Ontario Provincial Police with the Orillia detachment are investigating the death of a man who washed up on the shore of Lake Couchiching on Wednesday, April 17. Shortly after 7 a.m., emergency workers responded to a report of a body near Cunningham Crescent in Severn Township. The 40-year-old man was found in a canoe partially submerged in the water and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are not disclosing his identity at this time. The death is not currently being deemed as suspicious, said provincial constable Johnathan Barrett in an email. “We want the public to be aware that the pol ..read more

Split between the townships of Huntsville and Lake of Bays sits Peninsula Lake—Pen Lake for short—a pristine, 2,000-acre lake home to a vibrant cottager community. The lake, however, is also known for its rocky outcroppings and shallow shoals. As a result, the Peninsula Lake Community Association (PLCA) maintains warning buoys near treacherous spots. But after years of careful maintenance, 10 of the lake’s 15 buoys are in need of replacing. As it turns out, buoys don’t come cheap. According to Lori Tersigni, the PLCA’s president, 10 buoys would cost approximately $9,000, a figure that falls be ..read more

A flood watch is currently in effect for the Parry Sound-Muskoka area. The Muskoka River and Severn River watersheds are expected to experience the brunt of the flooding, announced the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in a press release last Wednesday. The flood watch will also impact parts of the Black, Burnt, Gull, and Magnetawan watersheds. To assist residents experiencing flooding, the Town of Gravenhurst is offering a limited number of sandbags at two locations: the turnarounds at Severn River Road East and at Sunshine Court. After so much heavy rainfall our watershed is bursti ..read more

ATV owners will have to continue driving their vehicles outside Bracebridge, Ont.’s urban centre, according to the town council. In April 2023, Bracebridge resident Mike Owczarek presented council with a petition containing over 200 signatures asking the town to expand the boundaries ATVs are allowed to drive in. Currently, ATVs are allowed to drive on certain municipal roads in rural areas of Bracebridge, but not through the town’s urban core. Owczarek argued that this boundary prevented residents from accessing amenities, such as groceries and gas stations west of Hwy. 11 while on ATVs, forc ..read more

10155 522 Highway, Arnstein, Ont.  Landscape: Inland Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 1 Lot size: 81.19 acres Living area: 1,460 sq. ft. List price: $837,500 Date listed: March 15, 2024 Realtor: Julie Rainville About the property Built more than 130 years ago, this three-bedroom homestead sits on 81 acres of land. But don’t its age fool you. Plenty of updates have been made since 2021, such as a new forced air propane furnace and a UV filtration system, optimizing the home for comfortable, modern living. The living, kitchen, and dining spaces are bright and homey, furnished ..read more

Let’s say you own a home and a cottage at the same time for 20 years. They have both increased in value by a similar amount. You sell your home (principal residence) tax-free and move into an apartment. At that moment, you now claim your cottage as your principal residence. A year later, you sell the cottage. Is the cottage sold tax-free, or do you still have to claim capital gains tax for all those 20 years it was “not” your principal residence? If so, then your tax-free “saving” is only the last year in which you did not own two places. Is this correct?—Mark, via email It’s almost correct. Y ..read more

Mariners on the west coast of British Columbia have a new tool in their pockets to help protect whales from ship strikes and other disturbances. Ocean Wise, a global conservation organization that acts to protect and restore the ocean, has added automatic detections from hydrophones, or underwater microphones, to alert commercial mariners of the presence of  nearby whales. These alerts go out on the WhaleReport Alert System, providing mariners with real-time information to reduce their impact on marine mammals. The WhaleReport Alert System was initiated in 1999 to notify mariners of the p ..read more

Yesterday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2024 federal budget. One particular proposal garnered significant attention from property owners—specifically cottagers—across the country: an increase to the capital gains inclusion rate. Capital gains on a property happen when someone sells (or gifts) the property for more than they purchased it. Under current regulations, Canadians are taxed on 50 per cent of that capital gain. If you sold your cottage for $900K, for example, but purchased it for $100K, you’d be on the hook for paying taxes on $400K—half of your $800K capital gain. Es ..read more

The federal government has announced new housing affordability measures to help first-time buyers purchase their first home. The measures were announced by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last week in Toronto, and reaffirmed in Tuesday’s federal budget unveiling. Starting on August 1, the government is extending amortization periods—the length of time a homeowner has to pay off a mortgage in full—to up to 30 years. Increased amortization will only apply to insured mortgages for first-time buyers purchasing new builds.  Under the current policy, if a down payment on a new build is less ..read more

The search Ruth McGuirl has fond memories of visiting her grandmother’s cottage on Three Mile Lake, Ont., in Muskoka as a child. “It was a tiny cabin with two bedrooms,” McGuirl recalls. “We were sleeping three kids to a bed.” Ruth and her four siblings would go fishing off the dock, climb the pine trees on the property, and roast marshmallows at the firepit. In the 1990s, Ruth’s grandmother sold the property to Ruth’s aunt (her parents were not in a position to purchase it). Meanwhile, Ruth—who owned a house—toyed with the idea of getting a cottage of her own. In the mid-2010s, Ruth envisione ..read more