More calls for the Far North Act Hearings to be moved out of Toronto

The McGuinty government is being called out of touch, arrogant and uncaring about the north.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath is still hounding the government over it's refusal to hold forest tenure committee hearings outside of Toronto.

Horwath predicts however, the government won't change it's mind about the issue

The Real McCoys the final team to Qualify for the Allan Cup

The Dundas Real McCoys will be making their four straight appearance at the Allan Cup this year.

Dundas won the Ontario men's senior championship last night with a 8-5 victory

over the Norwood Vipers in the seventh and deciding game of their series last night.

The Real McCoys are the last of the six teams to qualify for next week's national championships.

Dominion Curling Club Playdowns start today

Lori Hoppe's Kenora Foursome will be in action today at the Dominion Curling Club Playdowns in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Kenora rink is one of six competing at the Northern Championships.

The Kenora foursome will take on Kakebecka Falls at 1:30 this afternoon in their first game.

Grassy Narrows to meet with Minister of MNR on forestry issues

After years of negotiations, it looks as if an end in the impasse between the Grassy Narrows First Nation and the provincial government over forest activity in their Traditional Land Use Area could be coming to an end.

A press conference is scheduled this morning in Thunder Bay with Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffray and Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister.

A press release issued by the MNR only says the two sides will discuss plans to move forward on forestry talks.

Former Supreme Court Justice, Frank Iacabucci will also be on hand.

He was hired by the province to help find a resolution to the impasse over

harvesting rights in the Grassy Traditional Land Use Area.

Police Use Spike Belt to Stop Pick-Up

A 33 year old Calgary man faces dangerous driving charges after a short police chase.

The OPP say officers tried to pull over a vehicle last night around 7:00 for speeding, but the driver refused to pull over.

A spike belt was deployed on Highway 17 east near Transmitter Road and a pick-up truck was finally forced off the road.

Police say the driver was taken to hospital for treatment of minor abrasions and was released a short time later.

Robert Reid remains in custody while the OPP continue to investigate the incident.

Voter Cards for May 2nd Election in the Mail

Voting cards for the May 2nd federal election should start showing up in local mail boxes over the next couple of days.

The returning office in Kenora began mailing out the cards last night.

Gerry Oulette is the returning officer and says while the vote is still four weeks away, local residents will be able to cast their ballot at three advance polls.

Oulette says local residents can also drop by the returning offices in Kenora and Dryden at any time to vote using a special ballot.

OPP Start Positive Ticketing Campaign Next Week

Who says it doesn't pay to be nice.

The OPP in conjunction with the Northwestern Health Unit are launching a positive ticketing program for local youth starting next week.

Constable Dave Cain says they want to reward kids who perform random acts of kindness.

Cain says the Health Unit managed to secure funding for the campaign, which will be carried out over the next couple of months in the Kenora area.

Police Board Concerned about Wild Dogs in the Community

Kenora's Police Services Board has raised concerns about a number of wild

dogs that have been roaming freely across the city.

Three dogs have been seen hunting down and killing deer all winter long.

Board member Glenda McMillan suggests as many as 18 deer have been killed by the dogs.

However, animal control officers haven't been able to get close enough to them to capture them.

She says the dogs are a real concern and wants to get an update from police next month about what's being done to deal with them.

Nurses Recommend Health Care Solutions for Northern Ontario

The Ontario Nurses' Association is urging the Provincial Government to act on a list of 13-recommendations on improving Health Care in Northern Ontario.

First Vice-President Vicki McKenna says a new ONA report on health services can't sit on the shelf and collect dust.

The ONA is demanding that socio-economic and environmental issues in Northern Ontario be examined in order to address the root causes of lower life expectancy.

NAFN Tournament Begins Tonight

A busy weekend at the Kenora Rec. Center.

The annual North American First Nation Tournament of Champions

gets underway this evening.

Jason Stevens is one of the organizers and says some big money is being offered up to the winners, 20 thousand dollars for the Open Division Champs and five thousand for the Oldtimer winners.

The old timers tournament begins this evening at the Thistle Rink, while the open tournament starts tomorrow morning.

The finals will take place Sunday evening.

Health Unit Moves Clinical Services Downtown

The Northwestern Health Unit is shuffling some of its services around in the community.

As of Monday, all of its clinical services have been centralized into office space in Market Square.

Mark Perreault is the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Unit and says the move just made strategic sense.

The news services available in Market Square include the needle exchange, sexual health clinics, travel information, infectious disease control and the tuberculosis program.

Council Members won`t get a raise in 2011

Members of Kenora City council won't be getting a pay raise this year,

but they will begin to look at the issue of their remuneration.

The city's finance committee is expected to hold discussions about

whether to raise councillor wages starting in 2012.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says there hasn't been any increases in

more than a decade.

He adds that it will become increasingly difficult to get people to run

for office if they don't address the issue.

Council has at least decided to increase the travel budget of councillors this year.

It previously had been capped at 500 dollars per council member.

Forest Tenure Bill Draws Ire of Northern Groups

The Provincial Government is getting an earful for its decision to not hold committee hearings on its new Forest Tenure Legislation in Northern Ontario.

Ontario Forest Industries Association spokesperson Scott Jackson says the McGuinty Liberals don't seem interested in the opinions of Northerners.

Minister of Northern Development Michael Gravelle says they still want to hear from area residents.

Hearings will be held in Toronto on April 11th and 13th.

Con College to Offer new Course in Kenora

Confederation College has received funding to offer a new pre-apprenticeship program in automotive and heavy equipment mechanics at its campuses in Fort Frances and Kenora this spring.

Don Bernosky, executive director of Innovation and Skills Development says it addresses a local demand.

The 275-thousand dollars in government money allows the College to begin offering the 40-week program this May.

Final Team for Allan Cup to be Determined Thursday

We are going to have to wait a couple of more days before we find out the 6th and final team competing at the Allan Cup finals here in Kenora.

The Norwood Vipers and forced a seventh and deciding game in the Major League Hockey senior AAA final last night with a 5-2 win over the Dundas Real McCoys.

The best-of-seven series, now tied 3-3, will be decided Thursday in Dundas.

The Allan Cup starts next Monday in Kenora.

JM Judo Club Collects five Medals in Edmonton

The JM Judo Club took five fighters to Edmonton for the International Judo Tournament at the West Edmonton Mall this past weekend and brought home five medals.

Ben and Kaitie Dennis won their respective divisions, while Thomas Hertz and Taylor Tom also won gold.

Daniel Gordon took home a bronze medal in the 46 kilo division.

This weekend, the club is heading to Steinbach for the Eastern Manitoba Championships.

More Traffic Tickets Issued in Kenora

Traffic tickets have been a big area of growth for the City of Kenora.

In the past year there has been a 65 percent increase in the number of

traffic tickets written in the city.

In 2010, police and by-law control officers generated about 85 hundred

tickets, compared to just 55 hundred the year before.

Due to the increase in fines, the city says it can afford to hire a part time

worker for the provincial offenses offices, to help with extra paperwork.

Rotary Auction Now On-Line

The annual Rotary Club Auction is all going to be on-line this year.

Bidding began Monday morning and is scheduled to wrap up later this week.

Nancy Tulloch is a Rotary Spokesperson and is encouraging local residents to take a look at their web-site.

Proceeds from the auction will go towards Rotary projects not only in the community, but around the world.

Five teams now Confirmed for the Allan Cup

One more team has qualified for next week's Allan Cup tournament in Kenora.

The Bentley Generals from Alberta advanced to the national senior men's championships with a 3-2 win over Fort St. John last night.

Bentley is the Pacific representitive.

Five of six teams in the week-long tournament have now been finalized.

The Ontario representitive could be decided by tonight.

The Dundas Real McCoys have a 3-2 series lead over the Norwood Vipers in their best-of-seven final.

Non Union City Staff to get Raises in 2011

Despite a provincial mandate to freeze salaries, it looks as if Kenora's

non-union staff will be getting a pay raise this year.

Last week during its budget deliberations, council approved both a cost

of living increase of 2.5 percent and also a grid movement for eligible

employees.

The cost of the pay raises could be an 80 thousand dollar hit to the

city's budget.

Councillor Ron Lunny says they would be bullies if they refused a pay increase for non-union staff, when unionized workers are getting a pay raise in 2011.