Snowmobile Fatal

One person has died in a snowmobile crash near Snow Road Station in North Frontenac Township.

Frontenac OPP posted a message on Twitter around 7:30 last night saying the person died when a snowmob8ile hit a tree on a trail near County Road 509 north of Snow Road Station yesterday.

The message said there was no other information available last night.

 

Teachers Update

All four of Ontario’s major teachers’ union say they will stage a one-day walkout on Friday of next week. The job action will see public schools and Catholic Schools in the province closed for one day.

That means all schools in the Limestone Board and Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic Board will be closed on February 21st.

Rotating strikes are continuing today with members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation on the picket line at nine school boards in Ontario including the Limestone Board.  Its high schools are closed today.

And…Teachers in the French system are holding a provincewide strike today.

 

Blockades

The rail blockade in Tyendinaga is continuing despite a court injunction that orders the blockade be taken down.

The Mohawks set up the second camp early yesterday near the train tracks at the Highway 49 overpass ahead of an expected OPP raid…but the raid never happened.

The demonstrators have ignored an emotional plea from Tyendinaga Mohawk Police Chief Jason Brant. Brant delivered a personal request to his community members yesterday to end their demonstration.

VIA Rail has announced passenger service has now been cancelled until the end of Friday.

The blockade organizers say they’re acting in solidarity with those opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that crosses the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in B-C.

 

Youth Hub Funding

The United Way is contributing $435,000 to help make the new Kingston Youth Services Hub a reality.

The funding comes from Kingston Pen Tours and the Rockin’ the Big House Concert.

It is the biggest single capital investment made by the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

The One Roof Youth Services Hub will be built on the Princess Street United Church property at an estimated cost of almost $10 million.

It will include 60 housing units, a banquet and performing arts facility and a job skills centre and retail cafe.

The church will be able to use the sanctuary for a guaranteed period of 10 years.

 

No Salt – Picton Terminals

Picton Terminals has announced it will not be accepting road salt this year.

The terminal has been the distribution point for road salt used by communities across eastern Ontario since 1985.  The announcement means municipalities like Kingston may have to pay more for road salt in the future due to an increased cost in shipping.

Picton Terminals is undergoing a multi-year plan to redevelop the former Bethlehem Steel port as a marine shipping centre.  It hasn’t said if it will resume accepting road salt after 2020.

 

Sinclair – Small Venues

Gord Sinclair of the Tragically Hip wants to talk with the federal Heritage Minister about preserving smaller live music venues across Canada.  Sinclair says they’re the places where young artists get their start, like The Hip did in their hometown of Kingston.  Back in the 1990s, federal content regulations stipulated radio stations had to play a certain percentage of homegrown music and The Hip benefited from those regulations.  Sinclair thinks it’s worth talking about ways to better “preserve and protect” the country’s live music industry.

 

Empire Summerfest 2020

The Saints and Sinners 2020 Tour featuring the Headstones, Big Wreck, Moist and The Tea Party will headline Empire Summerfest in Belleville.  The show will take place Friday, July 17th.  The Festival in Empire Square will run for four nights.  The acts for the Thursday, Saturday and Sunday have not been announced.