Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Key city manager leaving for job in Peel Region:
Catherine Matheson, Greater Sudbury's manager of community development, is leaving her post to become the commissioner of corporate services in the Region of Peel. The departure comes at a critical time, since Matheson had the overall responsibility of shepherding the city's big projects – the Kingsway Entertainment District, the Junction and the Place des arts. In a news release, the city said an interim replacement would be named soon, and a process to hire a permanent replacement would follow. The release said during her time at the city, Matheson was responsible for the development of a seniors’ campus at the site of Pioneer Manor, which included the City of Lakes Family Health Team, the Northeastern Ontario Specialized Geriatric Services, and the recruitment of northeastern Ontario’s first specialized geriatrician. “I am very excited to be joining the Region of Peel leading their corporate services team,” Matheson is quoted as saying. “I am proud of the work Greater Sudbury city council, the City of Greater Sudbury, and our staff have undertaken for the community of Greater Sudbury.” In a statement, Mayor Brian Bigger congratulated Matheson on her new appointment. "On behalf of city council, I would like to sincerely thank Catherine Matheson for her outstanding service to our community and to the City of Greater Sudbury," Bigger said in the statement. "She will be missed tremendously. "It has been an absolute pleasure being able to work with Catherine whose experience, expertise, professionalism and leadership skills have been instrumental in the success of this organization." Matheson has been with the city 2002, and with the Regional Municipality of Sudbury before that. As GM of community development, she was responsible for transit, housing services, social services, long-term care services, leisure services, and children and citizen Services. The department has approximately 1,500 employees and an operating budget of $215 million. A post on Peel's website said she begins Dec. 3.
City names Ian Wood as interim replacement for Catherine Matheson:
Ian Wood, the city's director of economic development, will take over for departing GM Catherine Matheson, who is leaving for a job in Peel Region. Wood will become interim GM of community development and executive lead for the city’s large projects, Greater Sudbury said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. Those include includes the Junction, Place des Arts, and the Kingsway Entertainment District. Wood is currently director of economic development. Wood's portfolio now includes transit, housing, social services, long-term care, leisure services, and children and citizen services. He has held various positions with the municipality over the years, the release said, including with the former Town of Walden. He has held his current position as director of economic development since 2011. He is the current chair of the audit committee at Laurentian University, where he has sat on the board of directors since 2009. He is also a founding member of Destination Northern Ontario. Wood will maintain the interim position until a permanent replacement is recruited.
Post-election speeches from your mayor and runners up:
Greater Sudbury Election 2018 has come and gone with incumbent Brian Bigger winning the mayor's race and becoming the first mayor to be re-elected in the city since amalgamation. It was a largely negative campaign, with his 10 opponents taking aim at him and his record at every debate and much of the campaign literature they released. Bigger said his win was a sign that Sudburians reject that type of politics. “To me what it what it means is that the people of Sudbury do believe that being nice is not a sign of weakness,” Bigger said, with his wife, Lori, standing by his side. “That bullying is never OK.” Social media comments were particularly nasty this campaign, and Bigger praised his opponents for being willing to enter what has become a very tough field. “I'm truly grateful for anyone who is willing to to enter the election races to make our city greater,” he said. “Patricia, Dan, Cody, you know, they all ran strong campaigns. But you know, I'm very happy with the result.” You can watch video of Bigger's victory speech, as well as concession speeches from Patricia Mills and Cody Cacciotti here.
Need for services going up, says Elgin Street Mission director:
When Pastor Brad Hale was a 19-year-old student at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, a series of drug and alcohol-fuelled bad decisions led to him living in his friend's car for a school year. To eat, they would go dumpster diving behind a Pizza Hut or show up strategically at friends' homes in time for dinner. They showered at the college. Somehow, Hale still managed to graduate from his program with a 3.5 GPA. These days, Hale is the director/chaplain at the Elgin Street Mission, which provides services to people in Greater Sudbury who are homeless or living in poverty. “I know what it's like,” he said. “I can really relate. I'll try to say to some of my staff, don't group everybody into one category. Get to know them.” Hale said he tries to do just that, adding that he's taken over the job of making the coffee at breakfast so he can chat with clients. On Friday evening, the Elgin Street Mission holds its Giving Back to the Community fundraising dinner at the Steelworkers Hall. The evening includes silent and live auctions, live entertainment and guest speakers. Organizers expect to raise around $20,000, although Hale said it would be fantastic to bring in twice that amount. Hale said the funds go toward rent, paying the mission's six staff and the general cost of keeping the organization running. Full story can be found here.
Breast cancer survivors tout importance of assessment at breast cancer clinic:
Sudbury's Breast Action Committee met for a news conference on Oct. 24 to provide updates on the status of their negotiations with Health Sciences North to keep the hospital's breast assessment program intact. In August of this year, Dr. Rachelle Paradis got word through the grapevine the hospital was planning make changes to the program, with early indications that the assessment portion of the Breast Screening and Assessment Service (BSAS) would be closed as a cost saving measure. "When we heard that, we requested a meeting with administration and they granted that to us. At the time it was kept confidential and they didn't want us to discuss this in any way, and the plan was definitely to eliminate, close the assessment part," said Paradis, speaking at Wednesday's press conference. "There was a lot of confusion and some misinterpretation that the breast clinic was closing but that was not the case. The breast screening was continuing, mammography, ultrasound, biopsies, all that is already done and is outlined in a recent letter (from HSN) that the first three steps were never in question to be eliminated, those are funded programs." The fourth portion of the clinic - the assessment portion - is not funded, and HSN shifted gears from shutting that down entirely to proposing cutting service levels in half from nearly 2,000 patients annually to around 1,000, limiting assessments to only those patients with abnormal screenings. Three breast cancer survivors spoke at Wednesday's press conference, and according to registered nurse Anne M. Matte, two of those three would not have qualified for the assessment portion after their initial diagnosis. Get the full story here.
Wolves look to keep momentum going as they head out on the road:
The Sudbury Wolves are looking to keep their win streak alive after picking up four important points this past weekend at home with a 7-5 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs and a 2-0 shut-out over the Kingston Frontenacs. Every point counts as the Eastern Conference remains a tight race as four points separate third and eighth place. The Wolves sit third in the conference with 16 points in 12 games. Owen Robinson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen both had milestone weekends as Robinson notched four points and scored his first OHL goal on Friday, while Luukkonen had his first OHL career shut-out on Saturday. Quinton Byfield, David Levin, Macauley Carson and Blake Murray all each had standout weekends. The Wolves will now head on the road for three games in four days with stops in Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa. They will kick things off on Thursday night against the Petes at 7 p.m., then Saturday against the Frontenacs at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon in Ottawa vs the 67’s at 2 p.m.
Rotary Club donates $10K to Easter Seals:
Children with physical disabilities in the community got a financial boost recently when the Rotary Club of Sudbury presented a cheque to Easter Seals Ontario for $10,000. “The Rotary Club of Sudbury has been a longstanding supporter of Easter Seals, and we sincerely appreciate their most recent generous gift of $10,000,” said Joanne Bowers, development officer, Easter Seals Ontario. “This contribution will make a meaningful change in the lives of kids with physical disabilities by helping them to get the equipment they need to be more independent and live with greater access and quality of life.” The Rotary Club of Sudbury has supported the Easter Seals Telethon for the past 36 years. They also host a Christmas Party each year for Easter Seals kids and their families in conjunction with Sudbury Shriners and the Rotary Club of Sudbury Sunrisers.
Thursday Weather:
Rain showers in the Thursday forecast, but temperatures are going to stay above the freezing mark. Mainly cloudy today with a 30 per cent chance of showers this afternoon. Today's high will be sitting at around 6. Partly cloudy this evening with chances of some rain showers. Low tonight will be steady near 4. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
