Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to get you started on this Thursday morning.
Bigger taps new chief of staff
Mayor Brian Bigger has settled on a new chief of staff to replace Melissa Zanette, who announced back in May that she would be moving on to pursue other opportunities. Zanette has been working with the mayor since his election. Her replacement is Hugh Kruzel, a familiar face in certain circles in Sudbury. His new role was officially announced after Sudbury.com broke the story. Kruzel is from Sudbury. He graduated with a degree in geography from Laurentian University in 1983. The mayor's office said he is also a graduate of Western University, the University of Victoria and Royal Roads University, as well as holding a project management certificate from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Most recently, Kruzel has been working at NORCAT as a community liaison. NORCAT, located out on Maley Drive, is a entrepreneur and tech innovator incubator in the Nickel City. He’s been with NORCAT since 2014. Kruzel is also the long-time chair of the local CARP chapter in Sudbury, an advocacy group for older people. He told Sudbury.com he’s had a varied career, which includes time as a logistics officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, working with children with special needs and their families, and working in the public service for both the City of Nepean and the City of Ottawa. Kruzel is also a freelance writer, having bylines in Sudbury Living magazine, among others. Most recently, he was Sudbury.com’s food writer.
Insolvent Laurentian says it’s drawing less on its $35M bridge loan than expected
Laurentian University is progressing through the milestones of its insolvency restructuring “in an encouraging manner,” and is “tracking ahead” of its original projections when it comes to cash flow. Those were the messages Laurentian president Robert Haché gave members of the university’s senate at their June 15 meeting. Haché said Laurentian is “drawing less on external financing than originally expected at this time.” He was referring to the $35 million in bridge financing the school borrowed as part of its insolvency court filing through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). He said while this is a “positive development,” and reflects the care LU has taken with respect to spending, “it also reflects an opportunity to maintain those good practices going forward so we can get out of this process in the best possible shape.” Turning to the fall, Haché said enrolment is going to be crucial to Laurentian’s future. He said that given the uncertainty of the CCAA process, LU has been expecting impacts on its fall enrolments. Haché said registration has yet to open, but in terms of confirmations from students, those numbers are down over last year, although he pointed out it’s equal between English and French-language programs.
French Language Services Commissioner to investigate Laurentian cuts
There will be an investigation into the recent cuts to French-language programs at Laurentian University, French Language Services Commissioner Kelly Burke has announced. In early May, the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman asked people to submit complaints if they believed their right to French Language services was infringed on with the elimination of several programs and positions from Laurentian University and the former-federated universities, most notably, the University of Sudbury. “We have received about 60 complaints which raise questions about the fairness and transparency of the process that led to these program reductions,” the Commissioner said in a release. “I have officially notified the ministries and the president of Laurentian University of our investigation,” Burke said. The French Languages Services Commissioner also indicated that Investigators will speak with officials at Laurentian and both ministries as well as complainants, and will review pertinent documentation.
Event centre report is a frame-up with one goal: to back the KED, BIA says
Downtown Sudbury says it is frustrated with a consultant report on the Kingsway Entertainment District headed to city council tonight. Rob Jones, co-chair of Downtown Sudbury, said the organization found the report, which favours the KED over downtown as a location for a new events centre, to be a “significant disappointment.” “While we clearly disagree with the conclusions, it’s the supporting material and omissions of material that we find most (frustrating) egregious.,” said Jones in a news release. “We were told this would be a fact-based report, yet it is made up almost entirely of opinions and conversations with predictions of success on the Kingsway framed as fact, and downtown information ignored or dismissed. “It appears as if this is a report looking for content to support a predetermined conclusion.” Downtown Sudbury said the report ignores the detail of the parking issue downtown being a 9-5 issue, and that two large projects for additional parking and office space were shelved due to the choice of a Kingsway event centre. It ignores that Le Ledo is intending to build more parking than it will remove and that any business case for a new parking structure downtown is somewhat dependent on a new event centre.
Public Health Sudbury motion seeks more money for infection prevention and control
There's a motion on the table at Public Health Sudbury & Districts to ask for more money from the province for Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) programs involving long-term care and other congregate living situations in the North. The motion is expected to be voted on at the Public Health Sudbury & Districts (PHSD) board of health meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The pre-agenda for the meeting revealed that PHSD was given a grant from the Ministry of Health (MOH) back in December for up to $840,000 in one-time funding. The MOH letter said the money was "to support the development of local networks to enhance Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) practices in community based, congregate living settings." The PHSD motion said the funding was a "successful multi-partner network" that served congregate living settings throughout the health unit service area. In addition to that, according to the motion, Ontario's Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission issued a final report in April outlining the importance of IPAC and the "urgent need" for IPAC support programs.
Public Health Sudbury reports three new cases of COVID-19 for June 16, Ontario reports 384
Public Health Sudbury & Districts (PHSD) has reported three new cases of COVID-19. PHSD also reports 20 active cases being watched locally. Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 15 months ago, there have been 2,126 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 2,106 of those cases have now been resolved. The details were reported on the PHSD website. Public Health Ontario has reported 384 new COVID-19 cases in its latest report (June 16). Today's update also includes 722 new recoveries and 12 deaths. The deaths reported today include one person between 20 and 39 years old, three people between 40 and 59 years old, six people between 60 and 79 years old, and two people over 79 years old.
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Donation means Sudbury's $7M MRI campaign is successfully completed ahead of schedule
Sudbury's $7 million MRI fundraising campaign for Health Sciences North has been completed successfully and ahead of schedule. The Health Sciences North (HSN) Foundation revealed in a news release on Tuesday that a "generous $2.25 million gift from Mississauga-based FDC Foundation "was made to successfully complete the HSN's Unlock the Potential fundraising campaign to purchase a new 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) model and upgrade the existing MRI scanner at HSN. "Reaching this exciting milestone in the campaign means that patients across Northeastern Ontario can soon look forward to shorter wait times for high quality MRI scans and faster diagnosis", said the HSN Foundation. FDC Foundation’s gift brings the Unlock the Potential MRI campaign – a joint fundraising initiative of HSN Foundation, NEO Kids Foundation and the Northern Cancer Foundation – to completion ahead of schedule and at a critical time, said the foundation.
Expect a mix of sun and cloud today, high of 25
Expect a mix of sun and cloud for your Thursday with a high of 25. Wind will be out of the southwest at 20 km/h, gusting to 40 km/h for the afternoon. Tonight, skies will be partly cloudy with a 40-per-cent chance of showers. The winds will lighten up in the evening. Tonight’s low is 14.
