WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
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Printed in Canada Volume 121 Number 17
Casino question dropped from ballot By Duane Hicks Staff writer dhicks@fortfrances.com
INSIDE
Watten fish fry a success The Watten Fire Department’s annual fish fry, held Friday at Sunny Cove, was deemed an overwhelming success, with attendance nearly double that of last year.
See story on A3
Family walking to support ALS Like many others across North America, Casey Marchant accepted the ice bucket challenge—dumping freezing cold water on her head in support of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
See story on B1
A question to the public as to whether they’re in favour of Fort Frances being considered as a possible site for a casino has been taken off the ballot for the upcoming municipal election. Council voted 4-2 in favour of doing so during a special meeting yesterday after receiving advice from town solicitor Wes Derksen that casinos don’t appear to be within the town’s
jurisdiction. Derksen told council he had reviewed the Municipal Elections Act and determined that the council of a municipality may pose a question to the electorate during an election, but not on matters that are not within its jurisdiction. “Casinos are regulated by the province and other levels of government, so from a legal point of view it’s a cautionary flag,” Derksen remarked. “Do you even have the ability to ask the electorate the question?”
Furthermore, the Act outlines matters of provincial interest with respect to which a municipality cannot ask a question—and specifically mentions casinos—although a separate subsection indicates municipalities may ask a question regarding casinos and charity casinos as is allowed under certain regulations. But Derksen said he was not able to find any such regulation that would permit asking the question as to whether the electorate wants a casino or not. Couns. Ken Perry and Paul
Ryan voted against removing the question from the ballot and rescinding the relevant bylaw. “We’re not asking to build a casino. We’re asking the people if they would be in favour of building a casino if the opportunity ever arose,” Coun. Perry said to Derksen. “So if we’re told six months from now that the opportunity is there, and we don’t do this, we may have to go all the way back through the process again,” he warned. Coun. Perry noted that in
1998, council asked the electorate to vote on a casino and the majority said “no.” Six months ago, during talks with the government, the province brought this vote up and told council to hold another one to see if people still felt the same. That was why council agreed to put the question on the ballot earlier this spring. Coun. Ryan said council first put the question on the ballot back in the spring for a reason—and he doesn’t see how Please see “Casino,” A5
Solar farm starting to take shape By Ken Johnston Editor, R.R. Record Rainy River First Nation is getting close to harnessing the sun! Progress on its 25 megawatt solar farm is about two weeks behind schedule right now due to the wet spring but RRFN Chief Jim Leonard said a second shift of workers will be added Sept. 1 to make up ground. At this point, thousands of helical piles (or steel screws) have been installed over the roughly 300 acres the farm sits on. “When complete, there will be about 14,000 screws installed, brought in by about 400-500 trucks,” Chief Leonard noted last week. The screws will hold the racks of solar panels. Only a few panels have been installed to date. But when they are all in place, there will be about 110,000 3’x5’ panels collecting sunlight and making electricity. It’s estimated that in the first year, the solar farm will generate 37 million kilowatt hours of electricity—or enough to power about 3,080 households. The power will be sent into the Ontario power grid via a feeder line from the farm, located just northeast of Pinewood on the Morley-Dilke Road, to the presently under construc-
tion new transformer station at Barwick. The project is estimated to cost about $130 million to complete. Back in May, RRFN and Connor Clark & Lunn and Terrma Capital announced a partnership for the financing of it. Chief Leonard said once the solar farm is up and running, it’s estimated it will generate about $16 million in revenue the first year. Of that, it is expected between $1.3 and $2.3 million in profits will be realized by RRFN annually. The province has granted the project a guaranteed feed-in tariff stream of revenue, which amounts to a 20-year price of 45.8 cents per kw/h for power generated. As with any solar panel, they will lose efficiency at a rate of about 0.7 percent per year. Some of those profits will be used to offset electricity rates for RRFN residents on and off the reserve. The rest will be put towards further economic development activities by the band. Chief Leonard said the project began in 2006 when members of his community asked the band council if there was some way it could help offset rapidly-rising electricity rates. They opted to explore “green” energy as a source of Please see “Solar,” A5
Icy challenge Trevor Fitzgerald, vice-president of personal lines at Gillons’ Insurance, participated in the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” here Friday. Fitzgerald was challenged by Evan Woodland of Gillons’. He accepted and donated while
sending the challenge out to Lori McDougall of Northbridge Insurance, Jon Evans of Dunwoody, and Dale Fortes of Boston Pizza. —Duane Hicks photo
Mayor to seek re-election Candidate list grows By Duane Hicks Staff writer dhicks@fortfrances.com
Blue Knights oust Wolves The Sight & Sound Wolves had designs on bringing a fresh program to the Rainy River District Fastball League final. But the Barwick Blue Knights were more interested in a summer rerun.
See story on C1
The race for mayor is on. Mayor Roy Avis filed his nomination papers Friday afternoon, meaning he’ll be running against Coun. Andrew Hallikas for the mayoral seat here in the Oct. 27 municipal election. “I think I’ve still got lots to offer the community,” said Mayor Avis, who been mayor since 2006 and a councillor for three three-year terms before that. “I think we live in a great
community and if I can help it move in a positive direction, I would like to be there and do that,” he noted. “That’s why I put my name forward.” Mayor Avis said there’s “a tremendous amount of unfinished business” he’d like to see resolved. “Point Park litigation has been going on for 16 years—I’d like to see that through before I retire or move on,” the mayor said. He added forest tenure is a major issue right now with the
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mill here being closed. “As we move forward in this area, I think there should be equal opportunity for all people to have access to the wood fibre in our area,” Mayor Avis reasoned. “If it grows in this area, it should be used in this area. “And I really feel that we have to stand tall and petition the government,” he added. Mayor Avis said it’s crucial that under the Enhanced Sustainable Forest Licence, the citizens of the district “get the best Please see “Mayor,” A5
By Duane Hicks Staff writer dhicks@fortfrances.com The field of candidates for Fort Frances council is shaping up to be a mix of new faces and incumbents. The most recent individual to file his nomination is Coun. Ken Perry, who is running for one of the six seats along with incumbent Coun. John Albanese and newcomers Jennifer Greenhalgh, Jennifer Horton, and Charleen Mallory. “I think I’ve made a bit of
a difference and I think I can still make a bit of a difference,” said Coun. Perry, who has been on council since January, 2008. “As we all know, I don’t support everything council has done but the end result is working,” he noted. “We’re halfway through, or three-quarters of the way through, a whole bunch of things that we’re doing and I just think they need to be finished up,” he reasoned. Please see “Candidate,” A5
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