Mayor expresses interest in innovation committee

Local community leaders attend June 8 luncheon

LISTOWEL – Innovation was the key subject of North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg’s luncheon on June 8, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. After speaking on the good, the bad, and the hopeful, Kasenberg turned his attention to the opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic may present to the community and the need for innovation.

“Here’s the bomb I’m going to drop today,” he ended his speech. “It’s not the municipality’s role to solve the innovation problem in our commu- nity, but what if we created an innovation lab or an innovation program amongst our businesses and organizations in our community, to sort of help the process along?

“Could we find a way to nucleate an innovation solution in our community?”

The luncheon was the first in a few years, and in that time, there have been a lot of developments to the municipality.

“We’ve seen some new services and facilities in our community, our tax base has increased,” Kasenberg explained. “And this can lead in theory to further changes and improvements, services, an introduction of new services and facilities. We’re certainly becoming a more diverse community and there’s a richness that comes from that and there’s work to do. We have renewed long-term care home funding. That was a big challenge that not only myself, but my predecessor was working towards.

“Now we have a provincial government commitment to renew our long-term care homes in Listowel.”

Aside from those changes, affordable housing, the problems arising from a lack of housing in the municipality, and youth leaving the area have also become worse.

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Banner Briefs

North Perth pools, splash pad open as of June 13

The unofficial start of summer was marked with the opening of North Perth’s popular recreational cooling-down water amenities on June 13.

The Listowel Kinsmen Pool and Atwood Lions Pool are now open as of Monday this week, with evening and weekend swims available. Regular swimming lessons are scheduled to commence on June 20.

The Listowel Kinette Splash Pad also marked its opening on June 13. Usage is available within daylight hours, pending weather conditions.

Conners finishes sixth at Canadian Open Listowel’s Corey Conners marked his best finish to date at the RBC Canadian Open at the St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto this past Sunday, finishing sixth at the PGA Tour event.

Conners rebounded from opening rounds of 71 and 69 to vault up the leaderboard with a third round of 66 on June 11 and a scorching 62 during the final round on June 12 to finish at 12-under par, seven shots back of tournament champion Rory McIlroy, who claimed his second straight Canadian Open title.

Conners’ bogey-free final round included six birdies and an eagle.

Conners earned $315,375 for his efforts, and currently sits 30th on the World Golf Rankings heading into the U.S. Open Championship this week.

Eastdale Fun Night set for Friday, June 17

Listowel Eastdale Public School will mark the return of its Fun Night fundraiser this Friday, June 17.

The event runs rain or shine, and features an inflatable obstacle course, photo booth, giant cookie contest, face painting, raffles and a concession stand, among other attractions.

Funds raised from the event are allocated towards Eastdale school field trips, tech upgrades and other items such as sports expenses.

The Fun Night runs from 5-8 p.m. and is open to the public.

Correction

A photo appearing on page 16 of the June 9, 2022 Listowel Banner contained incorrect cutline information.

The sports photo featuring Listowel 11U OBA pitcher Oliver Morwood incorrectly identified him. The Banner regrets this error.