Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Bigger finds no support in his bid to ban Popescu from campaign events:
The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce shut down incumbent mayor Brian Bigger's attempt to have a controversial candidate excluded from Wednesday evening's debate at Collège Boréal. Bigger was calling for David Popescu to be banned from the upcoming Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce debate, and asked that his fellow candidates back that call, and for campaign event organizers to dis-invite Popescu from future events. A perennial candidate for the past few election cycles, Popescu uses the campaign trail to spread his extreme brand of Christianity that is intolerant of, in particular, the LGBTQ community. Popescu has been sanctioned before for hateful comments, and charged for hate crimes in 2015 (charges that were dropped by the Crown) for offensive campaign material. The chamber's decision to allow Popescu to attend Wednesday night's debate didn't sit well with Bigger. "I'm disappointed in the chamber's decision. We are a modern and progressive city. There is no room for hate speech in any aspect of society. I hope those Chamber members who share my opinion will let the organizers know how they feel as well," he said. Chamber of Commerce board chair Michael Macnamara will be moderating the debate and says that the decision came down to fairness, as Popescu is legally entitled to run and has filed his papers and followed due process to be included in the debate. "We have always hosted an all-candidates debate and the fact that (Popescu) is a candidate means that he should be allowed to participate," said Macnamara. "We're a non-partisan organization so when it comes to a provincial or federal election and we're hosting an all candidates debate, even if they are a so-called fringe candidate, we do invite them to participate." Full story can be found here.
The mayor should be overseeing economic development: Mills:
Greater Sudbury's current economic development model is failing investors and entrepreneurs, says mayoral candidate Patricia Mills. Mills said at a Tuesday morning press conference that, if elected, within her first 100 days in office, she will put in place a process to move the Economic Development Corporation out of Tom Davies Square and have the board report directly to the mayor's office. That new office would act separate from the day-to-day operations of Tom Davies Square, and its purpose would be to actively seek opportunities that create jobs and add value to the community. The city doesn’t need an economic development facilitator as proposed last week by the mayor, she said. It's the mayor who should be responsible for making sure Sudbury's economy is moving forward, and that developers are able to build their project without having to cut through all the red tape. More on this story can be found here.
Election recap for October 2:
On Monday, incumbent Greater Sudbury mayoral candidate Brian Bigger called for fellow mayoral candidate David Popescu to be banned from all further campaign events during the 2018 election. However, Bill Crumplin, also a Greater Sudbury mayoral candidate, said that's not the right approach. He said it's the role of the Greater Sudbury Police to monitor Popescu for hate speech, and prosecute him if necessary. “I am sure as the mayor he could simply ask our police service to investigate the recent alleged prior offense(s) and ask that the police to be in attendance at future debates to monitor, deter and if necessary take action against anyone violating the Criminal Code of Canada,” Crumplin said. He said he does not agree with Bigger that debate organizers be put in a position where they are policing the debate by telling Popescu he cannot participate. Ward 9 candidate Paul Stopciati says he's not swayed by the Downtown BIA's response to his criticism of Ribfest, calling it “a crock of stale rib sauce.” Stopciati said he still wants to know why locals aren't allowed to be ribbers, whether they pay property tax or business taxes. “I also do not believe Ribfest is the tourism draw it’s claimed to be,” Stopciati said. “I called some of the hotels – there was very limited activity throughout the weekend. There certainly weren't the guests from out of town that the BIA claims. “If this Ribfest was so great, then I call on the BIA to show citizens full and complete financials for the past 10 years. We must know the cost of taxpayers’ contributions to this event!” Ward 11 candidate John Lindsay says the large project initiatives in Greater Sudbury — the Kingsway Entertainment District and the downtown Arts Junction — have divided the community and poisoned relationships at Tom Davies Square. In a release this week, Lindsay said there was “considerable public concern” about the projects, but city council “for whatever reason” put special interests ahead of all other concerns. The projects have a life of their own, he wrote, and all valid objections were ignored. “The bad taste of this whole exercise will linger for some time, and it all was unnecessary,” Lindsay wrote. Mayoral candidate Dan Melanson says in light of recent calls for decentralizing city services, it's important to remember it was part of recommendations more than a decade ago. “You may recall that following the amalgamation of the City of Sudbury and the surrounding towns in 2001, our former NDP MPP Floyd Laughren was appointed by the city to lead a community solutions team and with a mandate to examine this new relationship and recommend ways to bring all these communities together as one,” Melanson wrote in a release Monday. Laughren's report contained 36 recommendations, including, at No. 30, a call to review ways to decentralize services. “To the best of my knowledge, the bureaucracy at Tom Davies Square never took this recommendation seriously,” Melanson writes. “As city hall grew following amalgamation, there was little interest in decentralizing power from the centre to the outlying areas. However, this was and remains a barrier and an issue for these communities.” Where residents used to be able to call the town hall to deal with one of their concerns, now everything goes through the 311 number at Tom Davies and residents often don't get a timely response. Get caught up with all your election news at Sudbury.com's election page.
Look up: Vale helicopters will be seeding north of Coniston this week:
Vale’s annual aerial seeding program will occur this week with the use of helicopters. The company’s aerial seeding program targets barren land requiring reclamation around the company’s operations. The Vale program, which started in 1990, has treated more than 3,600 hectares of land to date. This year’s treatment area will be approximately 100 hectares, north of Coniston. "While every effort will be made not to fly over nearby residential areas, local residents may notice low-flying helicopters near Coniston," said a news release from Vale. "Residents are advised that this is part of Vale’s normal land reclamation activities and the low flight paths are necessary for the work to be effective." Weather permitting, planes will depart from a private airstrip in Coniston and deposit loads of agricultural limestone, grass seed and fertilizer on the designated treatment areas.
Rainbow to become first northern school board to livestream meetings:
Those interested in taking in the proceedings at Rainbow District School Board public meetings will soon be able to do so from their computers, iPads or mobile phones, as the board is implementing livestreaming technology. The board did an internal test of its livestreaming technology at the Sept. 25 board meeting, and will do another test at the Oct. 23 meeting. Rainbow board chair Doreen Dewar said the board considered the idea about five years ago, but it wasn't possible at that time because of the limitations of its old downtown Sudbury board office. In early 2013, the board also voted down the idea of video-recording meetings and posting the video on the Rainbow board's website after the fact, with staff saying it would cost about $13,000 per year. But the situation changed with the board's 2017 move into its new, $7.3-million board office, located in the former Wembley Public School. “When we realized we were going to be moving to a new board office, prior to any of the work being started, we said one of the things we wanted to make sure that we incorporated was the technology for livestreaming,” Dewar said. Dewar said she's not sure exactly when the livestreaming capability will be ready, as it's still in the testing phase. Find the full story here.
Dairy farmers group say they’re paying the price to seal trade deal:
The lobby group for Canadian dairy farmers is “deeply disappointed” in a new international trade agreement with the U.S. "The announced concessions on dairy in the new USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) deal demonstrates once again that the Canadian government is willing to sacrifice our domestic dairy production when it comes time to make a deal," said Pierre Lampron, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), in an Oct. 1 news release. "The government has said repeatedly that it values a strong and vibrant dairy sector. They have once again put that in jeopardy by giving away more concessions.” The group said the new agreement “weakens the dairy sector” and puts the jobs of 222,000 Canadians at risk. Earlier trade deals with the European Union and the Trans-Pacific Partnership have already “sacrificed” a quarter-billion dollars of dairy production from other countries, they claim. The DFC is the national policy, lobbying and promotional organization representing Canada's farmers.
Wednesday Weather:
Mainly overcast skies out there today with showers beginning near noon. There's a risk of a thunderstorm late in the afternoon. Wednesday's high will be 12. Showers expected to persist into the evening with a chance of a thunderstorm. Overnight low will be sitting at 10. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
