Hobbs likes provincial budget

The Mayor is content with the provincial budget.  Keith Hobbs says he's happy to see the government working towards balancing the budget, but is disappointed about a lack of details for the Ring of Fire.  Hobbs says he'd like to see some infrastructure plans or some sort of documentation but so far he hasn't seen anything.  Hobbs says he thinks with the Conservatives already coming out against the budget he can't see the NDP supporting it either, Hobbs says he won't be surprised if we head back to the polls.

Safety zone proposed as traffic solution

Transport traffic on Dawson Road is once again coming up for discussion.  At Monday night's City Council meeting councillors will be asked to approve a community safety zone on the road and to have a more gradual increase in the speed limit.  Chair of the Inter-Governmental Committee Joe Virdiramo says other ideas like length restrictions or different signage wasn't approved by the Ministry of Transportation so a different approach was needed.

Hospital CEO supports wage freeze

The CEO of the Health Sciences Centre is supporting the wage freeze in the Provincial Hospital.  Andree Robichaud says no body likes to see their wage frozen but at the same time is a move the government had to make to reign in rising health care costs.  According to the Sunshine List, Robichaud made 390 thousand dollars last year, but still is eligible for a performance bonus despite the wage freeze. 

LHIN boss not bothered by pay freeze

No complaints from the CEO of the Local Health Integration Network about the government freezing her salary. The directive was part of the province's budget this week. Laura Kokocinski says she is willing to do what's necessary to help with deficit reduction. According to the latest Sunshine List, Kokocinski was paid just under 250 thousand dollars last year.

Health care bureaucracy changing

Changes are taking place in the health care system in Northwestern Ontario. The North West Local Health Integration is out with a new 10-year plan that will put more of an emphasis on local care. CEO Laura Kokocinski says they are introducing a three tiered system that will include so called local health hubs. Five new Integrated District Networks are being created to handle health care in Northwestern Ontario; the District of Thunder Bay, the City of Thunder Bay, the North, Kenora and Rainy River.

Lakehead School Board translates website

The Lakehead Public School Board's website is going multilingual.  Aboriginal Liason Officer Amy Farrell says parts of the site are written in Ojibwe.  The project was funded by the School Board's Parent Involvement group.

LUSU fails McGuinty budget

The Lakehead University Student Union says the McGuinty Government's budget failed to help students.  President Mike Snodden says the budget is bad news for students and is including cuts to Ontario Works Study Program and scholarships.  Snodden says Dalton McGuinty likes to call himself the Education Premier but that's not the case.

Pot bust on Highway 17

Marathon OPP have snagged quite a hefty amount of pot. They pulled over a vehicle travelling westbound on the Trans Canada and seized over 150-thousand dollars worth of marijuana. A 31 and 23 year old Edmonton man and woman are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Hyer on cyber crime

Thunder Bay MP Bruce Hyer wants to see the RCMP investigate a case of cyber crime linked to the NDP Leadership election.  Officials say more than 10-thousand ``fake'' Internet addresses were used to jam the N-D-P leadership convention's online voting system.  The tech company that ran the vote says the attack delayed voting for several hours, and pushed Thomas Mulcair victory as party leader late into Saturday night.

Grassy says no to logging

The Grassy Narrows First Nation says the Province has promised not to allow logging in its Traditional Land Use Area in the Whisky Jack forest while an appeal of a court ruling in going on.  Last summer, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the government couldn't take away Grassy's treaty rights by allowing clear cut logging near the community. Since then the Provice has decided to appeal the decision.  Grassy says that a no-logging agreement now prohibits any forestry activity in about 50-percent of its traditional land use area.

NAN reacts to budget

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is panning the Provincial Government's budget.  Grand Chief Stan Beardy says it does nothing significant for the First Nations people.