Monday, September 23, 2013

Candidates prepare for fall election?

Still lots of chatter of a possible fall election campaign in Ontario.

The Conservatives held their policy convention over the weekend in
London.

Kenora-Rainy River Tory candidate Randy Nickle says they've been on
alert for a while now.

The NDP and Liberals also have their candidates in place for the next provincial election, with Sarah Campbell holding the New Democratic banner
and Anthony Leek ready to run again for the Grits.

Council Puts Off on Planning Decision

Kenora City Council has put off a decision to award a contract for the Planning department.

City staff want to hire FoTenn Consulting out of Ottawa for any external planning advice.

Property and Planning Manager Charlotte Caron feels the company will provide better service to the department.

Mayor Dave Canfield says he prefers one of the other tenders and raised  some concerns about the work FoTenn did on Kenora's last Official plan.

Council has agreed to re-visit the issue at next month's Committee of the Whole meeting.

Public School Board Nears Full Implementation of All-Day Kindergarten

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is one step closer to having all elementary schools offer full-day kindergarten.

Superintendent of Education Caryl Hron says they are in their fourth year of the program, and so far it's been a huge success.

Hron says their goal is to have every student reading by the time they finish kindergarten.

She adds 92-percent of students can, and the other 8-percent were identified as needing additional assistance.

She says next year they will have full implementation in the 16 elementary schools across the board.

Con College Eyes New Locations for Float Plane School

Confederation College is hoping to decide where to locate its float plane
training classes in the next couple of months.

The college agreed to move the course from its current location on Eva
Lake near Atikokan after receiving numerous complaints from cottagers.

College president, Jim Madder says they've received a lot of interest from
communities interested in hosting the school from Kenora all the way to
Manitouadge.

September 5th was the deadline to submit proposals for the flight school.

Job Seekers Coming to Kenora


The Kenora District Services Board is holding a "Job Seekers" event at the Seven Generations Education Institute in Kenora.

Coordinator Josee Mantle says it's a great way for folks to learn about educational and job opportunities in the community.

The Job Seekers Forum will take place this Wednesday, September 25th from 10 AM until 1 PM at the
former Lakewood School.

Meetings will also be held in Dryden and Sioux Lookout this week.

School Calendar Survey Released

Before Labor Day or after Labor Day.

That's one of the questions the Keewatin-Patricia District School
Board wants answered as it begins work on next year's school
calendar.

The public school board has posted a survey on its web site, asking
parents if they want the school year to start on August 26th,
or September 3rd next year.

The board also wants to see whether parents and staff prefer to have
professional development days on Friday's or Monday's.

The survey will be available until September 29th.

Whitefish Bay Boys Volleyball Teams Excel

A good weekend for Whitefish boys volleyball teams.

The Winterhawks won the junior division of the annual Kenora Invitational tournament over the weekend.

Whitefish Bay got by Crocus Plains from Brandon in the A-side final in two straight sets.

Dryden defeated Fort Frances in the Bronze medal game.

In the senior side of the Tournament, the Winterhawks once again advanced to the
final, only to lost this time to Dryden in two straight sets.

Atikokan took third place with a win over the Westgate Tigers from Thunder Bay.

Teams from both Thomas Aquinas and Beaver Brae bowed out of the tournament in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Bronco Football Teams Split

Beaver Brae's junior Varsity football team had fallen to 1-1 this season.

The Broncos grade seven and eights traveled to Fort Frances Saturday and dropped a 24-7 decision to the Wolverines.

The loss followed the Broncos win in the Winnipeg High School Football League on Friday afternoon.

Beaver Brae upended Tec Voc 34-6 to improve to 2-1 on the season.

The Broncos will head to Winnipeg on Friday for their next game against the Maples Marauders.