Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Thursday morning.
City transparency: Looking for other quiet salary adjustments
Pay hikes approved for some of the City of Greater Sudbury’s highest paid non-union managers begs the question: How did other city employees’ wages fare in recent years? After all, some lower pay groups have been lagging even further behind municipal comparators and did not receive comparable salary boosts to those given to senior managers. There’s also the question of transparency, and whether other salary adjustments have taken place without the public knowing about it. Last year’s pay increases of six- to nine-per-cent for pay groups 15-18 (city directors and other senior managers) came without public notice. Sudbury.com only learned about these pay hikes, which carry an annual cost of $520,000, because we received leaked documents from an anonymous source. What other pay increases have taken place without the public’s knowledge?
Spectre of cyber attacks keeps Boréal president up at night
The spectre of a cyber attack such as was experienced recently by Laurentian University weighs heavily on Collège Boréal president Daniel Giroux. It’s “one of the things that keeps you up at night,” he said. Besides the situation at Laurentian, a cyber attack also recently affected the University of Winnipeg. There have also been cyber attacks at other large institutions in the past six months, including the cities of Hamilton and Huntsville, five southwestern Ontario hospitals and the Toronto Public Library. NOSM U was also hit with a cyber attack in May 2023. “It is a concern,” said Giroux. “I think it's not just post-secondary institutions, it's every institution, whether private or public, the threat of cybersecurity, cyber attacks is definitely there.” The only thing large organizations can do is make sure their training and software upgrades are up to par to mitigate the threats of cyber attacks.
Spring tipping fee holiday starts May 6 this year
The annual spring tipping fee holiday at Greater Sudbury landfill and waste transfer sites goes May 6-11 this year. During the tipping fee holiday, hours of operation at all sites are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Residents are asked to sort loads for proper disposal and recycling prior to arriving at the landfill site. “Examples of proper sorting categories include blue box recyclables, scrap metal and appliances, furniture, electronics, concrete, tires, leaf and yard trimmings, and regular household garbage. Prevent littering by covering trailers and truck beds when transporting waste,” the city said in a news release. Noto bene: Fees for household waste will be waived if delivered in a private motor vehicle. If you plan on renting a truck to take advantage of the holiday, there’s an extra step to take.
Arson triple homicide: Witness says accused told them to start fire
“Liam directed me to start the fire,” said a witness in the Sudbury Superior trial of Liam Stinson, accused of first-degree murder and arson in a fatal April 11, 2021, fire that killed three people. The prosecution witness, whose name and identifying details are covered by a publication ban, finished testimony April 9. For the purposes of this story, he will be referred to as Witness 2, to align with Sudbury.com’s previous coverage of his testimony. As Crown Attorney Alayna Jay had finished questioning the Crown witness, defense counsel Joseph Wilkinson cross-examined the person. In addition to testifying that Stinson told them to start the fire, Witness 2 told the jury of their deep regret upon learning people had died. The Crown entered in evidence text messages between Witness 1, who testified last week, and Witness 2. Sent after the fire, Witness 2 states “that was the dumbest sh*t I have ever done.” Witness 2 said that after he learned three people had died in the fire, “I was upset, definitely remorseful, angry.”
FlixBus links to Sudbury with near-daily bus service to Toronto
FlixBus has added a bus link to Sudbury, with lines running to Toronto, departing at 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. every day except for Tuesday. From Toronto, buses depart Union Station Bus Terminal at 8:30 a.m. and Pearson International Airport at 9:05 a.m. daily, Wednesday to Monday. “We see this as an affordable way to get to the next destination or transfer to another transportation service as well,” company representative Jonas Pearce told Sudbury.com. Tickets are between $49 and $59, and travel time between Sudbury and Toronto is between four and five hours. Ontario Northland bus tickets to Toronto begin at approximately $80, and carry a travel time of between almost seven hours and more than 10 hours, according to their website’s ticket listings.
Could Sudbury's mine waste feed the steel industry?
A biomining company that’s rooting around Sudbury’s mine tailings insists there are multiple metal and commodity products waiting to be extracted. Toronto’s BacTech Environmental is filing a patent application for its unique and innovative bioleaching process that recovers valuable metals from mine waste while also cleaning up toxic industrial environments. BacTech’s process has demonstrated it’s already capable of recovering nickel, copper and cobalt from mine tailings, but now there’s the potential to pull the iron out of the pile while also making a fertilizer product. Bioleaching is a globally well-known biotechnology that was developed 40 years ago. Companies like BacTech have been fine-tuning its process, using Sudbury as a testing ground in co-operation with MIRARCO, a Sudbury mining innovation centre, and local nickel mining giant Vale. The bioleaching process involves using naturally occurring and harmless bacteria to target certain ores and contain other substances that are harmful to humans.
