New Ornge facility

Ornge Ontario unveiled a new air ambulance facility in Thunder Bay yesterday.


Ornge CEO Tom Lepine says the facility brings different parts of the organization together under one roof.

According to Lepine, Thunder Bay is the organization's busiest airport for transporting patients. He says the new facility will help Ornge deliver better patient care and cut down on response time.

The  facility will also serve as an educational hub to train Ornge paramedics around the region.

YPN debate a success

The Young Professionals Network is calling last week's mayoral debate a success.

A straw poll conducted at the beginning and end of the event showed that minds were changed by the candidate's responses. Keith Hobbs had a six percent drop in support among the crowd by the end of the debate while Lynn Peterson had an 85 percent increase from where she started at the beginning of the night.

YPN says around 175 city residents attended the event.

Bruce Hyer heads to China

Bruce Hyer is going to China. The Thunder Bay-Superior North MP leaves today to be part of a joint federal-provincial trade mission to promote Canada as a tourist destination. Hyer calls China a real tourism priority and says the number of potential visitors is huge. 45 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad last year, a number that's expected to increase to 100 million by 2020.

Transit union votes in favour of contract

Last night transit workers voted to accept the contract offered by the city. The vote was 78 percent in favour, according to union president Charlie Brown.


Transit workers retain their current benefits and gain a pay increase under the new three year contract. While transit workers are getting a bump in pay. Brown says city transit workers are still below the provincial average.

The contract also adds protections to prevent bus surveillance cameras from being used to monitor job performance, Brown says the cameras are there for the safety of drivers and passengers and should only be used for criminal matters.

Brown voted against the contract although the union recommended a vote in favour and called the negotiation process the most "dysfunctional" he's ever seen in his time as union president.

Brown says the contract will be up for negotiation again in 18 months.

Strategic plan update

City councillors will hear Monday about how well they're doing to implement the strategic plan.

City Spokesperson Karen Lewis says they'll be giving an outline of their progress and of plans 92 initiatives. Lewis says 75 of the initiatives are either complete or have major aspects complete.

Lewis adds they'll be recommending council put in a corporate review process to look for ways to make the city more efficient.

Monday's council meeting is the last before the municipal election.

Local RN's recognized

 100 select Registered Nurses at the Health Sciences Centre now have their skills recognized. They've been able to obtain a certification from the Canadian Nurses Association. The hospitals Chief Nursing Executive Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott says it's a great achievement.  Crocker-Ellacott says it helps create a higher level of excellence for the hospital.

Local woman to get M.S. Liberation Therapy

A Thunder Bay woman with M.S. is going to Egypt next month for the controversial Liberation Therapy.  39 year old Elizabeth Tambakis has had the disease for several years and is getting progressively worse according to her husband Nick Tambakis.  He's upset the treatment isn't available in Canada.  It involves an operation to unblock blood veins in the neck

Virtual Tour of Waterfront

The City of Thunder Bay is providing a look into the future of the finished Prince Arthur landing.  A virtual tour is available on the city's website .  Waterfront Development Manager Katherine Dugmore says they're also showcasing the video at an open house this afternoon at Pier 3.  Another video is expected to be released at Christmas and looks at the finished public buildings.

Foundation kicks off raffle

The Regional Health Science's Foundation is back with it's yearly raffle. Spokesperson Tracie Smith says it looks to be another good year for the fundraiser. The winner gets 10 thousand dollars as does the foundation. To date the raffle has netted the Foundation 95 thousand dollars. The draw takes place December 23rd

60 year old dies in highway collision

One man is dead after a two vehicle collision near Geraldton.  James O'Brien of Bowmanville died when his pickup truck collided with a commercial vehicle on highway 11 just before 5:30 yesterday afternoon.  The driver of the commercial vehicle is charged with driving without a license and having an expired insurance card.

City police run vehicle safety blitz

Thunder Bay police have taken 18 vehicles off the road after a vehicle safety blitz.  Officers targeted commercial vehicles Tuesday and Wednesday and inspected more than 50.  Officials say 13 charges were handed out two including suspended drivers.  With winter coming officers say they will shift their focus to inspecting "Winter Beaters".

Crime continues to dominate debate talks

Crime continues to dominate discussion in the Mayor's election race. Colin Burridge says the city needs to enforce a curfew in the evening and offer more foot patrols. Frank Pullia feels the city needs to address the social issues and notes having more police doesn't necessarily help stop crime from happening. Meanwhile, Lynn Peterson feels the crime council will help reduce the city's crime rate. Keith Hobbs, and Jeff Irwin also took part in last night's mayoral debate.

YPN Debate tackles doctor recruitment and youth out-migration

Keeping doctors working in the city was one of the questions posed last night at the Young Professional Network's Mayoral debate.  Colin Burridge feels if we improve our tourism industry we'll retain more doctors.  Meanwhile, Frank Pullia says the answer lies in quality of life. Another topic of discussion included how the city can stop youth out migration.  Lynn Peterson, Keith Hobbs and Jeff Irwin also took part in the debate.

YPN Mayoral Debate welcomes young and old

The Young Professional Network's Mayoral Debate saw a mix of young and old in attendance.  Jeff Irwin, Colin Burridge, Lynn Peterson, and Keith Hobbs took part in one of the last debates before the municipal election.  A pundits table discussion of how each candidate responded was held after the debate.

Bombardier unveils "The Rocket"

The public got a glimpse of the new Toronto Transit Commission subway cars known at "The Rocket". They were built by Bombardier in Thunder Bay. Company General Manager Claude Gingras says this contract has meant security for the plant and for the local economy.  The unveiling took place at the Downsview subway station in Toronto.

Chamber is election ready

The Chamber of Commerce is helping you stay informed about the municipal election.   It's posted the results of it's candidate survey on the Chamber website.   President Harold Wilson says neither he nor the chamber will be endorsing any candidate.   He says however, he is disappointed some candidates didn't participate.

NOSM strikes back

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is making it's offer to it's striking employees public. School officials say that they are disappointed the OPSEU staff voted to reject a tentative agreement this week. Dean Roger Strasser says the negotiating team is confused about the reason the members had for turning thumbs down to the deal.  NOSM has posted the offer made to the workers on the school's website NOSM.ca

The city may regulate student room rental

The first steps are being taken to start licencing home owners who rent rooms to students.  The city's By-Law Enforcement Manager Ron Bourret says they want to have some sort of regulations placed on the practice.    Bourret says in addition to a licence fee, there would also be surprise inspections.  He hopes to have a draft by-law before council by the spring.

College welcomes Chinese educators

Confederation College is getting a stamp of approval from a school in China it's partnering with. Con College is offering it's Hospitality program to 400 students there. President Pat Lang says as part of the process they are hosting a couple of Chinese school officials.  Lang says it's a chance for them to examine the program where it originates.

Transit vote will go tomorrow

We'll find out tomorrow if the Amalgamated Transit Union will accept the city's tentative contract.  Two ratification votes will be held at the CEP Hall at 10 o'clock and again at 7 Friday.  Union Spokesperson Charlie Brown says they are recommending members accept the deal.