Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Tuesday morning.
Ward 5 candidate promotes alternative Valley East Facebook page
In his first media release since declaring his candidacy for Ward 5, Mike Parent announced this week that he is teaming up with a community Facebook page to support local businesses. While door-knocking later this year in advance of the Oct. 24 election, he said he’ll co-promote a Facebook page called Valley East, where local businesses are being advertised free of charge. “There’s definitely some recognition of who I am given my political ambitions in the fall, so it was a three-way win,” he said, listing his political campaign, businesses and the community Facebook page as beneficiaries. Plus, he said, businesses need all the support they can get right now. The Valley East page Parent is striving to promote is separate from the Valley East page his political opponent, Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan, is behind. Unlike Kirwan’s page, which he operates as a business alongside his wife, Valerie, the page Parent is supporting is a not-for-profit effort.
Visitor restrictions begin to ease in Ontario long-term care homes
Ontario long-term care residents can start taking social trips and see more caregivers. The loosened visitor restrictions come after more than a month of strict rules aimed at slowing the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Starting Feb. 7, the number of designated caregivers per resident increased from two to four, though only two can visit at a time. Residents who have had at least three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are now allowed to resume social day trips. And as of Feb. 21, general visits from individuals five years and older who've had at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed to resume. From that day onwards, residents will be allowed to have three visitors at a time, and all residents can go on social day trips regardless of their vaccination status.
Laurentian’s restructuring costs top $15M, another $7.8M in spending expected by spring
During a Jan. 27 court hearing related to Laurentian University’s insolvency restructuring, the counsel representing one of the unions at the university voiced its concern related to what the union said is a lack of clarity in reports tracking LU’s cash flow. The reports are put out by Ernst & Young, the firm that acts as the court-appointed monitor of Laurentian’s insolvency restructuring. Danielle Stampley, counsel for LUSU, said specifically related to the millions in LU’s restructuring costs, people are left to add up all of these costs from report to report themselves, rather than a running total being readily available. During the hearing, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz encouraged Stampley to bring up these concerns with the monitor, Ernst & Young. "Given that there is no running total, we’ve gone through the cash flow analysis in four monitor’s reports by Ernst & Young, and added up LU’s restructuring costs from the dates Jan. 31, 2021 to Jan. 7, 2022, the time period for which information is currently available. "We came up with a grand total of $15.52 million."
NEO Kids foundation welcomes another $250K donation
The NEO Kids Foundation said it has receive a donation of $250,000 from the Cousineau family of Sudbury and their Northeastern Ontario company, OCP Construction Supplies Inc. This brings total donations to the foundation, which supports kids’ care at Health Sciences North, to half a million dollars in just over a year, the foundation said. Company co-owner Rick Cousineau said his family was grateful to have had access to what he said was "the great care and services" provided by NEO Kids program in Sudbury. Cousineau said he hoped it would inspire others to give as well. “This is our way of giving back to our community and investing in our children’s future. We hope that others, who are able and who have been touched by NEO Kids in some way, will be inspired to give, so that we can ensure that children across our region have access to quality care.”
Greyhounds use late kill to beat Wolves
After the Sudbury Wolves scored a pair of third-period goals to make the game close, the Greyhounds killed off a late power play that included Sudbury playing with the goalie out and an extra attacker in what turned into a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League win at Sudbury Arena. The Wolves, who are battling with the Peterborough Petes for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, fall to 13-24-3-1 with the loss. The Greyhounds were to visit Sudbury again Feb. 8 but that game has been postponed. Sudbury welcomes the Niagara IceDogs for a Friday night match on Feb. 11.
Innovation network seeking proposals to modernize mining industry
Starting Monday, Feb. 7, the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network will be accepting proposals from innovators for how to modernize the Canadian mining sector. MICA, a Sudbury-based, pan-Canadian research and innovation network, has $30 million at its disposal to kickstart ideas that will improve the industry’s productivity and environmental performance, strengthen the Canadian mineral supply chain, and increase the domestic and export sales of Canadian innovators. "We are excited to grow our portfolio of projects under the MICA program and welcome new network members,” said Douglas Morrison, MICA’s director, in a Feb. 4 news release. "This program provides us with an opportunity to connect with new partners across Canada that can provide innovative clean solutions to solve mining challenges."
Fairly mild day in store for Tuesday
The mild weather is expected to continue today. Tuesday’s high will be -3 under cloudy skies. There is a 30-per-cent chance of flurries. The wind will be blowing at 15 km/h, so expected a moderate wind chill of -10 in the morning and -5 in the afternoon. Tonight, the mercury will dip to -9 with periods of snow.
