Good morning, Nickel City! Here are a few stories to get you started on this election day.
Before getting into a few news briefs to get you caught up this morning, just a quick reminder that today, June 2, is election day in Ontario.
Sudbury.com has been covering the election and the issues for the past few weeks to help you decide how to vote.
Will Conservative leader Doug Ford be returned to the premier’s office? Will the Liberals regain party status? Can the NDP maintain their position as the official opposition or will they be relegated to third place again? Will Mike Schreiner and the Green Party secure more than a single seat?
These questions and more will be answered tonight once the results are revealed. Sudbury.com will have comprehensive coverage of the election this evening so make sure to come back and come back often to stay in the know.
We have secured an election night feed from the Canadian Press so you can keep track of the local races as well as races across the province.
Look for election night stories on the Sudbury.com homepage and look for the Ontario Votes link near the top corner of the page for more coverage.
Photos: Emergency services pay tribute to fallen firefighter
A procession wound its way through downtown Sudbury on Wednesday to honour the life of city firefighter Mike Frost, who died on May 19 at the age of 40. “We respect the members of the fire service, and this is one of the ways we show that respect," city CAO Ed Archer told Sudbury.com following Tuesday night's city council meeting. The Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association is the procession's chief organizer, which it is undertaking with support from the city. City council members and staff have been invited to participate and will do so as possible, Archer said. Media was asked by the family not to attend the funeral at Christ the King Church. According to his obituary, Frost died unexpectedly at his residence on May 19. He was born in Sudbury on Feb. 9, 1982, and went on to graduate from Cambrian College’s Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training program.
Spectre of health-care privatization on the campaign trail
The spectre of health-care privatization has been raised on the campaign trail, with people taking to social media in recent days to complain about paying for cancer screening tests. The idea that the Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government has expanded the number of things not covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan has been spreading like wildfire. “There have been no changes to OHIP billing,” a party spokesperson clarified by emailed correspondence to Sudbury.com. “Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs have invested more in public health care than any other government in Ontario’s history.” A request for interviews with local Progressive Conservative candidates Marc Despatie (Sudbury) and Randy Hazlett (Nickel Belt) was ignored, as such requests have been throughout the election season. In a media release issued in response to Sudbury.com’s inquiry, LifeLabs affirmed, “There have not been any laboratory tests de-listed (i.e. removed with no replacement test) in the last five years under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan Schedule of Benefits for Laboratory Services.”
Health unit reports a case of Lyme disease
Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) reports an adult in the area has tested positive for Lyme disease. PHSD said it is believed the disease was most likely acquired in the Manitoulin district. "Although reports of locally acquired Lyme disease remain uncommon, people need to protect themselves when enjoying the outdoors," said a statement from PHSD. The health unit said although the blacklegged ticks that transmit the disease have previous been found in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts, such ticks are commonly found in rural areas along the north shores of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, and the St. Lawrence River, as well as in the Rainy River area of northwestern Ontario. PHSD said people need to be proactive and preventive when spending time out in nature.
No monkeypox in local health area, but surveillance is active
While there are no known cases of monkeypox in the Sudbury health unit jurisdiction, but there is still surveillance underway for any such infectious disease that might arise. Public Health Ontario said monkeypox is "a rare viral illness that causes fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes and lethargy, followed by the development of a rash over a person’s body." Monkeypox was first confirmed in Canada about two weeks ago, and the latest count (Health Canada) indicated 27 known cases. That might have increased in recent days since public health officials in Toronto said Tuesday there were two positive cases in that city with six others under investigation. Nationally, besides Ontario’s cases only Quebec has reported any confirmed cases of the disease. There are 25 confirmed cases in Quebec, Health Canada reports. The disease is spread among people through direct contact with the bodily fluids of another person or infected animals. It might also be spread by respiratory droplets from an infected person, or from mother to fetus.
Biotech could liberate billions from Sudbury's mine waste
One of the mining industry's biggest financial and environmental liabilities can be turned into a huge resource opportunity, said Sudbury environmental microbiologist Nadia Mykytczuk. Canada's mining sector generates more than 650 million tonnes of tailings every year from its 200 operations and spends over $10 billion for the ongoing treatment of this waste, not to mention about 10,000 abandoned mines that's managed by government. "The mining industry is actually a waste management process," said Mykytczuk, interim CEO-president of MIRARCO Mining Innovation in Sudbury. "For every tonne of metal that we are extracting and producing, we're depositing about 20 to 200 tonnes of solid waste into these tailings." In Sudbury, there's an estimated $100-billion worth of nickel, cobalt and other valuable minerals buried beneath millions of tonnes of rock at tailings sites, held by the city’s two largest mining companies, that's ready for extraction. But it makes no economic sense to reprocess these massive volumes of rock through conventional milling to squeeze out the remaining low-grade minerals.
Elm Street death being investigated as suspicious
After discovering a deceased man at a residential building on Elm Street, Greater Sudbury Police are investigating the incident as suspicious. Officers were dispatched to the scene of a residential building on Elm Street at approximately 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday for a personal welfare check when they made the discovery. The adult man who resided in one of the units had not been seen in a few days. The death is being investigated as suspicious, and detectives from the Major Crime Section of the Criminal Investigation Division will be working in collaboration with the Coroner’s Office on their investigation.
Mainly sunny today and a high of 21
Expect a mainly sunny day today with a high of 21. The wind will be out of the north at 20 km/h before becoming light over the morning. The UV index today is eight, or very high. Tonight, the skies will clear of scattered clouds and the temperature will dip to nine.
