Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your weekend.
More than 100 people gather for Earth Day march at Laurentian University
More than 100 students gathered for a peaceful climate march to celebrate Earth Day at Laurentian University on April 22. The sunny high of 9 C on Friday afternoon made for the perfect weather for the march that took place. Chanting could be heard a block away from Founders Square in Laurentian University where the march began. The teenagers yelled as they marched in circles within the square. Students were between the ages of 11 and 12 from RL Beattie Public School and Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School as a part of the Fridays For Future movement. Some Laurentian University students also attended the lively event. Several students held signs that pointed to saving the Earth, others held signs to raise awareness for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. “So our personal outcome that we're hoping for (with the climate march) is that the Greater City of Sudbury endorses the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty — basically phasing out of greenhouse gasses and moving into clean energy is the main goal of it,” Sophia Mathur told Sudbury.com in an interview.
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Mask rules extended in hospitals, LTC, transit until June 11
Ontario will extend its remaining mask mandate in high-risk settings until June 11 as the province deals with a sixth wave of COVID-19 infections. The rule requiring masks in health-care settings, long-term care homes and public transit had been due to expire on April 27, but the government announced on Friday it would be extended. “To protect our progress in managing this latest wave, I am maintaining masking requirements in specific public settings where individuals who are, or may be, at increased risk of severe outcomes, are in close contact for extended periods of time,” Dr. Kieran Moore, the province's top doctor, said in a statement. Moore said following masking requirements and keeping up with vaccinations are "the best ways we can prevent transmission and protect our friends, families, and our communities.” Most other pandemic measures, including masking in most public settings, proof-of-vaccination rules and crowd capacity limits, have ended in the province.
Council boosts road work by $6M pulled from reserves
Spurred by a motion from Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer, the city’s elected officials voted earlier this week to draw $6 million from reserves to rehabilitate additional stretches of road this year. This is on top of the 50 lane kilometres of asphalt that’s already slated to be rehabilitated as part of this year’s $79-million linear infrastructure investment. The additional $6-million investment will be well spent, city traffic and asset management supervisor Joe Rocca told this week’s finance and administration committee meeting. “The city’s roads, particularly class 1-3 roads, have been severely impacted and are in immediate need of remediation,” he said, noting that this past season’s freeze/thaw cycle was longer than usual and degraded roads as such.
City turns off Facebook comments to curb the spread of misinformation and harassment
Citing “threats, bullying, harassment and inappropriate comments aimed at staff, community members and other users,” the City of Greater Sudbury has closed Facebook comments. “I would describe the language as inappropriate for a public discussion,” City CAO Ed Archer told Sudbury.com. “I would respectfully suggest to the people making the comments that they would probably be better served getting some counselling rather than using their time making such comments on our Facebook page.” The city’s communications staff have been monitoring comments in rotation, “because after a period of time it’s more than a little much,” Archer said. “It’s overwhelming in some cases.” The cost of allowing Facebook comments far outweigh any benefits they might have had, he added, and with plenty of other avenues for people to submit their feedback, there was no viable argument to keep this option open.
Another anticipated municipal candidate appears to have broken election rules
Another anticipated candidate in this year’s municipal election appears to have broken the Municipal Elections Act by incurring a campaign expense before they were allowed. In a now-deleted sponsored Facebook advertisement noting it was “Paid for by Gerry Montpellier,” the Ward 3 councillor writes, “I am running for re-election in our 2022 municipal election.” The post was primarily intended to advertise an upcoming Motorama event in Toronto, Montpellier told Sudbury.com, adding that the short section about his seeking re-election was tacked onto the paid-for Facebook advertisement to answer a question that was posed to him. After it was posted, Montpellier said he was informed by someone that he shouldn’t have included the part about the election, so he had his son delete that part of the post “immediately.” Despite this, he still questions the assertion that he may have broken any rules and suggested that other common activities might also be in breach of the act.
Sudbury company gets federal funding for therapy device to help stroke victims
FedNor, Northern Ontario's economic development agency, handed more than half a million dollars to a Sudbury company that has created a medical therapy device that helps stroke victims recover the use of their hands. Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe made the announcement April 21 on behalf of FedNor minister Patty Hajdu to provide $528,550 to iRegained Inc., a company that has created the MyHand™ device. Lapointe described the device as allowing stroke patients to practice their hand dexterity, either at home, or in a clinical setting. While the bulk of the grant money will be used for late stage development and validation of the prototype machine, money will also be used for a youth internship. "An additional $30,000 in Northern Ontario development program funding will be used by iRegained to hire a protocol development youth intern,” she said.
Rainy weekend in store
A cloudy, rainy weekend is in store, folks. Expect a high of 5 today with a few showers beginning in the morning. The wind will be from the east at 20 km/h then lightening, before swinging to blow from the southeast at 20 km/h, gusting to 40 near noon. The UV index will be three, or moderate. Tonight, the temperature will climb to 6 under cloudy skies. For Sunday, expect a high of 18 under cloudy skies with showers throughout the day. Sunday night, the temperature will drop to 6 with more showers.
