Martin Wyant

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Algoma residents will pay a bit more as public health budget hits $18.47M

SooToday

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Hard to understand how a 9% increase is characterized as "a couple of cents" by a Board member. An 18% increase over two years? Wow. Why are taxpayers paying for these increases when APH reported a $12,159,580 accumulated surplus in their 2024 audited statements?

BREAKING: Algoma Steel laying off more than 1,000 workers

SooToday

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While this is not unexpected, it's still terrible news for the workers and families who are directly and indirectly affected. At the community level, replacing these jobs and addressing the spin-off job losses that will occur as a result, will be one of the most significant challenges we have faced in many years. While it is good to know that work has been happening with the Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition, more will need to be done.It would be helpful to know more about the economic development initiatives that the City has been working on to attract more investment and jobs in our community. The only significant project seems to be the proposed multi-modal port, but the likelihood of the project and details regarding the number and type of jobs created, timelines and other details have been missing.Now would be a good time to share an economic development progress report.

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'Poor governance' prompted OPP proposal: Shoemaker

SooToday

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Laying all of the problems at the feet of two departing Board members, without acknowledging that City Council represented 40% of the Board, is hard to swallow. it's also concerning that there seems to be no acknowledgement that poor management contributed to the huge deficit.

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‘Excellent’: Pilot project that helps seniors stay out of hospital now permanent

SooToday

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This is a tremendous program. Congratulations on gaining permanent funding!

Are we getting enough bang from our $11.6M Downtown Plaza?

SooToday

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We have more than enough good quality venues to stage events. Spending more and more on physical attractions and improvements to downtown, without addressing legitimate concerns of citizens, will not work. Similarly, taking over the Downtown Association and shifting the tax burden from downtown building owners to regular taxpayers, increases our taxes with no tangible benefits. We need better planning, period. Perhaps it's time to consider a new governance model for our City....

City council snuffs out Downtown Association

SooToday

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I'm not clear on the merits of the City taking over the DTA, but suggesting that it is following the success of the takeover of the EDC, without providing any data to demonstrate that we are better served by the "new approach", is concerning. If the result of this decision is that the tax burden is now shifted from downtown businesses to the entire tax base, then any member of council who had a direct or indirect financial interest in this decision should have declared a conflict of interest and refrained from the discussion and the decision.

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City invites residents to weigh in on walking and cycling strategy

SooToday

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Today I walked down Queen Street, from Kohler to Pine. There are east and west bike lines on both sides of Queen. I counted 11 cyclists. Some were clearly enthusiasts, with all of others seemed to be using bikes as there mode of transportation. Not a single cyclist was using bike lanes correctly. 8 were using the sidewalks and 3 were using bike lanes that were going against traffic.While I appreciate the aspirations of an active transportation plan, the expansion of trails and better solutions for people with mobility challenges should be the focus, particularly with our winter climate. Imposing bike lines at great cost, when they seem to be used by so few people, seems to be pandering to a small group of interests. Perhaps, though, we should focus on updating our entire 1996 officiaL plan, rather than all of the "micro-plans" that seem to ignore the infrastructure, social, health and other issues that have changed over 30 years.

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Letter writer who used a pen name says he regrets it

SooToday

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Previously, media would name and address check letters to the editor before publishing them. Not sure if this happened in this case. Too many people publish anonymously, as we see every day in posts to Sootoday, Facebook and other social media platforms. Anonymity often leads to bitter, angry finger-pointing, name-call and conspiracy-mongering that simply amplifies our differences. We should all be encouraged to share informed, respectful opinions, even when they run counter to those who hold positions of power. If you really believe in something, have the courage to put your name on it.

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Sault Police Services approximately $2.5 million over budget

SooToday

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If this was known in February, why is it only coming to light now? This is a huge amount of money. How could the Chief and the Board be unaware of the finances of the police service? The silence from the Board is deafening. There should be an audit of the last 5 years to determine if there are similar problems and to assign accountability.

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Virtual home waiting room aims to ease ER congestion in the Sault

SooToday

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This is a fabulous initiative!

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Businessperson has big plans for Steelton and Jamestown

SooToday

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What a terrific example to set. It's wonderful to see this type of investment in Steelton and Jamestown, particularly from people with such a strong connection to our community!

Sault Police Service receives 'code of silence' award for its 'transparency tax'

SooToday

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If the Police Service did a better job of releasing information to the public, there we be a decrease in the volume of Freedom of Information requests. There does seem to be an increasing unwillingness to share useful, digestible information from local institutions and government. When this occurs, many people lose trust and presume that there is "something to hide". It's too easy to say "we're not releasing information because it could jeopardize an investigation" or "it's a sensitive HR issue". Too many reasonable information requests are stonewalled behind such excuses. Imagine if better information had been released regarding recent, large budget deficits, before they became such a problem? There are very real costs associated with a lack of transparency.

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Could the city hire its way out of the family doctor shortage?

SooToday

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Excellent leadership from Orillia. Innovative thinking is required. A year ago, we had 40+ internationally trained Physicians attending post-secondary schools here. A simple project to provide them with intensive language support, mentoring from local Physicians, work experience and assistance in securing their Canadian certifications was discussed, but did not receive the support required to proceed. Others, like BC, have done this work and achieved success. Why not us?

Council backs mayor: King Charles' portrait won't be hung at city hall

SooToday

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Whether we support the relationship to the monarchy or not, I just don't understand why the Mayor and Council picked this fight. What is the upside within our community? How does this debate and this decision improve our relationship with senior levels of government or businesses that may have an interest in investing in our city?With the state of our roads, our terrible opioid mortality rates, massive (apparently unchecked) overspending by our Police Service and significant tax increases to residential ratepayers, surely there are other issues that should be discussed at Council meetings?

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Sault Ste. Marie will investigate cost of switching to OPP protection

SooToday

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You can support police in our community while, at the same time, expressing concern about about poor management and governance. This organization has seen its budget grow at an unsustainable rate since 2020 and even with these huge increases, it has run significant deficits. Meeting minutes on the SSM Police website have recently been removed or disabled, with no reasons cited, but a contact recently shared a screen grab from two recent meetings. Of note from the October 2024 Board meeting: the Chief noted "we are on track for spending." In the December 2024 meting, the Chief noted there is 20% left in our budget and wea re (sic) on track". There is nothing to suggest that the Chief was willfully misinforming the Board about the actual state of the budget, but the large deficit from the prior year should have resulted in much more diligence from the Board (which included 2 City Council members).A third-party review should be the minimum response.

Did the city pay too much for now-demolished building?

SooToday

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A similar story was posted to the Sootoday site last week and was quickly removed before many people had the opportunity to read it. No explanation was provided. In a world where transparency is increasingly rare, it would be reassuring to have someone from Village Media provide the rationale for pulling the initial story.

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Scott will push for more OLG jobs in the Sault

SooToday

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The Bondar building was purpose built to be the head office for OLG. This promise has never been kept and is long overdue. At a bare minimum there should be more jobs here than Toronto. The top executive jobs should also be here. The impact of adding hundreds of knowledge-based jobs here would be powerful. Glad to see our new MPP has an independent voice. We need a strong advocate!

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Algoma U community rallies against paused enrolments

SooToday

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Yet another example of a local institution that communicates by media release. This is particularly discouraging when the institution is a university, which should be encouraging critical thinking and healthy debate on contentious subjects.

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Mayor cuts off discussion of roundabout at Second Line and Goulais Avenue

SooToday

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If it's true that the current landlord provided tenants with an eviction notice before this matter was even deliberated by Council, that is a concern. If it's also true that the property is being quickly flipped for a significant profit, that should raise more concern. More transparency would be helpful.

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CLOSER LOOK: Why we’re asking you to help fund our investigative journalism

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We are better served when we have non-partisan investigative journalism, rather than the endless echo-chambered messages produced by social media, “influencers”, politicians, businesses and other interest groups that want to sway us, rather than inform us.The Internet has trained us to expect many things to be “free”, but everything, including journalism, comes with a cost. How do we pay for investigative journalism we need? While all businesses, including digital media, have a right to be profitable, perhaps it is time to consider the value of non-profit journalism. It is likely that more people would be willing to donate funds to organizations that will reinvest the funds in the furthering of their work, rather than their bottom line.

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