Worker charged with negligence in death of resident

by Jim Moodie

GORE BAY-Charges have been laid against a caregiver at the Manitoulin Lodge nursing home in relation to the death of 65-year-old resident Myles Patterson, who was found outside the facility after a prescribed smoking period on the chilly evening of January 16.

Last Wednesday, the OPP arrested and charged Ted J. Mandigo, 51, of Gore Bay with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life to someone under his charge. Mr. Mandigo's employment with the Lodge was terminated in the wake of the incident.

Constable Al Boyd, community services officer with the Manitoulin detachment of the OPP, said that a criminal investigation is ongoing, and no other information can be provided at this point. "Because it's such a high-profile case, with everyone watching, right from Queen's Park, the position of the OPP is that we're not releasing any further information about the death, including the results of the post-mortem," he said.

A post-mortem was conducted in Sudbury on January 24, but Dr. Bert Lauwers, acting supervising coroner for the Northeast region, said that pending the final coroner's report and completion of the criminal investigation, his office could not comment on the cause of death.

Constable Boyd added that, now that charges have been laid and a trial date set for Gore Bay Provincial Court on February 26, any further detail published concerning the circumstances of the fatality could be deemed to prejudice a jury, and "the defence could call for a change of venue."

Officials with the Manitoulin Lodge are not speaking directly to the press, but a media release has been made available which states that "Manitoulin Lodge has strict policies regarding all aspects of resident care." It further notes that "the Ministry of Health has conducted a review at Manitoulin Lodge following this tragic incident and has stated in their report that 'there are no unmet standards or criteria issued as a result of this review.'"

The release from the nursing home indicates the Lodge will "continue to fully co-operate with any investigation," but "since the matter is now in the hands of the police and the Ontario Court of Justice, Manitoulin Lodge will not be providing further comment since this may compromise the judicial process."

The case has caught the attention of media across the province, fuelling the current debate regarding staffing levels in long-term care facilities as well as the fairness of the province's smoking policy.

The Manitoulin Lodge, like many nursing homes, does not provide an indoor smoking room, although it is not the case, as incorrectly stated in the Expositor last week, that such facilities must force all smokers outdoors. Controlled smoking areas may be set up inside, but the costly ventilation equipment required by the Smoke-Free Ontario Act is not underwritten by the province so many homes have not had the resources to offer this option.

In a Toronto Sun article published last week, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman discouraged the line of questioning that would link the Manitoulin Lodge death to policies concerning smoking. "I don't think it's good enough any time a circumstance unfolds to look for some other bigger explanation as to why it happened," he said. "If you let somebody outside to smoke...then there's some personal responsibility that's aligned alongside that."

Deadly fish virus found in Lake Huron

by Jim Moodie

LAKE HURON-It's here.

Previously documented in Lakes Ontario, Erie and St. Clair, a lethal new virus affecting such prized catches as walleye and salmon has now oozed its way north towards Manitoulin, with cases confirmed along the Michigan shore of Lake Huron.

Late last month, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources found viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in several types of fish from the Alpena, Rogers City and Cheboygan areas of the state-waters situated a mere 100 miles from the Island.

"It was found in Michigan by the Americans, because we're not looking for it," said Gord Miller, Ontario's environment commissioner, in an interview with the Expositor last week.

While it is hoped that fish will build up a natural resistance to the highly contagious bug, and that new Ministry and Natural Resources (MNR) regulations on the harvest and transfer of bait fish may slow its proliferation, there seems little hope of actually halting its progress. "It will continue to spread through the Great Lakes," said Mr. Miller darkly, adding that it could also "spill into the inland lakes."

Originally confined to salt water, VHS appeared in a new freshwater strain in 2005, as diagnosed by Guelph fish pathologist John Lumsden. At that time, it was identified as the culprit behind a massive die-off of freshwater drum in Lake Ontario.

Since then, over a dozen species have been found to be susceptible to the disease, which, as the 'hemorrhagic' part of its name suggests, kills fish in a most unpleasant way. They bleed to death.

While it remains unclear exactly how the virus arrived in our waters, the most likely explanation, said Mr. Miller, is bilge water from ocean-going freighters. Humans are not at risk of contracting VHS, but the list of fish that could incur high mortality rates is ever growing.

The VHS-infected fish studied by the Michigan DNR included chinook salmon, walleye and whitefish. The latter, a staple of Island commercial fishermen, hailed from the Cheboygan area and were initially collected in 2005 as part of a survey for bacterial kidney disease. A more recent analysis revealed they had actually died of VHS.

Apart from its proximity to Manitoulin and the North Channel, Cheboygan is also a scant 25 kilometres from the strait linking Huron to Lake Michigan, meaning another Great Lake will almost certainly find itself on the list of infected zones soon.

Following these latest finds, Michigan has reclassified its Lake Huron waters as a VHS Positive Management Area, joining Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River, the Detroit River and Lake Erie in this category. In conjunction with this, the state has issued a ban on the trap and transfer of live fish unless they have tested negative for VHS, and is urging anglers to disinfect their boats and cease transporting minnows from the Great Lakes to inland lakes.

Ontario announced similar VHS control strategies in early January which involved dividing the province into three zones-the infected zone, the buffer zone, and the virus-free zone-and outlawing all commercial harvesting and export of bait fish in the former, while buffer areas would be permitted to collect and use bait fish but not move them elsewhere.

At the time, only Lakes Ontario and Erie were considered infected zones, while Lake Huron fell into the buffer zone category. Although no announcement has yet come from the MNR regarding a reclassification, it is almost certain that, with the recent discovery of VHS along the Michigan shore of Lake Huron, our area will soon fall into the more strictly regulated category.

George Purvis of Purvis Brothers Fishery said that, "now that they've found it (in Lake Huron), they'll move the boundary up to the Sault locks." The longtime commercial fisherman, and member of the Ontario Commercial Fish Producers Association, isn't thrilled about the appearance of VHS in local waters, but neither is he surprised or particularly alarmed.

"We've known about this right from the start, and I'm not that concerned about it," he said. "The head of our association, who is a biologist, says we just have to let nature take its course. I think after a couple of years fish build up an immunity."

Mr. Purvis noted that the virus has obviously been in Lake Huron for some time already, since the samples collected in Michigan date to 2005, but his boats are still hauling in decent amounts of fish. "The whitefish haven't died yet," he said. "In our main fishing areas, we took our quota last year, so I'm not too concerned at this point."

That said, Mr. Purvis suspects that those who make their livelihoods from aquaculture and the bait business could incur significant losses. "The farmed fish could be in serious trouble compared to wild fish because if rainbows get it, it would go through the cages like wildfire," he said. The virus tends to impact fish that are stressed, he noted, and disease can travel very quickly among close-quartered farm stock.

"If the aquaculture people have brood stock or fry that are infected with VHS, they'll kill it all, like cattle in England," said Mr. Purvis.

Bait dealers, meanwhile, "are going to be put out of business," Mr. Purvis predicted, due to the crackdown on harvest and transfer of live bait. "It's gotten political, and they're jumping through the hoops now to keep (VHS) out of inland lakes."

The commercial fisherman also anticipates that fish hatcheries will soon encounter strict new policies geared to stemming the spread of the virus. "The MNR might insist those fish are tested before they're put in the lake, because you don't want to dump the virus right on top of the existing fish."

Killarney snowmobile crash kills two

KILLARNEY-Two  women were killed tragically last Saturday when their snowmobile struck a rock outcrop northwest of Killarney in Covered Portage Cove at approximately 5:40 pm. According to sources in Killarney, weather was clear that evening and daylight had yet to fade.

The driver of the snowmobile, Margaret Bateman, 48, of Killarney, was air-lifted from the scene to St. Joseph's hospital in Sudbury but passed away en route. Loretta Tyson, 48, of Sudbury, a passenger on the snowmobile, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Killarney volunteer fire department arrived at the scene of the accident to provide assitance where it was learned that one of the victims, Ms. Bateman, was the wife of the fire chief.

According to Killarney mayor and former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) constable Morgan Pitfield, the outcrop in question is a boulder of white quartzite which, he says, could have been hard to see in the snow.

OPP technical traffic investigators and the Sudbury OPP RIDE unit assisted the Noelville detachment with the investigation, which is still ongoing.

Constable Al Boyd, community services officer with the Little Current OPP says he can't stress enough, "know the area you're snowmobiling in."

He adds that the police find that when snowmobilers encounter difficulty, they are often not familiar with the territory they are travelling in.

Constable Boyd urges riders to slow down and be aware of the surrounding area. Pressure cracks and other obstacles such as rocks can seemingly appear out of nowhere at high speeds, he says, adding that it is essential that riders are familiar with the laws governing snowmobiling.

If anyone may have witnessed the collision or has information pertaining to it, police are asking the public to contact Constable Andre Lacelle of the Warren detachment at 1-888-310-1122.

Electoral Reform for Ontarians?

Part II of a series

EDITOR'S NOTE: In this ongoing series, the Expositor continues to explore election options for Ontario MPPs that are presently being considered by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. This week we address the 'List' form of proportional voting.

by Alicia McCutcheon

ONTARIO-Ontario elected its first parliament in 1792 and, since that day, has kept with the current system of first-past-the-post. The Ontario Citizens' Assembly has been trying to decide whether it's time for a change in Ontario and a new system of voting.

There are three main families of electoral systems used throughout the world: plurality/majority, mixed, and proportional representation. In this week's installment of the series on electoral reform, the Expositor will be exploring proportional representation and specifically, the list system of voting.

As noted in 'Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook,' the main rationale which underlines all systems within proportional representation is that a party's share of seats will be equal to a corresponding number of seats within the legislature. Proportional representation is different from our current system in that each electoral district must have more than one member, as it is not possible to divide one seat proportionally. Candidates are chosen to the ballot the same way they are today, by the party's riding association or executive. The greater the number of members elected from a district, the more proportional the system will be. There are certain systems within proportional representation that allow a wide range of choice to be given to the voter such as voting for the party, the candidates or both.

Advantages?

This system is praised for being able to better produce a representative legislature  than those of the first-past-the-post family of plurality/majority systems. With a proportional representation system, votes cast means seats won. Larger parties will not gain 'seat bonuses'-higher number of seats than votes-and small parties can gain access to the legislature, even with a small number of votes.

Proportional representation systems allow very few 'wasted votes,' valid votes which did not go to the winning party or candidate. This boosts the confidence of the public to make the trip to the polling station and cast their vote.

Since small parties are awarded a small number of seats, according to votes, there is less likely to be a situation where a single party holds all the seats in the province.

Many like the idea of proportional representation because of policy stability. Whereas under a majority/plurality system, such as our own, there are regular switches in government, this can make long-term planning difficult. Coalition governments are more likely to form under this system.

Disadvantages?

While, for some, coalition governments are a good thing, they are also looked upon less than favourably for leading to 'legislative gridlock,' therefore not being able to carry out policies.

Allowing minority parties into the legislature can have its drawbacks too, as they can lead to a 'destabilizing fragmentation' of the party system. Larger parties can be held to ransom by small, minority parties when found in coalition governments. The inclusion of small parties can also be a platform for extremist parties. Some believe the collapse of Weimar Germany (pre-1933 and the appointment of Chancellor Adolf Hitler) can be attributed to its proportional representation system of elections.

Small parties elected to government can also be blessed with a large amount of power and, if in a coalition government with a larger party, allows them to veto proposals, even though their percentage of votes was, in reality, very small.

The workings of the systems within proportional representation can be harder to understand than our own first-past-the-post system, and hence could require more voter education in order for votes to count.

List Proportional

Representation

With this system of proportional representation, known List PR for short, each party would come up with a list of candidates for the voters of a riding, and every electoral district in Ontario. According to 'From Votes to Seats: Four Families of Electoral Systems,' there are three different ways one can vote with List PR: with a closed, open or free list.

Each party has a separate ballot of which you choose one. With a closed list, the candidates will appear on the ballot according to the way they have been ranked by their party. Any seats won by the party will be filled according to their rank on the ballot, with the top of the ballot getting first priority and so on. Candidates are not chosen by the voter; only the party is.

A closed list allows a party to give a high-ranking candidate a job of significance in the legislature without conferring with the voters, and allows for party control and discipline, else troublesome candidates end up at the bottom of the ballot in the future. Closed list is the most often used ballot with List PR.

The open list approach has voters re-order the ranking of the candidates the party has provided on the ballot, allowing them to choose the candidate they most like.

Lastly, a free list gives the voter the most amount of choice. Voters are able to rank any of the candidates, regardless of party.And, in some cases, as long as voters cast the same number of votes as there are seats, they may: eliminate a name from a party ballot and substitute for other candidates from other parties; eliminate names on a ballot and vote more than once for a candidate; or use a blank ballot and put the names of candidates down in preferential order.

To determine the amount of seats won, List PR uses either the Largest Remainders method-dividing the number of votes by the number of seats-or the Highest Averages method-after being awarded its first seat, each party's total is divided by two; if awarded a second seat, total initial total is divided by three, and so on.

Within the realm of proportional representation, List PR has the added advantages of making it more likely that minorities will have representatives elected to legislature, as well as more women. Parties can use lists to promote both minorities and women.

Disadvantages of List PR can be a lack of association between voters and their representatives, especially when a province or country is one big electoral district.

Dr. Jonathan Rose, academic advisor to the Citizens' Assembly, says one thing the constituents of Algoma-Manitoulin would have to keep in mind with the List PR system is that, with proportional representation, each electoral district must have more than one member and, the more members, the more proportional.

Algoma-Manitoulin has 59,348 constituents and, with a minimum of two members for this riding, each one would represent close to 30,000 constituents. If, out of a province of 11 million, every member was to have a representation equal to that of Algoma-Manitoulin, the provincial legislature would have 370 members.

One thing we have to ask, says Dr. Rose, is would Algoma-Manitoulin be willing to become one big riding encompassing all of Northern Ontario, so perhaps up to eight members would be representing the North? Or, perhaps all of Ontario would be become one single riding, or electoral district. As List PR thrives on the basis of the more members the merrier per area, more ridings would inevitably have to disappear.

EDITORIAL

Creative incentives required to meet global challenge

The announcement in Paris late last week from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about global warming/climate change should come as no great surprise for thinking people. The panel stated unequivocally that global warming/climate change is indeed upon us, that it is caused by human activity, and that if nothing is done to reverse the process within the next short time, then our species is in serious trouble.

Indeed, the storm that much of Manitoulin experienced last July was probably our local harbinger of things to come as weather experts have determined that odd storms are part of the global warming/climate change phenomenon and more can be expected.

Naturally, the curtailing of carbon emissions is a worldwide issue and as political parties of every hue at Canada's own federal level vie to prove that they're the greenest of all, we can expect that the upcoming federal election (likely within a year) will to a great extent be fought on environmental issues.

That means that Canadians can expect, and should expect, that there will sooner rather than later be constraints, encouragement and limits placed on some of our activities.

Canadians will be largely compliant if we feel we are making a difference to the future of the planet. We're going to also expect that big economies and nations with much larger populations will also be part of the situation.

But, at home in Canada, the demon of climate change/global warming must be fought on many fronts.

And while it's simple to say that "virtue is its own reward" in the context of helping out, it will still be helpful and useful to make the necessary changes with the assistance of incentives.

Here's an example: for families that enjoy a camp or cottage as a second home, at the death of the owner, the second home asset is fully taxable, at market value, to whoever may inherit it.

Many if not most families of ordinary means dispose of these second homes well before the death of the owner in order to avoid the burden of inheritance duties.

Here is a potential incentive: if a cottage/camp is electrically powered and connected to the grid, then it would be subject to the full tax burden should it be passed on to other family members at the time of the owner's death.

If, however, in his/her lifetime the owner of the camp spent the money and moved to alternative, natural power sources and disconnected permanently from the provincial electrical grid, then the cost of these improvements, pro-rated forward to reflect their real cost at the time of the transfer of ownership, could be deducted from the succession duties on the property.

This could also apply to the capital gains tax on the property should the owner choose to sell their cottage during their lifetime; the cost of "going green" could be deducted from the capital gains tax by way of an incentive.

This is one simple example, but it's clear that for Canadians to hurry up and be part of the solution, our governments are going to have to come up with a myriad of these ideas that can benefit virtually everyone at some level.

There is going to be a cost to getting greener in the interests of the planet and, at the end of the day, these costs are going to be borne by individuals.

Governments should be as inventive as possible in seeking ways to mitigate these extra financial burdens.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A small community can't afford Norisle upkeep

Time to bite the bullet and bid adieu

To the Expositor:

As a ratepayer of the Municipality of Assiginack and a long-time supporter of the S.S. Norisle, I would like to urge the council to take immediate steps to remove the ship from the waterfront. I have spent nearly 30 years working at developing various plans to enhance this ship and make it a major Manitoulin tourist attraction and at one time would have fought tooth and nail to retain it. It has been, and could still have been, an important attraction for the municipality. However, the tremendous cost involved in maintaining a ship this size is more that a small municipality can handle. Assiginack has been very fortunate that since the Norisle's arrival in 1975, the cost of restoration, maintenance, etc., has been covered through grants from the provincial and federal levels of government, the Assiginack Historical Society, and donations, and not through local tax dollars. The municipality has reaped the benefits of the money spent when the ship was a major tourist attraction and many local people have enjoyed the paycheques that were issued to workers on the Norisle.

It is now evident that the municipality is going to have to fund the ongoing cost of repairs and upkeep to the ship. It seems that Assiginack has more places that need money spent than there is money to spend. Do we choose between repairing the arena, which is almost in the same state of repair as the Norisle, or the Norisle?

I am glad that a number of people have suddenly expressed an interest in, and a concern for, the ship and the gap that it will leave. Unfortunately, any plans that I have heard put forward involve spending huge sums of money and do not address the perennial problem of ongoing maintenance. I was amazed by the comments of the two gentlemen who wrote to the paper last week. I feel that Mr. Wenz is certainly very naive if he thinks that passengers on the Chi-Cheemaun would be willing to pay a surcharge to support the Norisle. If he lived on Manitoulin, he would know that people think that present ticket prices are too high and are a deterrent when considering whether or not to use the ferry. As for Mr. Morgan's comments, let me assure him that money has been raised over the years and a lot of dedication has gone into this ship-which, if he had done his homework, he would have known. By the way, the Haunted Ship was not a fundraiser for the Norisle and was discontinued because of lack of volunteer help. The ship has been advertised but both letters show how little return you get from advertising since neither writer saw this material.

Using the ship as a dive centre would attract a few people to the area but I definitely feel that the municipality cannot afford the money needed to investigate sinking the ship nor keeping the ship here in its present condition for the number of years that it will take to prepare the ship for sinking.

The best plan, in my opinion, is to bite the bullet and arrange to have the Norisle sold for scrap and to be towed out of Manitowaning as soon as possible this spring. Then plans can be made as what to do with the empty space on the waterfront and the development of the marina into a self-sustaining enterprise instead of one that is highly subsidized by municipal funding. As well, both the mill and theatre need repairs; or are these two important historical structures going to be allowed to deteriorate the same as the Norisle? Time should now be spent removing any municipal advertising that promotes the Norisle and investigating the best possible ways to utilize the mill, theatre and museum and making these a reason to visit Manitowaning.

A frustrated and sad Norisle fan,

David Smith

Manitowaning

Time to reconsider one publicly funded school system

Amalgamation did not yield promised savings

To the Expositor:

The following letter originally appeared in the Sudbury Star and is reprinted here at the request of local school board trustee Larry Killens, with the permission of the author.

After reading the January 13 article entitled, "Plummeting enrolment huge challenge for Ontario Schools," I thought of all the clichZs: "What goes around, comes around," "DZj^ vu, all over again," and "History repeats itself."

Declining enrolment has been the problem facing many Ontario boards for the past 20 years or more. Then in 1997, there was an amalgamation of school boards with the promise that there would be huge savings because the duplication of administration would be eliminated. In the English public system, Espanola, Manitoulin and Sudbury became one.

But, it could be said that we gave up a headache for a toothache, because prior to 1997, the Sudbury area had two school boards, one public (French and English) and one Catholic (French and English). It was the hope of many public boards, including the former Sudbury Board of Education, that we would one day see education being delivered via one amalgamated local school board. This was not to be. Instead, the Harris government, while amalgamating boards into huge geographic areas, increased the number of boards within each area to four. We now have English public, French public, English Catholic and French Catholic-each with their own plant departments, purchasing departments, payroll departments, and so on, but most importantly, each with their own school buildings. Perhaps it is time, once again, to consider one publicly funded educational system.

The province, which just lifted its moratorium on school closures, won't promise to keep small schools open at all costs, Minister Kathleen Wynne told the Ontario Catholic school trustees. Remember "the province" is us, the taxpayers. Do the taxpayers of this province think that it is time for one publicly funded educational system?

Many small communities have only one school and if the next closest community is an hour or more away, then we must find the funds to maintain quality education in that community. The reality is that too many small communities have more than one school building, all severely limited in programming by small enrolments, and yet all cost just as much to heat, maintain and operate half-empty as they do if they were full. In order to get the maximum education for our tax dollars, we must look at one publicly funded educational system.

One publicly funded school system would benefit the taxpayers by making better use of the existing funding but more importantly it would benefit the students. A wider selection of courses comes with increased enrolment, and along with this, the opportunity for students to learn tolerance of other languages, religions and ethnic groups, better use of resources, and fewer buildings to maintain and heat. These are just a few of the advantages of one publicly funded educational system.

I understand that this may be a long time coming. However, it is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Rather than close community schools across the province, perhaps, of necessity, it is time to look at consolidation of educational resources in order to place the education of students first. Perhaps it is time, once again, to consider one publicly funded educational system.

Doreen Dewar

Rainbow District School Board trustee

Lively, Ont.

Northeast Town trail causes alarm

To the Expositor:

I am writing this letter to express my concerns over the new hiking trail that has been approved by the NEMI council ("New northeast hiking trail needs a name," January 24). I have some serious concerns and questions regarding this proposed hiking trail.

Who is proposing to put this trail in? I have heard that it is the Ski Club, but it sounds suspiciously like the same trail that was being proposed at or around the time of the big "biosphere" debate of a couple of years ago. Let's say that it is the Ski Club. How are they going to pay to install these trails? Maintain the trails? Insure the trails? Who will be responsible for insuring that fenced pasture land is properly re-fenced? Who will patrol these trails to make certain that hikers do not wander onto private property and get injured or do damage to private property? Last but not least, when did the public have a chance to have their say concerning this new trail? The last I heard is that NEMI taxpayers are still paying to keep the Ski Club operating! Are the taxpayers going to have to pay to maintain and insure these hiking trails?

I am very skeptical about this trail and what benefits it will bring to Manitoulin. Has anyone done an economic impact study? Has anyone in council even thought about the answers to the above questions? I really don't think that the majority of taxpayers in NEMI want or require any more tax burdens placed on us. Please, voters of NEMI, contact your councillors and mayor as soon as possible to express your concerns about the new hiking trail. I heard that only two of our councillors (Paul Skippen and Bruce Woods) voted against this trail. We really need more councillors to slow it down or stop it. It is my belief that it will just place another burden on taxpayers' already over-stressed wallets, and create major liabilities to landowners all along the trail route.

Mike Bauer

Rockville