Enrollment Up Again at Confederation College

Enrolment at Confederation College's Rainy River campus in Fort Frances is expected to break the hundred mark for a third straight year.

Classes resume for another year today.

Campus manager Anne Renaud says a variety of individuals are heading to college.

"We get students who are directly out of high school that want to take one year and move onto something else at a college or university in a bigger centre," says Renaud. "We have lots of mature returning students who have been out of school for a while and we have student enrolled through the province's Second-Career program."

Renaud says this year's numbers could come close to the 137 that attended classes last year.

Full-Day Kindergarten Concerns

Full-day kindergarten is up and running across Ontario, but critics says the government still hasn't figured out the A-B-Cs of running the program.

Only 10 to 15 per cent of schools will offer after-hours child care that was a key component of the original plan.

Conservative critic Elizabeth Witmer says some school boards are siphoning money from other areas in the scramble to fund full-day kindergarten.

The program is currently being offered in Atikokan at North Star Community School and St. Patrick School.

Bill 168 Workshops

The Rainy River District Women's Shelter of Hope is giving employers and their workers an opportunity to learn more about new legislation that protects workers from workplace violence and harassment.

Bill 168 went into effect July 15.

The Shelter's executive director Donna Kroocmo says it outlines specific duties employers must follow.

"First of all they have to take a risk assessment of their place of employment," says Kroocmo. "Once the risk has been assessed and all employees are queried about that, then they have to create a plan and policy to address any risks that the employees have identified."

The agency will hold separate workshops on September 16 for employers and the public.

Employers must register by Friday.

Rafferty Staying Firm Against Long-Gun Registry

The MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River is standing firm on his commitment to scrap the long gun registry.

Some New Democrats, who supposed a Conservative private members bill to scrap the registry in second reading, are planning to change their votes when it comes back to the house later this month.

John Rafferty says he won't be standing with them.

"My opinion has not changed," says Rafferty. "I, of course, welcome all kinds of discussion on the issue. I think listening is important and discussing it to the fullest extend. But I've heard loud and clear from the people of my riding and I have not changed the way I intend to vote.

The NDP Caucus is meeting in Regina this week to discuss possible changes to the legislation.

Vermilion Bay Business Burns Down

(CKDR photo)


Fire has destroyed a business in Vermilion Bay.

Firefighters with the Machin, Dryden, Wabigoon and Oxdrift Fire Departments responded to the blaze at Village Corner just before 6 a.m. yesterday.

The convenience store and gas station were destroyed.

No one was injured in the fire, but the cause is still under investigation

PC's Take Aim at Area Liberal

The Progressive Conservatives are taking aim at Thunder Bay Aikokan MPP Bill Mauro.

The PC party claims some of the 143 prisoners wrongfully released could be hiding in Mauro's northwestern Ontario riding.

Critic Garfield Dunlop says there's really no way of knowing where those prisoners are living.

"People in these communities, no matter where they are, should have been notified that someone had been mistakenly released from one of our provincial facilities," says Dunlop. "They (McGuinty Liberals) don't even release the names of the people who have been released into our communities and therefore causing a problem with community safety and an awareness of the public in general."

Dunlop says now up to the McGuinty government to take action in preventing more prisoners being mistakenly released.

Activity Credit Proposed

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is a proposing a children's activity tax credit.

The proposed tax credit would provide families with up to 50-dollars per child under 16 years of age.

The tax credit would be different from the federal children's fitness tax credit, because it would be refundable, and would include non-fitness activities such as instruction in visual arts, music and language instruction.