Nestor Falls Leads Ultimate Fishing Town Contest

Nestor Falls is number one.

At least for now.

The tiny community south of Kenora has put up huge numbers in voting

in the World Fishing Network's Ultimate Fishing Town Contest.

Nestor Falls took the lead this morning after trailing Port Alberni, British Columbia since the beginning of the contest.

Voting will wrap up one week from today.

The winning community will get a cheque for 25 thousand dollars.

New Fire Truck on Tour

Kenora's new fire truck is being shown off this week to a large group of interested by-standers.

The Metro Star Pumper is being show-cased at the national convention of the Canadian Fire Chiefs

in St. John, New Brunswick.

The new fire truck won't fit in the old fire hall on Second Street South, and can't be moved yet

into the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

So the company that sold the fire truck to Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department has asked if they could take the vehicle on a tour of Canada to show it off.

After leaving New Brunswick, it will head to Brandon, Manitoba before it arrives at its new home in
Kenora. 

More Funding for Skills Training

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is getting funding from the federal government to offer a skills training program.

The program will be offered in Kenora and Dryden and will help a number of young adults make the transition into the workforce or allow them to return to school.

190 thousand dollars is been promised through the Good Job Skills Training project.

Under the program, students will attend employability workshops and get on-the-job

training through work placements.

The funding will allow as many as 24 people to enter the program.

Another Public Information Center on Highway 17 Twinning

It looks as if a final route for the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Kenora is

going to be delayed for a few more months.

At least two more public information sessions are planned before a final decision is made.

The next open house will be held on October 2nd at the Kenora Legion.

The consultant tasked with doing the route plan says the additional public information centers

have been arranged to deal with some of the concerns raised by residents in the Clearwater

Bay area.

A final route plan is expected to be presented at a fourth public information session sometime early in 2011 and the prelimiary design is scheduled to be unveiled by summer of next year.

DSSAB Accepts City Offer for Land Ambulence Base

The Kenora District Services Board has come to an agreement with the City of Kenora's on the location

of a new land ambulence base.

The two sides issued a joint release saying that the offer of land west of the new fire hall on

14th Street North has been accepted.

The city has offered the property at no cost to the Services Board.

Chair of the land ambulence committee, Garry Parkes says after 10 years of searching for a suitable location, they are now a step further towards construction of a new facility.

Once terms and conditions of the agreement are finalized, the Services Board is expected to

begin moving ahead with development of the new land ambulence base.

Catholic Board Pleased with most EQAO Results

The Kenora Catholic District School Board says there is still some room for improvement in the most recent grade three, grade six and grade nine standardized test results.

While there was improvement in grade three reading and grade six reading and writing, results for grade three math and math and grade six math decreased.

Assistant Superintendant of School Effectiveness, Mary Cunningham says they are looking at ways of improving their test results.

Cunningham adds that math results for grade nine students in both the applied and academic streams

were well above the provincial average.

Parson Curtails Campaign Appearances

Most candidates running in the October 25th municipal elections are just getting

their campaigns up to full steam.

But at least one person is being forced to curtail his campaign appearances.

Jim Parson is one of three people running for mayor, and says due to an illness in his family, he won't be making any public appearances over the next couple of months.

There are three all-candidate forums next week, but Parsons says he will not be able to attend.

He says his heart is still in the election race and won't be withdrawing from the mayoralty race.

Broncos win on the Road

Beaver Brae's football team is off to a promising start to the season.

The Broncos crushed Maples on Friday 28-6, improving their record to 2-0 in the Winnipeg High

School Football League.

Beaver Brae's next test is Thursday at home against Kildonan East.

The Reivers are also unbeaten after two games. 

Thistles see first action of the season

It was a good weekend for the Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles.

The Thistles were in Beausejour for a pre-season tournament.

The Kenora Midgets finished the tournament with a record of three wins and one loss.

They wrapped up the tournament with a 5-2 win over the Interlake Lightning yesterday.

Thomas Aquinas win KIVT

The Thomas Aquinas Saints won the Kenora Invitational Junior Boys Volleyball tournament over the weekend.

The tournament was played at both Beaver Brae and T.A. Friday and Saturday.

The Saints finished the round robin with a 10-2 record, and beat Whitefish Bay in two straight games in the semi-finals.

T.A. met up with Fort Frances in the final, and managed to beat the Muskies two games to one.

Treaty Three Opposes Far North Act

Grand Council Treaty Three has joined the ground swell of opposition against the Far North Act.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says she's worried the provincial government is taking away some of the decision making over their traditional lands.

Kelly says aboriginal commities are the only growing population in the north and wants the provincial government to recognize their jurisdiction in the region.

She adds that the Toronto-based discussions and consultations on Bill 191 are not  appropriate for decisions that affect the far north.

She sugges bi-lateral talks take place between the Province Ontario and Treaty Three.

Three All-Candidate Forums in three days

Candidates running for Kenora city council are going to be busy next week.

Three all-candidate forums for mayor and council will take place over three days.

One week from today, the Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce will be holding a forum at the Super 8 motel.

That will be followed up a night later with a all-candidates forum with the Local Young
Business Professionals group at the Rotary Room in the Kenora Rec. Center.

And on Wednesday the 29th, the Kenora Seniors Coalition will be holding its own forum for the candidates in the same location the next morning.

The official vote in the municipal elections is October 25th, but vote by mail
ballots should be in the mailbox by the end of next week.

Strike at NOSM continues

Contract talks between the North Ontario School of Medicine and

the union representing more than 150 workers have broken off.

OPSEU local 677 says the talks collapsed yesterday after four

days of mediation.

The union says a bit of progress was made, but there's no word when talks might resume.

Outstanding issues include contracting out, transfers to alternate locations, hours of work, overtime and wages.

The administrative, technical and clerical staff work at campuses at Laurentian University in Sudbury and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and satellite campuses in Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.

OFAH weighs in Federal Gun Registry Vote

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is disappointed that a number of NDP Members

of Parliament have reversed their decision to dismantle the federal long gun registry.

A vote on the registry is scheduled to be held this week on Parliament Hill.

Greg Ferrant is a spokesperson for the OFAH and says the issue is becoming a bit of a

political football.

Ferrant says the vote is too close to call, and isn't willing to predict is the private members

will to kill the long gun registry will pass or not.

Rickford ready for new session of Parliament

Members of Parliament go back to work today after a summer on the barbeque circuit.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says it looks like its going to be a busy session.

In addition to a number of government bills on the agenda, Rickford says he'll be speaking out against a private members bill by Toronto area M.P. John McKay on corporate accountability.

Rickford adds that the other major vote this week will take place on Wednesday on the

federal long gun registry.

He says at this point the vote is too close to call.

NAN continues lobby effort against Far North Act

Northwestern Ontario First Nations say they will not recognize the Far North Act if it's passed by the provincial legislature.

Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy says the voices of First Nations people in Northern Ontario are being ignored.

The bill would block up to 42-percent of Ontario's land mass from development, protecting 225-thousand square kilometres of boreal forest.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation represents 49 First Nation communities in an area covering two thirds of the province.

Passage of Far North Act Delayed

The contraversial Far North Act still hasn't been passed into law.

Bill 191 was supposed to be up for third and final reading Thursday afternoon

at Queen's Park.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P. Howard Hampton says the vote never took place because there were just too many people demonstrating against the legislation.

Hampton believes the premier will try to ram the bill through this fall.

Hampton suggests the premier will try to bring the bill back for final passage

just before the Thanksgiving long weekend, when there will be less attention

on Queen's Park.

Rafferty to Oppose Federal Long Gun Registry

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty is standing firm on his position on the long-gun registry.

In a statement issued yesterday, Rafferty reiterated his decision to vote in favour of a Conservative private members bill that proposed to scrap the registry.

Rafferty says he's following the wishes of his constituents by doing so.

Richards Ready for Training Camp

The leaves are starting to fall, so that must mean NHL training camps are getting ready to open.

Players begin reporting to their teams today.

Mike Richards is the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and says while the teams made a number of upgrades on defense, they will be sticking with the same goaltending tandem that go them through the play-offs.

Richards says they expect to make another strong play-off run again this year, after

coming within two games of winning the Stanley Cup in June.

Junior Boys Volleyball Tournament this weekend

The Beaver Brae and Thomas Aquinas junior boys volleyball teams get their first real tests this weekend.

The annual Kenora Invitation Volleyball tournament will be taking place at both the Beaver Brae and T.A. gyms.

The Broncos see their first action of the season at 1:00 against a Fort Frances split squad.

The Saints play their first game an hour later at 2:00 against the other Muskies split squad.

A total of seven teams are entered in the two day tournament.