Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Wednesday morning.
Court strikes down wage-limiting law for public sector workers
An Ontario court has struck down a bill that limited wages for public sector workers. Groups representing several hundred thousand public sector employees challenged the constitutionality of Bill 124, a law passed in 2019 that limits wage increases at one per cent per year for Ontario Public Service employees as well as broader public sector workers. The province argued the law did not infringe constitutional rights. Unions representing government workers, teachers nurses and university faculty members argued the law had taken away meaningful collective bargaining, thereby violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The provisions of the bill were to be in effect for three years as new contracts were negotiated, and the Tories had said it was a time-limited approach to help eliminate the deficit. Justice Markus Koehnen says the law infringes on the applicants' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Constituents concerned about hospital leadership, Gélinas says
In the wake of a highly critical report from Ontario’s auditor general over Giroux’s leadership of Laurentian University, Sudbury.com reached out to several people and organizations to see if, given Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s findings, there were any concerns about Giroux being the CEO and president of Northern Ontario’s largest hospital, Health Sciences North. Giroux was president and vice-chancellor of Laurentian University from 2009 to 2017, when he left to take over the hospital. In the wake of the university filing for CCAA on Feb. 1, 2021, the Public Accounts Committee of the Ontario Legislature requested a value-for-money audit of Laurentian by Lysyk for the 10-year period of 2010 to 2020, which covers most of Giroux’s tenure running the university. In a scathing preliminary report released in April, Lysyk laid much of the blame for the university’s deterioration at the feet of senior administration, namely Giroux, although he was not named in the prelim report, and repeated the statement in her full, 117-page special report on Laurentian, which was released this month. Given Lysyk’s findings that poor management — and Giroux, as head of the institution, was the top manager at Laurentian — led to the near-destruction of the university, Sudbury.com reached out to several notable people and organizations to see if they had concerns about Giroux serving as head of Health Sciences North, given his track record at Laurentian.
Docs kept secret during Laurentian CCAA finally unveiled
The public is finally getting a look at letters exchanged between Laurentian University and the Ministry of Colleges and Universities from January 2021, in the days leading up to when LU declared insolvency and filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). These documents, referred to as “Confidential Exhibit EEE” and “Confidential Exhibit FFF,” were sealed from the public record at the beginning of Laurentian’s insolvency. At a Feb. 10, 2021 hearing, Laurentian lawyer D.J. Miller said that the sealed documents were “not something that should be disclosed on the eve of mediation, or at all, in our view.” “It is something that reflects the commercial position of the university and the reality of the financial circumstances in which it finds itself,” Miller said. However, Laurentian agreed earlier this fall that the public would have access to the documents as of its exit from the CCAA process, which finally happened Nov. 28, after 22 months under creditor protection. Confidential Exhibit EEE is a letter from Ross Romano, then the minister of Colleges and Universities, to then Laurentian president Dr. Robert Haché, dated Jan. 21, 2021. Confidential Exhibit FFF is a letter from Haché to Romano, dated Jan. 25, 2021.
Sudbury has new tool for tracking the flu as well as COVID
Sudbury's health unit has created a new online tool to let people in the community be more aware of the risk of respiratory diseases. The Respiratory Activity Report is on the webpage that was previously described as the COVID-19 Risk Index. The webpage now includes additional information on the risk of Influenza in the area, as well as COVID. Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) said the idea is to have a central reference for information on confirmed cases of influenza, on flu outbreaks as well as any information on COVID-19 to help people make informed decisions on how to prevent the spread of disease. PHSD Medical Officer of Health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe said one of the roles of public health is to keep people informed. “We anticipated a tougher fall as we continued to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and entered a difficult respiratory illness season. One of our roles and responsibilities at Public Health is to monitor health risks through surveillance and keep people informed to help them make decisions to protect themselves,” Sutcliffe said.
Pursuit: Sudburian tapped to lead international kickboxing team
Selected as one of six coaches into a pool for potential international competition placement, Sudbury Kickboxing Academy owner and tour de force Dawn Culgin was honoured, yet grounded. Possible placement is not quite the same as probable placement. “I was not really thinking that they were going to call on me,” said the 48-year-old Sudbury resident, just back from a whirlwind November stretch that featured a trip to Brazil for the 11th Pan American Championships in kickboxing and a quick jaunt to Toronto for provincials the week after. “There are coaches in that pool who coached when I competed. They have pro-level athletes, athletes who have medalled at Worlds. They’re the dudes.” Even as the message came that she would be making the trek to South America two weeks ago, reality had yet to set in for the graduate of Lockerby Composite who meandered her way through a variety of sports in her youth before falling head over heels for traditional karate in her mid-teens.
YES-TC: YES Theatre, STC announce 1st season lineup since merger
With YES Theatre/STC currently in the middle of its run of its last show of the year — the holiday production “Elf: The Musical” — the local theatre group announced its lineup for the year 2023 at a launch event Nov. 28. The two theatre companies legally remain separate entities, but they’re working together to put on joint shows in 2022 and 2023 out of the STC building as they explore a merger. The 2023 season announced this week features a mix of musicals, which have been a mainstay for YES Theatre, as well as more classical theatre and local works. The tagline for the season is “Life is with People,” with the companies explaining that the works that will be presented “all explore themes of community, of togetherness and more specifically the resilience of the human spirit.” Alessandro Costantini, artistic and managing director for YES Theatre/STC, said programming the 2023 season was a real balancing act, between bringing in works that attract audiences and ensure financial stability, while also presenting challenging material.
Rain and flurries in the forecast today
Expect cloudy skies today with periods of rain changing to flurries in the morning. The wind will be out of the southeast at 30 km/h, gusting to 50, then becoming westerly at 40 km/h, gusting to 60 in the morning. The daytime high is 3, but expect the temperature to fall to zero in the afternoon. For tonight, the skies will stay cloudy with a 60-per-cent chance of more flurries. The overnight low is -6.