Looking at the map of Ontario counties and their general size, things start to get bigger as you look towards Central Ontario, or Cottage Country. The obvious reason is population: Central Ontario is situated on top of the Canadian Shield and thus does not support a strong agricultural base. While a farm alone does not bring cities to mind, cities are never located too far from the farms that sustain them, so in the case of Central Ontario: no farms no cities (figuratively speaking). But with all that aside, there is a peculiarity in the eastern portions of Central Ontario that has always struck me as something forgotten. Counties seem to stretch into this area, becoming cumbersome to cover the leftover area that early planners didn't know what to do with. Large tracts of lands were assigned to counties who's centre's are further away, and these march lands seem distant and altogether different from the rest of the county.
The area that I am writing about is comprised of what would be northern Hastings, western Renfrew, and southern Nipissing District. Perusing over maps as I usually do, long ago I noticed that the Township of South Algonquin looked to be an extension of Hastings County. It is three geographic townships wide, corresponds to both the east and west boundaries of Hastings, and together with the former Jones Township (now part of Madawaska Valley, Renfrew Co.), it completed what would be a natural extension of Hastings. I can only assume that the decision to include this area in Nipissing District was made simply because early planners had figured Hastings already extended far enough north (as it begins on the on the Bay of Quinte [part of Lake Ontario]). Since the area was and to some degree still is sparsely populated, it would have only seemed natural to include it in a northern district, in this case that of Nipissing District.
The same argument can be made for the western reaches of Renfrew County. Extending into the central highlands of Southern Ontario (Algonquin, Madawaska, Opeongo highlands) the western portions of this county are primarily comprised of Canadian Shield granite outcrops, contrasting the fertile soils of the Ottawa Valley that make up most of the eastern and larger portion of Renfrew. Early on Renfrew County was viewed as a frontier of the province, supporting communities centered around the lumber industry. It would have only seemed natural to add swathes of land to this county that did not already belong to some other district.
If one looks at Renfrew (at present 7440.81 sq/km) and Hastings (at present 6103.48 sq/km) counties, they rank first and second respectively, in land area for all counties in Ontario (only Northern Ontario districts are larger). It goes without saying that it is only natural for the counties that abut Northern Ontario to be larger, sharing common traits in population and geography. That said, Renfrew, Hastings, Haliburton, and Muskoka (the latter two in fact only establishing two-tier governance in the last quarter of the 20th century) are a transitional zone, a sort of buffer from south to north, between county and district.
All of the areas mentioned above intersect near Bark Lake east of Barry's Bay and north of Bancroft. Geographically they are nearly identical in soil, minerals, forests, and even the population densities are mirrored (lessening closer to Algonquin Park). The histories of these townships echo familiar tales of colonization roads opening up the interior, mining towns experiencing boom and bust, logging and lumber providing a pivotal role in development, and small farms contributing to sustainability. Roads do not end at county boundaries, but rather continue on as links between them all. Although South Algonquin is covered by Nipissing for ambulance services (to name but one example), it is part of the Renfrew school board, so even the children of the township are brought up well integrated into a wider and more interconnected system of inclusion (as opposed to the exclusion from the rest of Nipissing District, being that South Algonquin is the only tract of that district that lies south of Algonquin Park).
To be more specific and to draw a picture of the entire area, here are the townships that make up the area, that in this blog will effectively be called Bancroft County: of Nipissing District there is only the one township: South Algonquin; of Hastings County there are four: 1) Hastings Highlands, 2) Carlow/Mayo, 3) Faraday, and 4) Bancroft itself; of Renfrew County there are two: 1) Brudenell, Lyndock and Raglan, and 2) Madawaska Valley. Many of these municipalities are made up of two or more former geographic townships, having been amalgamated to solve the problems that small population densities have on providing services at the municipal level.
These municipalities if brought together to form the new Bancroft County would have a population of 17559, it would be 4061.18 sq/km, thus having a population density of 4.32 people/sq/km. This almost mirrors Haliburton County which has a population of 17026, is 4071.18 sq/km, and the population density is 4.18 people/sq/km. So that brings up the question of: if Haliburton County exists, why doesn't Bancroft County? The two counties which would actually lie side-by-side, and resemble one-another not only size and population but geographical land formations too.
Haliburton County only became a county in 1975, before that being known as the Provisional County of Haliburton (basically a step up from being a district). While being striking in beauty and offering endless tourism and recreational activities and amenities, Haliburton has for a long time occupied the lower end of the economic scale of Ontario counties. Haliburton had the distinction of being the only county in the province that did not have either an agricultural, mining, or forestry, based economy. Is this perhaps a deterrent to creating a Bancroft County? I have mentioned how they would be nearly identical in size and population, and geography, however, what Bancroft would have is an agricultural based economy. The Hastings and Renfrew municipalities that would make up the new county are agriculturally centered, therefore providing that necessary source for sustainability.
While I am sure that there are boundary road agreements and cost sharing agreements for county roads, these things can all be amended to address the new county and the new boundaries proposed. Not to say that they would be rid of their responsibility for these municipalities, but Renfrew and Hastings counties would be able to focus their attention on their more populated eastern and southern stretches respectively. Would the separation of these municipalities hinder either Renfrew or Hastings? I am of the opinion that it would not. Shrinking the size of these counties while losing minimal population would actually be a benefit to the newly re-sized Renfrew and Hastings.
That leads to the question: would a Bancroft county be able to sustain itself? Would there be a large enough and substantial enough tax base to provide for county services, or are these areas subsidized by the larger counties they already belong to? If comparing Haliburton and the yet created Bancroft, there are many more kilometres of roads in Bancroft, but most are mainly municipal. Renfrew does maintain a few county roads in the proposed separated municipalities (most being former provincially maintained secondary highways). Just like Haliburton there would be two hospitals in the two largest communities (Bancroft and Barry's Bay). A reorganization of social services and linking of new services derived from the former counties would need to be undertaken, which could prove to be a monumental task (or perhaps not).
When looking at roads, Hastings only maintains three county roads in the north, contrasting the numerous ones maintained in the area by Renfrew. Even natural links between county roads are not completed by Hastings, such as extending County Road 62 (Peterson Colonization Road) to link up with County Road 10 of Haliburton County. Additionally, South Algonquin is serviced by the provincial secondary Hwy 523, it's southern terminus being the boundary with Hastings. The roadway continues on as Madawaska Road belonging to the Municipality of Hastings Highlands, and not the county. From this perspective, it almost seems like Hastings County has neglected its northern municipalities, a scenario seen played out before. Another striking fact is that there are more county roads connecting the area I have proposed for a new county, than that connecting those Hastings municipalities with the rest of the county. In actual fact, there are NO county roads connecting the two parts of the county, but only one provincial highway (Hwy 62), and only five municipal roads.
It is easy to see how, perhaps, those living in northern Hastings would favour a new county, but it may not be the case for western Renfrew. Not only are the county roads extended into the area, as mentioned before South Algonquin is included in their school board which shows a willingness to provide services to the far reaches of the county, and even beyond the present boundaries. Additionally the population of western Renfrew has been historically linked. My proposed boundary would divide the ethnically Polish population in two. However, there is a solution to this: instead of only adding two Renfrew municipalities to the new county, a third, Killaloe, Hargarty and Richards, could also be added, thus keeping the community together. Not only for something as superficial as ethnic ties (please do not take offence to that), but this move would also shrink Renfrew's size even more, while maintaining a similar population, and it would actually add a larger tax base to the new Bancroft County (K, H&R has 2402 residents, is 395.98 sq/km, density is 6.1 people/sq/km).
As for the case of South Algonquin I think it would overall benefit the township to be part of this county. Obviously the tax payers would be introduced to a whole new tax system, new mill rates would be introduced, and in all likelihood taxes would increase. That is the biggest deterrent to joining the new county, and would be the largest drum that the opposition would be beating. However, the township would no longer be cut off by an impassable provincial park from its district centre, it's tax dollars would be going locally and increased services would be provided. After all, districts provide considerably fewer services directly than that of counties. South Algonquin would no longer be cut off from the district it's been lumped into (it's essentially an exclave of Nipissing), but rather it would be integrated with the communities it has long associated itself with.
The new county would be able to market itself inclusively of all its communities, instead of northern Hastings being overshadowed by the Belleville area, Trenton, the Bay of Quinte, and western Renfrew being overshadowed by the Ottawa Valley. Instead of these three areas being divided, they would make a newly unified part of Central Ontario. Renfrew County would now be solely part of Eastern Ontario; Hastings would continue to occupy that transition between Central and Eastern; and South Algonquin would no longer be part of Northern Ontario (something of which it had stopped being part of long ago).
While South Algonquin and western Renfrew are part of the same provincial and federal ridings, the northern Hastings municipalities belong to another riding altogether (Prince Edward-Hastings). This may present a problem, but could be easily rectified by adding the newly created county to the existing riding of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke and renaming it Renfrew-Bancroft-Pembroke without affecting the population or size of the riding's both provincially and federally in a massive way (R-N-P (or R-B-P) would obviously gain size, but its population would be on par with that of most other riding's).
Bancroft County would occupy the seventh spot in the rankings based on size, while Renfrew would maintain first (even while being substantially lowered), and Hastings would fall to fourth with Simcoe and Grey moving ahead. As for population, Bancroft would be third last (48th out of 50), while Hastings would move from 18th to 20th, and Renfrew from 26th to 28th, both minimal movements in overall ranking of total residents.
Is the creation of Bancroft County necessary? Not particularly. Are things working the way they are? Yes, as there isn't as of yet, or unknown to me, to be a movement in this direction. Could things possibly be better without over-stretched and cumbersome counties? There is a good chance. Would problems compound with smaller counties without a substantial population? There is the possibility. Is the provincial government unwilling to create another 'Haliburton'? Most likely.
This is just a case study of looking at what seems to be over-stretched counties and districts and an analysis that only touches the surface of the possibility of creating a new census division in Central Ontario. Things can always be better, perhaps this is a solution to some of the problems encountered in the region.
P.S. If this county does come to fruition, hopefully we are not left with another municipality with a name like the Municipality of Dysart, Bruton, Clyde, Dudley, Eyre, Guilford, Harburn, Harcourt and Havelock. By all means don't leave anyone out, but don't leave them with a mouthful either. (This municipality could easily be renamed the Municipality of Central Haliburton, as you know, that is the area of that county it occupies, but this is another topic altogether).
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