Tourist Centre To Reopen

Ontario's former tourist information centre in Fort Frances will be reopening.

Mayor Roy Avis says they've reached an agreement with the province for the town to take over the shuttered building on a one-year lease.

Since the province's closure of the facility two years ago, the town has had students under a tent at the border hand out information.

Avis says this year they will work from inside the centre.

Other organizations had expressed interest in setting up their operations inside, but Avis says the  lease does not permit that for now.

Fort Frances Supports Postal Workers

Postal Workers in Fort Frances are fighting to keep door-to-door mail delivery in the community.

Canada Post plans to replace it with community mailboxes.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers local president Sandra Lange says they'd rather get rid of the ones already in place.

Lange says four positions will be cut once the mailboxes are implemented.

Fort Frances town council is adding its voice in support of the postal workers by passing a resolution in support of door-to-door mail delivery.

It's now one of more than 50 communities across the country who've come out in support of the service staying put.

Winter Problems Linger In Fort Frances

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Fort Frances is not out of the woods just yet with frozen water pipes and water main breaks.

 

Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown says there's still more than a dozen homeowners whose lines are still frozen and requests to trickle the water will continue with deep frost still in the ground.

 

Brown says a dig to fix a broken water pipe near LaVerendrye Hospital yesterday revealed three feet of frost.

 

Leaders Tuesday

On the campaign front today, Premier Kathleen Wynne is in Toronto to speak at the Bloomberg Economic Summit before visiting Mississauga.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is the guest of the Canada 2020 Speaker Series in Ottawa

NDP leader Andrea Horwath campaigns in Toronto.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner is revealing his party's platform.

Leaders Focus On Hydro Rates

Hydro rates the focus of attention for the leaders yesterday.

 

NDP leader Andrea Horwath in Thunder Bay to announce that an NDP government would eliminate the HST from hydro bills.

 

The PC's Tim Hudak is promising to scrap the subsidizes on wind and solar projects and restructure Ontario hydro organizations to help stabilize energy rates.

 

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne pledging reduced rates for lower income earners and industrial hydro users.

 

 

Event Helps Clean Medicine Cabinets

Many medicine cabinets across the Rainy River district are a little cleaner today.

A district wide collection by the OPP and the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team on the weekend brought in almost 5-and-a-half kilograms of old and unused medication.

They're now being packaged and sent to Orillia for safe disposal.

Fool's Gold Premieres On TV Tonight

A television program about a mining crew's search for gold in the Fort Frances area makes its debut tonight.

Fool's Gold features workers with Shotgun Exploration at the former Straw Lake Gold Mine.

Jason Whitehead, AKA Roj, says how they deal with their inexperience and the site's remoteness shines through.

The show airs on Discovery Canada beginning at 7 PM Central time.

Officer Charged With Impaired

A member of the OPP has been charged with driving while impaired.

Caitlyn Van Straalan was charged Sunday after failing a breath test during a RIDE check in the Red Lake area.

She was not on duty at the time.

The six-year veteran of the force has been assigned to desk duties pending a court appearance in June.

Marathon Town Councillor Killed

The town of Marathon is mourning the death a town councillor.

Dustin Pascoe was killed Saturday night on Highway 527 after his pick-up truck struck a rock-up and flipped over.

OPP says he pronounced dead at the scene.

The 24-year old, was also a volunteer firefighter in Marathon, was travelling to work at the Lac Des Iles Mine.

Horwath Visits Northwestern Ontario

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A visit from one of the party leaders to northwestern Ontario in the provincial election campaign.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath was in Thunder Bay where she helped open a campaign office for Thunder Bay-Superior North candidate Andrew Foulds.

Horwath says northerners are prepared for change.

A Message Of Hope

A message about bullying and mental illness from a victim.

Molly Burke was a guest speaker at Fort Frances High School's mini-We Day as part of its Grade 8 day Friday.

Burke, who is blind and was bullied at her school, says it's important she tell her story to other young people.

Burke is encouraged that people are now speaking out against bullying, but as much focus must be made to mental illness among youth.

Teens Plan Trip To Central America

Two Grade 11 students at Fort Frances High School are preparing for a humanitarian trip to Nicaragua.

Julia Quast and Kate Parsons will, among other things, help build a school.

Quast says it was their visit to We-Day that encouraged them to get involved.

The teens are in the process of raising the money needed for the 10-day trip in August.

You can help them by making to donate through the website GoFundMe.com.