A group of 20 students at Hapnot Collegiate is taking part in a thirty hour famine this weekend.  Organizer Laura Sparling explains the famine is a fund raising and awareness event for World Vision and the idea is the students commit to raise money with their students committing to 50 dollars each.  She says they stopped eating at midnight last night and they won’t eat again until 6 o’clock tomorrow morning so they’ll go 30 hours without eating anything and the idea is that they will try to live the experience of understanding what it is to not have regular food.

The students will stay at the school overnight tonight with information sessions on poverty, games and movies wrapping up with a breakfast tomorrow morning.  You can make a pledge to support the project at the Collegiate or by going online www.famine.ca and enter Hapnot to find the group.

 Flin Flon’s Inner Wheel Club is holding its annual car boot sale next Saturday, June 6^th.  The Club’s Agnes Mills says it’s a chance to sell what you don’t need while supporting the charities they donate to including Grandmothers Helping Grandmothers, Rotary shelter boxes, the Hapnot bursary, organ donation which is organized by the Fontaine and Quinn families, the Food Bank and the Party Program.

You can book a space for fifteen dollars to sell from the trunk of your car which gives the sale its name or from a table or the back of your truck.  To book a space call Agnes at 687-8204 or Betty at 687-3298 or at Northern Rainbows End.  The sale runs from 10 to 12 June 6^th at the Victoria Inn parking lot.

The Cranberry Portage Child and Family Resource Center is hosting a Community Yard Sale tomorrow.  Their Program Coordinator Connie Smith says there’ll be a lot of shopping opportunities with 23 vendors signed up throughout the community with home addresses.  She says if you stop at the Legion for your first stop there will be maps there showing where all vendors are set up and there will be food and vendor tables set up at the Legion as well.

The sale runs from 9:30 to 1:30 tomorrow in Cranberry Portage.

The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce is holding its annual radio auction tomorrow in the City Hall council chambers broadcast on 102.9 CFAR.  The Chamber’s Bunny Burke says they have a great variety of items for everyone including their round trip for two to Winnipeg courtesy of Calm Air which is always a big hit, a lot of tools, all kinds of gift certificates from meals to food certificates from the Co-op and a lot for vehicles like oil changes and oil.

Burke adds all bids have to be phoned in between 9 am and 1 pm and items cannot be picked up until after the auction closes.  There will be a viewing of the items tonight from 6 to 7 at City Hall.  There’s a list of items and pictures on the Chamber website www.flinflondistrictchamber.com.

Recreation Manager Mike Dubreuil held a meeting last night to form a committee to develop plans for upgrading the Aqua Center.  Due to a low turnout that was moved to the next meeting sometime in late June.

Discussion was held on funding that could be available for the project.  Dubreuil says there is new federal funding called the Canada 150 Fund and he understands there will soon be a major announcement on provincial funding that could also be available for this type of project.

Dubreuil says the committee will among other things choose what option to go for.  They range from renovations to meet the building codes at 150 thousand dollars all the way up to a new larger Center at a cost of around 17 million with the middle options the most appealing including renovations and expansion of the present facility.

It was again mentioned this should be a regional pool with financial support from the Saskatchewan government as well as from all surrounding communities that use the Aqua Center.

Dubreuil received the first donation toward the project, 540 dollars in memory of Charlene Logan from her pool buddies and friends.

 Foran Mining Corporation has announced the results of the final three infill drill holes at the Bigstone deposit west of Flin Flon which were part of their winter exploration program.

  President and CEO Partick Soares says the program exceeded their expectations.  He reports the Thunder Zone is thickening along strike to the northwest and is open in both directions.  He says high grade zinc and copper intercepts from the zone indicate potential to outline a deposit within seven kilometers of their McIlvenna Bay deposit 65 kilometers west of Flin Flon. Soares explains their work at Bigstone has demonstrated the deposit may be open to expansion and that it could be a source of early high grade feed to a future McIlvenna Bay Concentrator.  He says they plan to continue to look at the synergies between McIlvenna Bay and the surrounding satellite deposits, as Foran management believes that once the first deposit gets to production, the Hanson Lake Camp has the potential to be a long lived source of copper and zinc concentrate.

The Central Canada Film Group is bringing an international film to Flin Flon as part of their a film you may have missed but shouldn’t have series.  The group’s Collin Davis says the movie called The Old Man Who Climbed Through A Window And Disappeared is a Swedish comedy starring Robert Gustafsson as Allan Karlson who as the title suggests is a one hundred year old man who climbs out of the window of his room in the retirement home where he has recently found himself and goes on an adventure quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.  Davis adds along the way he recounts his remarkable past which shows he has had quite a key role quite accidental at times in many historical happenings in the 20^th century.

The film described as one of the funniest films you have ever seen will be shown at 7:30 tomorrow night at the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre.  Admission is free.

 Negotiations between Hudbay and the United Steelworks Local 7106 this week have resulted in a tentative agreement.  Information meetings for union members are being held tomorrow at 4 and 8 pm in the Creighton Community Hall.  Voting on the tentative agreement will take place in the Steelworkers Center Saturday from 8 am to 8 pm and Monday from 6 am to 3 pm. Details on the agreement are not being released at this time.

Last night the Flin Flon School Board received the Red River Heritage Fair presentation from McIsaac School teacher Jason McKay and grade seven students Grayden Bedford and Sarah Faktor.  McKay said the Heritage Fair allowed students to explore their own ideas regarding Canadian heritage using books and the internet to dig deep and research something they wanted to learn about.  Seven projects were chosen this year from the Divisional Heritage Fair and ten students were invited to participate in the Fair at the University of Winnipeg.  As in years past our students represented our Division with excellence and two projects received awards, one in two categories and one chosen to compete in a national contest that could lead to a trip to Ottawa next fall.  McKay says he hopes the interest in these events will continue to grow.

Superintendent Blaine Veitch reported the Division has been approved for a grant of up to 30 thousand dollars for the Minister of Housing and Community Development towards the Queens Park redevelopment project. The funds will go towards courts, fencing and landscaping.

The annual MS Walk is being held on Sunday afternoon.  The MS Society Parkland Chapter’s Robin Searle says they’ll be at Bakers Narrows Provincial Park with over 80 participants.  She says they have the Flin Flon Credit Union cookout and then people will walk the route which is located in the park campground area.  She says they will cross the highway with an escort and go to Bakers Narrows Lodge where they will be treated to pickerel bites and beverages and then when they return they’ll have entertainment.

   Registration is at 12 noon with the walk starting at 1. You can get registration information at their website www.mswalk.ca.

Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship advises that dry, windy conditions in northwest Manitoba have led to the cancellation of all burning permits in the region north of Flin Flon and Sherridon, south to Grand Rapids, west to the Saskatchewan border and east to highway 6.

In addition, campfires will not be allowed between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. in Bakers Narrows, Wekusko Falls, Grass River and Clearwater Lake provincial parks.

Currently, crews are working to contain fires near the communities of Cormorant and Sherridon in northern Manitoba.

A fire near Cormorant (northwest of The Pas) between Clearwater Lake and Cormorant Lake, is approximately 150 hectares and close to roads and the railway
A fire near Sherridon, located northeast of Flin Flon, is just north of the community and is approximately 500 hectares. 

Foran Mining President Patrick Soares spoke to the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce yesterday about their Hanson Lake Camp where they continue to find deposits and the McIlvenna Bay deposit 65 kilometers west of Flin Flon.  He says drilling continues at their large zinc, copper, gold, silver VMS deposit which they believe they can push all the way to production with a 14 year mine life.  He says the conducted a PEA last November and what it showed was after tax this project would generate about 263 million dollars Canadian, that it’s rate of return was 19 percent after tax and on a compounded basis it meant that you could pay back the investment you put into McIlvenna Bay in 4.1 years.

Soares says the cost of development would be 250 million dollars and they are looking for a company to join them as a partner.  He adds when hiring they will give priority to Flin Flon and the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, communities they are already engaged with.

 The Flin Flon Public Library has started another season of Story Time.  Administrator Cindy McLean explains its open for children 3 to 6 or even two and a half and the children are going to be joining them for a story time, a craft, music, a snack and lots of fun so they invite all the children to come and have a great time and it’s all free.

Story Time is held every Tuesday morning from 10:30 to 11:30 at the Flin Flon Public Library.

 The Freedom Outreach Program will be holding its third annual Walk For Freedom Saturday.  Their Program Manager Chris Lowe says the walk will raise awareness of those afflicted by drug and alcohol addictions and will support their programs based in Denare Beach.  He says they’ll be starting off at Jason’s Auto in Creighton and they would like everyone there at 9:30 because the walk will start at 10. He says they’ll be going into Flin Flon with a stop at the park downtown for a soft drink and they’ll go on to the Pentecostal Church on Green Street for hot dogs and refreshments afterwards.

  Pledge forms are available by calling the Center at 306-362-2117 or Chris at 204-271-3586.  Lowe adds walkers will again be supporting their programs in The Pas and La Ronge and in a new community Wabamun near Edmonton, Alberta.

The Flin Flon and Creighton School Division Band Concert is being held tomorrow evening.  Band instructor Anna Jardine says it’s going to be all the grade six to eight band students from Ruth Betts, McIsaac and Creighton and they’re doing a really great piece by Australian composer Jodie Blackshaw called Belah Sun Woman.  She adds there’s going to be an art show from some of the kids that are in band and some of the kids that are in art that’s been inspired by this piece as well a some other repertoires from the Grades six, sevens and eights.

The concert starts at 6:30 tomorrow evening in the Flin Flon Community Hall.  There will be a silver collection and a 50-50 draw and refreshments will be available.

 The Flin Flon Recycling Center sponsored 20 Minutes of Magic on Friday as a way to encourage people to form teams and clean up public spaces in our community.  Their Administrator Deb Odegaard says it went well.  She says they had about 15 teams that signed up to help out and they picked up 277 kilograms of garbage and 32 of recyclables and she thinks a lot of people took care of their own bags so that number would actually be quite a bit higher.

Odegaard adds the International Association of Machinists will be cleaning up along the Perimeter Highway this week and the draw for the two one hundred dollar grocery gift cards will take place later this week.

The Creighton School Community Council invites students, their families, community members and staff to a Spring Community Night tomorrow.  School Coordinator Carol Sutherland says the evening is a chance to celebrate and say thanks for their dedication to youth and education. She says they are hosting a complimentary feast along with pavilions that will spotlight their youth who are involved in a variety of local groups. She says they are also honored to have Irvin Head as their visiting artist for the print making workshop starting at 5:15 when Irvin will share a presentation about his work long with samples of his carvings.  Sutherland adds as well on site they will have emergency vehicles, drumming demonstrations and face painting.

The event takes place at Creighton Community School tomorrow evening from 5 to 8.

 The Class of 75 from Hapnot Collegiate will be holding their 40^th anniversary reunion Saturday, June 27^th.  One of the organizers Karen Peterson says they have a couple of events planned for the day. She says there’s a huge beer garden going on during the day with hopefully a lot of local talent out there entertaining the folks and there’s a sit down supper for the grads and then they’re having a social with the band The Mix playing.

Peterson adds they would like everyone coming to register by May 31^st so they’ll have some numbers to work with.  You can register by calling Karen at 204-271-3876 or Lynn at 204-271-3012 or email hapnot1975@outlook.com.

A Telestroke Program is now underway in The Pas.  The program provides specialized emergency care to stroke patients by allowing care providers to work directly with stroke specialists.  Northern Health Region Chief Executive Officer Helga Bryant says if emergency responders in Flin Flon determine a patient has stroke symptoms they will immediately contact The Pas. She explains they will bypass the Flin Flon ER because it’s imperative that they get them to a CT scanner.  She says the CT will be done immediately and while the CT is being done it is already being relayed to a neurologist radiologist in Winnipeg who will look at the image and they will also look at the patient from one of the rooms in The Pas ER that is equipped with a high resolution camera.

  This means the specialists can work with the local provider to determine if a stroke has occurred and the most appropriate treatment options.

 The 23^rd annual Run to the Border by the Flin Flon Motorcycle Association will take place tomorrow.  The group’s Paul Garrett says they’ll start with a poker derby with plans to leave the Gateway at 10:30. He explains the poker derby will again go down to Cranberry and then back into town and they’re also going to have their toy run again this year.  He says with the Elks closing the toys will be given to the Friendship Center and they’ll be there to pick up any unwrapped toy during the run so if people have toys to drop off they can bring them up there.

Once they are back at the Gateway around 12:30 they will form up for the parade through town onto Main Street and out to Creighton.  They wind up with a social at the Creighton Sportex starting at 8.

 Denare Beach is holding its annual Community Spring Cleanup Sunday afternoon.  Recreation Director Laurie Stomp says everyone can meet at the New Horizons at 2100 Spruce Street at 1 0’clock and they will hand out water and gloves for everyone. She says everyone will be assigned to where they want to go and they’ll meet back at the New Horizons and have a barbeque after that.

Stomp adds there will be a scavenger hunt held during the cleanup.  She hopes people will come out, get some exercise and enjoy a cleaner community.

Hudbay Minerals is celebrating 100 years since the discovery of the Flin Flon deposit this year.  Their Director of Corporate Communications Scott Brubacher explains the deposit is marking its centennial in terms of discovery back in 1915 this year and of course the deposit was integral to the growth of Hudbay and the growth of Flin Flon and to some degree the growth of northern Manitoba.  He says their CEO said it’s important to him and he’d like to celebrate so they’ve developed a plan to do that.

Today they have launched an extensive online exhibit developed with the help of employees and the people of Flin Flon that tells the story of Hudbay’s beginning in northern Manitoba.  It can be found at flinflon100.com. Brubacher says in September, exactly one hundred years to the month that the initial claim was staked Hudbay will host an event in Flin Flon at which their CEO David Garofalo will unveil a plaque to provide a permanent marker of this milestone.

The Park Fire near Creighton is now listed at 5.5 hectares and is not contained.  The fire was reported by a local resident at 6:28 pm last night and crews responded immediately supported by air tankers yesterday. They left the scene when the fire approaching the Trailer Court was knocked down.

Ministry of the Environment reports they continue to work alongside the Creighton Volunteer Fire Department to contain the fire.  Resources on the fire today include six ministry fire fighters, two First Nations crews for Sandy bay and Deschambault Lake, eight fire fighters from the Creighton Fire Department and a helicopter.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Members of the United Steelworkers Local 7106 held a strike mandate vote this week.  Union President Tom Davie reports they had an 85 percent turnout with 91.5 percent in favor of a strike mandate which will assist their negotiating team.  He says they have meetings scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with the Company.  He says this gives them better leverage at the table knowing that their membership is strongly behind the proposal that they presented some time ago.

Davie adds he’s very happy with the turnout and the percent didn’t surprise him as right from the start their membership has been behind them and this shows the Company they’re ready to bargain.

 The Flin Flon Trout Festival Committee is holding a steak, spuds and suds night Saturday.  Vice-President Melissa Richard explains what happens is you get a ticket and with that ticket you get a steak, a potato and a beer of your choice.  She says there will be a 50-50 draw and a perfume draw.

The steak, spuds and suds night starts at 6 Saturday evening at the Unwinder in the Victoria Inn at a cost of 20 dollars with the proceeds going to support the Trout Festival.  Tickets are available from Festival executive members, at the Gateway and Di’s confectionary or at the door.

A bush fire came within about 300 meters of the Creighton trailer court last night. Two water bombers from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment were called in to assist the ground crews from Saskatchewan Environment and the Creighton Fire Department to quickly knock the fire down.  The ground crews remained on the scene overnight.

Denare Beach will be holding a community wide yard and garage sale Saturday.  Recreation Director Laurie Stomp says they’ve got 14 yard sales that have registered with some starting as early at 8 o’clock so there’ll be a lot of sales going on in the community.  She says they’ll have the locations in Friday’s paper along with a map of the community and they’ll also be in stores.

Stomp adds the seniors will be hosting a barbeque from 11 to 2 at 2100 Spruce Avenue in front of Denare Beach New Horizons.

At the Flin Flon Creighton and Area SPCA annual meeting Tuesday night the organization honored two community volunteers.  Barb Petrie received the Community Service Volunteer of the Year Award for 2014 and Brad McDuffee the Shelter Volunteer of the Year Award.

Shelter Manager Carmen Ward’s report was presented noting there was a big increase in adoptions because they took in more animals.  They had a total of 109 dogs and cats in their care during 2014.  55 dogs and 40 cats were adopted, 8 animals were returned to their owners and six animals were euthanized due to either sickness or aggression.

President Debbie Hiebert praised all their board members and volunteers for their dedication.  She reported a new fence will soon be erected at the Shelter so the dogs will have a play area.  Treasurer Marg Bragg said their second full year was a successful year financially with a surplus of just under 31 thousand dollars which offsets the deficit incurred in 2013. 

The Flin Flon Fire Department was called to Crepes and Grapes around 10:30 this morning. Fire Chief Jim Petrie says when they arrived the fire was fully involved in the attic of the building.  He immediately called in the Hudbay Fire Department to assist, Hydro came and cut their lines and Stittco removed two propane tanks.  Petrie said when they arrived they did a search of the building to make sure no one was inside.

Petrie says the two fire departments worked well together and knocked down a dangerous fire that could have destroyed the whole block.  He says the Office of the Fire Commissioner will come in and investigate the cause of the fire due to the monetary loss of the building.

A fire broke out at Crepes and Grapes on Main Street this morning.  The fire quickly spread through the building with smoke and flames shooting through the roof.  Fire fighters were quickly on the scene and continue to fight the fire.  No further details are available at this time.

 As the strike by the International Association of Machinists Local 1848 entered its third week Hudbay began busing employees to work over the weekend.  Hudbay Vice-President of the Manitoba Business Unit Rob Winton explains they brought buses out to ensure their employees were allowed an opportunity to get through the line as quickly as possible.  He says they were able to sign a picket line protocol with the IAM which also assists in the ability of their employees to get to work which is the legal right of Hudbay.

Meanwhile members of the United Steelworkers Local 7106 continue to vote today on giving their negotiating committee a strike mandate. They enter another round of negotiations with Hudbay with the assistance of a conciliation officer next week.

The Norva Center will be holding a First Ink Exhibit by local print makers starting tomorrow until June 9^th.  Manager Mike Spencer says this exhibit features work that was done by Norva artists on their new printing press so the title First Ink is just that, it’s their first try at if for a lot of them and they just want to show off what they’ve learned and what they can build on in the future to get people interested and maybe help them learn a little bit about print making.

You’re invited to an opening reception for the Exhibit at 7 tomorrow night at the Norva Center on Green Street.

After receiving numerous complaints about the abuse of ATV rules in the city that allow riders to drive their vehicles out of the city by the shortest route Flin Flon City Council has decided to put the focus on safety.  They have agreed to a 12 month period where the present rules will stay in place but if complaints continue to come in they will look at removing those privileges and ATV owners will have to go back to having to trailer their machines out of the city. Mayor Cal Huntley says each individual is responsible for their own actions but those actions can affect others and if complaints continue to come in all will lose their privileges. Council members added there are maps available showing access routes, parks and school grounds are off limits, there are numerous safety rules to be met before you can operate an All Terrain Vehicle and if you see somebody breaking the rules report them to the RCMP.

  In other business Council passed on final reading an amendment to the bylaw to establish standards of maintenance and occupancy for residential property.  The amendment increases the fine for people who don’t meet those standards from 100 dollars to 5 thousand.

Last week we told you about the top mine rescue team at Hudbay in Flin Flon.  The Hudbay Snow Lake team from the Lalor Mine is also getting ready for the provincial competition.  Mine Safety’s Olaf Hettrick says their team is made up of Captain Aldin Kowalchuk and Vice-Captain Adam Harrower along with Rene Gagnon, Jon Young, Jeremy Nickel, Director of Operations Bob Forsyth and the Trainer is Clint Parsons.

  Hettrick says the Hudbay teams will take part in the provincial competition being held in Flin Flon on a date yet to be determined.  Other teams taking part are Vale from Thompson and Tanco from Lac du Bonnet.

 The Flin Flon Public Library has released its annual report for 2014.  Administrator Cindy McLean says it was a successful year with increases in several categories. She says they had 199 new memberships in 2014 and that trend is definitely going up this year because they’re already at 164 new members.  She adds last year their circulation stats were at 30,203 up from 2013 when they had 27,300 check outs so they’re up almost 3 thousand.  McLean also notes they held 36 events last year for a total of 1531 attending.

The annual report is available on their website www.finflonpubliclibrary.ca.

Solvista Gold Corporation continues to move forward on a definitive amalgamation agreement among Solvista, Rockcliff Resources and a wholly owned subsidiary of Solvista, Solvista Subco whereby Solvista will acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Rockcliff Resources.  Following completion of the transaction the newly amalgamated company will hold all of Rockcliff’s assets.

Rockcliff presently controls its Snow Lake Project totaling in excess of 350 square kilometers.  The project includes two VMS high grade copper rich resources known as T-1 and Rail, two historic high grade VMS copper deposits Lon and Talbot, the T-2 copper zone Tower, numerous untested geophysical anomalies and several additional properties with VMS potential Freebeth and Dickstone North.

Wildcat Exploration Limited has entered into non-binding letters of intent with three property owners to acquire diamond exploration properties in the Pikoo and Fort a la Corne diamond exploration areas of Saskatchewan west of Flin Flon as well as gold properties in the Flin Flon Snow Lake mining area of Manitoba.  The terms of the letters of intent contemplate that the parties will enter into definitive agreements, subject to applicable regulatory and board approvals on or about May 31^st or such other date as the parties agree.

The proposed acquisitions include one hundred percent interests in five properties in the Flin Flon area that are prospective for gold totaling 47 hundred hectares.  The properties are to be acquired from Copper Reef.

Wildcat Exploration is a Winnipeg based company exploring for minerals in Canada.

RCMP Detachments in Flin Flon and Creighton will be joining others across the country through this long weekend in marking Canada Road Safety Week, a national campaign aimed at making Canada’s roads the safest in the world.  The campaign will focus on behaviors that put drivers, passengers and other road users most at risk including impaired driving, seat belt use, distracted and aggressive driving and speeding.

Manitoba RCMP note impaired driving remains the single largest factor for traffic deaths in the province killing 175 people in the past five years in their jurisdiction. Saskatchewan RCMP report as of May 4^th just over 100 days into 2015 there were 22 collisions which resulted in 30 fatalities in their jurisdiction.  They remind you making smart choices before getting behind the wheel can save lives.

The Flin Flon Heritage Project continues to add material to their website recording the history of Flon Flon.  The Project’s Doug Evans says they have a lot of material on the site having completed the scanning of the Northern Lights magazines and Hapnot year books as well as books about Flin Flon and around 12 thousand pictures.  Evans says they now need help scanning material from the archive at the Library.  He explains it’s very difficult to access the archive particularly if you’re working in another town but they feel if they can scan everything in the archive and put it into a stand alone server at the library people will be able to see all the archival material without actually going into the archive and touching some of those delicate papers.

Evans adds they need a group of people dedicated to scanning so if you can spare an hour or two you can call Don Peake or leave your name at the Library.

Three projects in Flin Flon are among 216 projects across the province to benefit from more than three million dollars in grants from the Community Places Program.  The Association for Community Living at 76 Channing Drive receives 5 thousand dollars for washroom upgrades and accessibility, City of Flin Flon Parks and Recreation 15 thousand dollars for Green Room heat, ventilation and air conditioning system replacement and Hapnot Collegiate Parent Advisory Council 30 thousand dollars for the Queen’s Park redevelopment project.

  The Community Places program supports a wide range of improvements to recreational, cultural and community facilities.  It provides funding and planning assistance to non-profit community organizations to build, upgrade, expand or acquire facilities that focus on recreation and wellness.

 The Flin Flon Recycling Center is coordinating the Twenty Minutes of Magic community clean-up campaign next week.  Their Administrator Deb Odegaard explains they’re asking people just to take 20 minutes or so out of their day to find an area of town that needs some cleaning up and they can get clear bags and garbage bags and cans and bottles go in the clear bags and the garbage goes in the other bags and they report where they’re going to leave them and they will be picked up.

Registration forms are available at grocery stores, by emailing recycled@mymts.net or phoning 204-687-6169.  People who register will receive recycling and garbage bags, gloves and t-shirts while the supply lasts.

Odegaard adds the clean up takes place Friday the 22^nd but you can participate on a different day that week by indicating it on the registration form.  There are two draws for 100 dollar grocery gift cards and a random draw from all northern communities taking part for 5 thousand dollars towards a recycling project.

The top mine rescue team at Hudbay in Flin Flon has been chosen following a competition involving six teams.  Mine Safety’s Olaf Hettrick says the team is made up of Captain Trevor Thurstan, Marshal Manns, Annette Last, Mike Desjarlais, Travis Pfoh, Eric McIntosh and Director of Operations Steve Palegato.

Hettrick says the teams will compete in the provincial competition being held here in Flin Flon on a date yet to be set.  Other teams competing will be Vale from Thompson, Hudbay from the Snow Lake Lalor Mine and Tanco from Lac du Bonnet.

At the Flin Flon School Board meeting Monday night Kari Rutherford received a Certificate of Merit from the Manitoba School Board Association.  She was this Division’s nominee for the Student Citizenship Award and received a Certificate of Merit along with a cash award in recognition of her accomplishment.  A letter from the Association states Kari is an asset to her community and a fine example of the extraordinary students in Manitoba’s Schools.    

Superintendent Blaine Veitch reported to the Board the Baptist Church has started their free lunch program on Thursdays at St. Ann’s Church at noon.  He says this has been a very popular program for Hapnot and Many Faces students.  He also thanked Manitoba Natural Resources and the Walleye Anglers Association for their donation of fishing equipment to be used by students as part of their Camp Whitney experience.

  And the Board approved the Hapnot Travel Club’s trip to the Netherlands in 2017.

 The City of Flin Flon’s financial plan for this year was presented last night.  The total budget is just over 12.6 million dollars the same as last year.  The mill rate is set at 44.38 for residential property down 3.56 percent from last year and 55.99 for commercial down 2.47 percent from last year.

Treasurer Glenna Daschuk reported all departments held their budgets but there were some necessary increases that were offset by a 13 percent reduction in capital spending.  Some of the larger expenditures include hospital sewer and water relocation 120 thousand, Channing Drive utility upgrade 130 thousand and Community Hall Boiler replacement 200 thousand.  Two major expenditures are to be borne by borrowing 2.6 million for the Northern Bus garage purchase and one million towards the water treatment plant.

Finance Chair Colleen McKee says Council will continue to look at ways to save money.

    The city is waiting for a decision from the Municipal Board on extending the special services levy to cover police and fire costs. The reduction in the mill rate was designed to offset this increase.  If the levy is not approved the mill rate will have to change.

  Flin Flon School Division Superintendent Blaine Veitch told the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce yesterday the division faces a number of challenges including a declining number of students.  He said they’re down to 977 students this September so it’s about 17 years of straight decline and that’s been one of their challenges to try and manage a system as you’re getting smaller.  He says Hapnot is at about 285 students so they’re under the 300 mark now, Many Faces has around 30, Ruth Betts has about 220 and McIsaac is around 400 students.

  Veitch added they have 78 full time equivalent teachers with a teacher pupil ratio of 15.9 pupils per teacher.  He said the division has developed many partnerships with other school divisions, local agencies and businesses, they continue to focus on literacy and numeracy and would like to see more students get involved in the Vocational Education program adding they also have one of the top outdoor education programs in the province.

Cadets from the 2328 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corp received awards last night for their work over the past year.

The highest award available to cadets the Lord Strathcona Trust Medal was presented to Tyler Highfield who also received a Best Attendance Award, the Captain A. Sweeney Award for General Proficiency for a senior cadet went to Kaylee Banting, the CWO Fisher  Trophy for General Proficiency for a junior cadet to Jemedie Morris who also received a Best Attendance Award, the Sergeant J. A. Horrocks  Trophy for Dress and Deportment to Tristan Kolenosky who also received the Best First Year Cadet award, the Lieutenant M. Beauchamp Trophy for Most Improved Cadet to Mark Leifso, the Ubique Trophy for recruiting to Cassandra Porteous, the Lieutenant F. S. Gira Trophy for Citizenship to Jordan Panagabko, the Major M.G. Naylor Award for Dedication and Commitment to Torin Abrahamson and the Cadet Legion Medal of Excellence went to Matthew Reimer.

Ten drama students from Creighton Community School are traveling to Winnipeg this week.  The school’s Lisa Bittner says they’ll receive instruction and attend a dinner theatre.  She explains the students will attend the Manitoba Theatre for Young People and they’ll be doing a number of sessions there, one on how to audition for a drama production, one on improvisation and one on choral choreography.  In the evening she says they will be attending a Celebration session with a musical theatre presentation so they get to see a live production and enjoy a great supper.

Bittner adds the trip will give the students an insight into what is out there for them in drama and how to work with it.

 The grads of Hapnot Collegiate are holding their annual fashion show tomorrow evening.  Grad Coordinator Bobbi Willets says the grads will be showing off the clothes that our businesses around town have and they’ll be having a raffle and again the businesses around own have donated some great prizes for that. She adds they’ll also be offering refreshments with coffee donated by Chicken Chef and the grads will be baking and serving dainties.

The fashion show starts at 7 tomorrow evening in the Hapnot Collegiate Gym with tickets seven dollars at the door.

Along with the update on its Manitoba operations we reported yesterday Hudbay released in its first quarter 2015 financial results that its Constancia mine in Peru achieved commercial production on April 30^th.  Company President David Garofalo calls this a major milestone that strengthens their position as a low cost high quality copper and zinc producer.

  Hudbay reports the net loss in the first quarter was 23.7 million dollars.  Cash flows from operations and net earnings were positively impacted by increased revenue as a result of significant increases in production of all metals as the Reed and Lalor mines near Snow Lake achieved commercial production in 2014.  They add while substantially improved when compared to the prior year cash flow from operations, net earnings and cash cost per pound of copper were all negatively impacted by unsold copper and gold during the quarter.

  The report adds in the second quarter Hudbay expects to commence realizing substantial cash flow from the sale of copper concentrates from Constancia.

Creighton Community School is accepting Kindergarten registrations until Friday.  Vice-Principal Jason Straile says the program helps in child development. He explains the kindergarten program is a little more structured that the pre-k program but in Saskatchewan they’ve gone to more of a play based learning as well so the program will develop different parts of the child whether it be socially or academically in a play based learning environment.

Straille adds when parent come in to register they’ll have to bring their health care number, proof of residency and a birth certificate.

Eleven grade 5 to 9 students from Flin Flon took part in the Red River Heritage Fair at the University of Winnipeg last week.  As the main organizer James Dykstra told us then the Fair is held to encourage students to learn more about our nations past under the theme Canadian Heritage by finding a part of Canada that they think is cool and putting together a project on it.

Two of the Flin Flon Students received awards at the Fair.  Grayden Bedford received the HBC Explorers Award for his project Quest for the Northwest Passage and Chloe Reitlo will be invited to participate in the Young Citizens program based on her project The Flin Flon Smokestack. She will now make a video of her project that will be shared with Canadians online and she’ll compete to win a trip to Ottawa this fall.

There were over 200 student involved in the Heritage Fair with Flin Flon Students the only ones from outside Winnipeg.

 In their first quarter2015 financial report Hudbay reported that at their Manitoba operations recoveries of copper, zinc and gold in the first quarter were marginally higher compared to the same period in 2014 as a result of increased production at Reed and Lalor mines near Snow Lake.                      

President David Garofalo also confirmed the purchase by Hudbay of the New Britannia mine and mill in Snow Lake. He says the purchase of the mill has changed plans at Lalor.  He says ore from Lalor will continue to be processed at the Snow Lake concentrator while engineering work is carried out on a potential restart of the NBM mill.  He says it is anticipated that the results of a technical study on the NBM mill including the estimated cost and timing of a potential restart will be available in 2016 noting as a result of the acquisition of the NBM mill Hudbay no longer expects to construct a new concentrator at Lalor and will not need to spend most of the expected 350 to 400 million dollars in capital associated with it.

Garofalo adds this year they are celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of the Flin Flon deposit.

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The President of the striking International Association of Machinists local 1848 Rene Beauchamp announced yesterday they will be opening the picket lines this week to allow unrestricted access to Huday properties.  He says they hope that this good will gesture will encourage Hudbay to come back to the table for honest and sincere discussions that can lead to a fair collective bargaining agreement.

The union also reports as word of the strike spreads throughout Canada employers looking to recruit experienced, seasoned, skilled workers have already begun knocking on their member’s doors.  Many have already accepted new positions elsewhere.

 Creighton Community School is running its annual bike safety program next week.  School Coordinator Carol Sutherland explains this year’s theme is Bike Safe Saskatchewan.  She says students from kindergarten to grade three will learn about the importance of helmets, traffic laws and other safety information and they will have their bikes inspected before riding the course.  She asks that anyone able to volunteer at the rodeo contact the school at 306-688-5138.

The bike safety program runs all next week with assistance from the school community council, parents and the RCMP.

 United Steelworkers Local 7106 President Tom Davie says negotiations are going to continue later this month with Hudbay.  He says they had their first round of talks with the conciliation officer at the end of April with very little headway.  He says they have new dates on May 24^th, 25^th and 26^th and they are hoping they can get some more movement from Hudbay.

Davie adds they had no available dates until that time and they are optimistic they can still get a collective agreement.  He says his members still have to go to work but there’s good co-operation by the striking members of the International Association of Machinists union at the picket lines.

The City of Flin Flon has applied for a four year extension to the special services levy they brought in last year.  The levy will cover police and fire services for 2015 to 18 inclusive removing them from the general tax rolls so all property owners equally share the cost.  The proposed levy would be 598 dollars this year rising by up to three percent a year for the next three years.

At a Municipal Board hearing last night issues raised included the fact the city has a declining population paying for services, for upgrading aging infrastructure and for provincially mandated sewer and water treatment plants.  Those attending spoke on the need to attract more property owners, especially young families to the community to help share the costs, the negative effect on low income and multiple property owners, how to get outside residents to share the costs of services they use, making good use of our tax dollars, the need for all taxpayers to pay their share in maintaining what we have and the need for the province to approve a base tax for municipalities.

The Board can approve, reject or change the city’s proposal.

McDonald’s Restaurant in Flin Flon joined others across the country in celebrating McHappy Day yesterday.  They raised 1555 dollars for their charity Ronald McDonald House.  This is up from the 855 dollars raised last year.

A dollar from every Happy Meal, Big Mac and Egg McMuffin sold was donated to the charity along with a dollar from each red shoe card sold. McDonald’s staff were joined throughout the day by guest servers from the community including 102.9 CFAR on air staff.

Creighton Community School is accepting applications for the Pre Kindergarten program that will start in September.  Vice-Principal Jason Straile says it prepares children for school as it offers a good opportunity for three and four year olds to come into a school environment and have some play based learning that occurs.  He says this is really good for brain development and will allow some socialization so they’ll be prepared for school in the coming years for kindergarten and so forth.

Straile adds parents must fill out an application form as there’s a limited number of spots.  He says they must bring in their health care number and proof of residency and the school will pick the students that will most benefit from their program.  The deadline to register is May 15^th.

  You should be receiving you War Amps key tags in the mail shortly.  Their Public Awareness Officer Jamie Lund hopes you will make a donation as donations received go to child amputee programs where they are used to help fund artificial limbs and programs for both child and adult amputees. Lund says she’s a member of the War Amps Champs program for child amputees and she’s benefited from the help of the War Amps and the help of those donors. She says they’ve helped her to purchase artificial limbs throughout her life and also with the positive support and their philosophy of living positively with your amputation.

The War Amps receive no government funding so they depend on donations from their key and address label programs.

Quad driver Roger Armstrong told Flin Flon City Council at their meeting Tuesday night the walking bridge now in place on Pine Avenue has removed a route for quad riders to get out of the city.  Mayor Cal Huntley said the road bridge that had been there had to be replaced as it was not safe and the remaining part of the structure that is still being used is safe to walk across but not for vehicles like ATVs so they put in a walking bridge for now but it will be looked at in the future noting they can’t afford a new traffic bridge at this time.  Mayor Huntley added there have been a lot of complaints raised about the abuse of ATV rules in the community and these will be reviewed with the RCMP

  In other business Council received the Fire Chiefs report for April indicating five calls during the month and Council approved an application to the Manitoba Roads Improvement Program for 225 thousand dollars for paving in the community.

A group of students from Creighton Community School is heading for Saskatoon today.  High School Guidance Counselor Joe Kowalchuk says they will spend the next few days at the Northern Administration Student Association Conference.  He says this creates an opportunity for students from the north to experience what life would be like at the University of Saskatchewan.  He explains they get to go and stay in the dorms, they get to attend a number of classes and a number of activities so they get the sense of what it would be like to be on campus and be at the university to help them make that decision.

  They also get a tour of Sask Polytechnic.  Kowalchuk says their travel is funded and they get to stay in the dorms so they can only take five students but it’s a really good event for students who otherwise wouldn’t have that opportunity.

 Altius Minerals Corporation and Callinan Royalties Corporation have successfully completed a plan of arrangement whereby Altius has acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Callinan.

Altius is a diversified mining royalty company with royalty interests in 13 producing mines in Canada. Their President and CEO Brian Dalton says they are very pleased to have consummated the transaction with Callinan and look forward to adding its producing Triple Seven Mine royalty to their diverse platform of 12 other Canadian Mining Royalties.  He adds the acquisition creates a leading diversified mineral royalty company with a stronger consolidated balance sheet and a share holder base from which to further expand and diversify their royalty portfolio and business.

At last night’s meeting of Flin Flon City Council the Vice-President of the International Association of Machinists local 1848 Blair Sapergia stated his concerns about Council’s neutral stand on the idea of replacement workers during the strike with Hudbay. He said replacement workers prolong a labor dispute and do nothing for the community and Council should not be neutral.  Mayor Cal Huntley said he and Council don’t have a stand on replacement workers, it is not an issue at this time and it does not fall within city business.  He added he hopes the situation get resolved to everyone’s satisfaction in a short time.

In other business Councilor Karen MacKinnon reported the Flin Flon Environment Council is looking for three directors to sit on their board and those interested can contact the Recycling Center and another Bollywood fund raiser for the emergency room upgrade is being held this fall.

Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen says last week’s provincial budget invests in training education opportunities so our kids can stay and work in Manitoba, in strong growth and jobs and in roads and infrastructure including in the north.  He says as you can see they are moving on work on number ten highway near Flin Flon plus they have other roads in this constituency like from Snow Lake to number ten and from Thompson all the way to Lynn Lake which are investment projects they are working on there.

Pettersen adds the budget helps keep health care strong with plans still developing for the new emergency room at the Flin Flon General Hospital.  He says he particularly likes the increase to 75 percent of median market rent in the rental assistance plan that provides employment and income assistance recipients with assistance with their shelter and utility costs.  He concludes there’s something for everybody in the budget.

McDonald’s Restaurant in Flin Flon is joining a national celebration of McHappy Day  tomorrow.  Store Manager in The Pas Shelly Gallaugher says people can support Ronald McDonald House with their purchase.  She explains we have some of our locals that do use Ronald McDonald House when they go out so they’re putting all the money towards that this year.  She says it’s basically the same thing as last year where you purchase a Big Mac or Happy Meal or an Egg McMuffin and a dollar of that goes towards Ronald McDonald House and also they have the red shoes you can buy for a dollar to support the event.

McHappy Day runs all day tomorrow with various community representatives including 102.9 CFAR’s on air staff helping out in the restaurant.

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week is being recognized in Flin Flon tomorrow morning.  Mike Johnson, Executive Director of the Construction Safety Association of Manitoba explains the idea is that health and safety is something that we should be thinking about all year but NAOSH week celebration gives us an opportunity to focus on health and safety and not only in the workplace but also at home.

Johnson says you’re invited to a continental breakfast at the Victoria Inn tomorrow morning at 9 with a few speakers and an explanation of the Certificate of Recognition which is a program that recognizes health and safety programs within construction companies.

Creighton Community School is holding its annual Dessert Theatre Wednesday and Thursday.  The school’s Lisa Bettner says 15 cast members will present a comedy called the Revenge of Elverna Dower.  She explains what happened in the play is there are two young students who are having to present an oration exam for their English teacher and in order to get out of it they kidnap her and the story then follows what happens to the students and the teacher throughout the course of the kidnapping.

The play will be followed by a selection of desserts and draws.  It takes place Wednesday and Thursday nights at 7 in the Creighton School gym.  Tickets are 12 dollars at Coutts and Alpine Convenience stores, from any drama club student or at the door.

 A community gently used clothing depot is being set up at Ruth Betts Community School tomorrow and Wednesday. The school’s Community Connector Larace Osika explains it’s open to the whole community and you’re welcome to come and take clothing for free.  She says you can take a garbage bag full or whatever you like and they have a good selection of adult and children’s clothing.  She adds they just ask people if you’re going to attend to use the Terrace Avenue entrance.

The clothing depot runs tomorrow from 1:30 to 4 and Wednesday from 9 to 12 and 1 to 3:30 at Ruth Betts School.

 The International Association of Machinists Local 1848 set up a picket line at noon Saturday as they began strike action against Hudbay.  The first went on Church Street at the staff house and throughout the weekend picket lines were added at the Triple Seven turnoff and near Snow Lake at the Lalor Mine turnoff, the mill concentrator turnoff and on the highway at Reed Mine. Some of those going into work today are reporting delays of up to two hours getting into the work site.

The Union gave Hudbay strike notice Wednesday noting none of their outstanding language issues were addressed and the wage enhancements still leave them far behind the wages paid to apprentices and certified trades at sites in The Pas and Thompson. Union President Rene Beauchamp states since 1971 there hasn’t been a labor dispute in this town.  He says they’ve been bullied long enough, they’re going to stand up to the corporate bully and they are not going to back down.

Hudbay Vice-President of the Manitoba Business Unit Rob Winton said last week the Company will continue to operate with their contingency plan in place focused on the health and safety of all the employees.  A Hudbay release says they sought a mutually negotiated agreement over several months and they do not believe the strike action is necissary.  It adds Hudbay remains committed to the bargaining process and hopes the union leadership will engage in good faith negotiations.    The Union says they are willing to resume bargaining at any time provided the employer has something better to offer.

Members of the community gathered for hot dogs at noon today as members of the International Association of Machinists Local 1848 set up a picket line on Church Street at the staff house as they began strike action against Hudbay. They were joined by members of other union in the community. Additional picket lines will be set up through the weekend at the Triple Seven turnoff and near Snow Lake at the Lalor Mine turnoff, the mill concentrator turnoff and on the highway at Reed mine.

The Union agreed to strike action when their outstanding language issues were not addressed in negotiations and the wage enhancements were not what they had hoped for.

Hudbay Vice-President of the Manitoba Business Unit Rob Winton has said they will continue to operate with a contingency plan in place to ensure the safety of their employees.

Eleven grade 5 to 9 students from Flin Flon schools are traveling to Winnipeg next week to participate in the Red River Heritage Fair.  The main organizer James Dykstra says they want students to learn more about our nations past under the theme Canadian Heritage and that suggests something that shaped Canada so there’s an idea there that it’s historical but it can be pretty wide open as it can be music, art or politics.  He says a lot of people will tell you Canadian history is boring and what they are trying to do is to encourage the kids to find a part of Canada that they say that’s cool I’m excited to be Canadian.

  Some of the themes our students researched are the Flin Flon smoke stack, former NHL goalie Jacques Plante and the quest for the Northwest Passage.

The fair takes place at the University of Winnipeg on Thursday.  There are over 200 students taking part with Flin Flon students the only ones from outside Winnipeg.

 The Tri-Service Committee from the Rotary, Lions and Kinsmen Clubs along with CFAR and the Million Dollar Hole in One are accepting applications for up to five thousand dollars in grant money.  The Committee’s Bunny Burke explains they’d like to see applications from organizations in the community and surrounding areas that include Creighton and Denare Beach.  She says any organization that has a project can let them know what the funds are going to be used for, they can make application and they’ll be considered once the hole in one is completed.

  The deadline to apply is next Friday. Applications and more information are available online at www.flinflononline.com or call Bunny at 204-687-6967.

 Next week is Canadian Children’s Book Week.  Flin Flon Public Library Administrator Cindy McLean is calling on all their super readers and fairy princesses to come in to the Library.  She explains they are going to be offering a coloring contest, pick up your super reader bucks, enter your name to win a prize every time you check out a book and every child who opens up a library account gets a free book, treat bag and a book bag and they on Wednesday they’re going to be serving super ice cream Sundays to all their super readers from 1 to 4:30 as well as reading books with the library staff.

   Now in its 38^th year the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is a celebration of children’s books and the importance of reading.

The International Association of Machinists Local 1848 is setting up picket lines tomorrow as they begin strike action against Hudbay.  Union President Rene Beauchamp invites everyone to come out and support them at 12 noon tomorrow on Church Street near the staff house where they will be grilling hot dogs. He explains they want to raise awarness about the union noting we must show our children that in life we must always stand together adding we must teach them that unions will always fight for the rights of all workers and ensure we always get what is fair and just.

The union gave Hudbay strike notice Wednesday noting none of their outstanding language issues were addressed in negotiations and the wage enhancements were not what they had hoped for.