Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Monday morning.
Search continues for missing city councillor
Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini has now been missing for eight days and the search continues. As of the publication of this story, Greater Sudbury Police Service has provided no updates over the weekend on the status of the search for the city councillor. As reported on Friday, Greater Sudbury Police along with North Shore Search and Rescue began conducting an active grid search in remote areas along Old Highway 17 and in the McCharles Lake Road and Panache Lake Road areas. The last confirmed sighting of Vagnini was on Jan. 27 when a surveillance camera captured his pickup truck travelling westbound on McCharles Lake Road, between Whitefish and Naughton, GSPS officers and more than a dozen civilian searchers are part of the effort, trudging through knee-deep snow and heavy brush in an effort to find Vagnini.
First-degree murder charge laid in Cabot Street stabbing
A 30-year-old man is facing a first-degree murder charge following a Feb. 2 stabbing on Cabot Street that left a 20-year-old dead. Greater Sudbury Police released the scene at an address on Cabot today, following the execution of a search warrant at the property. Located in the Cambrian Heights area, Cabot Street and Hearn Avenue are part of a block of townhouses and a couple of apartment towers bordered by Burton Avenue, Albany Street and Frood Road. “Our Forensic Identification Unit processed multiple scenes and several witnesses were interviewed,” police said in a news release Saturday afternoon. “Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division will seek out any additional witnesses and pursue any further evidence in the coming days as they prepare their case for court.”
Ford government mandate letters can be kept secret, Supreme Court rules
The Ford government doesn't have to release its mandate letters to ministers, the Supreme Court has ruled. Friday’s unanimous decision said the letters would reveal the "substance of cabinet deliberations," which is "protected as a matter of constitutional convention." The ruling could have far-reaching implications for other areas of cabinet secrecy, including the RCMP investigation into the government’s Greenbelt scandal, one expert in free expression told The Trillium. In 2018, CBC News filed a freedom of information request for the 23 mandate letters Premier Doug Ford gave his new ministers. Cabinet Office denied the request and CBC appealed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), who ordered their release. The government then appealed the decision to the Divisional Court and Court of Appeal, but both sided against the government. The Supreme Court, however, sided with it. As a result, the government won't be forced to release its mandate letters.
Poll shows sharp divisions over Emergencies Act
The better part of two years after it was used to end the COVID-related convoy protest, or occupation, in Ottawa, the Emergencies Act is still very divisive. Was the protest/occupation a blow struck for freedom by outraged citizens who had had enough? Or was it an exercise in tormenting Ottawa residents with, among other things, locomotive horns, that was indulged by police far longer than it should have been? The smouldering debate was blown into flame again last week by a judge who ruled that the federal decision to use the act didn't meet the necessary legal criteria. Both sides saw the decision as vindicating their priors: the Toronto Sun trumpeted that JUDGE RULING MAY HAVE SAVED CANADA, while in the Globe Andrew Coyne argued that "It is in fact a cautious and deferential ruling, reached with great reluctance, on narrow, technical and, in places, curiously reasoned grounds." In an online poll this week, most of you said that the use of the Emergencies Act had been justified, but a close look at the data shows some very sharp and revealing divisions on the issue.
Video: A glorious weekend for pond hockey in Sudbury
Weather might have forced them to get creative, but the 2024 Pond Hockey Festival on the Rock was a rousing success. No word yet on how much the event, which ran Feb. 2-3, brought in for its chosen charities, but the fact the number of teams grew from 20 in 2023 to 29 this year suggests the amount raised should be pretty health. Normally held on Ramsey Lake, the organizing committee had to get creative this year when it became clear the warm weather meant it wouldn’t be advisable to pack a few hundred people onto the ice of the city’s largest waterbody. So, organizing committee member Jason Keller explained, the decision was made to proceed using the city’s extensive network of playground rinks and indoor rinks should that become necessary. Participants did get the chance to play some pond hockey though during this year’s event. Fortunately, ice conditions at Robinson Playground were good enough that players could play at least one game on an actual frozen lake.
Sudbury recruiting for full-time firefighters
The City of Greater Sudbury is accepting applications for full-time firefighters. Anyone interested in applying should read the information guide and complete a full-time firefighter application form at GreaterSudbury.ca/fire. Applications will be accepted from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. To qualify for consideration, applicants must: be 18 years of age; have completed Grade 12; possess a valid G driver's license with a good driving record, and; possess a valid Standard First Aid/Level C CPR certificate. “A Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record Check will be required should a position be offered,” the city said. “Individuals who proceed though the selection process must meet physical, medical, intellectual and psychological requirements.”
