Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Thursday morning.
Rainbow pandering to politics by nixing drag show, student says
The Rainbow District School Board announced this week the board has officially decided it will not be hosting a drag event that was supposed to take place at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School on Feb. 10. The show in question is called the Courage Across Canada Tour, and features Icesis Couture, winner of Canada’s Drag Race, along with other drag performers. It is presented by the International Day of Pink. The tour will be visiting 10 communities, sharing drag and stories at local schools by day, and celebrating with free performances at local venues by night. The Sudbury stop is on Feb. 10, with a show set to take place at Zig’s that evening. The Courage Tour was also supposed to put on a show at Lo-Ellen on Feb. 10, but the board put the brakes on the show last month.
Greater Sudbury housing prices drop 12% from last year’s peak
Housing prices in Greater Sudbury are down approximately 12 per cent from their latest peak in April 2022. “We did see some trending downward in the second half of the year, and that’s kind of continued on into this year,” Sudbury Real Estate Board chair Adam Haight told Sudbury.com, adding the latest data hasn’t been released yet, but that the average sale price in 2022 was $467,035. Last year’s average price was an increase of 15.7 per cent compared to the previous year. The current average sale price in Greater Sudbury is currently in the ballpark of approximately $450,000-460,000, Haight said. “The supply is still extremely low,” he said. “We have very few houses on the market, but we’re not seeing the same pressures we were getting, especially from southern Ontario buyers early last year.”
Memory Lane: Remembering 75 years of winter carnivals
Living in Northern Ontario, it can be said that we reside in a winter-oriented area (whether we like to admit it or not) that gives us the benefit of partaking in many various outdoorsy and cold-weather-centric hobbies. We, the residents of Greater Sudbury, may appear to like our summer festivals exclusively (and there have been plenty over the years): the Northern Lights Festival Boreal, La Nuit sur l’Etang, the Blueberry Festival and many more. But for me, I say there is naught nor ought there be so exalted on the face of god's white powdery Earth as that prince of outdoor fun, the Winter Festival. For this month’s column, we will take a cursory look at just two Winter Festivals that have taken place in the City of Sudbury over the past 75 years. In 1947, fresh off the trials and tribulations of the Second World War, the Chamber of Commerce for the City of Sudbury was ready to celebrate winter (and the city itself) with a carnival set to take place in the downtown core.
Black History Month in Sudbury: 28 days of celebration
Though Black History Month is an important learning opportunity, it can occasionally be seen as a focus on the past, rather than acknowledging the present challenges Black Canadians face, as well as the many achievements, especially those of Black youth. That’s why this year’s Black History Month will be capped off with Black Future Week, and Sudbury.com will bring you all the information about the future of the Black community in Sudbury. Until then, there is so much to learn and enjoy as part of Black History Month in Sudbury. The observance of the month grew from the ideas of historian Carter G. Woodson and since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. February was chosen for two important birthdays that occur in the same week: Abraham Lincoln, and Fredrick Douglass, an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman who escaped enslavement and became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York.
Hydro poles damaged in two separate collisions this week
Local hydro crews were kept busy overnight following two separate collisions that damaged hydro poles in different areas of the city. Greater Sudbury Police said those collisions took place on The Kingsway between Barrydowne and Bancroft and Municipal Road 35 at Elizabeth Street in Chelmsford. Motorists were asked to proceed with caution through these areas as hydro worked to restore power.A spokesperson for Greater Sudbury Utilities reported late Tuesday night that a vehicle had collided with a power pole near McDonald’s on The Kingsway, breaking the pole. “Crews will be working to replace the pole overnight, beginning as soon as Greater Sudbury Police clear the scene, likely between 11:30 p.m. and midnight,” said the email from the Greater Sudbury Utilities spokesperson.
It’s two years ago this week that Laurentian declared insolvency
Two years ago today, on Feb. 1, 2021, Laurentian University became the first publicly funded university in Canada to file for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Laurentian’s journey under the CCAA was to last the rest of 2021, as well as most of 2022, for a total of 22 months in all. The process, which Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Laurentian never needed to enter in the first place, included mass layoffs and program cancellations, the severing of ties with federated universities operating on campus (resulting in even more layoffs and program cancellations) and a plan of arrangement that will see LU creditors receive only roughly 14 to 24 per cent of what they’re owed over the next three years. With Laurentian being the first public university in Canada to attempt to restructure its operations using a process designed as a last resort for private companies, the situation has attracted national media attention and resulted in damage to Laurentian’s reputation. The university exited the CCAA minus both its most recent president, Robert Haché, and provost, Marie-Josée Berger, who departed last year as part of the terms of Laurentian’s plan of arrangement.
Wind chill of -44 expected tonight
Expect a mainly cloudy day for Thursday with a 40-per-cent chance of flurries early in the morning, and then flurries and snow squalls, heavy at times, to begin later in the morning. Expect local blowing now. Between two and four centimetres of snow are possible. The wind will be southerly at 20 km/h then swing to southwesterly at 40 km/h with 60 km/h gusts in the morning. The wind will then blow from the northwest in the afternoon at 30, gusting to 50 km/h. Today’s high is -4 with a wind chill of -13 in the morning and -26 in the afternoon. The UV index today is one, or low. For tonight, expect a few clouds. The temperature is expected to drop to -31 overnight with a northwest wind at 20 km/h, gusting to 40. This will bring a wind chill of -26 in the evening and -44 overnight. Frostbite will occur within minutes.
