Editorials, Letters & Political Commentary

Surveys, surveys, everywhere. If you live and work in Northern Ontario, you no doubt have been targeted by a survey. Likely more than one. You may even receive a few on the same day. The reason for that is simple. Statistics Canada, believe it or not, has finite resources. Meaning they target their data collection and reporting to larger population ...

I recently had the good fortune of bumping into an acquaintance of mine I had not seen in a long while. The fellow, who has long been retired, started out as a young man doing home renovations and eventually moved up into house building. His skills and devotion to the trade seemed just to lead him almost unintentionally to become ...

J’ai récemment eu la chance de revoir un ami que je n’avais pas vue depuis longtemps. Le gars, qui est  à la retraite, a commencé comme un jeune homme faisant des rénovations domiciliaires et a finalement évolué dans la construction de maisons. Ses compétences et son dévouement au métier semblaient l’amener presque involontairement à devenir développeur. Son succès commercial ne ...

Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on the government to re-start scheduled surgeries, and urgently give hospitals the staff and money they need to do them. “There are thousands of people who have had surgeries cancelled or delayed. Some are living in pain, and many are living with the anxiety and fear of knowing their cancer or illness ...

Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is vowing to address the family doctor shortage plaguing rural communities in Ontario. Horwath made the commitment Monday in a wide-ranging speech at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s annual conference, where she also spoke about the need for increased investments in rural communities including emergency operational funding, 100 per cent provincial funding of public ...

Doug Ford should have acted years ago to fix the housing conditions in First Nations communities outlined in a new study that shows poor housing conditions are hurting the health of First Nations children, said MPP Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), the NDP’s critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations. “I want to thank Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, Sioux Lookout ...

Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath wants the Jan. 31 reopening to be safer. She’s calling for paid sick days for all, restored access to COVID testing, and an expansion of the vaccine certificate program to include places like LCBOs and cannabis shops. “We all want the cycle of shutdowns and re-openings to stop. We also desperately need non-emergency surgeries ...

Dear Brenda, The more I dig, the more I realize that this Municipality has to come out from behind the curtain they hide behind. All Town Councils should be run with transparency, truth, inclusivity diversity, and most of all “ACCOUNTABILITY.” I had a phone call recently with the Mayor of our town. It was interesting and certainly eye-opening. He explained ...

Regarding the Passing of Sandra Elizabeth Scott, When my grandson, Dante was a year old, Sandra made a brave decision to give sole custody of him to his father to raise as she wanted him to have a safe and stable upbringing.  She protected him the best way she could from her addiction by walking away, which must have been ...

The Ford government must stop ignoring tragedies and deaths on Thunder Bay’s highways and take action this winter to protect Northern drivers using highways 17 and 11, said Judith Monteith-Farrell, NDP MPP for Thunder Bay – Atikokan. “Northern drivers, families and truck drivers are calling on Doug Ford to make our highways safer. Too many people have lost their loved ...

Eh bien, le soleil se couchera bientôt sur l’année 2021. De nombreux lecteurs conviendront que cette année s’apparentait à un tour en montagnes russes pour les Ontariens avec de nombreuses ascensions palpitantes, des chutes vertigineuses et des rebondissements à gogo! Certains jours, les manèges pénétraient dans des tunnels sombres de désespoir ; d’autres jours, de brillants rayons de lumière nous ...

Well, the sun will soon be setting on 2021.  Many readers would agree that this year was akin to a rollercoaster ride for Ontarians with plenty of thrilling climbs, breakneck falls and twists and turns galore. Some days the roller coaster penetrated dark tunnels of hopelessness; other days, bright rays of light shone down upon us.  And sometimes, time just ...

I believe Council has taken a step backwards by cancelling the Economic Development Council and laying off/firing it’s five employees. Oh yes, a “Seamless transition” was promised. How does that come about? Have any council members, or the CAO, Maury O’Neill,  gone into that office to start a conversation about the grants and direction that the EDC has taken so that ...

NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations, released the following statement on the deaths of Brent Sky and Heather Winterstein. Sky, 32, of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, was sent home from a hospital in Kenora while experiencing head pain, and died the next day from a brain bleed. Winterstein, a 24-year-old Anishnawbe woman, was reportedly ...

Alors que le coût des biens essentiels comme le logement, la nourriture et le carburant devrait continuer d’augmenter au cours des prochains mois, les familles canadiennes qui cherchaient de l’aide dans la mise à jour financière d’aujourd’hui seront déçues, selon la députée d’Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, Carol Hughes. Mme Hughes note qu’il n’y a pas eu grand-chose pour remédier aux pressions exercées sur ...