R Rufus
28056 
POLLS: Liberals hold a steady lead, and other poll insights
39I usually find the opposite, that there are more conservative readers here. It shows up in lots of reader polls, there is often a ‘right’ slant.
12- R Rufus
Family shaken after theft linked to encampment near Orillia Square
OrilliaMatters 32I definitely know if one more theft reported to police of tools that were stolen from my neighbour. The neighbour did get most of it back, they reported it to police but ended up going to the encampment and located their stuff. It was in the summer and it was reported to police . So the OPP were aware of at least one other theft related to that encampment. We are nearby too and have had our things gone through as well. Sympathy for people’s situation for sure but stealing is wrong and law enforcement needs to step up.
1- R Rufus
'Disappointing': High costs derail Orillia’s red light camera plan
OrilliaMatters 23It’s interesting that when it doesn’t make money, the safety factor isn’t deemed important enough to install them. It kinda tells you that the speed cameras were more about money over safety. Not saying they were right or wrong but why not install these when they say they are needed? They showed their true priorities.
3- R Rufus
Heads up: One of city's new speed cameras goes live on Friday
OrilliaMatters 18The township of Severn is also putting a speed camera at Burnside line. While I am not against speed enforcement, what bothers me is that the intersection at Burnside and Division is a major and well known safety hazard. That intersection has resulted in many accidents, injuries and deaths. It has been on the townships radar for years. To my knowledge, there are none of the same safety issues along the section of road where the speed camera is although it is a place where speeding is common. It seems very obvious that the township is trying to catch speeding drivers - there aren’t even many houses along that section of road and any that are, are far back from the road. While this is great, if safety was the priority, the township wouldn’t be dragging their feet addressing the hazards of that intersection for the last 5 years.
- R Rufus
All Simcoe County school buses cancelled today
OrilliaMatters 15Or everyone else who has to go to work and travel the same roads.
2- R Rufus
Province moving to restrict bike lanes, increase speed limits
OrilliaMatters 13I’m so relieved to see the Ontario conservatives realizing that the planning of bike lanes is beyond the capabilities of elected officials at the municipal level. Doug always has our priorities in order wether it’s $1 beer, cheap development land for his buddies, paying lawyers to argue about gas pump stickers (with our tax dollars) or manufacturing a healthcare service crisis to privatize the industry and capitalize on billions. Just one smart decision after another with these conservatives!
3- R Rufus
Bike lanes, turn lane included in next phase of Laclie St. reconstruction
OrilliaMatters 13lol. This made me laugh! Great analogy and I’m also all for the bike lanes.
2- R Rufus
Orillia speed cameras issued over 12,000 tickets in four months
OrilliaMatters 9Works out to $5,220,000 annually or approximately an additional $700 annual cost per 4 person household in fines. Yes we shouldn’t speed but if 12,000 people were speeding in 4 months, how many accidents are really caused by speeding? Also, much of the traffic just moved to other streets.
4- R Rufus
POLL: Most support province's curbs on new bike lanes
7The fact that people downvote this comment shows why bike lanes are a necessity. There are clearly many out there who feel that they own the road and have little respect for anyone else using it but themselves. If these folks were just decent, considerate people instead of a bunch of such and such that can’t share the road, we wouldn’t need bike lanes to keep cyclists safe. It’s these greedy self centred folk driving taxes higher and higher
6- R Rufus
Orillia's 2026 OPP bill pushes city tax hike to 1.48 per cent
OrilliaMatters 10So the OPP costs 12M for the year or about $33,000/day, so about one dollar per citizen per day. Seems like a lot.
1- R Rufus
Dunlop doles out $10.9M for local infrastructure, other projects
OrilliaMatters 10Funny how Dunlop gets the headline credit when it’s the taxpayer providing the money.
- R Rufus
Open your wallets: City looking at potential 6.94% tax hike
OrilliaMatters 9I wonder how much of the increase is to pay for county councils 165% raise they just voted for themselves?
- R Rufus
Trump terminates trade talks with Canada because of Ontario anti-tariff ads
5Love it! I’m so using this term from now on!
3- R Rufus
Video shows heated exchange between Tiny mayor and demonstrators
OrilliaMatters 7Reasonable point but trying to reason with the unreasonable, well it’s an unreasonable request.
- R Rufus
'A living wage': County council votes for pay increase over 3 years
OrilliaMatters 7So correct me if I’m wrong but council just voted themselves a 346% wage increase over 3 years? And this is about two months after they told their union workers that there was 9% available to them over 3 years and that there was absolutely no more money available. Then the county management smeared the CUPE workers via this very newspaper in an article on August 14th as greedy. So 9% for the workers, and 346% for them? Ok I get it.
- R Rufus
Plan to control phragmite spread 'deeply troubling,' resident says
OrilliaMatters 3You can use it at home. It is just pre-mixed and limited products are available because it was being improperly used when it wasn’t regulated. If you go through the core exterminators training and then get additional training for the specific pesticide application (agricultural, landscape, industrial, structural, etc.) then you too can use it but you are regulated with some very specific requirements for application. you must also hold a business licence and proper insurance and record all of your applications. You also must ensure you are following proper application rates, techniques, signage, training, record and reporting requirements. Do you still want to use it at home now?
4- R Rufus
Orillia's ice storm cleanup costs could top $1 million in first week
OrilliaMatters 6I am directly involved in clean up measures and honestly can’t believe the lack of communication, efficiency and leadership within and between organizations. I am flabbergasted that our own MPP is the Minister of Emergency Management and things have gone as chaotic and inefficiency as I have seen them every day for the last 8 days. While there are so many who have and continue to work so hard and are so very integral to this clean-up, I couldn’t even begin to feel that this ‘the gold standard in the province’. There are some serious inquiries that need to happen into some of the leadership and organization over the last week.
- R Rufus
'Disturbing': Rash of crashes at Division and Burnside spark concerns
OrilliaMatters 6This is an awful intersection and it shouldn’t read, ‘we’ve got to do something or someone is going to get killed’ because that has already happened. I go through this intersection usually 10-20 times a week and witness many close calls and some general chaos of people not obeying who has the right of way. I also did reach out to the township 4 years back to express my concerns and suggested a 4 way stop might help the issue but there was no changes. Hopefully they will do something this time around. The sight lines are a bit better since they removed the tree in the SW corner but it still just has way too much traffic (including heavy trucks) to be safe in its current configuration - epecially at peak times of the day. I’m glad that they are finally looking into doing something. Hopefully it happens quickly.
- R Rufus
COLUMN: Timing of province's $200 cheques seems suspect
OrilliaMatters 4You’re absolutely right, the media should report the truth. We should expect the same from our provincial government, yet they don’t provide that. It’s a shame we expect more from a local newspaper than our provincial government.
1- R Rufus
No mail today in Orillia as Canada Post halts delivery due to snow
OrilliaMatters 3Please share the article! I’m genuinely curious. I’ve seen some case studies showing the increased cost of many private services or alternatively, if they are cheaper it’s because they usually outsource good jobs and the ‘1%’ keep the profits that would normally go towards good wages. Some privatization then offers a marginal savings but typically with reduced service.
2- R Rufus
