Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Council approves its 2021 budget:
A series of nine meetings of the finance and administration committee that began on Feb. 24 wrapped up on April 6 as council finalized the 2021 city budget. In a year that has been far from typical, council was tasked with one of its most challenging budgets ever, facing a 14-million gap that needed to be closed in order to realize a balanced budget. That balanced budget was achieved through a gross operating budget of $641 million. Council was committed to a residential property tax rate increase not to exceed 3.9 per cent, and managed to slide in at a 4.0 per cent increase on the residential property tax rate. Multi-unit residential properties will see an increase of 3.8 per cent, while commercial properties will see an increase of 0.1 per cent and industrial properties will see an increase of 1.6 per cent. The city's water/wastewater user rates will see an increase of 4.8 per cent in order to generate a return of $34.2 million in user fees to help fund the $45 million water/wastewater capital budget. Full story can be found here.
Sudbury district residents 60 and older can begin booking vaccine appointments April 7:
Starting April 7, Sudbury district residents aged 60 and older can begin booking appointments to get their COVID-19 vaccines. This change applies only to those public health jurisdictions that have signed on with the provincial booking system. This changed in Sudbury on the weekend. Before that Public Health Sudbury & Districts (PHSD) was on its own in-house booking system. Sudbury and Manitoulin district residents can now use the provincewide booking system, which can be found here. Other Northern Ontario health units aren't there yet. Using their own booking systems, Algoma Public Health (Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, Elliot Lake) is booking for 70 and up, while Porcupine Health Unit (Timmins, Cochrane, Kapuskasing) is booking appointments for those 65 and older.** This will change sometime later in April, but there is no word on when. Also, Sudbury district residents, and those in most of Northern Ontario, aged 55 and older can now book appointments at selected pharmacies to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. This change came into effect on April 1. More on this story here.
Ontario Moving to Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan:
Stricter measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its variants may be on the way, as Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday the province is moving into Phase 2 of the vaccine distribution plan. The situation is changing day by day, hour by hour, said Ford, and he will never hesitate to do what’s needed to protect the people of Ontario. “I think we made a massive move last week by shutting down the entire province, thousands and thousands of businesses, that I hated doing, but we’re going to have further restrictions moving forward very quickly,” Ford said. “We will discuss this tomorrow.” Ford expressed his disappointment in the abundance of Ontarians who did not follow Public Health protocols in a provincewide shutdown over the Easter weekend, saying parking lots at malls were jam packed. The province is also working on a plan for teachers. Ontario is working with school boards and the ministers of education and health. More information on that will be coming, Ford said. Watch Tuesday's presser here.
Trudeau announces $700M final instalment of the Safe Restart Agreement:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the final instalment of the Safe Restart Agreement funding on Tuesday during a press conference. Also on hand for the press conference were Dominic LeBlanc, president of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam, and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Howard Njoo. The Safe Restart Agreement was announced in the summer of 2020 and provided $19 billion to the provinces and territories to tackle the pandemic. Today, Trudeau said the final $700 million is being delivered. The money is not earmarked for specific pandemic spending, but is to go "where it is needed most," Trudeau said, adding provinces and territories could use it to boost testing capacity or to purchase PPE, depending on their needs. You can watch Tuesday's announcement here.
No details to be released on Laurentian restructuring package voted on by university senate:
The Laurentian University senate voted Tuesday on a restructuring package that included program terminations and the reorganization of faculty and departments, but under the terms of the CCAA process, details of what was decided upon can’t be released, Sudbury.com was told Tuesday evening. Senators were given their first look at the restructuring proposal today and in a marathon meeting that lasted the entire day had to digest the document, discuss it and vote on whether to accept it. The package was drafted by a six-person subcommittee of the senate that was formed Feb. 9, eight days after the university announced it is insolvent. The proceedings were done entirely in-camera. A source close to the situation told Sudbury.com Tuesday evening that the secrecy of the CCAA (Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act) process is unfortunate because the lack of transparency leaves the entire community in the dark as to what’s happening. Get the full story here.
Adjourned: No plea yet in murder case against Steffin Rees:
Accused murderer Steffin Rees did not enter a plea on Tuesday, and his matter has been adjourned to assignment court on April 20, with April 27 bookmarked for a plea, “if things come together,” said Superior Court Justice Dan Cornell Tuesday. Last week, an email from the Sudbury Courthouse stated Rees was expected to enter a plea today. Rees is represented by defence lawyer Robert Beckett, who told the court he had spoken to his client, but wanted to meet with him once again to see whether “we’re still on track to enter that plea or whether we’re going to trial.” Assistant Crown attorney Lindsey Santerre said if the matter isn’t resolved on April 27, they can set trial dates. A date of July 27 has been reserved for possible sentencing, should Rees proceed with a guilty plea. Rees is charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Preston Pellerin in November 2019. Pellerin was stabbed near the provincial building on Cedar Street at about 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2019. He was 17.
City taking public input on Junction East project on April 7:
The city of Greater Sudbury continues to look to the public for input in the Junction East Project, the new central Library/Art Gallery. As part of an extensive community engagement campaign, the city and WZMH Architects have been facilitating consultation sessions to gain the community’s feedback into the development of a design for the facility. The first public brainstorming sessions took place in February. In addition, over the last eight weeks, a series of consultation sessions have been conducted with stakeholders and various focus groups in the community. Residents are now invited to participate in a second Virtual Public Open House on April 7 to expand on the findings from the initial brainstorming and focus groups sessions. Two sessions are being held, from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Find out how you can attend here.
Wednesday Weather:
Mild day ahead with some rain possible this morning. Cloudy skies overhead with a 30 per cent chance of drizzle to start the day. Mix of sun and cloud later in the day with a high of 16. Partly cloudy into the evening with the low sitting at 6. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
