Thursday, October 27, 2011

Cross Country Skiing in T.Bay

The Thunder Bay National Development Centre Cross Country Ski team is hoping to increase its profile. They kicked off the season by unveiling this year's squad yesterday and Coach Eric Bailey says its time the sport started taking centre stage in Thunder Bay.

Aboriginal Health Care Conference Friday

Thunder Bay is playing host to an Aboriginal Health Care conference Friday.  First Nations and Hospital staff from across Ontario will be discussing what they're doing to improve the quality of Aboriginal health care.  Ontario Hospital Association Spokesperson Lina Lopez says they'll be hearing from a variety of speakers including reps from Sioux Lookout's Meno Ya Win Health Centre.

Campbell wants to work with Gravelle

Minister of Natural Resources Michael Gravelle can expect a call from Sarah Campbell in the very near future. The Kenora-Rainy River MPP and Natural Resources and NDP Aboriginal critic says she's anxious to sit down with the Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP to share ideas. The former Thunder Bay resident believes the Northwest will benefit by having two local MPP's working together.

Police Chief weighs in on homicide rate

Thunder Bay's Police Chief says social issues are the reason why we are being called the murder capital of Canada. JP Levesque says it isn't as bad as it sounds because the stats are all based on murders per 100 thousand people.

Lakehead ranks 11th in Canadian Universities survey

Lakehead University's President isn't overly concerned with where his school ranks in a Maclean's magazine survey.  Dr. Brian Stevenson says the school moved up a spot and now sits at 11 tied with two other Canadian schools.  Lakehead ranks second among the five undergraduate universities in Ontario.

Mauro talks city road contracts

At least one city road contract is not going to be completed this year. Engineering Manager Pat Mauro says there will be some asphalt work which will have to be carried over into next season. However Mauro says there's no indication that road work is overly delayed as suggested by one city councillor.

Murder rate not alarming to Hobbs

Keith Hobbs says he doesn't take much stock in statistics.  That's why the Mayor's not overly alarmed about our city being rated as the murder capital of the county by Statistics Canada.   Hobbs says the city is working to get to the root of our violence issues...specifically drug and alcohol abuse.

Mac's considers options

Mac's Convenience Stores in Thunder Bay may be changing the way they operate as the result the recent rash of robberies.   Company spokesperson Sean Sportun says that a variety of ideas have been considered including experimenting with a buzzer system along with reconsidering which stores should stay open 24-7.