Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Throne Speech Gravelle

Northern Development and Mines minister Michael Gravelle is, not surprisingly, happy with his governments Speech from the Throne.

Gravelle says he's especially pleased the Ring of Fire chromite deposit near McFauld's Lake is highlighted in the speech.

Gravelle believes the government will be able to work through the concerns natives have about development of the area.

Medical Milestone

A medical milestone in northwestern Ontario.

The one thousandth knee replacement has been done atdistrict hospitals in Kenora, Dryden and Fort Frances.

Dr. Porter has been doing the surgeries for the couple ofyears now and its helped reduce the waiting times forthe procedure.

CEO of Lake of The Woods District Hosptial, Marc Belcaensays the waiting list for knee surgeries used to be a couple ofyears, now its just a couple of months.

About one quarter of all knee replacements have been donein Dryden and the rest in the other hospitals across the region.

Winter Carnival Reaction

The City of Kenora is pleased with its most recent revival of the winter carnival.

Tourism Officer Heather Paterson says no hard attendance numbers are available at this time, but they're deeming it a success.

The 2010 Winter Carnival included a snow sculpting competition, snowmobile poker derby, and a ice fishing tournament.

KPDSB Union Talks

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has reached an agreement with the Elementary Teachers Federation on its members who teach at schools amalgamated with the public school board last year.

In a joint release the board and the union say they have concluded discussion on the terms and conditions of employment of the teachers at schools in Savant Lake, PickleLake and Upsala.

Both sides say thye are pleased with the outcome of the discussions and feel that the groundwork has been laid to provide a smooth transition through to the next round of negotiations in 2012.

No further details will be released pending ratification.

Trail Conditions Ice

The warmer weather conditions are taking their toll on area lakes.

The frozen bodies of water are becoming slushy in sections and other parts are open.

OPP Constable Dave Cain says snowmobilers should use common sense.

For trail conditions log onto www.sunsettrailriders.ca

Fednor Changes

Opposition M-P's are again pushing for FEDNOR to become a stand-alone federal agency.

The NDP Fednor Critic Claude Gravelle says take the responsibility away from Industry Canada may help get the money flowing to the communities and organizations fast.

Gravelle says they're prepared to reintroduce a private members bill that died on the order paper when the last session was prorogued.

New Recruitment Programs

There are two new government programs to recruit doctors to northern Ontario.

The first will be providing grants to doctors and new medical grads who agree to practice in the north or highly rural communities.

In making the announcement in Thunder Bay Health Minister Deb Matthews says it replaces the Underserviced Areas Program which she says wasn't working anymore

As well Matthews announced a program that allows graduates to pratice for five years in any Ontario community except Toronto and Ottawa. In return they get postgraduate training opportunities

Mike Richards' Gold Medal

The City of Kenora is planning a home coming for Olympic MedalistMike Richards this spring.

Councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says a committee has been setup and they'd like to do something the week Richards returns home after his NHL season is over.

Council got a first hand look at Richards gold medal yesterday.

His mother Irene and his cousin Jeff displayed the gold medal to council.

Jeff Richards says Mike appreciated all the support he got fromlocal residents.


Irene Richards says of all the games Mike has played in, the Olympic victory was by far the most exciting.