It’s no secret we have a long winter up here in Sunset Country. So like many anglers, I try to keep the boat wet as long as the weather permits. We still have at least a few weeks of open water left before things start to freeze up—and the fall […]
Columnists
The bass tournament season in Sunset Country wrapped up this past weekend with the fourth-annual Frank McClymont Memorial Tournament, which took place Saturday in Kenora. Frank McClymont fished bass tournaments in Northwestern Ontario since they started back in the late 1980s and was a positive influence on many of us […]
Kurt Vonnegut said, “Go into the arts. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.” That seems an almost defeatist way of looking at life but it’s true. Creativity is known to soothe the soul; to be in the tool box for rehabilitation. Yet the first programs […]
A couple of my friends purchased a cabin on Off Lake and we went up to celebrate my birthday on Friday night! They have wanted a place for many years and they certainly made a great choice! We had a great time but because of the busy Thanksgiving weekend ahead, […]
Around coffee one morning at From the Grind Up, names began being tossed about as nominees for the Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame. Larry and Jimmy Fontana threw out names that those under the age of 70 might have had only a fleeting memory of. I remembered stories told […]
The lakes were still. The leaves of the trees were silent. The leaves were turning from red to orange to golden yellow. Silhouetted against the greens of the shores, the multi-coloured trees were awesome. The reflected images from the shores were mirrored in the water. Fall may be the most […]
Don Rusnak
Member of Parliament Thunder Bay-Rainy River
Member of Parliament Thunder Bay-Rainy River
We spent a significant amount of time in September engaging in lively conversations with citizens on the important topic of electoral reform. I was happy to host roundtables in both Thunder Bay and Fort Frances, where a number of residents came out to learn about the current electoral system and […]
Many of you will have seen the video of six-year-old Alex from New York on Facebook reading a letter he wrote to U.S. President Barack Obama about the boy in Syria. He asked President Obama to bring Omran Daqnees to Scarsdale so Alex can give Omran a home. In his […]
The 12th-annual Whitefish Bay Fall Classic bass tournament took place over the weekend in Sioux Narrows. In what is becoming a trend for our fall tournaments on Lake of the Woods, Winnipeg angler Ted Stewner once again found himself atop the leaderboard after the two-day event. Stewner, who usually fishes […]
We are all too prepared to accuse the provincial government—centered in Toronto—of not understanding Northwestern Ontario and investing in our communities. Some of those criticisms are warranted. Many are not. The province, for instance, has set an aggressive schedule rebuilding Ontario’s highways. Right across Rainy River District, we are experiencing […]
I watch people. I think I’ve always watched people. I look for clues in how they hold their hands, or repeatedly pull on a ball cap as if they are trying to keep their thoughts contained or massage an eyebrow to control a worry. I look for sad, for weary, […]
Under normal circumstances, plants take up nitrogen in the form of nitrate; it is converted to ammonia, which is incorporated into plant protein. Cattle convert the nitrate from plants to nitrite, which, in turn, is converted to ammonia and used by microbes in the rumen to make protein. However, with […]
