Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Thursday morning.
Bob Johnston heralds ‘Truth and Facts’ as his campaign mantra
With the city’s homelessness crisis in his crosshairs, Bob Johnston officially launched his mayoral campaign on Monday by filing nomination paperwork with the City of Greater Sudbury. In a wide-ranging conversation with Sudbury.com at Memorial Park that afternoon, he touched on a number of issues, but the heart of his platform targets homelessness. As a longstanding homelessness advocate who has worked at the Blue Door Soup Kitchen, the head of a shelter at Grace Family Church and a key figure in similar other projects, his central platform pillar is in keeping with past efforts. The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were eye-opening, he said, adding that the majority of city council members were “hidden, working from home.” Meanwhile, the city’s homelessness crisis grew without the necessary resources to handle it. “The way that the city treated these people with no warmth, no bathrooms, no clean clothes, no showers …” he said, later adding that there was no sense in waiting for the city to do something.
Junction East project’s costs double to $93.2M
The Junction East project is now projected to cost $93.2 million, only $12.3 million of which the city has confirmed or committed. This figure is roughly double the original price tag of $46.5 million that was projected a few years ago. “The original numbers were an approximation by the consultant at the time,” city Strategic Initiatives, Communications and Citizen Services director Ian Wood told Sudbury.com after tonight’s special city council meeting, which was devoted solely to the Junction East project. “Certainly, there’s no dispute that in the last five years there's been significant cost pressure on construction.” Various other factors are also at play in the cost jump, including the discovery of unstable ground at the proposed site off of Shaughnessy Street on what is currently a parking lot outside of the Sudbury Theatre Centre.
Election call kills local MPPs’ bill to prevent future challenges to Ontario’s auditor general
A bill introduced in the Ontario legislature last month by local MPPs to eliminate any future challenges to the role or powers of Ontario’s Auditor General has died on the order sheets due to the impending June 2 provincial election. On April 13, the same day Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released her critical preliminary report on Laurentian University, local NDP MPPs France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) and Jamie West (Sudbury) introduced the bill in the legislature. The local MPPs brought forward the bill after Laurentian University, which was undergoing a value-for-money audit, challenged the authority of Ontario’s auditor general in the courts this past winter. Asked April 13 if there was time to get the bill passed before the legislature dissolves, Gélinas said “a lot of bills are being put through quite quickly right now, so fingers crossed.” But that turned out not to be the case. West explained to Sudbury.com last week that after the bill was introduced, MPPs went back to their ridings to do constituency work, and were supposed to return to the legislature until Wednesday of this week.
Fraud case against Sudbury pharmacy worker nearing resolution
The case against a Sudbury pharmacy worker who allegedly forged more than 225 prescriptions for fentanyl patches is nearing resolution. Lise Blanchette, who was arrested in December of 2019, is expected to enter a guilty plea on June 6, her lawyer, Glenn Sandberg, told the court on Wednesday. “When the plea is taken, we will ask for a presentence report, then come back for sentencing,” Sandberg said. Facts of the cast will also be entered into the record. Blanchette is charged with fraud over $5,000, making forged documents, using forged documents, 10 counts of identity theft and possession for the purpose of trafficking a Schedule 1 substance (fentanyl).
Mystery solved! Golden beaver on old hospital likely a leftover movie prop (and maybe not a beaver)
The story unfolds with a tip off from a Sudbury.com reader. “Last night my wife, daughter and I went for a walk around Bell Park. On the way back we passed in front of the old hospital. Well my oh my....there's a golden beaver on the roof! I had no friggin idea,” Craig Thompson wrote in an email to Sudbury.com. Thompson sent a picture along with the email and there, sure enough, was what appeared to be a beaver sculpture painted shiny gold. The golden beaver statue might not be a story for many – in fact, it might be dramatic for me to make it as big of a deal as I did on Sudbury.com’s TikTok account – but it was a point of curiosity for many of us in the newsroom. Where did the beaver come from? Was it always there? Who put it there? And why a beaver? So of course I had to dig deeper.
Uncover the mystery by clicking here.
Man who died in northern Ontario plane crash was a fugitive wanted for murder: police
British Columbia's gang-enforcement unit says one of the four people who died in an airplane crash in northwestern Ontario was a fugitive wanted for murder by police in Thailand. The unit says Ontario resident Gene Lahrkamp was wanted for the February murder of Jimi Sandhu, which occurred in Thailand. Ontario Provincial Police have identified three of the four people who died in the crash that took place sometime between last Friday and Saturday. They say 36-year-old Lahrkamp, of Kincardine, Ont., a 37-year-old man from Kamloops, B.C., and the plane's pilot – a 26-year-old Richmond, B.C., resident – died when the privately owned aircraft went down near Sioux Lookout, Ont. OPP say family members of the fourth person who died are still being notified. The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Mostly sunny and warm today
Expect a high of 16 today with increasing cloudiness this afternoon. The wind will blow at 20 km/h, becoming westerly in the afternoon. The UV index today is seven, or high. Tonight, the skies will clear and the temperature will dip to three degrees.
