Other Contributers

If the Steve Yzerman “Dream Team” is able to lock up a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next month, Northwestern Ontario can take credit for a good portion of it.

By Dan Falloon, Staff writer

There was no sign anything special was going to happen for the Fort Frances Lakers on Friday night.
The team’s board of directors had just sounded the “everything’s okay” alarm for the second time in a month. The Lakers, meanwhile, were mired in a five-game losing streak while the visitors came strutting in having not lost in 22-straight.

By Dan Falloon, Staff writer
Hi there, Fort Frances Times readers.
This is your new friendly, neighbourhood sports reporter, and I thought I should probably take the opportunity to introduce myself and what I’m all about since I expect we’ll be seeing a fair bit of each other.

By John Rafferty

I think a good MP should, whenever possible, consult directly with the people he or she represents as often as possible.
We can do this through mailings and correspondence, phone calls, door-to-door visits, private meetings, and public meetings like town halls.
The other methods are all good, but I would like to deal with town halls this week.
I view town hall meetings as a chance for us to get together as a community to learn about the issues that affect our lives, and to work towards finding solutions to the shared problems we face.

By John Rafferty
The recent AbitibiBowater bankruptcy has hit our local workers, suppliers, and families hard.
I hear each day from those who have been laid off indefinitely or shorted thousands of dollars in payments, and from retirees who are now receiving notices informing them that they no longer are pensioners, but creditors, to the company.

By John Rafferty
This week’s column is an excerpt from a speech I gave last week during a national press conference I held with NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair and Dave Coles, president of the Communication, Energy, and Paperworkers Union.
We used the event to call on the Harper government to implement a national forestry strategy and protect the pensions of workers in the industry:

By John Rafferty
My column this week will be short and to the point as there is much work to be done on the forestry file.
The forestry sector is being decimated in this country and the Harper government has done nothing to help the producers, our communities, and your families get through this crisis.
With the bankruptcy protection filing by AbitibiBowater last week, my priority will be, first and foremost, the protection of pensions for workers.

We are nearly finished the two-week parliamentary break for Easter, as well as a series of workshops and town hall meetings I’ve been hosting across the riding.
I’ll have more to say about how these meetings turned out sometime soon, but I wanted to take a moment to let you know why I think having these meetings from time to time is so important.

This week, I’d like to tell you about an important private member’s bill that I have tabled in the House of Commons, as well as remind you about the disability tax credit workshops and town hall meetings I have planned for this week and next.
First off, I’ve always believed our veterans deserve our utmost respect and admiration for protecting the very Canadian values of freedom and equality.

By John Rafferty

We have a lot of things on the go this week and next, so I’d like to touch on a few of them in this space.
First off, my heart goes out to the employees who are leaving their positions or losing their jobs at CBC Thunder Bay. My office is always open to you, so please drop by or call to see if there is any way we can help.
Please know that I am extremely angry about these cuts; they were unnecessary and heartless, and the Harper government is to blame for both the job losses and the reduction in the quantity and quality of our local CBC programming.