The tourism season will burst on Rainy River District in just three short weeks. Much has changed since last September. Tourism is a people industry, and we must make our visitors feel welcome and safe when they cross the border into Northwestern Ontario. We also cannot forget tourism is the […]
Editorials
With not a whole lot of new faces sitting around the Cabinet table after Monday’s shuffle, Ontarians are sure to get antsy pretty quickly wondering just how Premier Ernie Eves plans to usher in a “kinder, gentler” government than that of his predecessor, Mike Harris. And you can’t blame them. […]
It hasn’t been a banner week for town council. First, residents are left scratching their heads that the town has decided—in its wisdom—that perhaps a full traffic study is warranted after all with regards to the new Canada Customs and Immigration facility here. Hello? Like, shouldn’t that have been done […]
Under the “Oh no, not again” file . . . Yes, that dreaded “T” word is being floated around again by town leaders. As in “twinning” Fort Frances with another town/city. Also as in “time (and money) wasted.” This time around, 10 years after our last foray with “twinning,” Fort […]
Council may only have two speakers coming forward so far to speak on the smoking bylaw issue at a special meeting next Tuesday night, but the more than 700 cards—each representing a household—delivered by the Northwestern Health Unit to council speaks that second-hand smoke is a major concern in Fort […]
The local campus of Confederation College has scored another coup with the formal announcement Saturday that it and colleges in Minnesota will be able to share courses via videoconferencing starting this fall. Better still, all Confederation College campuses already linked by Contact North also can access the network thanks to […]
Alarm bells should be ringing in municipal offices across the Rainy River district since the release of the 2001 census results on Tuesday. The overall population of the district has declined by 4.4 percent. Statistics Canada numbers show a Fort Frances drop of 5.4 percent to a population of 8,315. […]
Dr. Pete Sarsfield has taken the Northwestern Health Unit’s anti-smoking crusade a big step further by notifying municipalities in the Rainy River and Kenora districts that second-hand smoke is a “health hazard.” This, in turn, opens the door to possible legal action down the road if municipalities don’t voluntarily pass […]
To say Canada’s Olympic team got off to a slow start in Salt Lake City is probably the understatement of the year—crowned by that image of speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon sprawled on the ice (“like Bambi,” as one sportswriter put it). But, wow, what a finish! Heading into the final […]
Amazing, isn’t it, just what a politician will do, say, or promise in their desperate quest for your vote—whether it’s during a general election, or a leadership campaign like the Ontario P.C. party is going through these days. Most, if not all, of the five candidates vying to succeed Mike […]
You can’t say the Rainy River District School Board isn’t giving the public ample opportunity to voice their opinion on the proposed closure of three elementary schools in favour of an expanded J.W. Walker here. The plan has been discussed at the board table—and covered extensively in the media—for almost […]
With just two days to go until the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, there’s been a decided lack of excitement surrounding these Games, at least until now. In fact, ask most Canadians to name five individuals making up Team Canada and you might get Elvis […]
