Operation Impact

People trying to jam in one more weekend at the cottage or hit too many Thanksgiving dinners should be careful.

The Ontario Provincial Police will be out in force during the holiday weekend.

They say ``Operation Impact'' is part of a Canada-wide initiative to catch unsafe drivers.

Police will be focusing on impaired driving, aggressive motorists and seatbelt violations.

The national road safety initiative is aimed at saving lives and reducing serious injuries.

A total of 243 people have been killed in accidents so far this year on OPP patrolled roadways.

FedNor provides funds for northern agriculture

The Federal Government is investing in Northern Ontario's Agriculture industry.

FedNor Minister Tony Clement has announced nearly 365-thousand dollars in funding to help agri-food representatives from this Region attend the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.

A Northern Ontario Pavilion will be set up at the 10-day event and 350-thousand consumers are expected to attend.

Last year, immediate and follow-up sales by Northern exhibitors were estimated at about 750-thousand dollars.

Heritage Fund gets a new executive director

There's a new Executive Director at the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Bruce Strapp is taking on the job.

Strapp was the CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie economic development commission.

He also worked with Red Lake's economic development corporation.

Broncos hit the road in WHSFL

Two of the top offenses in division two of the Winnipeg High School Football League

will meet up today.

The 3-1 Beaver Brae Broncos will travel to Winnipeg to face the Murdoch McKay Clansmen.

Both Beaver Brae and Murdoch McKay has scored 107 points so far this season, but the Clansmen have allowed just four points in four games.

Game time is 3:00 this afternoon at Murdoch McKay High School.

Municipal Election just over two weeks away

Local residents have just over a week to mail in their ballots for the October 25th

municipal elections.

October 16th is the deadline to have the ballots in the mail.

After that the kits will have to be dropped off in person prior to election day.

Returning officer Joanne McMillin say they also have contingencies for people who did not get a mail in ballot.

McMillin expects to get results from this year's election a lot faster than the past two elections.

She says the votes are being run through a computerized tabulator each day and the

final results will be printed off at 8:00 on election day.

Wasaya Airways Expands

Wasaya Airlines is expanding its operations in northwestern Ontario.

The First Nations owned company has added a Bombardier Dash 8 to it's fleet.

President Tom Morris says they also plan to order another Dash 8 in the near future.

The new aircraft will be used to fly Goldcorp workers to it's Musselwhite mine site.

Grassy Blocks MNR Officers

Residents of Grassy Narrows say they have once again barred MNR officials shutting down road repair work in their community.

Enforcement officers were at the site of a blockade to check out work being carried out on the Slant Lake Road.

The blockade members says the MNR has threatened to shut down the work because they don't

have the necessary environmental permits.

This week, band members say they denied the enforcement officers access to Slant Lake and

repair work continued on uninterupted.

Repairs have not been made to the road since 2002, when Grassy set up the blockade to

protest clear-cutting operations near their community.

Hampton weighs in on Lobby Contraversy

The lobby contraversy at Queen's Park goes right up to the premier's cabinet table.

That's the assertion of Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton.

Hampton says former government members are now paid lobbyists, and former lobbyists are now members of the Liberal government.

Hampton also questions the government's sincerity when it says it will pass legislation to curb the use of public money to pay for lobbyists.