The Downtown Core Committee deserves applause for having the wisdom—and backbone—to pull the plug on the roundly-criticized proposal to change some traffic flow patterns in Fort Frances, particularly the plan to close Central Avenue and instead re-route U.S.-bound vehicles down Mowat Avenue towards the bridge. Kudos, too, to the majority […]
Editorials
What began with a “stretcher push” six years ago will culminate tomorrow with the grand opening of the $12.2-million Phase IV renovations at La Verendrye Hospital here. It certainly is reason to celebrate—not just for the quality “care close to home” now offered by our state-of-the-art facility, but also the […]
Atikokan certainly has good reason to be down in the dumps. Mines have closed down, businesses have pulled up stakes, the population has shrunk, and now its coal-fired generating station is set to be mothballed—taking even more jobs with it. But don’t tell that to the people who still live […]
If anyone woke up Saturday morning and was shocked to hear that 17 people had been arrested in connection with an alleged terrorist plot aimed at Canadian targets, they’ve obviously been living on a different planet for quite a while. We’ve long been warned that Canada was a target. We […]
As the Smoke-Free Ontario Act takes effect today, two thoughts come to mind: “Right on,” immediately followed by “What took so long?” It’s certainly been a drawn out fight since Dr. Pete Sarsfield, medical officer of health for the Northwestern Health Unit, sought to impose his own version of a […]
It’s hard to believe a year has passed since Steve Ballan and Doug McBride hoisted up the 10-pound beauty that propelled them to victory in the Emo Walleye Classic last May. But it has, which means anglers once again will be heading out onto the Rainy River on Friday morning […]
The sun finally is shining again, and the early forecast for the Victoria Day long weekend is calling for fair skies and gradually warming temperatures. In other words, ideal conditions to kick off the “summer” season. Unfortunately, the picture is much more gloomy for area tourist operators, who must be […]
Kudos to the local chapter of Canadian Parents for French for refusing to let the French Immersion program here fall by the wayside without a fight. It’s the parents themselves, however, who now have to carry the ball. And that must start by attending a “town hall” meeting on the […]
Like every federal budget since Confederation, the first one tabled by Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government yesterday afternoon was greeted—predictably—by cheers and jeers alike. On the one hand, individual Canadians should be seeing more money in the pockets thanks to the various tax breaks unveiled by Finance minister Jim Flaherty—most […]
Stephen Harper has been described as a control freak—and several actions he’s taken in his early days as prime minister certainly reflect that. But ordering that the caskets of fallen soldiers returning from Afghanistan be shielded from public view is way out of line. Seeing a steady stream of flag-draped […]
Someone, somewhere, must have a logical explanation as to why it would be better to route U.S.-bound traffic down Mowat Avenue instead of Central Avenue, as is currently the case. It clearly must be more logical than having U.S. traffic—particularly on those summer weekends when the line-up stretches to McDonald’s—inching […]
It’s easy, sitting here, to say Canadian soldiers should be fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan—putting their lives at risk in order to make our world a safer place. It may be another matter entirely if it was our sons or daughters who didn’t know when a suicide bomber will strike […]
