Thursday, January 14, 2010

Local Sports for Thursday January 14

Fort Frances Lakers will host the K & A Wolverines at the Ice for Kids Arena tonight with a revamped line up.

Matthew Caulfield and Brett Williams are expected in the line-up following a recent trade that saw Conner Foster head to Dryden.


The Lakers also gave up their leading scorer Colton Kennedy to the Melville of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

Game time tonight its 7:30 p.m.


Fort Frances Muskies boys' basketball and girls' volleyball teams host their Dryden counterparts at the High School this afternoon.

Ice Box Days Underway

International Falls celebration of winter is underway.

The annual Ice Box Days kicked off yesterday with the creation of a snowman family by local youngsters at Smoky Bear Park and will culminate with the annual Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard run Saturday morning.

Betsy Jensen of the Falls Chamber of Commerce says this year's event will get some national attention.

"We actually have CBS Sunday morning show coming here this year," says Jenson. "They've flying in Friday night and following us around all day and taking footage of all the events. Then they'll be live from here Sunday morning for the CBS Sunday Morning Show."

This year marks the event's 30-year.

Driven to Quit

The annual Driven to Quit challenge is once again being rolled out across northwestern Ontario.

The Canadian Cancer Society's health promotion campaign entices smokers to quit with a chance to win a new vehicle.

Becky Holden of the Northwestern Health Unit says the campaign is effective.

"It's just a great opportunity for people who are thinking about smoking to kind of have some extra motivation to get them going on their quit attempt," says Holden.

Smokers can register on line at www.driventoquit.ca or through area Health Unit offices before the end of February to be eligible.

Airline Cuts

Thunder Bay-based Wasaya Airways is temporarily laying off up to two dozen employees.

The layoff affects a cross-section of employees at bases in Thunder Bay, Sioux Lookout, Red Lake and Timmins.

Wasaya president Tom Morris says the company is taking measures to ensure its future.

He says the winter road system cut into airline's freight business to remote aboriginal communities.

Over the next three months, the company plans to move from a five-day work week to four days, and reduce hours for some employees.

Wasaya Airways employs 340 people.

Gravelle Staying Put

Ontario's Northern Development Minister is setting the record straight regarding his political future.

Some publish report suggest Michael Gravelle may not be seeking re-election in 2011, something he says is not true.

"I don't quite understand quite frankly the rumour was out there," says Gravelle. "when anybody I've spoken to at any point I've always made it clear that I'm passionately engaged in the work of being an MPP, and I'm looking forward to seeking another term. My constituents will decide whether I'm successful of course"

However Gravelle would not speculate on whether his post remains safe with the Premier poised to shuffle the cabinet next week.

Local Haiti Support

Area residents can help with relief efforts in Haiti.

The Northwestern Ontario Branch of the Canadian Red Cross is now accepting donations in response to the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti two days ago.

Its Dryden office coordinating the effort, or you can go online to http://www.redcross.ca/.

Walmart Canada has also announced a nationwide campaign to generate urgently needed funds for the massive relief.

OPSEU Given Strike Mandate


Ontario's roughly 9,000 college instructors have given their union the green light to strike.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union said Wednesday night that about 57 per cent of members who voted supported strike action.

A total of 154 full-time instructors with Confederation College, including two at its Fort Frances campus, participated in the vote.

The vote on whether to give their union a strike mandate came after five months of talks with the colleges broke down December 15.

Ted Montgomery of the OPSEU bargaining team, which represents faculty members, has said a walkout wouldn't happen for at least a month.

For the union, key issues are workload, academic freedom and management's decision in November to impose its offer on the teachers without a vote.

The colleges said in a release that their offer increases salaries by eight per cent over four years and raises the maximum salary to $103,975.