The massive off-shore wind turbine project proposed by Southpoint Wind is raising concerns in the Town of Essex.


Councillors want to meet with company officials prior to a series of public information sessions planed for March 27th.


Southpoint plans to erect 700 turbines about 2 kilometers offshore in Lakes Erie and St. Clair. The Town feels there has been little environmental impact information released by the company and would like more details.

General Motors announced a recall of 1.3 million vehicles with possible power steering motor problems.

The 2005 to 2010 Chevy Cobalt, the 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5 and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuit may experience a power steering motor failure.  The failure can make the cars difficult to steer.

Replacement parts have been ordered and the company will notify owners when to have the repairs made.

The Government announced Monday that it will spend $6-million to build a new VIA Rail station in the Rose City.

Rob Merrifield, Canada’s Minister of State (Transport) and VIA Rail Canada’s President and CEO, Marc Laliberté, Jeff Watson, Member of Parliament for Essex and Windsor Mayor, Eddie Francis made the official announcement.

VIA’s new Windsor station will be fully accessible and will be built on a site near the existing building.  Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2011, it will replace a structure originally built by Canadian National in the early 1960s and expanded by VIA in 1982.

The majority of the $6 million in funding for the new Windsor station and related improvements will come from Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan.VIA’s Windsor Station Project is linked with other work currently or soon to be underway throughout the Quebec-Windsor Corridor, which generates almost 90 per cent of VIA’s ridership and 75 per cent of its revenue.

Caesars Windsor is cutting its work force by 45.

65 full-time unionized positions are being altered to 23 part-time positions.  3 non-union full-time jobs are being dropped.

Officials say the cuts are needed to trim expenses.  The casino is battling decreased revenues brought on by a number of factors, including a strong Canadian dollar and a slow economy.

Newly appointed Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) Chair Paul Godfrey announced today that he will begin working immediately with the new members of the Board of Directors who were appointed yesterday.

“The government clearly saw the need to put a capable, experienced and business-savvy board in place, they’ve done just that with the appointment of five highly accomplished individuals, and I congratulate and thank Premier McGuinty and Minister Duncan for that.”

“This Board represents an excellent mix of business and social leaders in the province. It’s a board that can work at raising levels of accountability, responsibility and integrity at OLG, turning the page on events of the recent past.”

Although Mr. Godfrey officially began his role this week, he has attended briefings at the Corporation for the last few weeks.

“We have a responsibility to examine all possibilities and opportunities to build on the profits provided to the Government by OLG and making recommendations that fit within a framework of responsible gaming,” he said.

Mr. Godfrey said finding a new Chief Executive Officer will be a priority for the Board. Until then Mr. Bohodar Rubashewsky, who is on assignment from the Government of Ontario will continue acting as the Interim CEO.

The Government of Ontario is recruiting additional board members over the coming months.

County Council has approved a property tax increase of 2.4% for the coming year.  The increase works out to about $19 for a home assessed at $200,000.

Council also voted to keep the warden’s term in tact.  There was talk of reducing the position from a 4-year term, down to 2-years.  The suggestion was voted down 12-2.

Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced a number of measured steps to support the long-term stability of Canada’s housing market and continue to encourage home ownership for Canadians.


“Canada’s housing market is healthy, stable and supported by our country’s solid economic fundamentals,” said Minister Flaherty. “However, a key lesson of the global financial crisis is that early policy action can help prevent negative trends from developing.”


The Government will therefore adjust the rules for government-backed insured mortgages as follows:


• Require that all borrowers meet the standards for a five-year fixed rate mortgage even if they choose a mortgage with a lower interest rate and shorter term. This initiative will help Canadians prepare for higher interest rates in the future.
• Lower the maximum amount Canadians can withdraw in refinancing their mortgages to 90 per cent from 95 per cent of the value of their homes. This will help ensure home ownership is a more effective way to save.
• Require a minimum down payment of 20 per cent for government-backed mortgage insurance on non-owner-occupied properties purchased for speculation.


“There’s no clear evidence of a housing bubble, but we’re taking proactive, prudent and cautious steps today to help prevent one.


These adjustments to the mortgage insurance guarantee framework are intended to come into force on April 19, 2010.

Union leaders say ‘No’ to the latest contract offer from Ontario’s colleges; the colleges are requesting a membership vote anyway.

The offer, rejected last week by the teachers’ union, would provide a raise of 5.9 per cent over three years, whereas the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union is seeking 7.5 per cent over three years.

The colleges moved quickly Tuesday to ask the Ontario Labour Relations Board to organize a “final offer” vote after the union set a Feb. 11 strike deadline Monday. The union had asked the colleges to turn negotiations over to an arbitrator, a notion colleges rejected Tuesday.

A tentative strike date has been set for Feb. 11th.

Windsor City Council voted Monday to close the city’s daycare centres.

Council claims shutting down the centres will save the city a million dollars a year.  (Day-long JK and SK programs begin in the fall.)

It is expected that 115 jobs will be lost when the centres close on the 1^st of September.

A $7-billion investment in Ontario by Samsung and state-owned Korean Power Electric Corp. will help the province become a leader in manufacturing green energy technologies that it can export to the United States and elsewhere, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday.

“It’s important to understand that building the green economy, green energy jobs and putting in place the Green Energy Act is not for the faint of heart,” said McGuinty. “It’s going to take bold steps.”

Samsung will build wind and solar farms across Ontario (with most of the focus in Southwestern Ontario, specifically Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex) that will generate 2,500 megawatts of power, and will also build four plants to manufacture components for green energy projects, creating about 16,000 jobs in the process. Most of those will be temporary, but 1,440 permanent manufacturing and related jobs will be created.

“We’re trying to lay the foundation here for new economic growth in Ontario … to build the capacity here to deliver renewable technology to the U.S. market,” McGuinty told reporters after signing the deal, which he described as the largest of its kind in the world.

Critics said Ontario was giving Samsung big advantages over Canadian-based wind and solar producers, including special access to crowded transmission lines and incentives that they said amount to a huge taxpayer subsidy of a foreign multinational.

“This sweetheart deal is a bad deal for Ontario families,” said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

The Ontario Electricity Coalition says it fully supports windmills and green jobs. But the OEC is not in favour of private power deals which will hurt the people of Ontario for decades.

“The Samsung deal is not just about manufacturing wind turbines. It is a private scheme to generate electricity at outrageous (and therefore secret) rates – for years to come,” said OEC spokesperson, Paul Kahnert. “Every penny of Samsung’s mega profits will come out of the pocket of Ontario’s electricity consumers and business owners. Ontario’s public electrical utilities can buy, install and maintain made-in-Ontario windmills – without the likes of Samsung – at a much lower cost.”

The axe fell at Toronto’s City-TV Tuesday cutting several on-air seasoned journalists as well as many staffers on the other side of the camera.

Anne Mroczkowski, Pam Seatle, Laura DiBattista, Marianne Dimain, Merella Fernandez, Farah Nasser, Michael Serapio and up to 10 cameramen were laid off Tuesday.

Michael Robins, a senior producer of CityTV Toronto news for more than 25 years who started CP24 and Bob Lawlor, who was in charge of Breakfast Television and CityLine were also among the 35 full-time staff laid off.

Mroczkowski, who has been an institution on Toronto TV with more than 30 years in the business, was given the boot, along with DiBattista who joined CityTV in 1983 and Pam Seatle, who started in the City newsroom as a volunteer in 1989.

“They’ve decimated the newsroom. This is the absolute destruction of the local key people who put out the daily news,” said one employee, who requested anonymity. “I’m just stunned at some of the people getting fired. They’re also cancelling the noon news show, the 5 p.m. and I’ve heard maybe even the weekend news show,” the employee said.

Rogers Communications purchased CityTV Toronto in 2007.

When asked about the layoffs, Veronica Logue, Rogers Media Television spokesman, said: “We don’t comment on personnel.”

“(Tuesday’s) changes, although difficult, are necessary to align our operations with the economic and regulatory realities of our industry,” Leslie Sole, CEO, Roger Media Television, said in a statement.

Debbie Fields has been appointed as the new CAW Windsor Area Director to replace Alex Keeney who retired this past December.

Fields began her life as a union member at Sheller Globe (CAW Local 195) in 1970, held a number of elected positions in the local union before being appointed to the union’s staff as a National Representative in 1987. For the past 23 years, Fields has spearheaded campaigns on pay equity issues and agreements that benefit women in CAW workplaces, negotiated local area contracts and dealt with arbitration hearings, severance pay and workplace issues as they arise.

In 1997 Debbie was awarded Woman of the Year by CAW Women’s Network which honours women who take a strong, socially active role in preventing violence and improving the life of women.

Ford Motor Company scored a historic doubleheader, capturing both the North American Car of the Year and North American Truck of the Year awards for the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and 2010 Ford Transit Connect, respectively, at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). It is only the third time in 17 years that one manufacturer has won both titles.

“Winning both of these prestigious awards is confirmation that the ONE Ford plan is working, delivering industry-leading products for our customers,” said Mark Fields, president of The Americas.

The Fusion Hybrid edged out finalists including the Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf/GTI.  It is the fourth hybrid vehicle in 17 years to win recognition as North American Car (or Truck) of the Year.

The Transit Connect bested finalists including the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback to win the North American Truck of the Year award. It is the sixth Ford truck to win the award – the most wins of any automaker in the 17-year history of the awards program.