8/6/2019 FEDS - 2011 Profiles

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Wednesday, April 20, 2011 FORT FRANCES TIMES A5

Staff

District voters have a variety ofways to cast their ballots in thelead up to Canadas 41st federalelection on May 2.

Special ballotThose wanting to vote early can

take advantage of the special ballotoption available for voters.

This option will be available upuntil Tuesday, April 26 at 6 p.m.at the Elections Canada office inFort Frances (located in the SenicRiver Mall on Second Street East),as well as other Elections Canadareturning offices across the coun-try.

The special ballot can be used by both local voters and thosefrom other ridings who wont beable to vote on the day of theelection, noted Ruby Douglas, theAnother Additional Returning Of-ficer for the Thunder Bay-RainyRiver riding.

For example, if someone livesin Vancouver but will be in FortFrances for the election, they candrop by the Elections Canada of-fice here to cast a vote for theircandidate of choice in Vancouver,Douglas explained.

Advanced pollsAdvanced polls will be open

April 22, 23, and 25 from noon-8 p.m. in two locations for RainyRiver District.

For those in polling areas 601and 602, advanced polls will be

held at Elections Canada office inFort Frances.For voters located who fall un-

der Poll 600, advanced polling willtake place at the Rainy River reccentre.

Election dayOn Monday, May 2, the polls

will open at 8:30 a.m. and close at8:30 p.m.

With 44 voting locations in theregion, voters can find where they

will be voting by looking on theirvoter ID card if they have receivedone by mail, by visiting the Elec-tions Canada website at www.elec-tions.ca and searching their postalcode, or by contacting the localreturning office at 274-4135.

This office will also be open allday on election day for any ques-tions or problems, Douglas said,noting voters can register before-hand or the day of to vote.

Required ID Voters must bring identificationto prove both their identity andaddress.

One option is to bring an originalpiece of government-issued ID thathas your photo name and addresson itsuch as a drivers licence orthe newest Ontario Health Cards.

The other option is to have twooriginal pieces of authorized iden-tification, with both pieces having your name and one having youraddress.

This could be a passport or health card paired with docu-ments such as a utility bill, bank/credit card statement, governmentcheque/stub, etc.

Voter ID cards can be broughtwith you to the polling station, butare not required to vote.

Elections Canada also allows fora third option for those withoutID, with the voter taking an oathand having an elector with ID, andfrom the same polling division (i.e.,neighbour, roommate), vouch for

them. Workers needed With May 2 fast approaching,there are varying positions avail-able with Elections Canada for polling stations from Rainy Riverto Fort Frances, noted Douglas.

Training will be provided for thepositions, which are paying.

Anyone interested in workingon election day can call our officeat [274-0559], said Douglas.

You could say politics runs inMaureen Comuzzi-Stehmannsblood.

Although hers happens to beConservative blueunlike her un-cle and longtime Liberal politician,Joe Comuzzi, whose footsteps shesfollowing in.

Known to many as Moe, Co-muzzi-Stehmann grew up in Thun-der Bay and holds a B.A. in po-litical science, with a minor inwomens studies, from LakeheadUniversity, alongside a DealershipManagement Certification fromDetroit, Mich.

A longtime business professionalin the region, Comuzzi-Stehmanncurrently works at Lakehead Mo-tors, with past experience as man-aging various other businesses inThunder Bay.

This is her first foray into federalpolitics.

The Government of Canadaled by Stephen Harper introducedthe Economic Action Plan, notedComuzzi-Stehmann.

And when he is back into Par-liament under a majority govern-ment, he will then implement theEconomic Action Plan Phase II.

Both are plans to reduce taxesand provide jobs, improve finan-cial security, and ensure a futureof hope and opportunity for ourchildren and grandchildren, shestressed.

If elected, Comuzzi-Stehmannlisted her priorities on policies thatwill benefit residents in Northwest-ern Ontario as:

keeping taxes low;

encouraging new businesses tolocate to the area for lifestyle andemployment;

ccontinuing senior programs;abolishing the long-gun regis-

try;funding for municipal infra-

structure;helping at-risk youth avoid

gangs and criminal activity; andincreasing doctors and nurses

for rural communities.Comuzzi-Stehmann also pointed

to the need to continue with the

ongoing support for forest andmining industries in the northwestregion.

For forestry, it means building oninnovation, diversification, marketdevelopment, and increased com- petitiveness, she noted, throughthe Conservatives current forestinnovation and market develop-ment programs.

For mining, its focusing on pro-moting mineral exploration and to help protect mining communitiesaffected by long-term challenges.

As well, the Conservatives willreintroduce and extend the Min-eral Exploration Tax Credit, Co-muzzi-Stehmann said.

She also stressed the importanceof providing ongoing support to-wards education to stem youthout-migration here.

This includes supporting theCanada Youth Business Founda-tion, enhancing the Canada Stu-dent Loans program for part-timestudents, and doubling the workexemption for Canada Student

Loans.Comuzzi-Stehmann pointed to

the Conservative platform of es-tablishing 30 Industrial ResearchChairs at colleges and polytech-nics, and support for research part-nerships between college and uni-versity researchers and studentsthrough Canadas research grant-ing councils.

She, too, affirmed she wouldvote against party line as long asthe majority of constituents werein favour of the issue.

Liberal candidate Ken Boshcoffis no stranger to Parliament Hill.

Boshcoff first represented theThunder Bay-Rainy River riding inOttawa following both the 2004and 2006 elections.

Hes also a familiar face in re-gional politics, having served onThunder Bay city council for 16years, including two terms as may-or from 1997-2003.

He also served as president ofthree major municipal organiza-tions, returning to sit on Thunder

Bay city council following last fallsmunicipal election.Born and raised in Fort Wil-

liam (now Thunder Bay), Boshcoff holds degrees in political scienceand economics from LakeheadUniversity, as well as a masters ofenvironmental studies in systemsplanning from York University.

During his time in Parliament,Boshcoff served under Prime Min-ister Paul Martin and then as the of-ficial opposition critic for FedNorfocusing on rural, agricultural, andforestry issues.

With the goal of heading backto Ottawa to represent the region,Boshcoff said he has three spe-cific policy areas he would work toimplement that will benefit North-western Ontario.

These include:working on a federal contribu-

tion plan for assisted-living resi-dences;

capping the federal portion ofthe gas tax after $1 to address thefact we need autos/trucks due tothe long distances; and

getting the federal governmentto work with tourist groups to promote regions such as SunsetCountry.

My skills are in bringing peopletogether, Boshcoff said about what he, as an MP, plans to do to helplocal industries.

Forestry is ready for its re- bound and mining will be huge,so it is vital that we elect someonewho understands business, govern-ment, and community issues, hestressed.

The top priorities for govern-ment spending should be invest-ment in training and economicdevelopment that sees real jobscreated, Boshcoff added.

Its a solution hes also toutingas a way to end the youth out-migration being seen across thenorthwest.

There is a solution and it is qual-ity careers, Boshcoff explained.The northwest is poised for aneconomic boom and we should have the training to ensure ouryoung people get placed.

When it comes to toeing the

party line, Boshcoff said he wouldvote against his party if thats whathis constituents wanted.

[I] did so many times as an MPand even was identified as a topmaverick MP, he remarked.

As for voter apathy, Boshcoffsaid the right to be vote must bemade more significant to people ofall ages, noting he will become anadvocate for democratic apprecia-tion.

NDP candidate John Raffertyvows to keep fighting for North-western Ontario if re-elected onMay 2.

I will continue the fight to makelife more affordable for Northwest-ern Ontario families, said Rafferty,a teacher and small business ownerwho was elected MP for Thunder

Bay-Rainy River riding in 2008.I will continue to fight for pen-sion fairness, he stressed. I willcontinue the fight to remove theHST off heat because thats justunfair for northern families.

With a $56-billion deficit, Raf-ferty said Canada cannot afford a$2-billion dollar tax giveaway toalready-profitable corporations.

Instead of blanket tax cuts,whats needed to sustain and grow jobs are targeted investments andlowering small business tax rates,he argued.

Targeted investment to [the for-est] industry could have stemmeddevastating job losses, that would have been re-paid over the yearsthrough increased spending, Raf-ferty remarked.

Wouldnt it have made moresense to invest in keeping peopleworking rather than using thatmoney to pay EI benefits?

But instead, the Harper Con-servatives and provincial Liberalswere just not there for us, Raf-ferty charged, saying the federalTories spent more on fake lakesand gazebos for the G8 and G20summits than theyve spent on for-estry in five years.

Rafferty also stressed the needto fight U.S. black liquor subsidiesthat put Canadian mills at a disad-vantage.

As well, he said FedNor needsto be made a stand-alone agency,and its funding doubled to $100million per year.

Good jobsmade through thesetargeted investment in the north,FedNor reforms, and getting busi-nesses to hireare the solution foryouth out-migration in the region,Rafferty added, citing to the NDPs proposed job creation tax creditand promise to reduce the small

business tax rate to nine percent.Secondly, we need to invest in

colleges and universities so youthcan get training in our regionrather than being forced to studyelsewhere, he continued.

Rafferty said government priori-ties also should be on sustainable pensions so seniors dont live in poverty, and hiring more doctorsand nurses.

As to whether or not he toes party line when voting in Ottawa,

Rafferty pointed to his own votetowards abolishing the long-gunregistrythe direction constituentshad given him.

My record is clear. My constitu-ents come first, he stressed.

Meanwhile, when it comes torestoring public faith in politicians,Rafferty said the Senate repre-sents everything that is wrong withOttawa and should be scrapped.

This is something Harper said he would dobut instead has ap- pointed his own supporters, likepast governments, said Rafferty.

On a local level, Rafferty citedthe importance of MPs staying intouch with constituents.

Being accessible, and hearingand acting on peoples concerns,is the best way to restore faith inelected representatives, he argued, pointing to how he tries to get toeach community regularly, sendsout riding surveys, and holds townhall-style meetings.

Ed Shields is hoping ThunderBay-Rainy River will make Cana-dian history on May 2 by electinga Green Party MP, as well as theonly Ph.D. scientist in Parliament.

Im a new kind of candidatewith new 21st-century knowledgeand ideas, and not the same old

thing, vowed Shields, a now-re-tired medical geneticist and McGillUniversity professor with two doc-toral degrees, who returned backto the Thunder Bay region after30 years of teaching.

As a scientist, Shields said hisfocus for helping NorthwesternOntario constituents would be onopening up jobs in the bio-techindustry (i.e., genomics and nano-technology), as well as greenbusiness and manufacturing.

All of these jobs can be donein Northwest Ontario, he stressed,adding policies also should be in place to allow local residents totake advantage and profit fromgreen energy.

With proper management, for-estry is a sustainable industry andexcellent carbon sink, Shieldsnoted, alongside value-added prod-ucts, such as bio-tech generated biofuels and cellulose recomposi-tion products.

Mining, on the other hand, is notsustainable, he said, arguing it hasa tendency for big companies toprofit instead of local people.

But as it creates local jobs, Shieldsstressed the need for strong envi-ronmental controls.

Health care, including elder careand home care, should be a prior-ity for government spending, notedShields, but added there are cre-ative means to address many ofour health-care problems withoutgreat expenditures.

Merely throwing money at a problem isnt always the best so-lution, he reasoned, pointing toideas such as physicians receivinga salary versus being paid by pro-cedure and patient, increasing thenumber of physician assistants andnurse practitioners, and preven-tion.

Quality education for the so-called new economy jobs for all

Northwestern Ontarians and FirstNation people also should be a priority, Shields said, emphasizingthe need for start-up grants for bio-tech and green entrepreneurs,environment stewardship funds forlocal green energy research, de-velopment, and production, andfarmers markets and local food.

Education and jobs also arewhat is needed to turn the tideson youth out-migration from theregion, he agreed.

We must ensure that our youthare well-educated to adapt to the jobs in bio-tech and green busi-ness and manufacturing in North-western Ontario, he said.

Good jobs and a clean, green,

and beautiful environment will bea magnet to keep our youth athome, he argued.

As a scientist, Shields pointed tohis own role to help restore publictrust in democracysaying he canhelp dampen the corrosive effectsof special-interest lobbyists on sci-entific issues before Parliament.

Special-interest political cloutfrequently trumps the public willthis is non-democratic, he re-marked, adding he can help clearthe fog of misinformation.

Noting that the Green Party isnot monolithic, Shields said hewould vote against the party line ifits what his constituents wanted.

But he also stressed he wouldwork very hard to clearly explain,and to likewise understand, all pa-rameters of the problem in orderto develop greater depth of under-standing and information for boththe constituents and the party.

Are you dreaming about thesparkling freedom of an openlake?

Nature certainly is workingtowards making this happen, al-though at a much slower pace thanlast year when all the lakes in thedistrict were free of ice by April10.

This year, theres still as muchas 20 inches of ice in placeseventhough the tributaries gush withrun-off.

However, this makes for an ex-citing time to observe animals.Many areas close to the shorelineare exploding with life.

This past week, I perched myselfby a shallow bay and within a fewminutes watched a mink slitherand slide, beavers mew and chew, bald eagles soar, and mallardsflap.

Then on my way home, I spotteda wolf sauntering slowly on the ice,far off in the distance.

What a glorious time.But even with all this condensed

animal activity, Im still really look-

ing forward to break-up. Also,Im following the Fort FrancesTimes weekly poll about when itwill happen.

As of press time, 61% of 365responders predicted Rainy Lakewill open between May 1 and May15. And looking at ClearwaterLake (which tends to clear aroundthe same time as Rainy), this seemsreasonable.

My husband and I have a betgoing on, as well. Ive chosen May7 as my ice-out date while hespredicting April 29.

If Im right, this years ice-outstill will be far from the record lat-est time (May 22 for Rainy Lakeback in 1950).

My prediction isnt a popularone, especially since it requirescool weather, but I like winning.In fact, I even did a little research

before placing my guess.What I learned is that ice

melts from the bottom up. Thisdetail, added to what we all know(that snow blocks the light neededto warm the water), tells me thatwere behind the average May 3break-up date.

In other words, the transfer oflight is really important, which isnt happening right now because ofthe recent snow. Plus, the ice isntcreating the optimal greenhouseeffect of trapping heat.

But its not just this little bit ofreading that helped me to placemy bet. I also augured some holes(and froze my arm) in the guise ofresearch. What I discovered is thatthe ice (not including air pockets)is still hard in most places.

Theres two-three inches of softice on the top (above a small layerof water) and then 12-17 inches of harder ice below. The underbellyof the ice has holes due to a fewwarm spells, but it is firm.

So, I think it will be at least aweek before the ice really startsto form those really long, verti-cal candles needed for the heavytransfer of heat, light, and liquid.

But, when this does happen, thefinale is near. Miles and miles ofdelicate crystals will shift in thewind, and animals will spread outin the distance.

The sounds will change, too.Depending on the waves, the tin-sels will sing and whistle, or theywill clatter like mountains of tinytambourines.

Either way, the last stage is brief,and will be followed by a sparklingblue freedom once again.

Dear editor:Coach: A trainer of sports play-

ers and athletes.To me, Dave Bondett was much

more than that. For the last five years, Dave not only has beenmoulding me and my curling team-mates into the club champions we have become, but he has helpedme become the young woman I amtoday.

Not only did Dave spend hun-dreds of hours perfecting our de-liveries and brushing techniques, but he taught us how to set andachieve our goals.

Most importantly, he taught ushow to be a team.

Dave always has emphasized theimportance of healthy communica-

tion and teamwork. He used tosay that it wasnt one person whomakes the shot, but that it is a teamwho makes a shot.

It was with his many quotes,team meetings, and words of wis-dom that our team has been ableto reach the skill level that we are

at today.Dave has been a leader to many

at the Fort Frances Curling Club.The Muskie curling program wasextremely lucky to have had acoach with the patience and dedi-cation that Dave has provided.

I would also like to thank Daveswife, Mary Lynn. She has alwayssupported us and has been veryunderstanding of the time thatDave has spent with the team. Wewill miss us both as we go our sepa-rate ways in the fall.

Daveyou have inspired me likenone other. Thanks to you, some-day I will reach the top of themountain.

And when I do, you can beguaranteed that I will smile and

remember the man who changedmy life.Signed,

Samantha Mueller,Fort Frances, Ont.(on behalf of the

Muskie girlscurling team)

I was looking at my calendar ofevents that I look forward to.

Last year, I made my first tripto the cabin on April 15. It wasthe earliest I have ever venturedthere.

Another year it was this comingweekend.

As Ive discovered, the annualspring lawn raking, the first tripto the cabin, and the planting of perennials can vary as much as amonth. Spring, alas, is so unpredict-able.

Normally by the last weekend inApril, my yard is fully raked and allthe debris and branches that havedropped in the yard are pickedup.

Im not so sure this will all hap-pen by the end of April this year.Winter seems slow to end, as ev-eryone is agreeing with.

Winter played a cruel trickacross Canada last weekendandMother Nature clearly has told us

she is going to make us wait for thesummer boating and cabin season.

In the district, there is a legendthat winter will end after the fourthsnowfall following the return of theseagulls. Last weekends snowfall,if the legend is correct, marks theend of winter.

When the snow was piling upthrough December and January,we all were complaining abouthow much water we would be fac-ing in the spring and that the lakeswould be high.

With the slow melt and run-off,

more water has been filling up thewater table. That has been goodfor the district.

As I walked around my yard yes-terday, the tulips were up and onebunch already had a flower bud onit.

The day lilies that make up mostof my flower garden, meanwhile, had pushed their way into thesnow and early last week werestarting to shoot upwards.

Yesterday, the yellow greencolour that announces their com-ing looked shockingly pale. They,too, cant fathom the cruel jokeMother Nature has played.

The maple trees that were get-ting ready to burst into leaf aroundmy yard a year ago still lie dor-mant waiting for warmer weatherto arrive. Any green grass that wasvisible last week seems to haveslipped back into tawny brown.

The only plants that seem to bethriving are the weeds Im trying to

eliminate.When goutweed first started ap-

pearing along my hedge line, Ithought it was wonderful. Over thenext decade, though, it managed tochoke out some flowering shrubs.

And in the past few years, it hastried to invade my lawn. It is nolonger welcome.

I had hoped that mowing thegoutweed last year would cause itto perish. Not so. The leaves aregrowing and the seed that I threwdown last fall does not appearready to sprout.

Trying to dig the goutweed outand removing all the roots hasbeen a futile exercise.

Im told the solution to my prob-lem involves putting wet layersof newspaper down over top thegoutweed and then covering itwith topsoil.

I hope this works for me. It is myproject for the spring.

Letter to the editor

Blueberry

IslandBy Joanna Loney

Late ice-outlikely this year

How to vote

Getting rid of goutweed my spring projectFrom the

PublishersPen

John RaffertyEd Shields

Maureen Comuzzi-Stehmann

Ken Boshcoff

Meet the candidates

Great inspiration