City Seeks 5 Million Dollar line of Credit

The City of Kenora may have millions of dollars socked away in reserves, but it doesn't have a lot of cash on hand.

That's forced city council to request a five million dollar line of credit.

Chair of the finance committee, Ron Lunny says this is the first time the
city has had to open a line of credit to pay off some of its outstanding bills.

Lunny says the city has traditionally kept between seven and ten million dollars in its checking account, but that's been depleted by a number of major projects going on in the city, including the new fire hall, the Paterson Medical Clinic and the downtown revitalization project.

Crackdown demanded on Illegal Taxis

The City of Kenora is being asked to crack down on illegal taxis operating in the community.

Tim Fullmer is one of the owners of Blue Taxi and says there are a number of vehicles operating both full and part time, that are not licenced by the city.

Fullmer says they've already talked to the OPP about the situation, and they want to launch a sting operation. 

Mayor Dave Canfield says they'll get the appropriate department in the city to deal with the issue.

Council Nominates Martin for Lakehead Fellowship

A Redditt resident has been nominated for a prestigious honor.

Kenora City Council has put forward Jack Martin's name a Lakehead University

fellowship.

Martin is a Lakehead graduate and has spearheaded the water treatment plant

project in Redditt and is one of the orginal founders of the Triple Play program.

Past nominees for the Lakehead fellowship include Rod Shewchuck and Don Parfitt.

Saints take three of four from Sioux Lookout

The Thomas Aquinas Saints took three of four games against the Sioux Lookout Warriors in court sport action.

The T.A. Senior boys basketball team eked out a 50-49 victory over the Warriors.

Alex Gamboa led the offense with 17 points.

The Saints junior boys had an easier time of it, cruising to a 57-34 win over Sioux Lookout.

Patrick Van Bellingham led all scorers with 19 points.

In girls volleyball, the T.A. senior girls won in three straight sets, while the Thomas Aquinas junior girls suffered the lone loss of the day. They were upset three sets to one by the Warriors.

Today, Rainy River is in town to take on the Saints in the last action for the teams before
the Christmas break.

One person injured in By-Pass Accident

The OPP say there were no serious injuries as a result of a single vehicle accident on the Kenora By-Pass.

The accident took place shortly after noon yesterday near the intersection of Beryl Winder Road.

Police say an eastbound vehicle lost control and struct the guard rails on the north side of Highway 17-A.

The vehicle flipped over, blocking both lanes of the road.

The By-Pass was shut down for about an hour while the wreckage was cleared.

The driver sustained only minor injuries as a result of the roll-over.

Contracts for Emergency Dispatch on Council Agenda

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department says its pleased with

they way emergency calls are being dispatched in the city.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman is recommending that city council extend a

contract with the Kenora Central Ambulence Communications Center.

Brinkman says it would cost a lot of money to try and provide the same type

of service in-house.

Brinkman says they budget about 50 thousand dollars a year for dispatching calls to the fire department.

Council is expected to endorse the five year contract at tonight's open meeting.

Saints Girls Senior Volleyballers win gold

The Thomas Aquinas Senior Girls Volleyball team  is starting to hit mid-season form, even though the NorWOSSA regular season is just a couple of weeks old.

The Saints were in Thunder Bay for the Westgate spike-off.

T.A. topped the field of 13 teams entered in the two day tournament.

Thomas Aquinas went through the round robin with a 10-2 win/loss record then proceeded to win their quarter-final and semi-finals.

The Saints met up with Dryden in the gold medal match and T.A. ended up sweeping the Eagles in two straight games, to win the event.

Thomas Aquinas Court sport teams are back in action today with Sioux Lookout in town.

Morningstar Center Gets Funding for Housing Project

Lake of the Woods District Hospital and the Morningstar Center are gettinding for a new

supportive housing project in Kenora.

The project is aimed at people with addictions issues.

Patti Dryden-Holmstrom is with the Morningstar Center and says they will be getting annual funding of 84 thousand dollars to provide supportive housing for up to eight people.

Dryden-Holmstrom says they will be working with an existing program already being provided
in the community.

The funding was announced recently by the Northwest Local Health Integration Network.

Emergency Dispatch Contract presented to Council

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department says its pleased with they way emergency calls are being dispatched in the city.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman is recommending that city council extend a

contract with the Kenora Central Ambulence Communications Center.

Brinkman says they budget about 50 thousand dollars a year for dispatching calls to the fire department.

He says the Communications Center is a state of the art facility and has worked

very well since it was opened a couple of years ago.

Council is expected to endorse the five year contract at tonight's open meeting.

MPP's head home for Christmas Break

Members of the Ontario Provincial Parliament are back in their home ridings after

a tumultuous session adjourned for the Christmas Holidays.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton says two recent reports released last

week show the McGuinty Government is increasingly out of touch with the residents

of Ontario.

With an election looming next fall, Hampton says the next sitting of the Legislature

will likely be just as lively.

M.P.P.'s don't return to Queen's Park until late February.

City Daycare rates rising

Parents who have their kids enrolled in the city run daycare facility will have to

pay a bit more in the new year.

Kenora City Council is expected to approve a dollar a day increase for the Castle of

Learning and Discovery Children's Center starting January 1st.

Rates will increase to 30 dollars a day.

Chair of the Community Services Committee, Charito Drinkwalter says the rates are in line

with other agencies and municipally run day care centers in the region.

Council is planning to approve the rate increase at tonight's open meeting.

Weekend hockey results

The Thomas Aquinas boys hockey team just missed out on a medal at a tournamentin Kilarney, Manitoba over the weekend.

The Saints finished fourth out of eight teams entered in the tournament.

T.A. lost 5-2 to Minnedosa in the Bronze medal game.

The Saints play their home opener on Thursday night against Sioux Lookout.

Beaver Brae's boys hockey team continues to have a tough time winning in Fort Frances.

The Muskies downed the Broncos 4-1 Friday night.

Beaver Brae meets up with Fort against tomorrow night in the back end of their
home-and home series.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "a" senior Thistles split their games over the
weekend.

Saturday, the Thistles were in Grunthal to take on the Southeast Prairie Thunder
and were thumped 7-1.

Friday night, the Kenora Seniors beat the Fort Frances Thunder Hawks 5-3.

Jeff Richards had goals in both games.

The Thistles are off until the new year.

The Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles split their games against the Brandon Wheat Kings

at home this weekend.

Yesterday the Kenora Midgets were edged 5-4 by the Wheat Kings.

Saturday, the Thistles upended Brandon 7-4.

Beach Boy Tickets Selling Quickly

Beach Boy tickets are going faster than a Little Deuce Coupe.

The tickets went on sale this morning and despite a computer glitch, all the 100 dollar and 79 dollar tickets have been sold out.

Heather Paterson is Kenora's Tourism Development Officer and says they aren't sure if or even when they will be able to resume internet sales.

Paterson says so far one thousand of the 15 hundred tickets up for sale have been sold for the June 15th concert.

Last Day for Ice Candle Sales

Today is the last day to pre-order your ice candles at Lake of the Woods Cemetary.

The ice candles will be placed at grave sites on Christmas eve.

Barb Manson says you don't have to have a loved one interred at the cemertary in order to buy an ice candle.

Manson says once again this year, there will be a special ceremony at the Cemetary in the afternoon of December 24th to begin the lighting of the ice candles.

Communities lobby for new E.M.O. Officer

The City of Kenora is supporting a resolution calling on the provincial government to hire a new emergency measures officer for northwestern Ontario.

The current field officer is based in Thunder Bay but is getting set to retire.

Kenora Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says the field officer covers a lot of territory.

Brinkman says the Emergency Measures Field Officer provides a valuable service to local communities, including training and help during community emergencies.

Safe Communities Kenora report card

Kenora's Safe Communities Committee believes there is still room to improve their program locally.

The National Safe Communities organization recently released its report card and Kenora scored 17.5 out of 20, which is better than the provincial and the national

average.

Maria Bagdonis is one of the committee members and says one of the areas they scored well was in community involvement.

Bagdonis says their Safe Communities Committee need work to get more people involved at the executive level and to make their program more sustainable over the long run.

Beer heist in Dryden

The great Northern Ontario heist.

Someone in Dryden managed to steal 63-cases of Labatt's beer from a Transport parked at Husky Wednesday night.

Dryden Police say the culprit or culprits walked the 22-hundred dollars worth of beer north to Pioneer Road and then drove off on a snowmachine.

The suspects left behind one case of suds on the trail.

Police say entry was gained by cutting the lock.

Officers also located a box containing a fax machine, which was reported stolen from a military transport the same night.

Gingerbread Lane this weekend

Its time to take a stroll down Gingerbread Lane.

The Making Kenora Home Committee is holding the fundraiser
this weekend.

Dan Jorgenson is one of the committee members and says they will
be auctioning off 50 or more gingerbread houses tomorrow at the Jubilee Church.

Organizers say they are still accepting donations of gingerbread houses that can be entered into the auction.

AbitibiBowater to exit Bankruptcy protection

AbitibiBowater says its successfully completed its reorganization and has emerged from creditor protection.

President and CEO David Paterson says they've transformed the organization and given AbitibiBowater a new future -- one driven by a company-wide commitment to profitability and sustainability.

Trading of the companies shares is expected to resume today.

More money for paving next year

It looks as if the City of Kenora will be able to keep about a million dollars from this year's paving budget for projects next year.

The City was way under budget for its paving this year and Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says they'd like to use that surplus to continue the Gateway Rehabilitation project on Highway 17 west.

Perchuck says they plan to pave about 2.4 kilometers of Lakeview Drive east of the Keewatin

Bridge next year.

Graffiti fines to be lowered

Kenora City council is considering some changes to the new Graffitti By-Law.

Currently, the set fine for defacing public or private property is a thousand dollars.

Parks Supervisor, Barb Manson says since most of the people they catch  are youth, its hard for them to come up with the thousand dollar fine.

She says the fine has been lowered to 200 dollars.

Manson adds that the city can only recommend the fine amount because its ultimately up to a judge to determine how much a young offender will have to cough up.

Vacancy Rate in Kenora rises

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation suggests that low interest rates may be one reason behind an increase in vacancy rates in Kenora.

The most recent statistics show the vacancy rate was 3.9 percent in October, up from 0.8 percent the year before.

Warren Philp is a market analyst with the CMHC and says this is the first significant

increase in vacancy rates in four years.

On the flip-side, the average cost to rent a two bedroom unit in Kenora has gone up from 732 dollars last year to 799 dollars this year.

OPP in Sioux Lookout investigate Sudden Death

OPP in Sioux Lookout are investigating the death of a 41-year-old Cat Lake First Nation woman.

Police recieved a missing persons report on Wednesday and officers learned that the woman had been out in a remote wooded area.

Officers searched the area and found the body of Doris Loon.

The date of a post-mortem examination in Kenora hasn't been determined.

Festival Of Trees continues to Give

The Festival of Trees continues to give.

Darlene McGillvary is the executive director of the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation and says many of the trees that were purchased last Friday have

been donated to other community groups.

She says of the 25 trees sold at auction, 11 have been donated to local agencies, such as the Hospital Foundation, Pinecrest Home for the Aged and Club Day Away.

McGillvary says they also managed to meet their fundraising target for the festival of trees, generating over 25 thousand dollars from the three day event.

Tourism Marketing Money Promised for Kenora

Tourism Kenora is planning a couple of winter marketing campaigns aimed at the U.S. and southern Manitoba.

The City of Kenora has been promised 150 thousand dollars in funding from the new regional tourism organization for northern Ontario.

Economic Development Officer, Jennifer Findlay says they will be partnering with other communities in the region to role out the marketing campaigns.

Rasmussen says 110 thousand dollars will go towards a winter marketing campaign aimed at the Winnipeg market, while the other is a 40 thousand dollar campaign targeting U.S. visitors.

Kenora's Daycare shortage raised at Queen's Park

The provincial government is being asked to do something about the lack of licenced daycare spaces in Kenora.

NDP Leader Andrea Horvath says the issue was brought to her attention by a Kenora parent recently.

Horvath says there is over a year waiting list for licenced daycare in Kenora.

The government says its all-day everyday kindergarten program in local school should help ease the situation.

School Boards elect new Executives

A crowbar may be needed to pry Dave Penny away from the seat of the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board.

The representative of Ignace was re-elected Tuesday night to his 7th consecutive term as Chair.

Kenora's Cecille Marcino was once again re-elected Vice-Chair.

Over at the Kenora Catholic District School Board, Mike Favreau is back as chair, after serving as vice-chair for the past two years.

Frank Bastone was elected vice-chair at the inaugural meeting this week.

Council agrees to meet over Fire Hall Artifacts

Kenora City Council says its willing to sit down with Heritage Kenora and fire chief Warren Brinkman to talk about moving a couple of items from the old fire hall on Second Street South up to the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

Currently the call box and the fire bell in the old fire hall are designated as two heritage

artifacts and can't be removed.

In order to remove them, council would have to amend the current designation by-law.

Council says its wants to listen to both sides of the story and before deciding what to do with the

artifacts.

Brinkman says they want the call box and bell because they sentimental value for the
fire fighters.

Another Alberta Clips Hits Kenora

The Kenora area is getting whacked by another Alberta Clipper.

The system moved into the area early this morning and is expected to deposit about five centimeters of snow.

Mark Seifert is a meteorologist with Environment Canada and says the system is moving pretty fast.

Seifert says while the temperature will rise to about -5 today, cold, clear conditions are expected to return by the weekend.

Health Unit expects reduction in Municipal Levy

A drop in the population of the Kenora and Rainy River Districts is going to hurt the Northwestern Health Unit in the pocket book.

The Health Unit says the population in the region has dropped by almost 38 hundred people in the past five years.

Since the Health Unit's levy is based on a per capita basis, it estimates that local municipalities will be contributing about 204 thousand dollars less in 2011.

The Health Unit is currently working on its 2011 budget and expects to present it to the new board at its February meeting.

Council debates funding for Harborfront Tent

Just over a day on the job and Kenora City Council is already being faced with some tough decisions.

Yesterday afternoon council spent a long time debating whether to go ahead with a permanent tent structure to complete phase two of the downtown revitalization project.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says their initial estimates for the tent are 1.5 million dollars.

Mayor Dave Canfield says council is caught between a rock and a hard place because if they don't put out a tender for the tent, they can't finish the project.

At the same time, no money has been budgeted for the tent structure and he doesn't know where the funding is going to come from.

IJC Task Force Meets with City Council

A task force set up by the International Joint Commission to look at water quality issues

on Lake of the Woods says its getting lots of feedback.

The Task Force has to report back to the IJC by July of 2011 with its findings.

Kelli Saunders is the Canadian Secretary of the Task Force and says they've been getting lots of feedback.

Saunders says they will be drafting a work plan for the Lake of the Woods in the new year and will bring back their draft recommendations to local stakeholders by the spring.

Rickford applauds infrastructure extension

Ontario's Auditor General says fewer jobs were created in the first year of the federal/provincial infrastructure program than expected, but Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford is questioning that finding.

Rickford says statistics released by the federal government show there was definite job gains not only in this riding, but right across Canada.

Rickford adds that the six month extension for the completion of infrastructure jobs announced last week by the federal government is good news for a number of communities in the far north, which have a shorter construction season.

Broncos and Saints win on the road

     Beaver Brae's girls hockey team has improved to a perfect 7-0 in NorWOSSA league play.

The Broncos blanked the Red Lake Rams 2-0 in Red Lake last night.

Hunter Becks earned the shutout, while Erin Gasparini and Kaitlyn Sparkman

scored for Beaver Brae.

The Broncos are back on the road this weekend with a tournament in Portage

La Prairie.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas Boys hockey team has started their NorWOSSA league schedule on the right foot.

The Saints nipped Sioux Lookout 4-3 last night in overtime.

Colt Manson scored the game winner, while Teddy Baily, Tyler Caron and Trevor each
added singles.

A successful road trip for the T.A. court sport teams.

They played Atikokan and Rainy River Monday and Tuesday and won seven of the eight games played.

Yesterday in Rainy River, the Saints senior boys basketball team got 28 points from Devon Luby en route to a 64-49 win over the Owls.

The Thomas Aquinas junior boys also won downing Rainy 55-21.

On the volleyball courts, the T.A. senior girls won 3-0 over the Owls, while the Saints junior girls lost the only game of the road trip, losing three straight games to Rainy River.

Snow leads to arrest of Thieves

All the snow is making it easier for local police to solve crimes.

The OPP say they were called out to a residence in Minaki over the weekend following a break-in.

Police say a quantity of food was stolen from the fridge.

Officers managed to follow the foot prints of the culprits to their hideout.

A 20 year old man and a 17 year old male youth have both been charged with break, enter and theft.

Jeffrey Questions NDP Allegations

Ontario Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffery says show me the proof!

The NDP's Gilles Bisson claims road access to some remote lakes in the North is being cut off in favour of tourist outfitters.

Jeffery says she needs specific details.

Jeffery says there are instances where road access is being controled to protect those remote areas.

Cold Weather here for a while

Get ready for some long johns weather.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather says a cold Arctic air is making its way over the area and will stick around for a little while.

Laidlaw says we will get a short break from the cold Thursday but by the weekend we'll be right back into the deep freeze.

Canfield delivers Inaugural Address

New Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield is putting to rest any suggestion the city will use any of the Citizan's Prosperity Fund to help pay for any new infrastructure projects.

In his inaugural address, Canfield says if he has his way, council won't be allowed to touch the principal of the 41 million dollar trust fund.

While Canfield presented a sobering picture of the city's finances, he did promise to grow Kenora's economic base and also its population again.

OPP warn of poor ice conditions

The Kenora OPP are advising local snowmobilers not to head out on any local bodies of water just yet.

Over the weekend, four snowmobiles went through the ice of local lakes.

Constable Dave Cain says while the temperatures have been relatively cold, there has been too much snow to make good ice.

There was one fatality over the weekend, after a 55 year old man died after going through the ice of a lake near Ingolf.

Houston Lake Plans more Drilling near Kenora

Houston Lake Mining says it plans to do more drilling on its property southwest of Kenora this winter.

The company has been conducting exploration work on its West Cedartree property near
Sioux Narrows for a number of years.

Company president Trevor Walker admits they have lost some ground to other exploration companies like Rainy River Resources, but is still bullish on their gold project.

He says they recently secured 10 million dollars in funding to continue their
exploration work.

New Members of Council Sworn In

Some changes are being made to the committee structure at City Hall.

At the swearing in ceremony this morning, the six members of council were assigned their committee duties for the next year.

A couple of new committees have been created and a couple have been eliminated altogether.

One of the new committees is Corporate Services, which Rory McMillan will be taking charge of.

McMillan had been chair of the former Finance and Administration Committee.

Ron Lunny take over as chair of the Finance Committee, while Sharon Smith is chair of Economic Development and Hydro, which is another new committee.

Charito Drinkwalter has been named chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee,
while Louis Roussin heads up Property and Planning.

Rod McKay is the new chairman of the Operations Committee.

Snowmobiler dies near Ingolf

A 55 year old man is dead following a snowmobiling accident near Ingolf.

The OPP say the incident took place Friday afternoon around 4:30 after

a sled went through the ice on Longpine Lake.

While a passenger managed to get out of the water to safety, the

driver had to be rescued by emergency personnel.

Rick Schween was pronounced dead at Lake of the Woods District Hospital.

The OPP say in the past week there have been numerous incidents of snowmachines going through the ice on Rabbit Lake, Round Lake and Laurenson's Lake.

Hospital coping with bed shortage

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says its been dealing with its bed shortage, even
though they haven't seen many of their patients moved into long term care facilities.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belaen says 13 patients are still waiting for a bed
of open up in either the Kenora District Home for the Aged or Birchwood.

He adds they are still waiting for word from the Ministry of Health, that as many as
10 beds could be opened at Pinecrest.

Belcaen says there is a lot of demand for the Alternate Level of Care beds, but they
have been managing pretty well in recent weeks.

Snowmobiles fall through ice

It's the old saying:  if you don't know, don't go.


Over the weekend, there have been numerous reports of snowmobiles going
through the ice of local lakes and rivers.

Sleds have fallen through thin ice on Round Lake, Laurenson's Creek and
Shoal lake over the past couple of days.

Fortunately, no one was injured in those incidents, but caution is
advised when heading out.

The heavy snow, hasn't allowed the ice to thicken up very much so far.

New Edition Council to be sworn in today

A big day for the new edition of Kenora City Council.


Council members will be publically sworn in at a formal ceremony in
Council Chambers.

Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield says he's met individually with each of the six
council members to determine which committees they will be sitting on over
the next few years.

The swearing in will take place starting at 11:00 this morning.

Council gets down to work tomorrow, with their first committee meetings slated
for 2:30.

PLT deadline extended

A victory for property owners who pay the provincial land tax.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton sent an open letter to Premier McGuinty demanding he extend the deadline to pay 2010 property tax bills.

Hampton says his constituency offices have been overwhelmed by calls from people who have been told they have just day's to pay or face penalties.

The province has agreed to extend the deadlines, the first payment to January 31st, and the
second at the end of February.

Broncos Win, Thistles lose

A disappointing weekend for the Kenora Triple "A" midget Thistles.

The Thistles were tripped up 8-1 yesterday at the Kenora Rec. Center by the
Central Plains Capital.

Friday night, the Winnipeg Wild walked away with a 4-1 win over the Kenora Midgets.

Meanwhile, the Beaver Brae Girls Hockey team continues to roll along.

The Broncos nipped the Fort Frances Muskies 5-4 Friday night, to remain
unbeaten in NorWOSSA League Play.

Beaver Brae hits the road tomorrow night to take on the Rams in Red Lake.

Tourism Kenora planning more special events

Tourism Kenora says its plans to host more special events in the months ahead.

On Friday, it was announced that the Beach Boys would be playing the Kenora Harborfront on June 15th.

Heather Paterson is the city's Tourism Development Officer and says now that they are under the umbrella of the Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission, they will be doing more of this kind of special event promotion..

Tickets for the Beach Boys will go on sale this Friday.

Beach Boys coming to town

Tourism Kenora says you will be hearing some good vibrations coming from the Harborfront next spring.

The Beach Boys have been signed to play one night under the big tent.

The iconic 60's California Surf band will entertain local residents on
Wednesday, June 15th.

Chair of the Kenora Economic Development Commission, Dennis Wallace says this is not just a concert, but an economic impact event for the city.

Tickets for the all-ages concert will go on sale on December 10th.

Prices range from 59 to 100 dollars.

New Name for merging Children's Aid Societies

The new children's aid society for the Kenora and Rainy River District will have a new name.

Kenora-Patricia Child and Family Services and Family and Children's Services of the District of Rainy River will officially merge on April 1st of next year.

Agency staff, foster parents and children all were given the opportunity to come up with
a new name for the amalgamated children's aid society.

The transitional leadership team has come up with new name of Kenora-Rainy River Districts
Child and Family Services.

A new logo for the joint is still being worked on by staff.

Fort Frances man jailed on Sex Charges

A 44year-old man has been convicted of  three counts of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual interference in relation to an historical sexual assault investigation.


Fort Frances OPP charged Garry Mathewson back in July with several sexual offences.

The offences involved three male victims and took place within the Rainy River and Thunder Bay District's between 1992 and 1999.

Mathewson has been ordered into custody to serve 66 months concurrent with 141 days of pre-sentence custody.

He must register with the sexual offenders information registry and submit DNA samples.

Mathewson is also prohibited from attending any place with children for ten years and can't own a firearm for his lifetime.

Paterson Medical Clinic officially opens

Kenora's newest medical facility has celebrated its grand opening.

The Paterson Medical Clinic on Tunnel Island held its ribbon cutting last night.

Don Parfitt is chair of the Kenora Health Center Board and says the total project will cost about 7.5 million dollars once all is said and done.

Dr. Buzz Pederson is with the Sunset Family Heath Team and says the new facility makes it a lot easier for doctors to do their jobs.

Other tennants in the new building include the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and
the Community Care Access Center.

Hospital reports a surplus

Lake of the Woods District Hospital continues to operate in the black.

Through the first seven months of this fiscal year, the hospital had a surplus
of 341 thousand dollars.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belcaen says he's confident they will be able to
break even on their operations by the end of the year.

He says tradionally the winter months are a little lean for generating extra income,
because they don't see the same number of patients from Manitoba and the U.S.

CP Holiday Train stops in Kenora this weekend

The Canadian Pacific 'Holiday Train' rolls into Northwestern Ontario this weekend.

The train will arrive Saturday in Vermilion Bay at 1:45, then Kenora at 3:45.

Spokesperson Kevin Hrysak says the train has become a festive tradition.

Canadian rockband 'The Odds' will be performing and Santa Claus will be on hand
at the CP Rail Yard behind the WholeSale Club.

Report looks at retaining grads in NWO

Northwestern Ontario's labour force has a hard time retaining post secondary graduates.

That's one of the findings in a report created by an economist at Lakehead University.

Author Livio Di Mateo says the first step retaining our youth is to create a graduate survey.

The report recommends retention incentive programs and employer surveys.

MPP calls for insurance rebate for snow tires

A northwestern Ontario member of the Ontario Legislature wants insurance companies to give motorists who use snow tires a break.

Thunder Bay Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro introduced a motion last week calling for

rebates for any one putting the heavy duty tires on.

Mauro calls it a win win situation.

Young Drivers of Canada says while snow tires do help in poor conditions, safe driving

habits are just as important to avoiding collisions in bad weather.

NDP Complain about public access to remote lakes

The NDP are concerned about reports of tourist outfitters being given exclusing access to Northern lakes and crown land.


People have been contacting Natural Resources Critic Gilles Bisson stating signs have been posted saying only Tourist Outfitters can access the lake.

Bisson says he's been raising the issue with Minister Linda Jeffrey.

Bisson says most of the closed off lakes are in the Wawa area but notes it's probably happening in the rest of the Northwest as well.

NorWOSSA Second Season Begins today

The second season in NorWOSSA court sports begins today.


Thomas Aquinas boys basketball and girls volleyball teams are heading
to Whitefish Bay today to take on the Winterhawks.

This weekend, the senior girls are in Dryden for the annual Eagles High School
Volleyball Tournament.

Festival of Trees Starts Tonight

The Festival of Trees turns seven years old this weekend.

The annual event is a major fundraiser for the Kenor and Lake of the Woods
Regional Community Foundation.

Darlene McGilvary is the executive director of the foundation and says they
will have 25 christmas trees decorated, three wreaths and three gingerbread
houses on display at the museum over the next three days.

She estimates the foundation will be able to raise about 25 thousand dollars
during the three day event.

Tonight is seniors night, which will be followed by the gala tomorrow night and
family day on Saturday.

Funding to pave Rabbit Lake Trail

Plans to complete a paved trail along Rabbit Lake are starting to come together.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has promised the Kenora Trails Committee
68 thousand dollars for the project.

Barb Manson is the City's Parks Supervisor and says they want to create a
fully accessible loop.

The next phase of the project will see the section of the paved trail expanded
to Garrow Park.

Manson says they hope to complete the work next summer.

Bearskin Sale Delayed

It may be another month before the acquistion of Bearskin Airlines is completed.

Winnipeg-based Exchange Income announced its intentions to purchase the Northwestern Ontario airline back in September.

President Michael Pyle says the deal is moving along but notes it may be another 30-days until its finalized.

Pyle notes they are waiting on a number of things to happen, including Government approvals, but he doesn't anticipate any problems.

Airline officials were hoping to have the deal completed the first week of December.

Right to Play heads north

The Provincial Government has committed 490-thousand dollars over 4-years to support the Play Hockey Program in northern Ontario.


Aboriginal children in Sandy Lake and Moose Cree First Nations will be hitting the ice to receive hockey lessons and compete in hockey games.

The pilot progrem helps aboriginal youth improve their health and self-esteem through sports.