MacKinnon is a lifelong resident of Dryden who worked for thirty years with the police service, the last ten as Chief of Police.

“This is my hometown and I have always been extremely proud of Dryden. It was not long ago that we as a city, were a model for the rest of northwestern Ontario. I am convinced that we can achieve that status again,” said MacKinnon.  “I will bring a positive attitude and vision to City Council no matter what challenges we face. We have a large population of seniors who put their heart and soul in to making Dryden a great place to live. We need to preserve their trust and those who work, live and play here in our city no matter what the challenges”

Shayne MacKinnon stated that if elected he will definitely stay the course and complete the remainder of the council term. MacKinnon has been actively involved in the development of youth facilities in the community and youth leadership events. He is the current chair of the Dryden Neighbourhood Legacy Project which just accepted responsibility for helping children and families participate in community events. He is the past president and an active member of the Dryden Rotary Club as well as the Past President of Dryden Community Living.  He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Dryden Native Friendship Centre.

MacKinnon admits that he has always focused on supporting youth and youth events both through his work with the police service and in his personal life.

“It is extremely rewarding to see our area’s youth be active, healthy and engaged in their community,” said MacKinnon.  “I am sure that I can carry on with that important work and bring that kind of spirit to our entire community through City Council.”

Shayne lives in Dryden with his wife Sharon and has five grown children, and two grandchildren.

City of Dryden treasurer Linda McNaughton was on the defensive, Feb. 20 as a delegation from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing appeared before city council to discuss concerns over unfiled financial information going back to 2009.

Financial Information Returns (FIR)s are used by the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund to calculate annual provincial funding to municipalities. At the moment, OMPF is withholding approximately $3.4 million — four quarters worth of payments — as it waits for the City of Dryden to complete its 2009 return, a portion of which was submitted Feb. 13. Dryden holds the dubious distinction of being the sole community out of 444 Ontario municipalities that has yet to complete its FIR for 2009.

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Local Government Manager Susan Fraser says making an appearance at a public meeting of council is to ensure everyone is up to speed.

“It’s something that we’re beginning to do more and more,” says Fraser. “Part of the reasoning is in order that council understands the situation that they’re in, the money that’s being withheld and what that might mean to them in terms of budgeting.”

As for what the City of Dryden is doing to fix the situation, Fraser said she’s satisfied that the city is doing all the right things, it is just a matter of how fast it can be completed in order to allow the release of funds.

FIRs are typically due on May 31 of each year with a grace period extending to Sept. 30 before OMPF funding is withheld.

McNaughton addressed comments made by Mayor Craig Nuttall that sought to distance the current council, mostly elected in autumn of 2011, from a full understanding of the gravity of the situation until recent weeks.

“The mayor and councillor MacKinnon were informed throughout 2011 that the 2009 and 2010 financial statements and PSAB stuff wasn’t complete and council was updated all along,” said McNaughton. “As far as the magnitude of the thing was concerned, maybe I didn’t convey that to the extent that I probably should have, but they have been aware of it. I think all of council has been aware of what staff’s workload has been over 2011. That’s no excuse. I’m sorry I’m only one person. Council has to consider then that there should be additional staffing at the finance department in order to help with the workload that’s there.”

Over 2011, McNaughton assumed the additional duties of interim chief administrative officer for several months following the resignation of Arie Hoogenboom. McNaughton also took on a primary role in managing of the city’s unforeseen relief effort, hosting evacuees from forest-fire ravaged remote communities this summer.

Fraser says municipalities who get behind in filing their FIRs face delays in budget preparations, can incur borrowing costs if withheld funding is needed for cashflow and lose interest on funds that could have been invested in the short term. Unfiled financial information may also have adverse affects on grant applications to other funding bodies like the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund who use FIRs to calculate project funding.

Finance Committee Chair, Councillor Martin MacKinnon, addressed the delegation following the presentation, pledging the fastest possible resolution to the problem.

“You can rest assured that council is now fully aware of the needs and requirements and they will be met in a very quick manner,” said MacKinnon.

Following a lengthy debate on Feb. 15, MPs voted 159-130 in favour of passing Bill C-19, which will end the long-gun registry and allow the government to destroy records pertaining to non-restricted firearms.

“For me as a long-gun owner, obviously I’ve been opposed to the long-gun registry for a very long time,” said Kenora MP Greg Rickford. “The gallery was full with a lot of folks who had invested a lot of political energy in this bill, including Roger and Darlene Nordlund from Oxdrift who came down for the occasion.”

The bill has now passed third reading in parliament and will go to the Senate for further debate, and an additional three readings. Once the bill passes third reading in the Senate, it will receive Royal Assent.

“We are hopeful that by spring this will all be behind us and northwestern Ontario can all move forward in a variety of other issues where the debate is ever more lively, and move on,” said Rickford.

Two of the votes in favour of scrapping the registry came from NDP MPs, Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty, both from the Thunder Bay area.

Hyer and Rafferty were punished by their interim leader during the second reading, when the pair voted in favour of Bill C-19. The MPs were stripped of speaking privileges in the House, travel outside of Ottawa and their riding, and removed from all committees.

“I voted for my constituents, and I in fact know that was their wishes because I sent out two surveys. It was a pretty good response, and 97 per cent came back saying vote to abolish the registry, seems to me that’s a pretty good mandate,” said Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP, John Rafferty.

“Your first responsibility is to be a voice to your constituents. People know that they don’t have a big voice, or at least as direct a voice as I can have in places like Ottawa,” said Rafferty. “We’ll see what transpires at the end of March when we have a new leader, and we can get back on track.”

Bruce Hyer, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North said, ”I’ve gotten hundreds and hundreds of e-mails, and well over 90 per cent of them supportive (of abolishing the registry), even the people who don’t agree about the registry itself, think the democracy is more important that the gun vote itself, and were glad to see I voted the way my head, my heart and my loyalty to my constituents and my promises to them mattered.”

Hyer says he told Jack Layton through four elections in eight years his stand on the registry was to vote for his constituents, and had Layton’s blessing to do so.

“The NDP actually has never had an official policy on the registry,” said Hyer. “In the matter of safety, I believe that the firearms registry is well intended but quite ineffective.”

“John (Rafferty) and Bruce (Hyer) and I will continue to disagree with a lot of things, but I continue to appreciate and respect the fact that they stood their ground. They were punished severely for their stand by the current leadership of the NDP. They paid a big price for this, but I think they understood like I did that this was important to northern Ontarians. John and Bruce stood tall and for that I have nothing but respect for them on this issue,” said Rickford.

Dan Landrie, of the Dryden Rifle and Pistol Club said, ”I’m glad it’s through, and hopefully will save the taxpayers some money and they can put that money to use somewhere else where I feel it would do more good than where it was. I’m glad Greg Rickford and his party followed through with his promise.”

Lezlie Goodwin, Manager of Communications for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) said, ”The OFAH is very pleased that the Harper government has made good on its word to scrap the long-gun registry. We have been fighting for this for well over a decade since Bill C-68 has been passed, based on that it targets the wrong people and that it has not ever been proven to prevent crime.”

The poisonous hot air emanating from our Conservative government’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in regards to a very dangerous piece of legislation has been completely unreasonable.

At issue is Bill C-30 which, if passed, would require Internet service providers and cellphone companies to hand over Canadians’ e-mails, online web-surfing histories and communications data to police without a warrant.

When questioned in the House of Commons about the rather obvious dangers of granting such extraordinary powers to the authorities, Toews stood up in front of his nation in Parliament and said,

“You can either stand with us, or with the child pornographers.”

Really?

It could be the single most irresponsible thing I’ve heard uttered by an elected official — a high-ranking representative of a government who just days ago scrapped a federal gun registry over concerns of the privacy of its citizens.

The ridiculous level of hypocrisy is one thing, Toews’ habitual button-pushing disregard for the basic intelligence of Canadians is an mounting embarrassment to the government of Canada.

As it stands, police can already access personal Internet and communications records through court orders in the context of an investigation.

In a further embarrassing episode Saturday, Toews’ told CBC’s Evan Solomon that he was unaware that Section 17 of the Bill states in ‘exceptional circumstances’ any police officer may request customer information from an Internet service provider without judicial authorization.

Outside of Parliament Hill, opposition has emerged from Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian who has called the government’s justification ‘weak’ and called the naming of the Bill — The Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act — ‘disingenuous’.

As you could imagine, Toews has faced a momentous online backlash from Canadians. Free Internet advocates and hacker group Anonymous even published a warning to Toews which released embarrassing personal details about his divorce on YouTube.

I found the stunt oddly satisfying in the face of the typical government justification of — ‘if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear.’

Toews has said in recent interactions with the media that he believes Canadians are being radicalized by the Internet.

I would suggest that Canadians are being radicalized by Vic Toews and his tiresome fear-mongering.

Rick Mercer said something great in a recent rant about just such Conservative fear-mongering:

“People who are afraid do what they’re told, they pass over their lunch money, they keep their mouths shut. Don’t fall for it. There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself and the people who benefit from spreading it.”

As a citizen, I want to be able to take my government seriously, not be forced to choose sides by some ridiculous ultimatum seeking to needlessly divide and distract Canadians from the real issue at stake: their eroding rights to privacy.

Smarten up and start acting reasonably, please.

Chris Marchand

Regional and visiting mushers descended upon Eton Rugby Township's annual winter festival Feb. 18 to compete in the anual dog sled races.

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 All Photos by Chris Marchand

Dog sled race results

16 mile, 6 dog, Feb. 18, 2012

Pl. Musher Time

1 Clayton Schneider 0:57:51

2 Brian Bergen 1:03:09

3 Wes Alkins 1:03:49

4 Jackson Hall 1:04:51

5 Leanne Bergen 1:05:50

6 Adam Moore 1:05:53

7 Murray Marchment 1:06:49

8 Stephanie Davis 1:07:38

9 Brenden Schneider 1:08:13

10 Gabby Hall 1:09:52

11 Bill Candline 1:11:16

12 Rhonda Heerschap 1:11:32

13 Jennifer Chwastyk 1:11:57

14 Brian Wiese 1:13:00

15 Rachel Heerema 1:14:37

16 Jan Verburg 1:15:44

17 Curtis Craig 1:17:46

18 Jared Moore 1:17:54

19 Jesse Terry 1:26:26

20 Mark Millions 1:29:21

21 Arielle Penner 1:31:35

Conditions – partly cloudy, -4 degrees Celsius