The green fields basking in brilliant sunshine Sunday belied the horror tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers faced that fateful morning exactly 100 years earlier as they charged forward to take Vimy Ridge from the Germans during the First World War. It marked the first time Canada fought as a […]
Editorials
With construction slated to start as soon as the weather permits, and a completion date set for Aug. 1, no doubt town residents are getting anxious to see the vacant lot where the old Rainy Lake Hotel once sat blossom into the new Rainy Lake Square. Although the word “market” […]
High school hockey may be done for the season now following the excitement of hosting the OFSAA ‘A’/’AA’ boys’ championship last week and the Muskie girls’ run to the quarter-finals at their provincial showdown in Stratford. Fortunately, local fans can continue to get their hockey fix thanks to our Fort […]
With 15 hockey teams here for the OFSAA ‘A’/’AA’ boys’ hockey championship, it’s clear to see the economic impact hosting the tournament is having on Fort Frances and the surrounding area, particularly for local hotels and restaurants. The scene will be repeated next March–albeit on a smaller scale due to […]
The old Memorial Arena (now the ’52 Canadians Arena) was packed to the rafters on that fateful April Fool’s Day night back in 1989 as 3,000 screaming fans cheered wildly and proudly as the Muskie boys’ hockey team captured the OFSAA gold medal–their second in three years and first on […]
The Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre still may face a cut to its budget for 2017, which potentially could result in reduced hours of operation there. But town council seems to have soften its stance somewhat since its Feb. 21 budget meeting–and a large reason for that likely is […]
Sniff, sniff. Can you smell it? The Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne obviously can–as evidenced by their scramble to tackle the exorbitant hydro rates burdening residents, businesses, and industries right across the province. First, they decided on an eight-percent rebate effective Jan. 1. Premier Wynne quickly followed that with […]
It’s coming up to three years since town council decided to drop “Pither” from the “Point” because, as a former Indian agent, his name continued to spark bitterness among local First Nations more than a century later. Many names of towns, parks, buildings, other structures, and even sports teams remain […]
The fallout still is reverberating two weeks after the Liberal government reneged on its promise to change Canada’s electoral system by the next election scheduled for 2019. The heat might have died out by now except that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself fanned the embers last week during a visit […]
It appears we’re back to square one when it comes to how best to welcome tourists coming into Northwestern Ontario through the Fort Frances border crossing. The town has done an admirable job filling the void when the Ontario government abruptly shuttered several tourist information centres across the province, including […]
Canada is not immune to terror attacks–a point that hit home so graphically over two days in October, 2014 when Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in Saint Jean sur Richelieu, Que. after being deliberately run down by a vehicle and then Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was fatally shot while on […]
Fort Frances council chose the proper path Monday night with a pair of decisions regarding the next municipal election in 2018. First, council opted to stick with the current “first-past-the-post” electoral system, where the candidate with the most votes wins, rather than use one in which voters are required to […]
