Owen Sound Sun Times

The average home price in Grey-Bruce has blown past the $600,000 mark for the first time. The average price of homes sold in Grey-Bruce reached $613,373 in February, up almost 55 per cent from February 2020, according to the Realtors Association of Grey Bruce Owen Sound. It was by far the highest monthly average price […]

March 08, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many of society’s most urgent issues. And that includes gender inequities, which have resulted in women – particularly those in rural communities – experiencing a greater impact than men from the pandemic, said Ashleigh Weeden, the keynote speaker during a Women’s Centre Grey-Bruce virtual event to honour International Women’s Day […]

What is essential to you? Answers to this question by local youth – in the form of drawings and photographs – will guide a #myessential community mural project that will be created by Durham artist JP Morel inside Owen Sound’s Tom Thomson Art Gallery. “We’ve really only been using this word ‘essential’ because we’re hearing […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit has issued another opioid overdose alert. This time, the alert comes after two overdoses that took place within a short time period Friday in Hanover. In both cases, Hanover Police Service officers administered Naloxone and saved both lives, allowing paramedics to intervene, the health unit says. “This is in addition […]

For the second straight day, the Grey Bruce Health Unit is reporting a single new case of COVID-19 in the two counties Sunday. The lone case was from Arran-Elderslie, according to public health’s daily situation report. The health unit also reported a single new case of the virus Saturday. That lone case was from Saugeen […]

Friends Shannon Bryant and Sarah MacLeod say the past year of pandemic-related restrictions has been a challenge for their sons, particularly when COVID-19 forced school closures and lockdowns that kept them apart from their buddies. But one thing that’s made it easier for Bryant’s seven-year-old son Emerson and MacLeod’s nine-year-old son Nelson has been online […]

Owen Sound country music legend and arguably the city’s greatest entertainer Alfie Fromager has died. Mr. Fromager, who packed southern Ontario music venues for decades, was 87 when he passed away on Thursday. He is being remembered by friends and family as a great entertainer, family man and all-around amazing person. That is exactly how […]

Ontario updated its COVID-19 vaccination plan and is now targeting older citizens and hotspots in the GTA and elsewhere with a goal of offering first shots to everyone over 60 by the end of May. At a news conference Friday, provincial officials said the province will delay second vaccine doses for up to four months […]

A remote-controlled rescue board could help reduce drownings at Kincardine’s south pier at Station Beach, a citizens’ committee suggested to Kincardine town council Monday. Five people have drowned on the south side of the south pier at Station Beach since 2008, including Aleem Ramji, who died trying to rescue his two cousins after a wave […]

An Owen Sound man faces drug trafficking charges after police followed him as he parked his car at a plaza on the city’s west side on Wednesday afternoon. Members of the Owen Sound Police Service Drug Enforcement Unit and Uniform Branch searched the 46-year-old man, which resulted in them locating crystal methamphetamine, purple fentanyl, illicit […]

Owen Sound spent nearly $20,000 last year on additional enforcement in a neighbourhood declared by council as a “hotspot.” City manager Tim Simmonds said about 95 per cent of the $19,200 cost was labour-related – for things like overnight monitoring and overtime expenses. The proactive enforcement and monitoring has “helped the situation,” he said, resulting […]

Work is moving right along on the new Georgian Bay Community School in Meaford, with students and staff on track to be in the classrooms to begin the school year in the fall. Once open the new $29.4 million school will be able to accommodate more than 1,000 junior kindergarten to Grade 12 students, replacing […]

After delaying in response to public pressure and creating a five-person committee to review the relocation of the Brampton Excelsiors to Owen Sound, the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) has reportedly given the move its blessing. “At last night’s board of governors meeting, the move of Brampton to Owen Sound finally has been resolved,” Major Series […]

Ontario is sending municipalities more cash to help pay COVID-19-related expenses and cover shortfalls. All municipalities get base funding, plus extra cash calculated using a formula that factors in the number of COVID-19 cases within the local health unit jurisdiction. This third instalment of funding builds on the joint federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement was announced […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported one new case of COVID-19 Thursday, in Huron-Kinloss. There are now nine active cases of COVID-19 in the region. There is one probable case along with 32 high-risk contacts. None of the active COVID-19 cases are currently hospitalized. Two people have died as a result of the virus since […]

Bruce Grey Child & Family Services is working with the Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts to provide craft boxes for the upcoming April school break to children/youth in care and those living with kin. Five hundred boxes will be created and distributed by the end of the day on April 1 to children and […]

The final tally of this year’s CFOS-Sun Times Christmas Fund Broadcast is in, and the record-breaking total is over $48,000. In all, $48,238 has now been raised for the 81st annual event held amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Ian Solecki, Bayshore Broadcasting’s director of operations, said some more money may still trickle in from outstanding […]

Joan Beecroft and The Ginger Press in Owen Sound are teaming up to publish a new book, featuring a collection of thoughts, memories and stories of newcomers to Grey-Bruce. This will be the third collaboration between the Owen Sound resident and regional publisher and follows “Growing Up Gay in Bruce and Grey: Reflections by Current […]

The Tom Thomson Art Gallery is set to reopen to the public Saturday with new exhibitions – including a community engagement project related to the COVID-19 pandemic – and enhanced health and safety protocols in place. “We are thrilled to reopen with a compelling new exhibition, a favourite returning exhibition and the newly launched interactive […]

Local Pokémon trainers will be working to catch ’em all at Harrison Park Saturday afternoon while supporting the United Way of Bruce Grey. The local organization is teaming up with the Owen Sound Police Service and Bruce Power to celebrate the March 2021 Pokémon Go Community Day, which will have as the featured Pokémon the […]

The province’s Special Investigations Unit has determined that no charges against police are warranted in connection with an incident in Kincardine last June. In a news release issued on Thursday, it said that SIU Director Joseph Martino had determined that there was no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer had committed a criminal offence […]

A haze of smoke covered downtown Meaford Wednesday afternoon as fire crews battled a blaze in a building next to a Sykes Street North gas station. Smoke billowed out of the large corrugated metal and cinder-block structure and flames flickered from the windows as firefighters from the Meaford Fire Department doused the building inside and […]

No new COVID-19 cases were reported in Grey-Bruce for the second straight day Wednesday. The Grey Bruce Health Unit’s situation report lists 11 confirmed active cases and one probable case as well as 34 high-risk contacts. One person with COVID-19 is hospitalized locally. To date, 705 Grey-Bruce residents have contracted COVID-19 including 81 health care […]

South Bruce Peninsula has supported a Grey Transit Route bus service to Sauble Beach for the upcoming summer months. During its council meeting on Tuesday, council approved allocating just under $32,000 to cover the cost of a route to the beach. South Bruce Peninsula staff was directed to work with Grey County staff to expand […]

South Bruce Peninsula continues to work on a municipal accommodation tax for those booking short-term accommodations. On Tuesday, council directed that the necessary bylaw to establish a municipal accommodation tax be placed on an upcoming council agenda for consideration. Mayor Janice Jackson said on Wednesday that the municipality plans to have the tax in place […]

Owen Sound has its sights set on 2023 as the year a long-awaited city-wide green bin program could launch. Two things are set to happen that year that city officials say would make implementing the program more financially feasible than it is now. Owen Sound’s current waste management contract will expire in 2023 and its […]

A Coast Guard icebreaker tentatively scheduled to arrive in Owen Sound will not be coming today. The Canadian Coast Guard said in response to a Sun Times query Wednesday that icebreaking near Owen Sound has been delayed. A notice will be issued once there’s a new date of arrival. The Coast Guard had estimated the […]

Municipal politicians in Collingwood and Wasaga Beach are petitioning the provincial government to move them out of lockdown, questioning the wisdom of the move with their neighbour Grey-Bruce in the green. At a special meeting of Collingwood’s municipal council Monday, council members voted unanimously in support of a motion seeking to have Premier Doug Ford […]

High winds and blowing snow led to road closures and numerous accidents across central and southern Grey-Bruce on Monday. Local police services said they were kept busy from the storm that struck the region Monday afternoon and continued into the evening. Grey Bruce OPP responded to 24 collisions between 9 a.m. and midnight on Monday, […]

Owen Sound council intends to hold a public meeting March 29 on a rezoning application from a company proposing to build a multi-unit commercial development, with restaurants and stores, across from The Home Depot. Thompson Centres Inc. is requesting to rezone a largely vacant 2.7-acre property on 16th Street East to permit the development. “The […]

Grey County is planning to transfer ownership of a small parcel of land in Dundalk to accommodate the construction of a new medical clinic in the community. The clinic is much needed to provide primary care services and to meet the other needs to the residents of the fast-growing community, Southgate Mayor John Woodbury said […]

A workshop, barn and several vehicles went up in flames Monday night in a massive fire near Christie Beach, east of Meaford. Close to 50 firefighters from both the Meaford and The Blue Mountains fire departments battled the blaze throughout the night, enduring a driving wind and frigid -15 C cold. No injuries have been […]

Owen Sound is set to launch a committee to create a new expansion plan for the Tom Thomson Art Gallery. City council directed staff Monday to present a bylaw to establish the facility expansion ad hoc committee after gallery director and chief curator Aidan Ware made a presentation on the long list of “critical challenges” […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit declared an active COVID-19 outbreak at Brucelea Haven in Walkerton Monday after a staff member tested positive for the virus. According to the health unit’s website, the outbreak affects the 3 South and 2 West units at the home. Dr. Ian Arra, Grey-Bruce’s medical officer of health, said a single […]

Grey County is planning to do some major projects on county roads in the Georgian Bluffs and Chatsworth areas this summer. On Thursday, county council approved tenders for rehabilitation projects on Grey Road 17, 17B and 170 in the areas of Springmount, Shallow Lake, Copper Kettle and Wolseley, and Grey Roads 3, 5 and 16 […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit issued a news release Sunday to reassure people 80 years and older worried they’ll be missed for the COVID-19 vaccine that they will receive a call. “Please do not call your health-care provider to book an appointment. Please do not call the health unit to book an appointment,” the health […]

Grey-Bruce added one new confirmed case of COVID-19 Sunday, this one in Saugeen Shores. The Grey Bruce Health Unit’s daily update reported testing and case counts as of midnight Saturday. The twin counties now have 703 cumulative, confirmed cases of the pandemic virus. Twelve cases are active and there are 30 more active, high-risk contacts. […]

Pool players come out to play as much for the talking as the chalking. But despite the isolation imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19, fear of the virus kept many people out of Harvey’s Billiards even after the first wave ended and the Owen Sound pool hall reopened in July. The first virus wave […]

A once-contentious limestone quarry north of Owen Sound has received a quarry industry association community relations award. Walker Aggregates’ Keppel Quarry, which the company acquired when it bought Harold Sutherland Construction in 2019, received the award from the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, the association announced in a news release. This is the first […]

Grey-Bruce will move to the least restrictive of the province’s five COVID-19 stages Monday but little may change in everyday life, the local medical officer of health said Saturday. “Not much changes (is) my understanding,” Dr. Ian Arra said Saturday in an interview. On Friday, Grey Bruce Health Unit received provincial confirmation of the area’s […]

A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker is expected in the harbour on Wednesday. By Wednesday, it’s recommended all recreational users of the ice, including walkers, anglers, snowmobilers and all-terrain vehicle users, leave the ice during ice-breaking operations, a Coast Guard news release said. “The ice may move, creating a real danger for anyone on the ice. […]

Public health officials are warning people of a potential communicable disease risk associated with unlicensed tattoo services in Owen Sound. If anyone has been tattooed either in an uninspected place of business or in your or someone else’s home in Owen Sound or the surrounding area, the Grey Bruce Health Unit strongly urges you to […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit announced Friday it would adopt the province’s new stricter single-symptom screening protocols for schools and childcare centres with two modifications. The two modifications are a 24-hour symptom-monitoring period and the ability for some household members of a symptomatic person to self-monitor for symptoms rather than automatic self-isolation. Late last week […]

Grey County council may soon apply for provincial funding and hire a consulting firm to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study assessing a potential county-wide waste collection and disposal service. A notice of motion made by Meaford Mayor Barb Clumpus to consider the merits of delivering waste collection and disposal services at the county level and […]

Georgian College’s Owen Sound campus will be among the sites to deliver a new accelerated training program for personal support workers. The program, announced Wednesday by the provincial government, will allow participants to graduate with full PSW credentials within six months, instead of eight months. Provincial funding will cover students’ tuition and other expenses. Georgian […]

Owen Sound’s plaid PJ pants turned out to be a hot commodity. Within a week of the city announcing that people could claim a free pair of pyjama bottoms – as part of its recently launched Work from Home Capital of Canada recruitment and marketing campaign – all 200 pairs of the flannel “rockin’ jammies” […]

More frontline health-care workers in Grey-Bruce are receiving their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines this week. Both Bruce County and Grey County confirmed paramedics are now receiving vaccines as the health unit continues to work through its COVID-19 vaccination plan. In a news release, Bruce County said 100 county paramedics received the vaccine earlier […]

Georgian Bluffs council has postponed a decision on whether to ban motorized vehicles on the Cole’s Sideroad trail. At its regular meeting on Wednesday, council chose to defer a decision on the proposed ban pending further investigation by staff, which will then provide more information to council. The decision to defer came after council went […]

The West Grey Public Library is closing up shop in Elmwood as of March 30. The public library was running a small resource centre in the basement of St. John’s Lutheran Church after the town’s local library branch closed in 2015. Library programs and services will still be available at West Grey Public Library branches […]