Monday, September 28, 2009

Dufresne's Furniture Expands

Dufresne's furniture and appliances has bought up two existing Colonial Furniture Stores in Ottawa.

The Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario company will be taking over those outlets in the near future.

Vice President Debra Jonasson-Young says they have a lot in common with the stores they bought.

Jonasson-Young says they're business is thriving and hope to expand their franchise further.

LHIN Award

The Northwest Local Health Integration Network has been handed a prestigeous international award.

The LHIN received the 2009 Innovation Award at the International Association for Public Particpation Conference in San Diego.

The group was recognized for its Share Your Storey, Shape Your Care initiative.

The project reached out to residents across the Region to help shape the future of the local health care system.

Dryden was a major player in the initaitive with the highest participation rate.

Rabbit Lake Shoreline

After much discussion, Kenora City Council has agreed to sell parcels of the Rabbit Lake
Shoreline to homeowners with abutting property.

There will be a number of conditions attached to the sale of the shoreline.

Council says that that there cannot be any negative impact to fish and wildlife in the area.

The municipality also cannot have any interest in the land, and best practices need to be followed for shoreline stewardship.

A number of Rabbit Lake residents had made a request to the property and planning committee to make shoreline property available to them.

OPP Charge Daily Miner

The editor and the publisher of the Kenora Daily Miner and News have been charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

After a lengthy investigation, the OPP laid the charges after receiving a complaint that the local newspaper had published a photograph of a youth who was charged with a criminal offense.

Shelley Garr is a spokesperson for the OPP in Thunder Bay and says a couple of charges have been laid in this incident.

They are due to appear in Kenora Court on November 9th to answer the charges.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, its illegal to publish anything that might lead to the identity of a young offender.

OPP Service Hours August

The commander of the Kenora Detachment of the OPP says their first month of policing the City of Kenora has gone well.

Inspector Dave Lucas made his first report to the Kenora Police Services Board on Friday.

Lucas says officers compiled over seven thousand hours of duty, plus another 324 hours in overtime.

The OPP had over 15 hundred calls for service last month.

Lucas says August tends to be one of the busier months of the year due to all the special events in the city, including Harborfest and KBI.

OPP Data Entry

The OPP says its found a way of keeping officers out onthe street and on patrol instead of behind the desk writing reports.

Inspector Dave Lucas says they have a state-of-the-art dataentry system, which is freeing up officers for other more important duties.

Lucas says the data entry system is one of the few beingused by the OPP.

He says it was part of the contract agreement when the OPPagreed to start policing the city.

Police Services Board

The Kenora Police Services Board is now down to just three members.

The new board met yesterday for the first time.

Colin Wasacase and Kenora mayor Len Compton were appointed asthe municipal representitives on the board.

The province still hasn't indicated who it plans to appoint.

Pat Brett is continuing on as the provincial representive,but he says his appointment is basically a six monthinterim position.

He says he will remain on the board until he's re-appointedas the provincial rep, or the Minister of Community Safetyfinds a replacement.

Thunder Bay Wood

The McGuinty Government is providing over 1-million dollars in funding and more then 3.8-million dollars in loan guarantees to support a new Wood Products Factory in Thunder Bay.

Canadian Company Global Sticks will build a state-of-the-art factory to create sticks used for ice cream bars, popsicles, corn dogs and tongue depressors.

Construction is expected to begin next month and will be completed in January.

The Mill will employee roughly 75-people.

Northern Growth Plan Update

It hasn't been released yet, but there is already concerns being expressed with the proposed Northern Growth plan.

David Lindsay, Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Deputy Minister, says a draft of the economic blueprint for the north should be released by the end of October or early November.

But Lindsay says there is already talk that it will be a grant program for the north which it won't be.

Lindsay says the document should be more about changing attitudes and policies that foster development.

Worst Roads Campaign

There is only 3-days left to vote for Ontario's worst road.

Local residents can submit their vote by going to www.worstroads.ca.

90-percent of the top 20 worst roads listed in previous years have been or about to be repaired.

The initiative is meant to convince the Government to fix roads, highways and bridges.