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Fish
Limits
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by Neil Zacharjewicz and Tom Sasvari
MANITOULIN - As the old
expression goes, sometimes no news is good news. This is the
approach the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is taking to
a lack of response with regard to the proposed fish limits for
inland lakes. Under the proposal for the new limits, public
input was being accepted until August 15. At the MNR's Espanola
office, no public input arrived. "We were a bit surprised,"
confessed Chris Selinger, MNR biologist. She noted the topic
of the fish limits did generate quite a bit of interest. At
the same time, Ms. Selinger pointed out the proposed limits
did go through an extensive consultation process to ensure it
was a well-rounded proposal. "There has been quite a bit of
support, because there was quite a bit of science which went
into the proposal," she suggested. "There was a lot of information
and background work." She pointed out much of what was proposed
is what the MNR was looking into applying upon Lake Mindemoya
at the request of fish industry stakeholders approximately four
years ago. Ms. Selinger said outside of the Manitoulin district,
some municipalities have raised concern about the economic impact
the new regulations will have on their local businesses. However,
Ms. Selinger explained this has not been a major issue, because
the committee responsible for developing the limits included
four representatives of the Northern Ontario Tourist Operators
organization. The MNR is looking at reducing the fish limits
roughly by half on walleye, northern pike, yellow perch and
bass in Georgian Bay and the North Channel, while also reducing
the limits on walleye and northern pike in Manitoulin's inland
lakes. While the MNR may not have received correspondence, Billings
council at its last meeting supported efforts to have the proposed
fishing restrictions decreasing the catch limits of walleye
and pike in Island waters repealed. "I think we should support
this," stated councillor Jim McLean. The local Island fish and
game club supports this (against the proposed restrictions),
and we are being dictated to by Toronto concerning out natural
resources in Northern Ontario without local consultation." "Our
local resources have different needs than other areas. It doesn't
wash. We are being dictated to by Toronto," continued Mr. McLean.
"They are saying they would like us to be able to manage resources
locally, because it benefits everyone locally including the
economy. If we want to sustain what we have we have to make
sure things remain the same and that we have jurisdiction over
our area." Billings council was responding to a motion sent
to Ontario Municipal Association municipalities by the township
of Matachewan, which opposes the proposed fish limits changes.
The council of the town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands
also supported Matachewan's position. Mayor Ken Ferguson noted
that the issue of fish limits has caused a lot of concern in
this area.
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Woman
has baby at the side of the road in Manitowaning
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by Michael Erskine
MANITOWANING---Babies come when they are
ready to come...even if the mother isn't quite as ready for
the blessed event. Navia Rose Atkins was not about to wait any
longer to be born, even if she was still a few miles from the
Manitoulin Health Centre, and so she arrived, on Friday, August
24, a brand spanking new Haweater for parents Chris and Tracey
Atkins, at 4:20 am on the side of Highway 6, some two weeks
ahead of schedule. Ms. Atkins related the story to the Expositor
12 hours later, looking none-the-worse for her adventure. "I
woke up around 3:25 am to get one of our other children a glass
of water," she said. "As I headed back to bed I realized that
I was having contractions, and that it was maybe time to go
to the hospital." Ms. Atkins called the hospital and they told
her that although they were very busy, "They would try to fit
me in," she said. Calling her husband to come up from their
winter home in Wiarton, Ms. Atkins packed a bag and had her
cousin wake up their quarry employee, Dan Clarke. "He wasn't
too excited about the idea," she laughed, "especially as my
pains started coming a lot faster. The louder I got, the faster
he drove." It quickly became apparent that Navia had no intention
of waiting any longer, and Ms. Atkins called for the driver
to pull over. "He was pretty excited," she chuckled. "I told
him to put it into park and to give me a hand in the back."
A few moments later, Navia made her appearance. "Oh yes, that
was quite an experience," said Mr. Clarke. "It was something
else." Mr. Clarke joked that he was considering a new medical
career, "But I want to see what the money is like first," he
laughed. "I thought we were going to make it," he said. "We
were just five minutes out of Little Current." The entire operation
in the back of the mini-van did not take very long said Mr.
Clarke, "and thank God it didn't," he added. Mr. Clarke is from
a community just outside of St. John's, Newfoundland. "It is
a little community much like here, freshwater Newfies," he laughed.
After his stint as a midwife, Mr. Clarke went home and had a
couple of cups of coffee before heading off to work. The other
workers at the Atkin's quarry, Northern Natural Stone, wasted
no time in teasing the impromptu midwife. "They are calling
him "Doc" at work now," said Ms. Atkins. Ms. Atkins had a premonition
that the baby might make her appearance a little earlier than
planned after she went down on one knee coming out of the library
a day earlier. Mr. Atkins got word of his baby daughter's arrival
while waiting for the ferry with his wife's parents. They were
travelling from Wiarton for the delivery. "I heard a page to
come to the ferry desk," he said. "I thought it was her parents
calling for me. I got to the desk, and found them standing there.
As we were talking, I asked why they had paged me and they were
surprised and said they hadn't. That's when I found out that
it was my wife who had called. The girl at the desk said 'congratulations,
your wife had a baby girl.'" Navia is not alone in the Atkins'
family, she joins three siblings aged three, five and 10 years-old.
"They are all Wiarton Willie boys," laughed Ms. Atkins. "She's
a Haweater." Ms. Atkins' roots lie deep on the Island, she is
the great-granddaughter of the late Shirley Ainslie of Elizabeth
Bay. Mr. and Ms. Atkins said that they eventually plan to make
the Island their full-time home, as their quarry business develops.
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Regional
Cablesystems to acquire Amtelecom
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
MANITOULIN - Regional Cablesystems Inc.
of St. John's, Newfoundland, agreed to purchase Amtelecom Group
Inc. for $64.4 million. "This is one of Regional's most significant
transactions to date, as it reflects the company's own unique
convergence strategy. The transaction will immediately result
in synergies and enhanced shareholder value, and launches Regional
into the telephony marketplace with a significant and long-standing
customer base," suggested Brendan Paddick, president of Regional
Cablesystems. Regional has entered into a binding letter of
agreement to purchase the common shares of Amtelecom Inc. which
provides telephone service through more than 21,400 network
access lines on Manitoulin, and in Elgin County, the Bruce Peninsula,
Cambray Township, and Coldwater. They will also purchase the
shares of AGI Cablevision Inc., which provides cable television
to more than 10,300 homes in southwestern Ontario. The transaction
will also result in Regional acquiring Amtelecom's Internet
service operations which currently provide services to more
than 2,600 subscribers. "(Amtelecom and AGI Cablevision) will
continue to be operated from Aylmer, Ontario and are expected
to add more than $12 million in annualized Earnings Before Interest,
Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) to Regional's
results. Given the current tax base of the assets, this transaction
is also anticipated to be very tax efficient for Regional,"
stated Mr. Paddick. He noted it is Regional's intention to use
the Amtelecom acquisition as a base for future telecommunications
and cable acquisitions in western Ontario. The addition of a
fifth operating division will further enhance the company's
acquisition growth prospects, he indicated, as there are estimated
to be about 40,000 independently owned cable television subscribers
in close proximity to the Aylmer operations, as well as 57,000
independently owned telephone access lines in the same area.
Under the transaction, Regional is also securing the telephony
expertise of Amtelecom's employees. While these employees will
continue to be employed at Amtelecom's operational headquarters
in Aylmer and outlying operations, Regional anticipates tapping
into their industry and technical knowledge to further exploit
the business opportunities for its existing telecom operations,
primarily located in Northern Ontario. Through future system
integration and fibre deployment, Regional anticipates interconnecting
the Amtelecom operations on Manitoulin and its Sudbury-based
Northern Ontario operations to Amtelecom's Nortel DMS switching
platform. Another priority is to upgrade cable system capacity
and the installation of high-speed Internet capability within
AGI Cablevision's western cluster. "While it is extremely difficult
to part with our telephone operations after nearly 100 years
of service, we recognize the need for economies of scale in
the telecommunications industry and we believes that under Regional's
ownership, Amtelecom's subscribers will have access to leading
edge technologies and more service options," suggested Amtelecom
Group President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stan Stewart.
"For our employees, it means the continuation of a decentralized
operation with exciting growth prospects managed from Aylmer,
where they can continue to respond to the unique needs of a
loyal customer base." He noted the proceeds from the transaction
would be utilized in part to repay existing debts, which approximated
$37.3 million as of June 30, 2001. Amtelecom expects to determine
the potential for a distribution of the sale to the shareholders
after the deal is closed. The deal is subject to the approval
of Amtelecom shareholders, regulatory approvals including the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission,
and finalization of formal documents. The anticipated closing
date is set for November 30, 2001.
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