Fight to save Plasma Centre not over

Ontario's Public Services Employee Union is vowing to take the fight to save Thunder Bay's plasma centre to Ottawa.  President Smokey Thomas says the Feds run the Canadian Blood Services and they need to give proper cause for this closure.  Thomas says he doesn't see how it makes sense to close this facility when we are buying plasma from the States.  He will be looking for support from the opposition parties in the House of Commons to bring this matter before the Prime Minister.

Cancer Care Ontario opens office in Tbay

Cancer Care Ontario is setting up shop in Thunder Bay.  Vice President Rick Skinner says the first satellite office outside of Toronto is now open and will develop and test new software to be used across the province.   Skinner says with Thunder Bay's emerging technology industry, placing the office here is the absolute best choice. 

Michael Power resigns

One of the most influential people at the Regional Health Sciences Centre is parting ways with the organization.  Michael Power has resigned from his position as Executive Vice President, Chronic Disease Prevention and Management.  Power accepted a position with the medical technology company Elekta as the North America Vice President.

Council approves Waterfront Land Transfer deal

The City is ready to close the land transfer deal for Prince Arthur's Landing.  At Monday's Council meeting our Municipal representatives were advised that the developer has approved the final document implementing the land sale.  City Manager of Community Services Greg Alexander says an official signing ceremony will be held April 12th and more details of the transfer will be released then.

Council looks at its investments

Our elected officials got a look at the city's investments at Monday night's meeting. Currently the city has around 97 million dollars invested mostly in Government Bonds. After a small amount of debate council decided to shift a small amount of investments from cash assets to the Equity One Fund. Councillor Paul Pugh voted against the increase in equity investment because he felt it was smarter to keep that money in less volatile types of investments. 

City embraces Respect

Eliminating racism, homophobia and harassment will take respect from everyone in Thunder Bay. That's the theme of the new program that has been adopted by the city.  The "Respect" campaign was started at Confederation college in 2006 by its student union and was incorporated into the city Wednesday.  Mayor Keith Hobbs says bridging cultural gaps is vital for the future of Thunder Bay.  

Council sees Event Centre Presentation

The Consulting Team for the proposed Events Centre gave an initial report to City Council Monday night.  Conrad Boychuck of CEI Architecture and Ron Bidulka of Price Waterhouse Coopers gave an overview of where the team is in regards to the feasibility and design process.  Boychuck says during the February 29 open house, they found that the biggest issue for the public seems to be location.  Boychuck says results from a survey done at the meeting showed that the economic impact for the City and Region was the most important aspect for the location.  Bidulka says he is working on developing the business plan for each location and assess potential impacts on the surrounding area.  The team will hold another open house April 11th at the Da Vinci Centre. 

Rotary Lottery house tickets are on sale

You can get your tickets for the Rotary Lottery house in Thunder Bay.  This year's house up for grabs was the scene of the annual media launch and Chair Bob Hookham says the Rotary Club hasn't decided where all the money raised this year will go, but all the money will stay in Thunder Bay.  There will be 8000 tickets sold for the house that is located in the Sherwood Estates.

Cancer Centre opens up new clinic

Thanks to 150 thousand dollars in funding, Thunder Bay will be home to one of 3 new pilot clinics to help cancer patients transition out of treatment.  Vice President of the Cancer Centre Michael Power says the Transition Clinic will help get patients back to their family doctors and primary care. Power hopes the clinic becomes a permanent fixture.

Council is looking at a Master Transit plan

The city has a new Master Transit Plan in the proves. Council approved in principal the 3-5 year plan that calls for a major transit terminal in the intercity area that comes with a price tag of around 7 million dollars. The plan also will keep using the Water Street terminal unless future development forces the closure of that terminal. There will also be 3 major transfer points in the south core, Lakehead University and Confederation College. The consulting firm who helped develop the plan, predicts a 25 percent increase in ridership over the next 5 years. The plan will also call for the end of HAGI transit and instead it would become part of City Transit. It will come back to council June 4th.

Council approves changes to waterfront deal

Despite a deputation speaking out against the proposed changes, City Council has approved the changes to the waterfront deal with the developers. One woman spoke out against the deal saying council is treating the developers differently than others in town. She referenced the proposed Marriott Hotel near the Superstore which will pay for its own parking lot while the waterfront hotel will now see the city pave the parking lot there and then lease it to the developer. Administration said the difference is the Marriott is on private land while the waterfront is on city owned land.

Event Centre Open House draws big crowds

It's a question of location not of if its needed when you ask the resident of Thunder Bay about the proposed Events Centre.  Residents had a chance to learn more about the facility at Wednesday night's public open house and the question of, if it should be built got a resounding yes from most of those in attendance.  The big question centred on where it should be built with the majority of support going to either Innova Business Park or the Waterfront.  The consultation team will present an initial report to council March 12th.

 

Multi-Plex open house coming next week

The Public will have a chance to learn a lot more about the feasibility study being done on the proposed Multi-Plex.  The city will be hosting an open house next Wednesday and will have 3 initial designs to show case.  Lead Consultant Conrad Boychuk says residents will get an overview of where the project is at this point and also will learn more about what a facility like this will look like and what its business plan would be.  Boychuk says they will come back to the public in April with the best design configuration for each of the proposed sites complete with costing. 

Heberts tries to reduce tax increase by using reserve funds

Councillor Larry Hebert tried to reduce the budget tax increase by drawing 2.5 million dollars from the Renew Thunder Bay Fund. Hebert didn't like the idea of increasing taxes to fix roads when it could come from the city's reserves. Councillor Foulds argued, that reserve fund is designed to fund legacy projects like the multi-plex. In the end council voted against Hebert's motion.

Council shoots down library budget increase

City Council held another budget meeting Wednesday night and there wasn't much in the way of fireworks.  Councillors seemed to be pretty content to tow the line with not many attempts to make any additions or subtractions.  Councillor Andrew Foulds tried to increase library hours to the tune of an extra 100 thousand dollars but the motion was shot down. 

Fire and Rescue pick up a pair on the harbour ice

No charges are being laid after a pair of people walked across the harbour to the break wall.  Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue Platoon Chief John Mill says the ice boat was used to pick up the pair and take them back to shore.  Mill says its illegal to go on the harbour ice and the two were given a warning.

Public gets their chance to talk budget

Council is being asked some tough questions about the upcoming budget.  The public had its chance to give input during Tuesday night's consultation meeting.  Resident Frank Armiento thinks administration is wasting money by spending money on the corporate review process.  He says the city should be able to find ways to save money themselves without hiring consultants.  Chamber of Commerce President Harold Wilson says the Chamber supports increased spending for infrastructure but savings need to be found to prevent tax increases.  Mayor Hobbs was happy to hear from residents and thinks for the most part people want to see the roads taken care of in the city but its clear people are not happy with tax increase.  Council will be back at it Wednesday night where its expected the water rate will take centre stage. 

Council moves foward with Urban Forest Master Plan

The city's trees are getting some big time attention from City Council. The Urban Forestry Master Plan first report was given approval at Monday night's meeting and Councillor Aldo Ruberto says the city can and should look at Urban Forestry as a way to make the intercity area more attractive because Memorial is "ugly." The consultant who handled the report says Thunder Bay's Urban Forest is pretty good but there is ways it can be improved.

City calls for length restrictions on Dawson Road

Its another step in the right director according to residents of the Dawson Road area.  Over 2 thousand residents have signed a petition calling for a ban on transport traffic on the Road and Council voted unanimously on a resolution that calls for a length restriction.  Mayor Hobbs says these trucks should be using the Shabaqua extension and something has to be done to remove them from Dawson.  A draft bylaw will now be created and will then go to the province for approval. 

Budget takes centre stage at City Hall

The Budget process is underway at City Hall. An overview of the budget was given to council Monday night that came complete with a 2.67 percent tax increase. City Manager Tim Commisso says costs need to be controlled to make a good budget. He said extensive meetings have been held to go over the costs for every department. More Budget meetings will be held next week.