Thursday, April 1, 2010

Busy Hockey Weekend

A big weekend for hockey in Kenora.

The Annual North American First Nations Tournament of Champions gets underway tomorrow at the Kenora Rec. Center and Keewatin Arenas.

So far, 20 teams are signed up for the three day tournament, with 20 thousand dollars up for grabs.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "a" Senior Thistles hit the road for the Renwick Cup, which will be played in Thunder Bay.

The Thistles will be taking on the Dundas Real McCoys in a best-of-three series to determine the Ontario senior hockey champions.

The winner will also advance to the Allan Cup which will take place inFort St. John, B.C.

Get Ready for Relay for Life

The 10th annual Relay for Life will be taking place in Kenora this June.

Organizers are trying to drum up interest for the event with a captain's meeting tonight.

Margret Saville is a spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society and says they are looking for anyone who has been involved in the Relay in the past, or who might be interested in taking part this year.

The captains meeting will start at 5:30 tonight at Casey's.

Relay for Life will be held at Lakewood School on June 11th this year.

Fire Season officially begins today

It has the makings of a busy fire season for the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Today marks the official start to the fire season in northwestern Ontario,and already fire crews have been called into service to deal with brush fires.

Fire Information Officer, Debbie McLean says they are prepared for the worst right now.

The last two years have been amongst the quietest ever recorded in northwestern Ontario.

McLean says a warm, dry spring doesn't mean this year will be any better or worse than previous years.

Pension Protection Bill Introduced

A private members bill aimed at securing the pensions of AbitibiBowater employees has been introduced in the House of Commons.

Thunder-Bay Rainy River M.P. John Rafferty says the bill would make changes to the Bankruptcy Act to giving pensions priority over other creditors.

Rafferty says he's hoping for all-party support for his bill.

Rafferty says his goal is to get the bill through the House of Commons before the end of the current sitting in June.

Kenora's Sunshine List

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has more employees earning morethan 100 thousand dollars a year than any other agency in the area.

The provincial government released its so-called sunshine list.

The public school board has 35 senior managers, principals and specialists making more than 100 grand.

Departed director of education, Larry Hope topped the salary listat 179 thousand dollars.

The highest paid employee at the Kenora Catholic District School Board was Phylis Aikre at 162 thousand.

Once again, Lake of the Woods District Hospital had the highest wage earners.

Chief Pathologist, Dr. Kerry McDonald was the best paid employeeat 315 thousand dollars per annum.