Thunder Bay Business March part 2

The people of Quebec have a certainpositive outlook on life it seems to me andsnowmobiling is one of their favouritewinter activities. The region of Charlevoixis a group of smaller towns to the east ofhistoric Quebec City and is a very specialsetting. For the avid snowmobiler it cer-tainly is a paradise.

There are easy air connections toQuebec City with Porter, West jet and AirCanada. When you arrive at the newQuebec City airport you will experience avery modern and well laid out facility thatis one of the nicest you will find. QuebecCity is an historic city in North Americaand offers much to see and explore.

You snowmobile trip to the Charlevoixregion could begin with a special train rideon Le Massif de Charlevoix, along the StLawrence River where you can enjoy abeautiful breakfast, catered by FairmontHotels. Le Massif is a ski area and accessi-ble by the train. The former manager of theCirque du Soleil, who was born in thetown of Baie - Saint Paul, decided tocome back and develop a ski resort withthe train and a new hotel. It will bebecome a major ski destination.

“ We are like a gem not well knownand have mountains, the St. LawrenceRiver and pretty forests. Snowmobile isnot well known here yet but you will dis-cover a different type of country with var-ied terrain and a nice view. There are somevery nice outfitters here to welcome you aswell,” said Sylvie Marquois DandurandGeneral Manager of Tourism Charlevoix.They have excellent cuisine and can be offin the middle of nowhere with their elec-tricity generated by the water. It is very different from other parts of Quebec.Everything is small, charming and verysecret. There are snowmobile rentals heremore and more and we are at the begin-ning of something. We want the people todiscover Charlevoix by snowmobilebecause it is very different.”

Your snowmobile trip could begin atthe famous 405 room Fairmont Le ManoirRichelieu that has everything you need tobegin your adventure. “ We are 112years old and located right adjacent to the

St Lawrence River. The resort was found-ed by a boat company that was travelingon the St Lawrence Seaway bringing richAmericans and Canadian to the hotel in thesummer time only. They tried in the winterbut in 1986 opened 4 seasons after thehotel was insulated,” said Eric Quesnel,Director of Sales & Marketing for theFairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. “ Wehave beautiful winters here so want thepeople to come and enjoy that here. Theproperty became a Fairmont 12 years agoafter it was shut down for 6 months to ren-ovate the entire building as well as addinga banquet room, indoor parking lot, out-door sports facilities including swimmingpool, fitness centre and kids play area witha $140 million renovation. The casino onproperty was expanded then as well. “

“ This weekend were able to fit 113snowmobiles with inside parking and hadover 250 sleds outside for the snowmobileevents. The snowmobilers are welcome atthe Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu a 5 starresort. We have great rates all season longstarting from Sunday and Thursday at$139 per night. There are rental snowmo-biles on site with all the clothing as welland a guide if you need one. We have aspa here and a casino for the evening. Weare right on the trials and you can access the hotel and undergroundsnowmobile parking. We are a luxurioussnowmobile hub and welcome snowmobil-ers here to do their favourite sport.”

Also at the Fairmont Le ManoirRichelieu there is great skiing nearby, dogsled riding, snowshoeing and their ownhorses at the hotel where you can have acarriage ride for free.

In the summer the Fairmont LeManoir Richelieu have a 27-hole golfcourse with all the holes facing the StLawrence River. They also have whale

watching which is very popular in theregion along with tennis courts, volleyballand two adjacent national parks with walk-ing trails. There is a large kids play areaand baby sitting available.

After suiting up at the Fairmont LeManoir Richelieu you are on the trialsimmediately and off to your next destina-tion. The trails are very pretty to ride withgreat scenery and snow conditions. Thearea offers elevations of up to 3000 feetand some great snow conditions youmight find in more western locations likeBC.

Another popular resort destinationmight be theL’Auberge du Ravage, whichis a very unique large log cabin that fea-tures 12-second storey rooms completewith their own bathrooms. The main floor

is a very luxurious setting with fireplacesand a fantastic dining area. The 5 starresort reminded me of watching an episodeof the TV series “ Northern Exposure” setin Alaska where Dr Fleischman andMaggie stumble on a luxurious oasis in themiddle of nowhere on their search for thelost city. You can have blizzard conditionsoutside but be enjoying some fantasticwine and food in this special place.

It is always fun to have a guide on atrip like this who are very familiar with thearea and can take you off trail to experi-ence some beautiful country sites. The 47Nord Expeditions compaany owned byChristoff and Paul will provide an excel-lent experience for you. These riders areabsolutely avid snowmobilers themselves.Christoff runs a 2012 Arctic Cat Pro Climb1100 Turbo sled and Paul a 2012 Ski DooRenegade 1200, both decked out will GPS,left gas controls, extra lighting, manydecals etc, etc. They love their sport!

The Charlevoix region is one of themost beautiful you will encounter on asnowmobile. It offers great-varied trailswith good elevations and views. The snowconditions are excellent and make for agreat snowmobile experience you shouldtry.See:www.charlevoixtourism.comwww.fairmont.com/richelieuwww.lemassif.comwww.47nordexpeditions.cawww.lacmoreau.com

for more information for your trip!

Great Snowmobiling at Charlevoix,Quebec

Publisher’sNoteScott

Sumner

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS MARCH 2012 PAGE 3

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February 16, 2012 – Mayor Keith Hobbssaid the Drummond Report’s approach torestraint and rationalizing service delivery

is in step with the City’s goals.

Hobbs discussed the report this week withCity Manager Tim Commisso and CarolBusch, City Treasurer and General

Manager Finance & Corporate Services.“The focus of the Drummond Report isabout restraint and finding efficiencies,”Hobbs said. “It’s also about cost contain-ment, which is what Council andAdministration is examining with theCore Business Review and CITYLean.The Drummond Report suggests increasedcollaboration between the province andmunicipalities – that’s something the Cityis certainly willing to discuss further.”

The Drummond Report was commis-sioned by the province and prepared byeconomist Don Drummond. The Reportsuggests ways for the Ontario governmentto reform public services while findingsavings for taxpayers. The Ontario gov-ernment will decide how to move forwardon Drummond’s suggestions and then theCity of Thunder Bay and other municipal-ities will examine those actions. “We lookforward to the Ontario budget, which willprovide the first indication of the govern-ment’s direction,” Mayor Hobbs said.

The Report recommends continued

restraint with wages and benefits. TheCity is interested in understanding moreabout Drummond’s proposal to voluntari-ly centralize bargaining with police andfirefighters. The Report said that “largermunicipalities, or some groups of them,will tend to bargain together, and, like-wise, the smaller municipalities will bar-gain together but separate from the largerones.”

Commisso said these potential changes tolabour relations, including improvementsto arbitration, could be beneficial to theCity of Thunder Bay. “Centralized bar-gaining could allow for a quicker resolu-tion when contracts expire and overall itcould contain increasing costs,” he said.

Commisso and Busch don’t believe theDrummond Report will impact the City’s2012 budget, currently under review byCouncil, although this is to be confirmed.However, the Report suggests delayingthe phased upload of social service costsand court security by two years and thisrecommendation is of particular concernto the City as well as the NorthwesternOntario Municipal Association.

The Report also recommends setting uni-form education tax rates. “The City ofThunder Bay’s taxpayers have historicallybenefitted from a reduction in educationtax rates, but if this recommendation isapproved it could impact taxpayers,”Busch said. The timing of the Report’srelease allows City officials to speak withprovincial ministers at the Ontario GoodRoads Conference from February 26-29.

Watching the developments surroundingthe “Ring of Fire”, it has become apparentthat big changes are on the horizon forThunder Bay and our region. In the last two years alone, we have wit-nessed the Province of Ontario open theirRing of Fire Secretariat office in ThunderBay - where the Ring of Fire CoordinatorChristine Kaszyki directs traffic intoOntario’s new economic promise land. Also, the Matawa First Nations have creat-ed a high profile coordinator office inThunder Bay to achieve maximum eco-nomic benefit from the gargantuan mineraldeposit while making sure the environ-mental concerns of northern communitiesare met. Both The City of Thunder Bay and Townof Greenstone have made favourable pitch-es to host the proposed ferro-chromeprocessor utilizing expert professionalsenlisted to build on the service industryand attract new players into the region.Thunder Bay’s Community EconomicDevelopment Commission has created anentirely new mining branch led by JohnMason who is focused on growingThunder Bay’s service sector.

First Nations and aboriginal leaders withinthe region are fast gaining global playerrecognition, Thunder Bay based FirstNation companies are making their moveswith Wasaya Group leading the charge.

Recently, Wasaya group has expanded intonew ventures to include; a new Helicopterdivision, a partnership with Sioux Lookoutbased Morgan Transfer trucking company,and on October 28, 2011 Wasaya GroupInc and Dowland Contracting Ltdannounced a new joint venture to servicethe infrastructure needs of growing FirstNation communities in Ontario. The com-panies stated that the joint venture“Wasaya Dowland Contracting” will pro-vide construction capacity to communitiesin Northern Ontario as well as have theability to serve clients throughout Ontario& Manitoba. Wasaya Dowland Contractingwill undertake large construction initiativesthroughout industrial, institutional andcommercial sectors. The company will beavailable to serve the ‘Ring of Fire’ regionshould they require our industrial capacity.Dowland has 20 years of experience com-pleting large scale mining projects for bestin class companies throughout Canada.

Two of the largest players in the Ring ofFire have set up administration centres inThunder Bay. Cliffs Natural Resourceshave set up their ferro-alloys office in thecity where hiring has already started forground work preparations. It is widelyexpected that Cliffs will require up to 2500workers at their Black Thor propertywhich is scheduled to begin production in2015. Cliffs strategic partner KWGCanada Chrome has recently donated $2

million to Dennis Franklin Cromarty HighSchool to help build new residences fornorthern students, a seriously huge contri-bution helping make Thunder Bay a betterplace for everyone in Northern Ontario.

Noront Resources, who are already outgrowing their Thunder Bay office, are alsoforecasting human resource numbers at2500 for their Eagles Nest operation.

Having the big guys in town is making ahuge impact on our local service industry,forest supply companies are getting intothe mining supply side of things, drillingcompanies are making Thunder Bay abase, assaying labs have cropped up orexpanded, large contractors such as NunaGroup of Companies have opened localoffices and the Ontario ProspectorsAssociation’s annual symposium continuesto grow and attract larger crowds and moreparticipants, even to the point of having toturn away interested companies. Officialsat Noront resources have told Thunder BayMayor Keith Hobbs to expect up to 200new companies in the region. All this bur-geoning mining activity becomes visible atThunder Bay International Airport’s pas-senger levels. 719,500 passengers wentthrough the airport’s gates in 2011, anincrease of nearly 28,000 from 2010’stotals.

Here’s an excerpt from the CommunityEconomic Development Commission,

“Thunder Bay has an incredible future. Isee the direct parallels of what happened inthe oil sands industry; we are just shiftedin time. The amount that is going to hap-pen here in its own way will compare withwhat has happened with the oil sands inAlberta in term of resources broadly- min-ing, forestry and other resources. It is allhere and you can see the industry need anddemand for the particular minerals andmetals. Thunder Bay is on the epicenter ofthat development so get ready for theride,” Dr David Lynch, Dean ofEngineering, University of Alberta

So, if we are to sum up what positiveimpact the Ring of Fire has had onThunder Bay and the region in the last twoyears, it can only be described as “impres-sive, very impressive”, as we have onlystarted scratching the surface. In the nextcouple of years as this mega – miningproject starts to dig its heels in deep,beware, as we at Opportunity Thunder Baywarn you, the window of opportunity isworld wide open!

By Jason L Susin

Join Opportunity Thunder Bay on face-book

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Drummond Report Aligns with City’s Cost-SavingEfficiencies

Continued from page 8

The need for a central and new locationwas first identified formally in 1995.The process began for finding a 'bestlocation' which in itself, was a hugechallenge. There were zoning complica-tions, a site selection process whichinvolved using an evidence based analy-sis to realize the best possible locationfor the greatest benefit, which literallytook years. Also the cost of the property,the nature of the property, nature of theroads and other factors were consideredfor this new location. The new facilitywill address gaps involving geographi-cal coverage, encompassing the northand south sides of the city. EMS needsto be available for 911 to the areas thatthey receive most of the calls for, whichare the downtown cores and heavy resi-dential areas.

The necessity for a new EMS building,which site preparation began February2011, justifies the $11,000,000.00 nec-essary for the construction of the proj-ect, for this most critical service. Themuch needed and well over-due projectwill now be home for the many peoplewho answer to the 'call'. The projecteddate to move into the new site will besometime in late March, 2012.

Right now the system is fragmented.There are 3 stations with paramedicsspread throughout the three stations andadministration is spread out as well.There are vehicles that are parked out-side all winter. There is a fragmentedwarehouse system where there is a frag-mented supply and logistics system.Going into the new headquarters, bringseverything together, where EMS canoperates out of one central deployment.All of the paramedics will report to onecentral headquarters and from there they

will be sent out to their posts for theirshift. The administration, the trainingand the supplies and warehousing sys-tem will all be integral and combined.So there will be significant operationaland support efficiencies that will berealized. Servicing the entire district ofThunder Bay and area involves, 17 sta-tions, Upsula in the west, to Armstrongin the north and Manitouwadge andLong Lac in the east and all the waydown to the U.S. Border. In the city thestations are in service 24 hours a day,seven days a week and in the districtsthe stations are on 12 hours on site and12 hours on standby for call back, sothere is 24 hour coverage.

Mr. Gale comments that "This has beena long time coming and it has been awork in progress for almost 20 yearsand we are very excited and appreciatethe support of Thunder Bay MunicipalCouncil and the citizens in the city andthe district of Thunder Bay in getting usto where we are! And I personally amexcited about improved service beingdelivered to people!"

When you think of EMS, you might sayto yourself, 'Why did they need this newsite and why so much for the construc-

tion?' You may even think that so muchwas not necessary...until you or some-one you love has to make that 'call'. Wein Thunder Bay, are fortunate to havethese services and we are equally fortu-nate that those who serve us in the

'field' and in the administrative depart-ments, have chosen this as their lifecareer. Where would a lot of us or those

we love, be without them?

The building was constructed by TomJones Corporation and their team oflocal sub contractors.

New EMS Building Will Serve Us Well!

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS MARCH 2012 PAGE 9

The new EMS building began life lastspring. Here is our article on that startagain for your information.

On a very cool morning April 15th at105 S Junot Street in Thunder Bay a briefceremony was held to mark the officialopening of the new $11 million SuperiorNorth EMS building. This new structurewill be the headquarters in the ThunderBay district to the 190 EMS staff, 170 ofwhom are paramedics.

“ It is an exciting day for EMS, ourparamedics and indeed for the citizens ofThunder Bay. With this new facility,which is long overdue and frankly 20years in the making, the citizens ofThunder Bay and in particular in theNorth Ward and including throughout thedistrict of Thunder Bay will seeimproved service through EMS,” saidNorm Gale, Chief of EMS. “ It absolute-ly will help us. The facilities we havenow are inadequate in terms of size andhealth and safety issues. This facility willaddress those issues. Our paramedicswill have sufficient space in which to dotheir work and keep the equipment whichincludes sensitive diagnostic units in aclean and secure area. It is a big deal forEMS and our paramedics.”

According to Gale the new site is agood location. “ We have a problem withour response times in Thunder Bay North

so one of the things this station willaddressed is response time in ThunderBay North. We will have two other satel-lite stations in the city, one on BeckStreet in Thunder Bay North and we arelooking at a new station for Thunder Bay

South which is in progress,” said Gale. “The building will be 35,000 square feetin size. A large component of that will begarage space. There will be room for 20EMS vehicles inside the garage. Therewill also be administrative and trainingspace, warehouse space and paramedicquarters.”

“ We are planning on substantial com-pletion in December of this year and

moving in the winter time after that. Allof our staff that are stationed in the cityof Thunder Bay are working in facilitiesnow that are lacking in some form. Thiswill improve conditions for paramedics.The facility is LEEDS Gold. We looked

at new facilities across the provinceincluding in Ottawa and Waterloo andtook what they did well, learned fromtheir mistakes and avoided them.” saidNorm Gale.

“ I am very happy to see this day. It isthe culmination of a lot of work withadministration, Norm Gale and his peo-ple and the neighbours. It was originallyproposed on the north side of Red River

Road. This property was just sitting hereand after all was said and done EMS washappy with it. What the location will dois create other development becausethere were never services here before andnow there are going to be services. It is

good for everyone,” said BrianMcKinnon, Councillor, Red River Road.“ It will be a gorgeous building. It haseverything they need for not onlyThunder Bay but the whole district. Itwill be attractive for the EMS staff. Theroad will be four laned here as well. Wewant to put some crossings in here forpedestrians. Thunder Bay is booming.I’m bias but this is one example.”

PAGE 10 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS MARCH 2012

New Superior North EMS Headquarters Beginnings

Above: Councilor Brian McKinnon, Red River Road, Norm Gale Chief of EMS, Mayor Keith Hobbs, Thunder Bay, John Jones ofTom Jones Corporation