special council meeting on Tuesday.

She requested that the provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack be requested to review and consider the map from the County of Simcoe, considering he does have the authority to implement the annexation proposal, even if council had rejected it.

“We need to let the minister know that [the proposed amendment] is something we can live with,” Coun. Phil Fisher said during discussions. “[Option 1] is an abomination that, frankly, very few members of this council had any input on and the public, by and large, does not agree with.”

“This gives us an opportunity to lose the least amount of land and not sell our future, which unfortunately is what the framework is doing,” Coun. Danielle Alexander added.

The map has not been voted on or endorsed by County council.

Moore’s motion was supported by three other councillors, who continued to argue that some members of council or the public were not given a proper opportunity to be involved with the negotiation process as early as 2023. Although those claims were shut down by both Mayor Coughlin and Coun. Matt Garwood.

“When this framework agreement was brought to this council for input, rather than this council choosing to have input… we chose no thank you and pushed it away, not to receive it,” Coughlin said. “It was not that it wasn’t given, it was a choice.”

Nearly another hour of debates and deliberations took place regarding the lack of council cooperation in the negotiation process, more concerns with cross-border servicing, Springwater’s own housing needs and long-term interests, and more. But, all it was doing was further delaying the inevitable: a vote, which council deferred from its October 15 meeting.

“You may not like it, but it is the most significant compensation that has been offered in Ontario to date,” Coughlin explained to council. “If you want to give [the land] away, vote against the agreement. Let the province come and annex it, and we’ll get nothing.”

Once the 4-3 vote was recorded and Option 2 passed, Coughlin announced she was introducing a bylaw using strong mayor powers to authorize the execution of the City of Barrie’s boundary adjustment restructuring proposal.

Upon the announcement, some in the gallery audibly expressed their dismay, with some calling for Coughlin’s resignation.

Coughlin says that the bylaw could potentially support the provincial priority of building 1.5 million homes residential units by December 31, 2031, as well as other housing supports. However, some on council believe that the use of strong mayor powers is unnecessary.

“My hope would be that the reasonable plan would be not as generous as what we were giving up to the City of Barrie here, yet it still meant we would meet the provincial priorities,” Deputy Mayor George Cabral explained to Mayor Coughlin. “Yet, you’ve still used strong mayor powers with respect to the housing to override that.”

Before the council moved on, Coun. Fisher introduced a motion, which carried, to have the Township’s hired solicitor challenge the validity of the bylaw and seek an injunction to restrain the municipality from acting upon it. He later called it “an abuse of strong mayor powers.”

“The argument’s always been that the province will do something, right?” Fisher said. “But, we seem to have used strong mayor’s powers to rush what we know to be a bad deal in the place of what this ‘something’ would be. “By that rationale, wouldn’t you just let the province do what they wanted anyway?”

Usage of strong mayor powers has only occurred a select number of times since some municipalities were awarded them through the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022. Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall notably used strong mayor powers for the first time when pausing work on a waterfront sports field in August 2024.

In the original framework, approved by City of Barrie council, Springwater stands to lose 1,126 hectares, of which 596 hectares are considered to be developable. In return, the township will receive $15,000 per developable acre, totalling more than $22 million, among a range of other concessions reiterated by Nuttall in correspondence to County council.

Now, all three councils’ resolutions will be forwarded to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, with a request to implement the restructuring proposal through a minister’s order, in accordance with the Municipal Act.

The City of Barrie wants the restructuring in place by January 1, 2026.

VOTING BREAKDOWN

3)High level of food insecurity as cost of living crunch takes bite out of budgets in Simcoe Muskoka

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Ian MacLennan, November 3, 2025

The 2025 Nutritious Food Basket survey by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) looked at the cost of eating a healthy diet and included 61 staple food items such as milk, eggs and bread.

The survey found that a family of four with two adults and two children, ages 8 and 14, would need to spend $1,282.8 per month to afford these essentials, while a single-person household would require $445.92.

“When household income is too low, people cannot cover their basic expenses,” says Vanessa Hurley, Public Health Nutritionist and Registered Dietitian at SMDHU, in a news release. “While food insecurity is impacting people with lower incomes, those who have unstable or insecure work, people who rent, single parents with kids, those receiving social assistance, and the number of middle-income households reporting that they are also feeling the squeeze, doubled in 2024 in comparison to 2022 and 2023. And having a job does not guarantee food security. In our province, more than half of households that have income from employment are food insecure.”

The health unit says when food costs are considered alongside rent and total household income, it becomes clear that many individuals and families in Simcoe Muskoka are unable to meet their basis need, let alone any other expenses needed for daily living.

“A family of four receiving Ontario Works benefits would need to spend 97 percent of their income just on food and rent alone. A parent raising two children receiving Ontario Works would need to spend 93 percent of their income on food and rent. For a single adult on Ontario Works, covering these two essentials is impossible, consuming 168 percent of their income, leaving no money for other basic needs such as utilities, transportation, clothing, phone and internet service, medications, school supplies or child care” the health unit said in a news release.

According to recent data from Public Health Ontario (PHO), household food insecurity in Simcoe Muskoka is worsening, with 26 percent or approximately 60,000 households experiencing some level of household food insecurity from 2023 to 2024. This is in line with what is being seen at the provincial level and at the national level; the rates are at a record high.

“Household food insecurity is not an access to food issue it is an income issue. Vital food charity and emergency food programs do not address household food insecurity. The growing household food insecurity crisis requires action by all levels of government to put in place sustainable, income-based solutions that put more money in people’s pockets for food and other basic needs,” says Hurley.

4) With speed cameras going dark, City of Barrie seeks millions from province to fund other traffic calming measures

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Ian MacLennan, November 3, 2025

With speed cameras going dark, City of Barrie seeks millions from province to fund other traffic calming measures

The City of Barrie will be seeking $5 million from the Ontario government to cover the tab for traffic calming measures to replace speed cameras.

Last Thursday, Premier Doug Ford’s government passed legislation to ban automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras and to remove them across Ontario in two weeks.

On the day before the bill was approved, councillors at the finance and governance committee meeting passed a motion that staff apply to the province for $5 million for traffic calming measures in Barrie and that capital project traffic calming measures be increased by $500,000 – $50,000 per ward – to be funded in the interim from the ASE reserve fund.

“Each member of council is responsible for their own ward to direct where the dollars go, how they’re spent,” the mayor said. “We had set up the ASE cameras to fund traffic calming measures and not to go into some sort of general ledger at the city, and we have some of those dollars right now.”

Ford has said speed cameras don’t work to slow drivers down, though evidence collected by municipalities and the Hospital for Sick Children researchers says otherwise, and believes measures such as speed bumps, roundabouts and signs with flashing lights are more effective.

He has said there will be a new fund to help offset some of those costs, but the government has not yet provided an amount.

“I don’t want to wait,” said Nuttall. “I think it’s appropriate to give each member of council an additional $50,000 of traffic calming measures for 2026 with the overall $5 million request to the province, meaning there would be roughly $500,000 per ward in traffic calming measures.”

“We want to focus on areas that are school-related or community safety zone-related. We need to make sure that traffic in these local areas is safe.”

In September, Barrie city council approved a direct motion that ASE cameras would stop on December 31, 2025, unless otherwise directed by the province, and that staff be authorized to negotiate agreements to implement a red-light camera program in the city. The direct motion also said any agreement to implement a red-light camera program in Barrie would be based on an evaluation of best value to the city.

At that council meeting on September 24, Nuttall said the city needed to focus on red-light cameras.

“That’s where we need to turn our heads, ASAP, so that we can get the (provincial) funding to be able to institute them.”

In March, city councillors approved a motion that city staff investigate the feasibility of installing red light cameras in Barrie, identify the characteristics of an intersection that best supports red light cameras, and then identify the top locations on city streets.

Intersection of Huronia Road and Little Avenue (Mar. 26, 2025 – Image – Barrie 360)

Revenue collected from the ASE program in Barrie since its launch in December 2023 is $1,246,684, according to the latest figures from the city. Operating costs are $711,000, which means a surplus of $535,684.

The premier has repeatedly stated that speed cameras are a “cash grab” for municipalities.

The mayor has rejected that suggestion and made it clear at the September 24 meeting that Barrie was not among the bad apples.

“I think that we did conduct ourselves in a responsible manner when it came to how we unveiled and then executed the speed cameras in the City of Barrie, ” Nuttall said at the time.

Barrie has 27 community safety zones. According to the city’s website, community safety zones were identified for the ASE program based on data collected that shows areas where drivers regularly go over the posted speed limit.

Nuttall’s motion that the city seek $5 million from the province for traffic-calming measures still requires approval at general committee and city council.

With files from The Canadian Press