Columns

These first 10 days of January have felt anything but like the winters that I remember. I would like to think that the cold days I remember from my youth and 20’s were all a figment of my imagination, but every day, there appears to be another news item talking about global warming.

By Ken Boshcoff
M.P.

Last September, the Conservative Government announced over $1 billion in spending cuts to a multitude of programs and services including literacy programs, volunteerism initiatives, museum funding, and economic development to name just a few. One of the cuts that will be felt long into the future is the elimination of $55.4 million for the Youth Employment Program.
Launched in 1997, the Youth Employment Program has been instrumental in developing Canada’s workforce of the future by providing young Canadians access to programs and services that help them gain the skills, knowledge, career information and work experience they need to find and maintain employment. In the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding, the program has provided assistance to over 250 youth each year.

By Al Lowe
Ptarmigans

We have a tendency to think of Northwestern Ontario as being the parts we are familiar with - Lake Superior, Kenora, Wawa and so on. We don’t think about the vast part of our land which goes away up to the shores of Hudson and James Bays. Yet this is part of Northwestern Ontario, too.

By Pastor Gord Armstrong
RR Ministerial

Sometimes in life we have more questions than answers: for instance, what does it take to make a community, really a community? Is it the kindness that we show to one another? Is it going “out of our way” to  help someone build a better life? Is it putting the needs of others ahead of our own? Sorry, told you I had a lot of questions! oop’s one more question.
Where does one go for the answer’s to these questions? If you have ever read the book of Job from the old testament, you find that Job’s friends tried their best to give him answers for all the trials and disasters of  his life. They failed and left Job more frustrated than ever.

By Gary Sliworsky
Ag. Rep.

Across Ontario, agriculture has evolved over time to meet various economic, environmental and social changes. Therefore, the Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) Implementation Guidelines have been updated and improved to better meet the challenges facing Ontario’s agricultural and rural communities today. The 2006 version of the MDS formulae comes into effect on January 1, 2007. The purpose of the MDS formulae is to minimize nuisance complaints due to odour from livestock facilities and to reduce land use incompatibility. MDS is made up of two separate, but related formulae (MDS I and MDS II).