McKay opens campaign offices

The Conservative Candidate in the Kenora-Rainy River Riding says he's not impressed with the Northern Ontario platforms of the Liberals or the NDP.

Both parties released their election plans for this region last week.

Rod McKay says in less than a week on the campaign trail, there are really only two issues local residents seem to be interested in.

McKay will be opening his campaign office in Kenora this afternoon in the old Town and Country building on 2nd Street South.

Smoke drifting in from out west

The smell of smoke in the Kenora area over the past few days is from fires far away in the U.S. Northwest.

An MNR Spokesperson says they received numerous calls about the smell and haze but note its not from this area.

Meanwhile, the hot and dry weather of the weekend will give way to cool and damp conditions in the coming week, with daytime highs of just 7 degrees expected by Wednesday.

Blood Donor Clinic today and tomorrow

There's a high demand for blood in Northwestern Ontario so Canadian Blood Services is hoping for a

good turn-out for their blood donor clinic this week.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says the process is virtually painless and only takes about an hour

The Blood Donor Clinic takes places at St Thomas Aquinas High School tonight from 4:30 to 9 and again tomorrow 9 am to 12:30.

Body Found in Sioux Lookout

Little is known about a body that has been found in Sioux Lookout.

Sergeant Shelly Garr is with the OPP Northwest Regional Headquarters in Thunder Bay.

Garr says the body of a 30-year-old man was located behind the Water Treatment Plant on Saturday.

The cause of death has not been determined.

A post-mortem was held yesterday but the results are not known.

Rafferty Eyes NDP leadership

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M.P. John Rafferty is flirting with the idea of becoming the leader of the NDP.

Rafferty says several people have suggested he enter the race, prompting him to post on his Facebook site to solicit further input.

Rafferty admits the biggest challenge would be money.

Candidates must ante up 15thousand dollars to enter with campaigns running upwards of half a million dollars.

Northern Heritage lands a Candidate in Kenora-Rainy River

Then there were five.

Another candidate has thrown her hat into the ring for the October 6th provincial election in the Kenora-Rainy River Riding.

Charmaine Romaniuk filed her nomination papers yesterday to run for the Northern Ontario Heritage Party.

Ed Deibel is the party leader and says they now have two candidates who can raise issues that are important to northerners.

The other candidate for the party is running in the Timmins-Cochrane Riding.

NDP Leader

A long-time NDP insider may be the first to formally enter the race to replace the late Jack Layton.

Party president Brian Topp is scheduled to make an announcement this morning in Ottawa.

He'll be joined by NDP MP Francoise Boivin.Topp's name surfaced early as a possible contender in the NDP leadership race.

The fully-bilingual Montrealer has worked in NDP backrooms for years, and was a close confidant to Layton, who died last month of cancer.

The NDP is set to hold a caucus retreat starting tomorrow in Quebec City.

Distracted Driving

Ontario Provincial Police are launching their latest blitz on drivers phoning and texting behind the wheel.

This week's campaign is called ``Phone in one hand, Ticket in the other.''

Police say distracted driving has been identified as a factor in almost 5,000 collisions on roads and highways patrolled by the provincial force so far this year.Officials say hundreds of people have close calls every day, but drivers continue to use cellphones while driving.

During the first seven months of this year, provincial police handed out more than twice the number of tickets for distracted driving compared with the same period in 2010.

The fine for talking on a cellphone or texting while driving is $155, while watching an entertainment device while behind the wheel carries a fine of $110.

Loonie

The Canadian dollar briefly slipped below parity with its U-S

counterpart this morning for the first time since January 31st.

The loonie fell 53-100ths of a cent -- to 99.87 cents U-S -- that's

before it rebounded back to 100.19 cents U-S.

All-Candidate Forum

The Provincial candidates in Kenora-Rainy River are preparing for two All-Candidate debates.

The first session is at 7 PM on September 15th at the Royal Canadian Legion in Dryden.

Rod McKay of the Conservatives, Anthony Leek of the Liberals, Sarah Campbell of the NDP and Jo Jo Holiday of the Green Party are all expected to participate.

The second forum is in Kenora on September 20th.

Train Collision

No reported injuries, but plenty of debris, after a train collided with a truck on Saturday.

Following an investigation Dryden OPP have charged 35-year-old Sean Warren with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, operation of a motor vehicle with more than 80-millgrams of alcohol in his blood and failing to remain at the scene of a crash.


Warren has been released and will appear in Court on September 26th.

His licence has been suspended for 90-days.

Weather Record

It was a beautiful weekend across the Northwest, with several records falling.

Sioux Lookout, Red Lake and Ear Falls all reached record high temperatures on Friday and Saturday.

Red Lake was the hot spot at 30.7-degrees on Friday.

Here in Kenora we started the weekend by breaking records set in 1982 reaching highs of 29.7 degrees on Friday.

Alarmed For Life

Don't be alarmed to find fire trucks and firefighters in your neighborhood September 13th 2011. The Kenora Fire and Emergency Services will be out in the Norman area tomorrow between 6:30-8:30 PM. They will be knocking on doors and making sure you have a working smoke alarm and that they're properly installed. During the canvass, or anytime the Fire Service is invited in to inspect a home, firefighter will not be issuing tickets to residents, but will show them how to bring their home up to Code and optimize safety.

Forest Fire Update

Ontario’s fire season isn’t over yet.There were 32-new forest fires over the past 3-days in Northwestern Ontario.Conditions were extreme with high winds and drought-like conditions.

Several fires that were quiet came back to life including Red Lake number 84.The Ministry of Natural Resources says despite aggressive air and ground attack, a commercial outpost cabin was lost on Gull Lake.


Help is on the way with cool and damp conditions in the forecast. There are 51-active fires in this region.

Kienan Hebert

The family of a three-year-old boy abducted from his bed last Wednesday in Sparwood, B-C, is thanking the abductor for bringing him home.

The weeping parents of Kienan Hebert addressed the media yesterday, just hours after their little boy was returned home.

Paul Hebert directed his comments at a 46-year-old suspect, saying Randy Hopley did the right thing.

Police received an anonymous 9-1-1 call at 3 a-m telling them where to find the boy, who had been sneaked back into the home. Doctors said he was unharmed and in good spirits.

The R-C-M-P has again made a plea to Hopley to turn himself in.