Dryden

Open houses are being held this week across the region regarding the Waasigan Project.

Daniel Levitan, Vice President of Stakeholder Relations at Hydro One, says the new transmission line will bring a lot to the region.

“It’s going to bring about 350 megawatts of power. That increase in capacity is going to support mining and forestry activities and really more importantly, enable growth,” says Levitan.

According to Levitan, that amount of electricity could power approximately 11 new mining operations.

A Winnipeg woman is grieving the loss of her husband after a vacation in Mexico.

In a social media post, Stacey Ropos says her husband Jesse Ropos, originally from Kenora and a father of three, was murdered while on vacation at a Mexico resort.

Her post states while she returned to the hotel from a trip to the bar together at 11:45 p.m., she was woken up by hotel staff at 3 a.m. who informed her that Jesse had been found unresponsive and had passed away.

Greg Rickford says the Ontario government is doing all it can to support community partners and Council members who are trying to ‘clean up the streets’ of downtown Kenora.

Kenora’s curlers are hitting the ice this weekend before teams from across northern Ontario get together to see who moves on to represent the province. 

The Kenora Curling Committee is hosting their annual Lake of the Woods Open Bonspiel this weekend, and the Northern Ontario Curling Association’s Provincial Championships will be taking place in Kenora next week.

“We are lucky enough to host both of the Men’s and the Women’s events,” explains the Special Events Coordinator with the City of Kenora, Morgan Seller.

Highways have reopened in the area but drivers in northwestern Ontario are still being warned to stay home.

The Ministry of Transportation reported that Highway 17 was closed between the Ontario-Manitoba border and the Vermilion Bay area after multiple collisions this morning, but things have since reopened.

Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor, David Onley, has passed away at the age of 72.

The journalist turned vice-regal served for seven years in the role, making him the third longest serving viceroy behind current Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, currently in her 9th year, and Albert Edward Mathews who served from 1937 to 1946.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation says it still doesn’t know when it will be able to reassess properties across Ontario.

Steven DeRocco from MPAC says they are ready to go anytime the province is.

“It is tricky from our end because we do prepare for it…we prepare for multiple valuation dates,” DeRocco told Kenora city council during a presentation this week.

“We have two modellers/statisticians in Thunder Bay, who are constantly drawing up models based on (housing) sales.”

Plans for a housing development in Dryden could grow from 18 units to 60 units, if changes are approved by Council members.

During a Committee of the Whole meeting at City Hall on January 9, Chief Building Official Pam Skillen laid out an amended development agreement for future work at 5 Skillen Crescent.

The Town of Red Lake continues to push for funding for a new arena and event center.

Mayor Fred Mota says unfortunately they have been turned down for infrastructure funding for that project.

“The problem we face from the province is that there is no programs currently available to support our asset management plans for projects such as this,” Mota told the Ontario Finance Committee during pre-budget hearings earlier this week in Kenora.

Mota says the Cochenour Arena is over 60 years old and needs to be replaced.

The ruling issued last week will allow late claims in the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence Sexual Misconduct Class Actions, where it is in the interests of justice to do so until February 5th of this year.

When the motion was heard approximately 640 people were seeking to file late claims after the deadline, which had been set for January 23rd, 2022.

However, claimants must establish four elements: