Dianne Rinehart

Freelance writer.

Former university journalism instructor. 

Former foreign correspondent.

Former parliamentary correspondent.

Former newspaper editor.

Former magazine editor. 

The Little Town That Could | On The Bay Magazine

And that, of course, does not even begin to include tourists who drive up from Toronto. “Those people are coming up in droves,” says Johnston.
This influence of people arriving from elsewhere is part of the town’s character. Creemore has attracted its share of talented and hip entrepreneurs, artists and artisans, not just from Toronto, or even Canada, but from around the world. For example, Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo and interior designer and TV personality Sarah Richardson both came from Toronto....
The Hamilton Spectator •

Carney’s handling of Chinese ‘bounty’ comment is troubling

Dianne Rinehart is a journalist who covered the democracy elections in Poland in 1989 and the United Nations Conference on Women’s Rights in Beijing in 1995.On that same day, as democracy was budding in Poland, I watched TV newscasts depicting the snuffing out of democracy protests — and protesters — with horror as tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in Beijing and soldiers began shooting.How many people were killed? We still don’t know, because such is the iron fist with which Beijing’s communis...
The Hamilton Spectator •

We must learn from the women who fought for democracy in Russia

Dianne Rinehart is a journalist who was a freelance writer in Moscow from 1988 to 1990.Soldiers, shamed by their mothers and grandmothers for taking part in the coup, abandoned their tanks. And when Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Soviet Socialist Federal Republic, took in the scene, he went out onto the street to join them.The mothers had won — without guns, without armour. They had done it with love, for the soldiers who were their sons, the young men who had been used for publ...

Doggone Dedicated | On The Bay Magazine

Meet the OPP’s local canine officer, Sarah Hendrick, and her hard-working wonder dogs, Janus and Finny.
by Dianne Rinehart // Photography by Anya Shor & Roger Klein





When OPP Constable Sarah Hendrick starts her day, she puts on a military-style uniform and boots, and then loads up with 20 pounds of gear, including a ballistic vest, a firearm, ammunition, a controlled-energy weapon, pepper spray, a baton, handcuffs—oh, and a ball, a Kong and a leash—before leaving to pi...

Imagine a Tree Fort | On The Bay Magazine

But Webster had another love, which brought him to the Collingwood area—he grew up skiing on weekends with his family at Devil’s Glen.
When he finished university, Webster came up to Southern Georgian Bay to do some golfing, and when he saw how the area was popping, he knew he had to move here and bring his luxury home-building business, which he recently renamed Westerbilt Homes from WFD Construction, with him. “It’s really a four-season playground,” he says of the area. He still skis at Devil’...
The Globe and Mail •

Opinion: Holiday greetings from hospice

Dianne Rinehart is a journalist and journalism instructor at the University of Guelph-Humber.

A holiday spent in a hospice may not sound like a cheery, festive time. But trust me – it is.

My sister, Elaine, recently died in the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice in Hamilton, Ont. It was Nov. 29, and the spirt of Christmas was all around.

She was suffering terribly before she moved into hospice, even though she was in a supportive seniors’ residence that had PSWs on call to help with home care. But patchwor...

A School to Call Home | On The Bay Magazine

The Heathcote Schoolhouse, which first opened its doors to students in 1871, presented the young family with an opportunity they had not expected.











On Christmas Eve 2020, Nicholas and Ashley Pearce were celebrating Christmas at Ashley’s parents’ vineyard in Prince Edward County when she decided they should make an offer on an old schoolhouse in Heathcote, Ontario, that they had never set foot in.
“My poor best buddy and real estate agent wa...
Toronto Star •

Most Torontonians will never own a home. Good thing there’s a straightforward way to make rental life not just livable, but great

There has been a seismic shift in the real estate market in recent years. According to a CIBC report released last spring that echoes others, 76 per cent of Canadians who aren’t homeowners feel entry into the housing market is out of reach.What governments are not doing is putting the same energy and incentives into creating rental housing that people want to live in for life. This oversight is short-sighted because the lack of appropriate rentals is also contributing to the rising cost of housi...
The Hamilton Spectator •

‘The Disappeared’: Afghan despots remove women from public view completely

In the late ‘70s, Argentina’s military, which had taken control of the government in a coup, took anyone they deemed to be in opposition to them, drugged them and threw them out of planes, semi-conscious, to be killed without a trace in the Atlantic Ocean.Now, in present day Afghanistan, women are The Disappeared, if not by killings (and there are many of those), then through the most heinous of “vice and virtue” laws that women’s voices will not be allowed to be heard in public places, and they...
Toronto Star •

I chose to rent my home instead of owning — and I’m much happier. Here’s why

If a home is where the heart is, why are we inundated with messages from well-meaning parents, friends — and real estate agents — that buying is the be all and end all for choosing where we want to live, even if it means giving up on what makes us happy.For me, being able to live in a neighbourhood I love, even if I can’t afford to buy there, is much more important than all the promises about home ownership, about building equity and being in control.For most of my adult life, there was no way I...
Toronto Star •

We must listen to kids when they reveal abuse. It didn’t happen for me

One elderly woman from South Korea had been a so-called “Comfort Woman” — kidnapped and forced by the Japanese army to lie in a bed while soldiers lined up outside the door to take turns raping her. She could never have children because of damage to her body.Another woman from Brazil, who had once been a beauty queen, told us about how when she broke up with her boyfriend, he threw acid in her face. Scars covered her face.And then there was the very young woman from the United States. When she w...
On The Bay Magazine •

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A Landmark Revival

by Dianne Rinehart | Jun 25, 2024 | Features, Summer 2024After years of service, then neglect, Meaford’s Station 87 has been spectacularly restored as a hub for new business, just in time for the town’s 150th anniversary.






On The Waterfront

by Dianne Rinehart | Jun 24, 2024 | Community, Summer 2024Fred Serrafero of FRAM + Slokker spoke with On The Bay about his company’s 20-year stake in the r...
On The Bay Magazine •

A Landmark Revival - On The Bay Magazine

“We’re trying to keep as much of the old feel as we can,” says Aysia Garbe, who has a large chandelier planned for the entranceway. The same goes for the arched windows on the second floor. Straw Hat sourced the best window guy around, says Harrison.
And in some places, the old stone foundation, called rubble, needed to be shored up and strengthened with rebar and concrete. As Bowman says: those old foundations are strong, but rubble doesn’t like to be disturbed!
Another challenge underground wa...
Toronto Star •

For women, the dangers of misogyny are real and unpredictable

I was walking down a forest trail with my dog recently when I ran into another woman, alone with hers. She warned me that she had just had a verbal altercation with a man on the trail.He said he wasn’t comfortable with dogs on the trail because he never knew what they would do. She replied, now you know how women feel when we pass men on trails.That’s right. Recently, the New York Times published a story about a woman who was standing at an intersection waiting for the light to change when a man...
On The Bay Magazine •

Hot to Trot! - On The Bay Magazine

If you haven’t noticed, Southern Georgian Bay is horse country.
The region is dotted with dozens and dozens of horse barns specializing in English or Western-style riding lessons (the difference starts with how you hold the reins and the style of saddle).
Many, too, offer coaching for competition riding, and host camps and clinics for beginners from kids to senior citizens.
Some, such as Mountain View Stables in The Blue Mountains, offer trail riding experiences by the hour.
And though developme...
On The Bay Magazine •

The Queen of Plates - On The Bay Magazine

If you’re ever wondering what you can possibly talk about with people you are hosting for the first time for dinner, give Collingwood artist Jacqueline Poirier a call.
She’s a specialist in breaking the ice—no matter how formal, expensive or intimidating the dinner party.
And she doesn’t do it by teaching you which fork to use, or how to tell amusing stories.She does it by hand-painting one-of-a-kind, white porcelain charger plates in crazily imaginative ways—hence her business name: The Crazy P...
On The Bay Magazine •

Never Too Late - On The Bay Magazine

Adrian van den Hoven aboard the Ophir II.



Everyone knows the basics of staying fit. A well-rounded exercise routine should include moderate to vigorous-intensity pursuits such as walking, hiking and running, plus strength training and activities that improve balance, such as yoga.
This is especially important as you age. And what could be more fun in the summer than achieving all those fitness goals on, and in, the water? How?
Let these five “seasoned” athletes from around the...
On The Bay Magazine •

Wet and Wild - On The Bay Magazine

My dog Daisy is part husky and part German shepherd. Those breeds aren’t known as big swimmers. But tell that to her. She’s never met a body of water she doesn’t want to jump into—winter or summer.
So, I’m always on high alert to make sure she doesn’t get in over her head, so to speak.But I didn’t consider how fast she was—when I was walking her off-leash along the Pretty River this spring when the water was peaking with runoff and the current was strong.My phone rang, and for a nanosecond I was...
On The Bay Magazine •

Never Too Late - On The Bay Magazine

Adrian van den Hoven aboard the Ophir II.



Everyone knows the basics of staying fit. A well-rounded exercise routine should include moderate to vigorous-intensity pursuits such as walking, hiking and running, plus strength training and activities that improve balance, such as yoga.
This is especially important as you age. And what could be more fun in the summer than achieving all those fitness goals on, and in, the water? How?
Let these five “seasoned” athletes from around the...
On The Bay Magazine •

Good Grooming - On The Bay Magazine

My dog, Daisy, is a rambunctious husky/German shepherd mix. There is not a frou-frou, I-want-to-be-groomed bone in her body.
Indeed, her idea of a good grooming is to jump in a red-clay puddle on the side of Blue Mountain and sink into it up to her neck, then race around the hills and roll in any animal doo-doo she can find.
I cannot overstate the “ew” factor. I even once found fur and skin caught in her collar from her enthusiastic foray into some dead, um, thing. But on this day, she is going...
On The Bay Magazine •

Small Footprint, Big Impact - On The Bay Magazine

It doesn’t hurt that this gem of an environmentally-conscious home—it’s only 1,638 square feet—is set down, modular piece by piece, on a gorgeous, forested lot in Meaford, with a view of Georgian Bay in the distance.
But letting the beauty of the surroundings speak for themselves in the actual design of the home was the genius of their collaboration with MAFCO’s Diane and Dan Molenaar and Gilchrist.
Step into this sleekly simple, bare-bones home and you somehow feel that you are out-of-doors. Th...
On The Bay Magazine •

The Great Escape Artists - On The Bay Magazine

Oh boy. This is a dilemma.
I finally have my sweet Husky mix, Daisy, who bolted to chase rabbits, cornered. But where she is sniffing and snooping is a bit of a problem. She is on a stranger’s front porch.
I am praying, as I approach stealthily, that I can nab her before anyone sees me. This will be a bit challenging, though, because the homeowner’s living room windows face directly onto the porch.
“Please, please don’t let anyone be sitting in their living room naked,” I plead. Or, worse: “Plea...
On The Bay Magazine •

Priced Out! - On The Bay Magazine

Kirsten Schollig had been living in her lovely, brand-new townhouse on George Zubek Drive in Collingwood for about a year with her boyfriend when they received notice that their landlord was selling.
And no wonder. The owner had purchased it as an investment in February 2019 for $424,284. Two years later he sold it for $708,000—way, way above his asking price. Then a year later, the new owners sold it again for $976,500.
“I couldn’t blame him,” says Kirsten, a photographer whose studio, Captured...
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