McGuinty and Harper Tour

 

2009-05-15

06:24:25

Work to twin the Trans-Canada Highway west of Kenora will begin starting next year.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and premier Dalton McGuinty were in Kenora Friday afternoon to announce 100 million dollars for the construction project.

Harper says the funding is part of the federal government's infrastructure initiative to boost an ailing economy.

Ten kilometers of Highway 17 will be twinned starting in 2010.

Prime Minister Harper says thats the first phase of the plan to double-lane the highway all the way from the Manitoba border to Kenora. 

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Sidewalk Tenders to be awarded

By Tim Davidson

2009-05-15

06:23:15

The City of Kenora is planning to spend a little more on sidewalk
construction and repairs this year.

Council is expected to award the sidewalk maintenance tender next
week.

The lowest bid has come in at around 250 thousand dollars.

City Engineer, Marco Vodrig says they plan to complete the section
of walkway from Bayview Toyota to the Dairy Queen.

That will include things like railings and guard rails.

The contract will also include fixing up the interlocking brick sidewalks in the community. 

Safe Communities Nominees Needed

By Sheri Leviski

2009-05-15

06:21:06

Safe Communities Kenora is looking for nominees for two national safety awards.

Spokesperson Maria Bagdonas says they're looking for a business that acts as a safety ambassador.

The other award up for grabs is the Community Service Partner Ambassador for Safety.

Nominations will be accepted up until five pm on Tuesday.

 

Big Tent Could become permanent summer feature

By Tim Davidson

2009-05-15

06:20:10

The big tent on the Harborfront could become a permanent summer
feature.

City council has approved plans to leave the tent up from Canada Day right until October.

Councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says people will be able to park under then tent when its not in use.

Van Wallenghem says leaving the tent up will save on wear and tear
and should also save groups like Harborfest and KBI money because they won't have to worry about set up and tear down of the tent. 

Child Care Funding questioned

By Mike Ebbeling

 2009-05-15

06:18:29

There is concern Provincial funding for the Best Start program could disappear after next March.

The Kenora District Services Board is asking the Government to maintain the child care initiative, noting they can't afford a loss in financing.

Best Start has provided an additional 477-early learning an childcare speaces within the District.

 

Harper and McGuinty to visit City of Kenora

By Tim Davidson

2009-05-15

06:16:25

A couple of high profile visitors are coming to town.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making a return trip to Kenora
after visiting last year, and he'll be joined by premier Dalton McGuinty
this time.

This would be McGuinty's first ever visit to the riding since being elected premier five years ago.

The two leaders are scheduled to make a joint announcement at the Operations Center on Barsky's Hill this afternoon.

The press conference is scheduled to take place at 2:30.

DSSAB says no to Land Ambulence Base

by Tim Davidson

2009-05-15

06:15:39

Thanks but no thanks.

That seems to be the response by the Kenora District Services Board
to an offer by the City of Kenora to partner on a new building to house a land ambulence base and fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

The board met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the issue.

Chief Administrative Officer, Sten Lif says they simply couldn't come to a decision about where to put the land ambulence base by city council's
self imposed deadline of 4:30 this afternoon.

He says they want to weigh all their options before making a final decision on a location for the land ambulence base.

Council wanted a yes or no decision so it could decide whether to proceed with a stand alone fire hall. 

 

Hockey Day In Canada Update

By: Tim Davidson

2009-05-14

08:10:27

Kenora is still in the running for CBC's Hockey Day in Canada.

The city was notified yesterday afternoon that Kenora was one of three finalists in the running to host the day long TV special in 2010.

Councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says CBC officials will be in town either May 25th or 26th for a site visit. 

Kenora was one of six potential sites selected for nexts years event, and the CBC says it will decide within 10 days of its tour where Hockey Day in Canada will take place. 

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New School Dryden

By: Tim Davidson

2009-05-14

08:09:30

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is still hopeful that construction can begin this year on a new elementary school in Dryden.

The board had to go back to the drawing board after the last design came in way over budget.

Dean Carrie is the Superintendant of Business and says they are trying to stay within the 14.3 million dollar allocation from the Ministry of Education. 

The initial design had room for as many as 600 students.

The project is expected to go out for tender by the end of June, and construction could begin before the end of summer.

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LOW Hospital Energy Audit

By: Sheri Leviski

2009-05-14

08:08:13

The Lake of the Woods Hospital has hired Honeywell Corporation to look for energy efficiencies in their building.

The company will be conducting an energy audit this month.

C.E.O. Marc Balcaen says the report should be ready some time in June.

The hospital is paying Honeywell 32 thousand dollars for the audit and study.

Meanwhile, the hospital is also one of 25 facilities to undergo a purchasing protocol audit by the Ministry of Finance.

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Recreation Centre Plan

By: Tim Davidson

2009-05-14

08:07:25

The City of Kenora is planning to spend up to 50 thousand dollars on a recreation plan.

Councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says they not only want to find ways of streamlining costs at the Kenora Rec. Center, they also want to maximize usage.

Van Wallenghem adds that the study can also be used to tap into infrastructure money announced by the federal government recently, which will be used to fix up aging recreation facilities. 

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Cancer Care NWO

By: Tim Davidson

2009-05-14

08:00:12

Northwestern Ontario residents have a higher incidence of cancer than other parts of the province.

That's according to Dr. Michael Sherar, who is the vice-president of regional programs for Cancer Care Ontario.

He was in Kenora yesterday for the annual spring forum.

Sherar says there are a number of reasons for the higher cancer rate in this region.

Dr. Sherar says fortunately, this region has very good cancer treatment facilities.

He adds that despite the large distances between hospitals, patients can often get treatment in their home communities thanks to the tele-health system. 

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Visitor Restriction Birchwood Terrace

By: Sheri Leviski

2009-05-13

09:33:10

You won't be able to visit any of the residents at Birchwood Terrace Nursing Home this week.

A respiratory outbreak has been declared at the long term care facility in Kenora.

The Northwestern Health Unit and home staff are working together to control and prevent the spread of the illness.

A visitor ban has been put in place to help manage the spread of the illness to residents and staff.

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Boat Crash LOW

By: Sheri Leviski

2009-05-13

09:28:49

It's not even summer yet, and the OPP's Marine Unit has already seen its first collision on Lake of the Woods.

Yesterday, a vessel struck a reef in the area of Canoe Channel near the Keewatin Channel.

8 people were travelling in the 21 foot Doral when they came in contact with the reef.

The occupants were able to paddle to a near by island before the boat sunk.

The boat was destroyed but thankfully no one was injured.

OPP are reminding boaters to proceed with caution when you are in unfamiliar waters.

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Highway 17 Construction

By: Mike Ebbeling

2009-05-04

06:23:45

Construction on safety improvements on the Trans-Canada Highway just east of Thunder Bay are to begin next year.

But the timing on the entire four-laning of Highway 11-17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon remains a big question mark.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle says the government is committed to four-laning the entire 100-kilometre stretch.

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OPP New Commander

By: Mike Ebbeling

2009-05-04

06:23:10

Rainy River District will be getting a new OPP Detachment commander this month.

Staff Sergeant John Kendrick will take over the job from Inspector Dave Lucas, who relocated to Kenora in January.

Kendrick is currently the O-P-P's regional traffic manager in Thunder Bay.

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Teacher Deal KPDSB

By: Mike Ebbeling

2009-05-04

06:22:35

Done Deal!

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has now secured contract's with all of its staff.

The final deal was ratified with the Union representing Elementary Occasional Teachers.

The 4-year agreement includes a 10-percent wage hike over the life of the contract.

Officials say an additional 3.5-percent increase in the 2009-2010 school year has been applied to bring the rates into parity with High School Occasional Teachers.

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Norman Park Funding

By: Sheri Leviski

2009-05-04

06:21:33

The City of Kenora has taken the next step in revitalizing Norman Park.

Council recently applied for funding under the Building Canada Fund.

Jeff Port is the city planner and says the project is expected to come in at 5 million dollars.

The project includes improvements to the Norman Community Club, the Railway Museum, Norman Beach and the development of new walking trails in the area.

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Property Owners Meeting

By: Sheri Leviski

2009-05-04

06:20:53

Property Owners Meeting

"Going green at the lake" is this year's theme for the Lake of the Woods Property Owners cottage show.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how to improve your cottage in an environmentally friendly way.

Other seminars will be on being green on the lake and toxic algae in the Lake of the Woods district.

The Property Owners Association annual general meeting will be held in the evening on Monday and the cottage show will run from 3 to 9pm.

The annual event is being held once again at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg.

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Dryden Emergency Site

By: Mike Ebbeling

2009-05-04

06:19:49

The Provincial Director of the Canadian Red Cross says the determination and commitment of the Mayor may pay off in the very near future.

Dryden is trying to become a "host" community for evacuated centres across Northern Ontario.

John Saunders says the Mayor has done a great job forming partners, especially with area First Nations.

Thunder Bay and Sudbury are also said to be vying for the "host" designation.

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