Thursday, December 10, 2009

Local Sports for Thursday December 10

Fort Frances Lakers ended a four-game road trip last night with its fourth loss in as many games.

Last night it was a 7-4 decision to the Dryden Ice Dogs in Dryden.

The Lakers held a 3-1 lead midway through the second before the Dogs scored five straight.

Colton Kennedy had a pair of goals for the Lakers with singles coming from Tyler Stevenson and Mike Jourdain.

The Lakers will begin a 3-game homestand this Saturday with a game against the K & A Wolverines.


The International Falls Broncos girls hockey team is in Baudette tonight to the face the Lake of the Woods Bears.

The Broncos are 2-0-1 in their last three games.


Fort Frances Muskies senior boys basketball team will kick off a tournament at the high school tonight with a game against the Lake of the Woods Bears from Baudette.

Game time is 7 p.m.

A total of six teams are entered.

Conservation Officers Recognized

Several conservation officers from across northwestern Ontario have exemplary service medals from the provincial government.

Among them, retired peace officer David Lyons of Atikokan who was handed an award for thirty years of service.

William Michael Veniot, a Conservation Officer and Dave Saunders an Enforcement Supervisor in Fort Frances were recognized for 20-years of service.

New NOMA Executive Director

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association has a new executive director.

Charla Robinson takes over from Tom Wilson who stepped down earlier this year.

Robinson formerly worked as an executive assistant to former Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff.

She was also Director of Membership Services for the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.

Palladium Mine to Re-open

The restart of North American Palladium's Lac des Iles mine is expected to give northwestern Ontario an economic boost.

The company says higher palladium prices has allowed it to put its "flagship'' north of the Thunder Bay mine back into production early in 2010.

About 150 people are to be hired and people who used to work at the operation are being contacted about returning.

Board Meetings Revised

Trustees with the Northwest Catholic District School Board will now be holding face-to-face meetings in every community represented by the Board.

The board will now hold five face-to-face meetings along with five video-conferencing sessions during the course of the school year.

Education director Mary-Catherine Kelly says it reflects the recent addition of Atikokan to its jurisdiction.

The trustees are planned to meet in Atikokan in May.

Pension Changes Announced

Ontario is moving ahead with the first pension changes in 20 years, aimed at creating a system that will be better able to withstand economic turmoil.

The changes will clarify benefits for people who are affected by layoffs, eliminate partial pension windups, and make it easier for plans to restructure when companies do.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says the legislation will also enhance regulatory oversight and make it easier for plan members and pensioners to access information.

Second Career Changes

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton says a change in the eligibility criteria to access the provincial retraining program Second Career will prohibit many from participating.

Hampton says the change announced in November would drastically reduce the 130 people now take part in the program through Northern Community Development Services.

"Under the more restrictive criteria introduced on November 20, only 12 of those 130 individuals would qualify for job retraining and skills development," says Hampton, "nearly 120 out of 130 laid-off workers abandoned by the McGuinty Liberals."

Universities and Colleges Minister John Milloy says the new criteria is focused on those who would benefit from it the most and estimates an additional 8,000 laid-off workers across the province will have gain access to the program.

Federal Support for HST

The House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a harmonized sales tax for Ontario and British Columbia.

Even though the bill was controversial -- and has angered many --the three biggest federal parties supported it.

Only the NDP voted against it.

The Ontario legislature passed its own legislation yesterday and B.C. is expected to follow suit early in the new year.

Next July 1st, the two provinces will combine their retails sales tax with the G-S-T to form the HST.

It will be 12 per cent in B-C, and 13 per cent in Ontario.

Critics denounce the combined tax as a cash grab.

State Aid Stays Same

International Falls won't see any further decrease in state aid this month, but it's not getting any more either.

Governor Tim Pawlenty announced earlier this week he had no plans to change the amount of money given to Minnesota cities and counties.

Administrator Rod Otterness says the amount of money expected will still be smaller than usual.

"He had earlier announced that he would be reducing our payments by $138-thousand in 2009," says Otterness. "That would be 69-thousand in our July cheque and $69-thousand in our December cheque and we are still loosing that amount of money."

The city is now looking at regaining the shortfall in funding from the past two years of cuts with a projected 17 per cent hike in taxes.