Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Friday morning.
Police trying to ID man who dropped off gunshot victim
Greater Sudbury Police say through an ongoing investigation, detectives have gathered images of the unidentified man who brought the 22-year-old gunshot victim to Health Sciences North (see images above). Police are looking to speak with this man in order to determine the events that led to the 22-year-old sustaining critical injuries. Anyone with information related to the identity of this man is asked to contact the GSPS Criminal Investigation Division at 705-675-9171. A 22-year-old man from Southern Ontario is in critical condition at Health Sciences North after he sustained gunshot wounds and was “dropped off” at the Emergency Department by another man, who then left the scene. Police report that around 11:55 p.m. on Nov. 21, officers were dispatched to Health Sciences North after a man who had sustained gunshot wounds was brought into the Emergency Department. The man was dropped off by another man, who immediately left the scene. They arrived at the hospital in a red SUV.
Angry Facebook users shocked by incident in hospital ER
Some Sudbury residents have reacted with anger and disappointment to a recent incident (Nov. 13) in the waiting room area of the Emergency Room at Health Sciences North (HSN), where an elderly man was left sitting on the floor, partially undressed, in his own urine and feces. A photo of the incident was posted to a Facebook page and then subsequently deleted. More than 200 comments were posted by Facebook members who were upset with the incident. One person who witnessed the scene was Sudbury resident Brandon Compton. He said he arrived at the ER to get medical attention for his four-year-old daughter, who had an ear infection. "So as we walked in the door, I saw a guy, like an older gentleman probably like 70 or 80 years old. And he was lying on the floor on a blanket they had there, full of urine and feces," Compton recalled.
City gets federal funds for electric bus fleet feasibility study
Zero-emission transit and the development of an electric bus fleet could be the future in Sudbury with $158,469 in joint funding for the development of an electric bus feasibility study and a fleet transition plan. Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe and Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré, alongside newly elected Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre, announced the new funding this week as part of the federal government’s emissions reduction plan, for a zero-emission fleet in Sudbury. “Zero-emission transit is vital in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reaching net-zero by 2050,” said Lapointe in a release. “This funding will lay the groundwork for Sudbury to transition to a full zero-emission bus fleet – a clean, quiet and comfortable form of transit. Our government will continue to work with our partners to improve the quality of life of all Canadians.” Serré said in the same release that Canadians have expressed a desire for more sustainable transit.
Sudbury mine developer seeks to extract untapped critical minerals
Sudbury is historically known for nickel. But there remain hundreds of millions of tonnes of overlooked and valuable mineral commodities left behind by mining activity over the decades. An upstart mining company with ambitions to be Sudbury’s next producer is seizing on an opportunity to bring a former INCO mine back into production, possibly by the end of next year. With the recently acquired Denison Project, Jason Jessup, CEO of Magna Mining is taking some pages out of the playbook from his former employer, FNX Mining, which enjoyed phenomenal growth and success in the 2000s in revitalizing some historic Sudbury mine properties. Magna took a big leap forward this past summer with its acquisition of Lonmin Canada and the decommissioned Crean Hill nickel and copper mine. The former INCO mine, located on the southwest corner of the Sudbury basin, north of Whitefish, closed in 2002 after an 80-year mining history. Now dubbed the Denison Project, Jessup calls it a “spectacular deposit” with mineralization coming to the surface that could be quickly put into production as a starter pit with relatively low capital costs.
Gélinas continues action against unfair health-care fees
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas is continuing her push to fight against health-care providers that might charge what she describes as unfair fees for their services. As the official opposition health critic, Gélinas is opposed to the idea of having for-profit health services available to patients who can pay the price for those services. She has put forward a private member's bill seeking to ensure there is recourse for any patient who is overcharged for OHIP health services. Currently, according to an NDP news release, for-profit clinics are exploiting loopholes to charge people for services that are covered by OHIP, and pile on additional charges on top of that. An example, said the NDP is that in 2021, Ontario's Auditor General found that patients were being pressured to forgo OHIP-covered lenses for cataract surgery and shell out thousands of dollars out of pocket.
‘Epic Eagles’ tribute band performs in Sudbury Dec. 10
A group called the Epic Eagles that bills itself as “Canada’s definitive Eagles tribute band” performs in Sudbury Dec. 10. Audiences are treated to the legacy sound of the Eagles when they began to rule the airwaves: Hotel California, One of These Nights, Life in the Fast Lane, Desperado, Dirty Laundry, New Kid In Town, Take It Easy, The Boys Of Summer and more. The band features the voice of Dean Young as “Henley” (former lead vocalist / drummer of the tribute Hotel California) alongside vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Mike Alonzo, Jeff Salem, Dan Bohemier and some of Canada's most in demand musicians, all covering Glenn Frey / Timothy B Schmit / Randy Meisner / Joe Walsh. The show is in benefit of Diabetes Canada. It runs at 7:30 p.m. at Laurentian University’s Fraser Auditorium. Tickets are available by phone at 1-800-516-5810.
High of zero, chance of flurries today
Expect a cloudy day with a high of 0 and a 30-per-cent chance of flurries in the morning and early in the afternoon. The wind will be out of the northwest at 20 km/h, gusting to 40 before lightening late in the afternoon. The wind chill this afternoon will be around -6. Tonight, the skies will clear and the mercury will dip to -5.
