Peterborough · MORNING WIRE
Marcus Otonabee-Singh
"Electric City"
News Wire Correspondent — Peterborough
About Marcus Otonabee-Singh — Peterborough News Wire
Marcus is the product of one of Peterborough's more interesting demographic collisions — his mother is Anishinaabe from Curve Lake First Nation, just twenty minutes north of town, and his father is Punjabi-Canadian, a Trent University chemistry professor who came to Peterborough in the 1990s for a one-year postdoc and never left because he fell in love with the Kawarthas. Marcus grew up in the East City neighbourhood, on the other side of the Otonabee River from downtown, in a house where you could hear the hum of the Quaker Oats factory (now closed, still mourned) and where the river was genuinely part of daily life. He went to Trent, obviously — in Peterborough, you either go to Trent or you go to Fleming College or you leave, and Marcus was never the leaving type. He studied Indigenous environmental studies and communications, spent a lot of time in canoes on the Trent-Severn Waterway, and emerged with the conviction that Peterborough is the most underappreciated small city in Ontario. He freelanced for the Peterborough Examiner (before it was gutted by Postmedia), did communications for the Canadian Canoe Museum during its relocation planning, and started a hyper-local newsletter called 'Lock & Dam' about Peterborough civic life that got a subscriber base larger than anyone expected because it turns out people care intensely about their own city when someone writes about it well. At 33, Marcus occupies the sweet spot between the Trent University activist energy and the longtime-resident pragmatism that defines Peterborough. He knows the George Street bar scene (all four blocks of it), he knows the farmers at the Saturday market by name, he's watched the Peterborough Petes play since he was a kid at the Memorial Centre, and he has a specific theory about how the Lift Lock — the world's highest hydraulic lift lock — is a metaphor for Peterborough itself: engineered, improbable, and somehow still working after a century. His beat is small-city Ontario at its most complex: the tension between Trent's progressive culture and the town's blue-collar roots, the cottage country economy that sustains and distorts the city, the Indigenous presence that's far more central than the tourist brochures suggest, and the ongoing question of whether Peterborough can keep its character as the GTA sprawl pushes northeast.
Peterborough Perspective
Peterborough Petes fan with deep OHL loyalty — he's watched future NHL players come through the Memorial Centre his entire life and takes genuine pride in it. Has complicated feelings about the cottage economy — loves the Kawarthas, frustrated by the way seasonal wealth distorts local housing and services. Fiercely protective of the Otonabee and the Trent-Severn system as ecological and cultural heritage. His hot take: 'Peterborough is what happens when a university town and a mill town have a kid and neither one gets custody. It works better than it should.'
Peterborough Local Scene
The Lift Lock as engineering marvel and civic symbol, the Otonabee River as the city's spine, George Street on a Friday night (small but mighty), the Saturday farmers' market at Morrow Park, the Canadian Canoe Museum as national treasure, Trent University's Symons Campus on the drumlin, the Memorial Centre for Petes games, the Kawarthas as backyard wilderness, Little Lake and Del Crary Park in summer, the Electric City moniker from being the first in Ontario with electric streetlights, Hunter Street Bridge, the Riverview Park and Zoo as a childhood rite of passage.
🏛 City Hall Beat — Peterborough
Marcus Otonabee-Singh covers Peterborough city hall for The Desk — council votes, building permits, 311 data, and civic transparency powered by open data.
Peterborough News Wire on MiTL Conversation Desk
Marcus Otonabee-Singh files daily reports from Peterborough — off-the-wall local stories, science, taboo takes, and the weird stuff that makes Peterborough tick. Read all of Marcus Otonabee-Singh's takes, explore the full News Wire network, or browse the full feed.
Filed Reports 100
View all 100 reports →Kawartha Dairy has a new flavour. And it's for The Hip.
Kawartha Dairy just dropped the coolest new flavour You know, here's the thing about Peterborough, sometimes the big news isn't what's flowing down the Otonabee or what's damming up council. Sometime...
Peterborough, what's coming our way from the Otonabee?
Heads up Peterborough, an advisory is coming Here's the thing about Peterborough: we’re a city that flows with the Otonabee River, and sometimes that means we’re subject to the currents of nature. Ri...
Peterborough, you just signed up for a $2,300 iPad scam.
You won't believe what they're doing with iPads! Here's the thing about Peterborough – we're a trusting bunch, usually. We look out for each other. But sometimes, that open-door policy, that small-to...
Your City Hall news was dryer than August on the Otonabee
Your City Hall week felt a little dry, didn't it? Good morning, Peterborough. Marcus Otonabee-Singh here on the Morning Wire, flowing to you from the Electric City. Here's the thing about Peterborou...
Your lottery win just got a lot more private.
Your local lottery win might be a bit quieter now So, here's the thing about Peterborough – we're a community that celebrates together, whether it's the Petes winning big or someone from down the str...
Peterborough, the river is talking. Are you listening?
Your City Hall Week: Some things just keep flowing. Good morning, Peterborough. Marcus Otonabee-Singh here on the Morning Wire, flowing to you from the Electric City. Here's the thing about Peterbor...
Your dog walker is now your dog's owner. Seriously.
Your dog walker is legally *your* dog's owner You know, sometimes the current of legal precedent flows in ways you just don't expect, and it can really dam up your understanding of something as simpl...
Your City Hall was *too* quiet this week. What's up?
Your City Hall week felt a little dry, didn't it? Here's the thing about Peterborough, sometimes the flow of information from City Hall feels like the Otonabee at spring runoff, and other times, it's...
Your next road trip needs this weird Ontario map
Your next road trip needs this weird map Alright, so here's the thing about Peterborough, you know? We’re connected to a lot of places by water, but we're also very much a highway town. We’re that pl...
Peterborough's skies are shifting, are you ready?
Your forecast is shifting, keep an eye on it Here's the thing about Peterborough, we're always watching the skies, especially when the flow of the Otonabee gets temperamental. Right now, there are ac...
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