Canada

Loyalist College’s Cry for Help: Another Ford Government Fumble?

Loyalist College’s Cry for Help: Another Ford Government Fumble?
Loyalist College in Belleville is facing “gut-wrenching” provincial funding cuts that threaten jobs and the local economy. The Ford government’s neglect of this vital institution contradicts its “open for business” promise, leaving the community and its newly re-elected MPP, Tyler Allsopp, to fight for its survival.

Published

10 months ago

March 14, 2025

A.D. Greiner

Let’s talk about Belleville, Ontario—a hardworking town in the Bay of Quinte region where folks don’t ask for much. They just want a fair shake, a decent job, and a chance to build a life. Loyalist College has been a big part of that equation for decades, pumping out skilled grads who keep the local economy humming. But now, the college is sounding the alarm, and it’s a loud one. Provincial funding cuts are threatening to gut the place, and if you think this is just about classrooms and textbooks, think again—it’s about jobs, businesses, and the future of a whole community. So why is the Ford government, which loves to tout its “open for business” mantra, letting this happen?

Here’s the scoop. Loyalist College’s president, Mark Kirkpatrick, didn’t mince words when he showed up at Belleville City Council recently. He called the potential fallout from these cuts “gut-wrenching.” That’s not hyperbole—it’s a warning shot. The college isn’t just some ivory tower; it’s an economic engine. Students spend money at local shops, rent apartments, and, once they graduate, often stick around to work or start businesses. Cut the college, and you’re cutting the legs out from under Belleville’s Main Street. Kirkpatrick’s plea wasn’t just a sob story—it was a call to arms for the city to pressure Queen’s Park to step up.

Now, let’s be real: Ontario’s finances aren’t exactly a picnic. Doug Ford’s government inherited a mess from Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals—years of overspending and debt that still haunt the province’s books. Nobody’s saying the cupboard is overflowing. But here’s the rub: Loyalist isn’t asking for a blank cheque. It’s asking for enough to keep the lights on and the programs running. Instead, the province seems content to squeeze community colleges while pouring cash into pet projects like highway expansions or tax breaks that mostly benefit the GTA. Belleville isn’t Toronto, and it shouldn’t be treated like an afterthought.

The numbers tell a story worth hearing. Loyalist employs hundreds directly—faculty, staff, support workers—and supports thousands more indirectly through its economic footprint. A report from Colleges Ontario pegs the annual economic impact of the province’s colleges at $19 billion. In a town like Belleville, where every dollar counts, Loyalist’s contribution isn’t chump change. Slash its budget, and you’re not just laying off a few profs—you’re hitting the coffee shops, the landlords, and the small manufacturers who rely on its grads. It’s a domino effect, and it’s not hard to see who gets crushed when they fall.

So what’s the Ford government’s excuse? If history’s any guide, they’ll blame the feds or point to their “tough choices” mantra. Sure, Ottawa’s no angel—Trudeau’s spending spree hasn’t exactly made life easy for the provinces. But this isn’t about Justin’s latest selfie tour. It’s about priorities. Ford campaigned on jobs and prosperity, especially for the little guy outside the 416 bubble. Yet here we are, watching a college that trains welders, nurses, and tech workers—exactly the people Ontario needs—get hung out to dry. It’s hard to square that with the “For the People” slogan plastered on every PC podium.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: Belleville’s city council isn’t sitting on its hands. They’ve heard Kirkpatrick loud and clear and are talking about lobbying Queen’s Park. Good for them. Mayor Neil Ellis gets it—this isn’t just a college problem; it’s a city problem. But they shouldn’t have to beg. A government that claims to champion small-town Ontario ought to be proactive, not reactive. Instead, Ford’s crew seems more interested in photo ops than fixing what’s broken.

And broken it is. Loyalist’s plight is a symptom of a bigger disease—underfunding of community colleges across Ontario. These aren’t elite universities churning out PhDs nobody hires; they’re practical schools for real-world skills. Yet the province keeps tightening the screws, leaving places like Loyalist to scramble. It’s not just Belleville—think of Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, or any other region where colleges are lifelines. If Ford wants to prove he’s serious about economic growth, he’d do well to start here.

The political angle’s worth a look, too. Tyler Allsopp, the freshly re-elected PC MPP for Bay of Quinte, has a chance to show he’s more than a party loyalist. He squeaked by with 44% of the vote in February’s election—not exactly a landslide. His constituents are watching. Will he fight for Loyalist, or just toe the line from Toronto? The NDP’s Amanda Robertson and the Liberals’ David O’Neil are already back in their local roles, hammering the government on affordability and healthcare. If Allsopp fumbles this, he’s handing them ammo for next time.

Here’s the bottom line: Loyalist College isn’t some charity case—it’s an investment. Cut it, and you’re not saving money; you’re costing Ontario down the road. Belleville deserves better than to be collateral damage in Queen’s Park’s budget games. Ford needs to wake up, smell the coffee (preferably from a local shop near Loyalist), and put his money where his mouth is. If he doesn’t, the “gut-wrenching” part won’t just be a warning—it’ll be a reality. And that’s a mess nobody in Belleville should have to clean up.

Canada

Ottawa Sinks Free Boating: New $24 Fee and 5-Year Renewal Cycle Hits Quinte Waters

TL;DR: Transport Canada has ended the era of free, lifetime pleasure craft licences, introducing a mandatory five-year renewal cycle and a $24 fee effective immediately. The new regulations also force existing lifetime licence holders to transition to the new system by specific deadlines and will expand licensing requirements to wind-powered vessels over six metres by 2027.

Published

7 days ago

January 8, 2026

A.D. Greiner

Ottawa Sinks Free Boating: New $24 Fee and 5-Year Renewal Cycle Hits Quinte Waters

Just when we thought we could look forward to a worry-free summer on the Bay of Quinte, Ottawa has decided to drop a new anchor on our wallets.

As of December 31, 2025, Transport Canada has quietly overhauled the Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL) program, effectively ending the era of the “lifetime” boat licence. If you own a vessel with a motor of 10 horsepower or more, the days of a one-and-done registration are over.

For the first time, Canadian boaters are being hit with a $24 fee to issue, renew, transfer, or replace a pleasure craft licence.

While twenty-four bucks might not break the bank for everyone, it is the principle that stings. For decades, licensing your boat was a free, administrative formality—a “thank you” for registering your vessel for safety purposes. Now, it looks suspiciously like another revenue stream flowing directly from our docks to the federal coffers.

The “Lifetime” Licence Myth

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this rollout is the retroactive nature of the changes. If you are sitting on a “lifetime” licence issued years ago, believing you were grandfathered in, think again.

Transport Canada has set a strict schedule to phase out these older licences. For example, if your licence was issued before 1985, it expires in 2026. This forces responsible boat owners, who followed the rules years ago, to jump back through the bureaucratic hoops and pay the new toll.

Sailors, You Are Next

The net is being cast wider, too. Our sailing community on the Trent-Severn and out in the open Bay isn’t safe from the regulator’s reach. Starting December 31, 2027, wind-powered pleasure craft over six metres in length will also require a licence.

This is a massive shift for sailing purists who have traditionally operated outside of these specific motor-vessel regulations.

Red Tape on the Rideau

To add insult to injury, the government has tightened the leash on reporting. You now have a mere 30 days to update your information if you move or change your name, slashed from the previous 90-day window.

They claim this is about “safety,” “accountability,” and managing abandoned vessels. But let’s be honest: does charging a fee and forcing paperwork every five years actually make the water safer? Or does it just create a larger pile of paper in Ottawa and a lighter wallet in Belleville?

For a region that thrives on waterborne tourism and recreation, adding friction to boat ownership is a wet blanket we didn’t ask for. We should be encouraging people to explore the waterways, not nickeling-and-diming them for the privilege.

Is this truly about cleaning up our waterways, or is it just another tax on the Canadian summer?

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Business

How Belleville Could Help Build Canada’s New Auto Industry

TL;DR: Canada can launch a profitable domestic car brand by adopting the “Edison Motors” model of using off-the-shelf parts and decentralized manufacturing. Instead of building massive new factories, a startup could leverage existing suppliers and manufacturers in places like Belleville, Ontario to build a rugged and repairable national vehicle.

Published

7 days ago

January 8, 2026

A.D. Greiner

How Belleville Could Help Save Canada's Auto IndustryHow Belleville Could Help Save Canada's Auto Industry

Image created with Nano Banana

Could a startup domestic auto brand spawn outside of boardroom presentations and government committees? The future of the Canadian car industry likely isn’t happening in a glossy office tower in Toronto. A muddy lot in British Columbia where a guy named Chace Barber decided he was tired of waiting for Elon Musk might give a promising hint at the hidden potential future for Canadian automobile manufacture.

Chace Barber youtube screen capture — Chace Barber – Youtube screen capture

Barber is the founder of Edison Motors. He is a trucker who got sick of broken promises from big tech companies so he went to his parents’ backyard in Merritt and built his own electric logging truck. He didn’t ask for permission. He didn’t wait for a billion-dollar federal grant. He just started welding.

Now, Edison is breaking ground on a new manufacturing facility in Golden, BC. They aren’t trying to build 100,000 units in year one to please Wall Street. They are aiming for a realistic, profitable run of 100 trucks in 2026. They are building them for loggers and oil patch workers who can’t afford a battery that dies in -30°C weather.

But the real game-changer is the “Edison Pickup Kit.” Barber knows that not everyone needs a semi-truck, but everyone wants to stop burning cash at the pump. They are finalizing a “drop-in” diesel-electric conversion kit that can turn your existing heavy-duty Ford or Dodge pickup into a hybrid powerhouse. It’s the ultimate recycling program: keep your old truck’s body, gut the tired engine, and install a modern electric drivetrain that generates its own power. It is brilliant, it is anti-obsolescence, and it is exactly the kind of innovation that carries the day.

This is the energy we need to bottle.

Building a car company doesn’t have to require the GDP of a small nation. We don’t need massive factories and years of red tape. Edison Motors proves that. Barber’s philosophy is “Right to Repair.” He uses off-the-shelf parts that any mechanic can fix. He sources axles and generators that already exist and integrates them into a better machine.

The “Edison Model” is the blueprint for a mass-market Canadian car.

We have the supply chain ready to go. The brains are in Waterloo and the manufacturing muscle is already humming in places like Belleville, Ontario.

Belleville could play a large part in this story. It is home to Magna Lighting (operating as Autosystems) on Jamieson Bone Road where they are building world-class lighting components for global brands. It has precision shops like Stegg Limited that can machine complex parts to aerospace and automotive standards. The industrial parks along the 401 in Belleville are packed with fabricators who know how to build things that last.

We don’t need to build a new Gigafactory when we can just connect the dots. Imagine a rugged Canadian SUV conceived in Canada and assembled with parts, components and stamped metal from the Quinte region.

It creates a vehicle that is simple and tough. It uses a standard chassis. It uses reliable suspension. It doesn’t have a proprietary charging port that requires a master’s degree to fix. It is built by us for us.

The government attempt to solve our economic problems with committees and studies. They want try to lure foreign giants with tax breaks. But the real solution is staring us in the face. It looks like a guy in a flannel shirt building a truck because nobody else would do it right.

We don’t need another branch plant. We need a a few more Chace Barbers backed by our own talent and resources.

Are you tired of cars that you can’t fix yourself? Would you buy a car conceived and built in Canada with off the shelf parts?

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Business

This Billionaire Will Pay You $1,000 To Spy on the Government

TL;DR: Canadian billionaire Barry Zekelman is offering a $1,000 cash reward to any citizen who reports government infrastructure projects using foreign steel. It’s a bold “economic nationalist” move designed to highlight the hypocrisy of politicians who claim to support Canadian jobs while using tax dollars to buy materials from overseas competitors like South Korea.

Published

2 months ago

November 5, 2025

A.D. Greiner

This Billionaire Will Pay You $1,000 To Spy on the Government

Tired of seeing Canadian tax dollars build our nation with foreign materials? One Canadian billionaire is putting his money where his mouth is and he wants your help.

In a move that is pure entrepreneurial genius, Canadian steel magnate Barry Zekelman is offering a $1,000 reward to any Canadian who blows the whistle on government-funded projects using foreign-sourced steel.

It has been widely reported by news organizations such as the Financial Post and CTV News that Zekelman is frustrated. He sees public infrastructure projects snubbing Canadian producers and he has had enough. His new initiative encourages citizens to snap a photo and report any government job site they see using imported beams or pipes.

Economic Nationalism is Common Sense This is a brilliant private-sector solution to a public-sector problem. For years we have watched our governments spend billions on infrastructure. They talk about “rebuilding” Canada but then ship that money overseas to support jobs in South Korea or Luxembourg.

Zekelman has been a loud voice for economic nationalism for a long time. He argues that Canada has been too lax and allowed our market to be flooded by cheap foreign materials. He wants to protect North American manufacturing from unfair competition. It is simple common sense that taxpayer money should be used to support taxpayers.

Highlighting the Hypocrisy The most frustrating part of this saga is the blatant hypocrisy from our leaders. They love to talk about supporting Canadian workers when the cameras are rolling. But when it comes time to sign the purchase orders they often look elsewhere.

Take the recent controversy over the Banwell Road overpass in Windsor. Reports indicate that despite being a government-funded project it utilized steel sourced from South Korea. Officials claimed it was about avoiding delays but that excuse rings hollow to the workers in domestic mills who could have done the job.

Zekelman is taking the fight directly to the people. He is empowering everyday citizens to hold politicians and contractors accountable. It ensures that our money is reinvested in our own communities.

Should all government projects be legally required to use 100% Canadian materials?

Is this bounty a brilliant move for accountability or just a PR stunt?

Would you report a construction site to claim the $1,000 reward?

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