Liberal leaders Northwestern Ontario's trip has been cancelled

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's Northwestern Ontario's tour has been cancelled.

It has been cancelled following the death of fellow party member Mario Lague in Ottawa yesterday.

Lague was killed in a accident yesterday on his way to work, when the Motorcycle he was driving collided with an S-U-V.

Ignatieff is flying back to Ottawa for the funeral, but insists on continuing the tour later on, sometime in the fall.

Rowing Regatta

Kenora is holding the Rowing Regatta, this weekend.

It's been two weeks since the announcement was made that the Regatta has been moved from Winnipeg to Kenora.

Spokesperson for the event Ursula Wehner says, that it is short notice, but the event will go on.

The Regatta starts todayand wraps up on Saturday Evening, it's being held at Garrow Park on Rabbit Lake

Mike Richards present Cheques

Both the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation and Canadian Cancer
Society are 55 hundred dollars richer.

The two groups were recipients today of cheques from local hockey star Mike Richards.

The money came from Richards inaugural charity golf tournament held last month at the
Kenora Golf and Country Club.

Richards says it proved to be a very successful event.

Richards is currently involved in his annual summer hockey camp at the Keewatin Arena.

A total of 92 kids are signed up for the week long camp.

Dragon Boat Race Results

Out of town teams dominated the 8th annual Dragon Boat Festival on Rabbit Lake over the weekend.

The mixed A-side championship was won by the Prostrate Paddlers from Winnipeg with
Kenora's Super Troopers finishing less than a second behind.

Aoelian also from Winnipeg took the ladies open title, while the Stroking Rebels took the mixed B-Side final.

In the first ever 200 meter dragon boat sprint, Eat Our Wake from Winnipeg finished ahead of five other boats entered in the race.

More MNR Fire Crews Heading West

The Ministry of Natural Resources is sending another 20-firefighters from this District to Kamloops, B.C. today.


They will join the 20-staff from Northwestern Ontario that are already there.

Information Officer Heather Pridham says they can afford to lend a helping hand.

Pridham says the MNR also has 133-power pumps, 200-powerpump kits, 28-chainsaw kits and 8-thousand and 500 lengths of hose in B.C.

Rickford Supports Cabinet Shuffle

The promotion of British Columbia MP John Duncan to the Indian Affairs portfolio is garnering nothing but rave reviews from Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford.

Rickford says Duncan gives the Federal Government a "steady hand".

Rickford believes the new Minister will have a positive effect on Northwestern Ontario.

Rickford is also supporting John Baird as Government House Leader, noting he will move important Legislation forward in a timely manner.

Three Beaches Re-Opened

Just in time for the first heat wave of the summer, a couple of beaches in Kenora have been re-opened to the public.

The Northwestern Health Unit says water quality at Garrow Beach, Anicianbe Beach and Rabbit Lake Beach have improved to acceptible levels over the past few days.

The beaches were closed last week following heavy rains.

The Health Unit says it will continue weekly sampling at local beaches untill the end of the summer.

Kenora to Host Northwest Regatta

Rabbit Lake is going to be a busy place once again this weekend.

The Kenora Rowing Club will be hosting the Northwest International
Regatta.

Winnipeg was supposed to play host this year, but had to back out at the
last minute.

Urusula Wehner is one of the people tasked with organizing the regatta and
says things are coming together.

The Northwest Regatta attracts rowers from across northwestern
Ontario, Minnesota, and Manitoba.

Racing will begin Friday night.

New Bathrooms for Anicinabe

Kenora City Council is expected to approve a tender to replace the bathroom facilities at Aniciabe Park, even though the project is over budget.

The city had put aside 350 thousand dollars for the project in this years budget, but the lowest bid for the work came in at 475 thousand dollars.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says they have been able to reduce that cost by about 70 thousand dollars by making some changes.

Council has agreed to find an extra 79 thousand dollars in the 2010 capital budget
to proceed with the washroom facility at Anicinabe.

Its expected to be complete in time for next camping season.

No Spitting By-Law Proposed

Kenora Mayor Len Compton says a lot of interest has been generated by his idea to ban spitting in the city.

Compton raised the issue at a committee of the whole meeting this week.

He says he would like to see a by-law in place to deal with spitting.

The issue came to his attention after a recent farmer's market, where someone
complained about someone spitting under the big tent.

Compton says its an unsanitary practice and would like to see council take action
on the issue.

Compton says he's had media inquiries from Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and even
Ottawa in the past week.

Council supports voluntary Census

Don't expect Kenora City Council to support demands to bring back the long form census in 2011.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is urging municipal council's to pass a resolution asking the federal government to do away with a voluntary census next year to replace the long form census.

Kenora Mayor Len Compton says he's always refused to fill out the census because it requires too much personal information.

He feels much of the information could be garnered from other government departments such as Revenue Canada.

Councillor Dave McCann says he also doesn't like the fact that people can be jailed for
failing to fill out the census.

Another quiet year for Forest Fires

There isn't the concern there used to be about this years forest fire season.

After a busy start, rain has kept the Northwest Region's fire hazard in the mostly low to moderate range.  Debbie McLean of the Ministry of Natural Resources that's keeping the number of fires relatively low

So far this year, there has been just over 300 forest fires reported in the west fire region.

There were no new forest fires reported in the region over the weekend and all the rain yesterday
is expected to keep the fire hazard low for the next couple of days.

Funding Announced for area groups

Six area community groups will be sharing over 474 thousand dollars in provincial funding.


Ontario's Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best is providing the funding through her ministry's healthy community fund.


The Nishinawbe Aski Nation will be utilizing 120 thousand dollars for its "Girl Power Wolf Spirit" program.

Bearskin to offer flights to Minneapolis

Northwestern Ontario travelers may still have access to a daily flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul.


Delta Airlines has announced they are cutting their flight from Thunder Bay to Minneapolis this Fall.

However, Bearskin Airlines is reportedly stepping up to the plate to take over the route.

Vice-President Cliff Friesen says the company has begun the process.

Redditt Water Project Delayed

The community of Redditt north of Kenora will have to wait a little longer for

treated water.

The Redditt Local Services Board had hoped to begin work on a water treatment facility
this month, but those plans have been put on hold.

Jack Martin is chair of the Services Board and says costs of the project came in way over
their budget.

Martin says they had received over 550 thousand dollars from the federal and provincial
governments for the water treatment plant, but are now asking them for an extension.

Treaty Three Police Chief Resigns

The Treaty Three Police Service is looking for a new commanding officer.


Chief Conrad Delaronde submitted his resignation to the board at the end of
May.

The board has refused to comment on the reasons for Delaronde's departure.

Delaronde was hired in the fall of 2008.

His resignation followed on the heels of the departure of Deputy
Chief Louie Napish earlier this summer.

New KBI Winners

Mandamin and Carpenter weigh in at KBI)

Dennis Mandamin has been fishing KBI for the past 15 year and this year he finally is able

to call himself champion.

Mandamin and his partner Jason Carpenter from Whitedog beat out last years champions,

Brian McNanney and Matt Ryberg on the final day of the three day tournament.

Mandamin and Carpenter had a catch of 16.36 pounds on Saturday for a three day total

of 50.20 pounds.

McNanney and Ryberg had to settle for second with 48.73 pounds.

The leaders after day one and day two, Behn Carlson and Jon Pearson slipped to third

after weighing 13.17 pounds Saturday for a three day total of 48.44 pounds.

Team Canada easily won the Can/Am challenge weighing in just over 227 pounds of

bass over three days, compared to 185 pounds for Team USA

Keewatin Teams leads after Day 1 of KBI

The Keewatin duo of Behn Carlson and John Pearson have the distinction of leading the Kenora Bass International after day one.

They hauled in 19.55 pounds of bass yesterday, more than two pounds better than the second place team of Darren Marcine and Bart Stebnitsky.

In third place is the local team of Bruce and Tony Griffiths, at 16.85 pounds.

Team Canada leads the Can/Am Challenge by over 19 pounds after the first day of fishing.

Second day weigh-ins will take place at 4:00 this afternoon.

Harborfest Breaks Even

Harborfest organizers suggest that despite huge crowds over the weekend, the weekend event likely only broke even.

Dave Blake is one of the directors and says despite record bar sales Friday and Saturday night, they probably only managed to cover their costs.

Blake says they will be evaluating the success of the event over the next few weeks.

Blake says they expect to have a final report on Harborfest 2010's finances in the
next few weeks.

More Beach Closures announced

The Health Unit has been forced to close down three more beaches
for the weekend.

Recent test results for Rabbit Lake Beach, Garrow Beach and Anicinabe Beach show unacceptible bacteria levels.

The Health Unit conducts routine testing of the beaches during the summer and says water quality tests at the three beaches showed high levels of e-coli.

The beaches will be closed until water quality tests improve.