City Demanding Money to Repair Bridges

Its like being between a rock and a hard place.

That's how some members of city council have described this year's budget process.

Of particular concern is what to do with the city's aging bridges.

There's no money in the capital budget to fix them up, but Councillor Ron Lunny says they know the work has to be done eventually.

The West Winnipeg River Bridge, better known as the Husky Bridge, is the main priority for the city, and needs over 5.5 million dollars of repair work done.

Mayor Dave Canfield says he doesn't want to foot the bill for the project and is insisting the provincial government take back control over bridges from the municipality.

Camp on Lake of the Woods Destroyed by Fire

A fire to a camp on Lake of the Woods is believed to have caused more than a million dollars damage.

The OPP say they were contacted around 3:00 Sunday morning about a blaze in the area of Strawberry Island.

Police say the building was not occupied at the time and was completely

destroyed by the fire.

The Ontario Fire Marshall's office has been contacted, but will not be attending the scene.

The Camp belonged to Jim Richardson and was valued at about 1.6 million dollars.

First Student Canada wins school bussing contract in Kenora

A new company will be picking up kids for school in the Kenora

area next year.

The Northwestern Ontario Student Services Consortium, which handles

transportation issues for local school boards, has awarded a five year

contract to a company called First Student of Canada.

That company will be taking over from Excel Coachlines, which has

had the contract for several years.

The Student Services consortium says the tender process was part of a

provincially mandated initiative.

First Student will take over school bus service in Kenora this fall.

Tent Tenders for the Harborfront come in under budget

One of the items in the City's capital budget in 2011 is the tent covering for the festival park.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says they have received back

the tenders for the tent, and they are all under the 1.5 million dollars

that has been budgeted for the strucuture.

Perchuck says a report will be presented to the committee of the whole  next week for review.

Council still has to find a way of funding the tent structure

City Starts Budget Process

Kenora city council has started the long budget process for 2011.

Today councillors got a first hand look at the capital budget, which

calls for spending of 13 million dollars this year.

Chair of the finance committee Ron Lunny admits there are some

big challenges ahead.

Some of the items in this year's capital budget are completion of the Discovery Center and downtown revitalization, the harborfront tent, and a new pumper truck for the fire department.

HST to add to City's Budget Woes

The Harmonized Sales tax could have some impact on the City of Kenora's 2011 budget.

The provincial government has said repeatedly, the HST is revenue neutral, but Chief Adminstrative officer of the city, Karen Brown expects the HST will add about 1.7 percent to its spending.

She says city department's will have to take that into account when drafting their operating budget's this year.

NOACC supports Northern Growth Plan

The Northwestern Associated Chambers of Commerce is another organization on board with the Northern Growth Plan.

NOACC President Barry Streib says the proposed Northern Policy Institute is welcome by the chambers

While critics say the plan has no substance, Streib believes the framework is there to guide growth into

the future.

Rafferty Demands HST be taken off gasoline

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty believes gas prices in northwestern Ontario are out of control.

In the House of Commons Friday, Rafferty says removal of the HST would help bring them down.

Rafferty says studies suggest the recent increase in prices is netting the federal government almost 7-million dollars each week

Agent Orange Panel being set up

Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey says an independent panel into Ontario's use of Agent Orange will be up and running by the end of the week.

She says she will likely name the head of the panel within the next few days.

Close to 650 calls have flooded provincial hotlines in the wake of recent revelations that Agent Orange was used in Ontario for more than three decades.

Saints Aim for Gold at OFSAA

The Thomas Aquinas senior girls volleyball team is in Belleville today for the start of the All-Ontario Single A championships.

Saints head coach Bob Kowal says this is probably the best team he has taken to OFSAA.

The Saints go into the tournament as the number one ranked team.

Their first game is at 8:00 this morning against People's Christian Acadamy from Toronto, which is the lowest seed at OFSAA.