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Brown's bill
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Brown's bill would maintain North's electoral districts
QUEEN'S PARK---Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown introduced a bill in
the legislature that would prohibit the reduction of electoral
districts in Northern Ontario.
If passed, the bill would amend the Representation Act, 1996 by
ensuring the number of provincial electoral districts in Northern
Ontario shall not be reduced to fewer than the number that exist as
of June 3, 1999.
The aim is to preserve all provincial electoral districts in Northern
Ontario - Algoma-Manitoulin, Nickel Belt, Kenora-Rainy River,
Nipissing, Parry Sound-Muskoka, Sudbury, Timiskaming-Cochrane,
Timmins-James Bay, Thunder Bay-Superior North, Thunder Bay-Atikokan
and Sault Ste Marie - in spite of a federal readjustment that would
reduce the number of seats in Northern Ontario.
The Representation Amendment Act (Northern Ontario) 2002 calls on the
provincial government to maintain the existing electoral boundaries,
regardless of the federal decision, so that no provincial
representation will be lost.
"Ontario is the only province in Canada that adopts the federal
riding boundaries," said Mr. Brown. "Prince Edward Island has four
federal seats but sends 27 members to their Provincial Parliament;
New Brunswick has 10 federal ridings and 55 provincial ridings;
British Columbia has 34 Members of the House of Commons and 79
Provincial Members."
Referring to the five provincial seats lost in Northern Ontario the last
time the federal government altered the boundaries, Mr. Brown says,
"We can't afford to lose any more seats in Northern Ontario where the
distances and the need for representation are so great."
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Hydro One Network
officials meet with CDC
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by Michael Erskine
NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN AND THE ISLANDS (NEMI)---Long and frequent
losses of electricity service to the Island over the past summer, as
well as sub-standard ongoing supply issues, have local businesses and
services fuming and looking for answers.
Hydro One Networks Inc. officials Richard Shannon, network management
engineer and Wilfred Ketchabow, distribution superintendent, met with
local political, business and service leaders at the Little Current
Howland Recreation Centre last Friday, to explain how those outages
occur, why they take so long to repair, and what Hydro One Networks
is doing to rectify the situation.
Although they asserted that Hydro One Networks does a good job of
distributing electricity, and is very reliable overall, the message
for Island business and service organizations with mission critical
operations and/or vulnerable assets was clear: Get a generator.
"To protect your assets, if I had a business (on the Island), to
protect my assets, I would get a generator," said Mr. Ketchabow. "If
you have assets which would be damaged by an extended power outage,
should you buy a generator? Yes."
Although local hospitals have back-up generators which automatically
kick in during a power outage, they do not address the issue of
quality of supply. That issue was raised in a presentation by
Manitoulin Health Centre CEO James Van Camp.
The hospital has monitored the power at utilization points within
their sites and discovered the power could fluctuate from 78.6 volts
to 126.7 volts in a given period.
"The hospitals have many pieces of voltage sensitive equipment
ranging from various computerized systems to dialysis machines to
patient care equipment, including those for life support," said Mr.
Van Camp. "To maintain the safety of patients and the integrity of
various systems, the hospitals cannot withstand failures of this
equipment."
Although the hospital is not directly involved in home-care dialysis,
Mr. Van Camp expressed the concern for such units which are operated
at the patient's homes, and the risks which failure of such equipment
entails.
While a generator for a small business or home owner may not entail a
huge financial burden, costs to the Manitoulin Health Centre to
isolate and protect themselves from power issues will run into the
millions of dollars, according to Mr. Van Camp, an expense the
embattled health service can ill afford.
Mr. Shannon said the Hydro One Networks Inc. has stricter levels for
its power than the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) demands. CSA
standards call for power to be within six per cent of nominal.
(Nominal would be 120 volts.)
A drop in power may still allow equipment to operate, but it places
much greater strain on it. An example of a power voltage drop is the
common sight of dimming light bulbs, a condition known as a 'brown
out.'
The numbers recorded for the hospital fall far outside the range of
what is acceptable under CSA standards, but it was unclear if the
power drops and spiking was internal to the hospital or a situation
endemic to the system.
Damage to equipment is normally covered by the utility's insurance,
said Mr. Shannon. But he indicated the individual case would have to
meet their guidelines to be covered.
"Generally, we are pretty good about paying for damages caused by our
system," he said. "But what they say about 'Acts of God, (such as
severe storm activity) you would have to take up with them."
The Hydro One Networks Inc. officials noted that many of the power
outages this year are indeed related to a change in weather patterns,
which has seen an increase in both the number of storms and in the
severity of those weather patterns when they do occur. The utility
expects Northern Ontario to continue to see more severe storms, due
to overall changes in weather patterns.
"We cannot build our system to the level required to withstand those
kinds of storms," said Mr. Ketchbow. "The incident at Half-way Lake
is a good example. Huge pine trees were ripped out of the ground and tossed
around, it is a mess up there. We can't build our system to withstand
that kind of situation."
The need to assess personal and business vulnerability to power
outages is there, said Mr. Shannon.
"Just ask the people in Quebec who spent 20 to 30 days without power
after the huge ice storm a few years ago," he said.
CDC President Gary Green stressed the meeting was not held to 'bash'
Hydro One, but to better understand the problems and to learn what
can and is being done about it.
According to the Hydro One Networks Inc. officials, when it comes to
smaller outages, the crux of the matter lies in the policies of the
old Ontario Hydro during the 1990s.
In an attempt to cut back on spiraling costs which began in the
1980s, the maintenance program for the electricity distribution
system at Hydro One Networks distribution system was apparently cut
back, and the corporation has been playing catch up ever since.
"In the 1990s there were a lot of reasons to keep costs down," said
Mr. Shannon. "(With the result that...) we milked our system for
years, we felt we could get away with it because we had kept the
system in such great shape for so long. That trend (of cutting
maintenance) has been significantly reversed."
Hydro One Networks has been bringing its maintenance program into a
schedule more in line with the needs of the distribution system,
according to Mr. Shannon and Mr. Ketchabow, and it will soon reach a
more sustainable cycle which should go a long way toward alleviating
the current situation faced by the local economy.
Still, the Hydro One Networks Inc. officials admitted there had been
some avoidable problems and that response times had not been at a
level they felt was acceptable.
Compounding the problem with the lines leading to the Island was a
division of work between the Power Workers Union and the construction
union. While Mr. Ketchabow has control over work conducted by the
Power Workers Union, he does not exercise control over the
construction union workers, that falls to a different department.
The priority repairs lay in a different area than that tackled by the
construction crews this year.
"When we have work which needs to be done, it has to be determined
which bargaining unit that work falls under," said Mr. Ketchabow. "It
was determined that a certain percentage of the work fell to the
construction side, and that work was scheduled to be done first."
The work crews started at the opposite end of the line than what Mr.
Ketchabow felt was the portion in most need of attention.
The reason given for the lengthy outage early this season was the
need to bring in equipment from Sudbury, specifically a bucket crane
tall enough to reach the top of the pole which had been damaged, and
the timing of the incident, which fell on a weekend.
"We do not necessarily have the work crews standing by 24/7," said
Mr. Ketchabow. "It took time to assemble the crew and to find all of
the equipment, and then get it into place."
While there is an emergency crew on standby, if they are on another
call, it takes more time to bring in an emergency crew.
"The people on our work crews are not sitting by the phone on their
time off," he said. "They are with their families, perhaps out
shopping at the mall, perhaps swimming at the beach, living their
lives."
Still, Mr. Ketchabow said the amount of time to complete that process
of assembling crews and equipment was greater than it should have
been.
"We are not proud of that," he said.
Even after the crews are assembled, and all the equipment has been
put in place, the work environment has to be such that the crew can
safely repair the problem.
"The safety of our crews must remain paramount," he said.
The rationalization of services and reorganization of the utility
over the last couple of years have also left gaps and some
less-than-ideal situations in its wake, according to the Hydro One
Networks Inc. officials, and it is taking time to deal with that.
"We have been telling our directors that we need time to catch our
breath for 10 years now," said Mr. Ketchabow. "We will adapt to
anything, just put it in place and leave it alone."
Mr. Ketchabow said he believed the situation was entering a period of
stability now and internal reorganization and change should not be an
issue for at least the next five years or so.
The forestry unit of Hydro One Networks Inc. is almost caught up with
their clearing work, noted Mr. Shannon.
"Out of 17 circuits in the system, 15 have been visited since 1995,"
he said, indicating that the goal of patrolling each line in the
circuit once in every eight years has almost been met.
"We feel that eight years is a good balance to maintain the line in
good working order," said Mr. Shannon.
In a survey of 4,000 poles on Manitoulin Island, only 4.4 per cent
were found to be defective, noted Mr. Ketchabow.
"That means there are 174 poles out of 4,000 which are not up to
standard," he said. "We will be doing those next year."
Hydro One Networks Inc. will be spending $50,000 on new insulators
for the Island next year as well.
During the meeting, it quickly became apparent that the West Bay
Distribution Station is a weak link in the system, being both
under-powered and antiquated. It was slated for replacement before
1995. It is a 2 mw station, while most new stations are rated for at
least 10 mw.
The inability of the West Bay Station to re-route power, leaves the
Island power network with a reduced fault tolerance. In areas with
larger stations, a temporary shunt of power, called a 'backfeed,' to
the other side of an outage may restore power to large areas while
repairs are being made. Because it cannot withstand the load, and has
very little, if any, excess capacity, power probably cannot be sent
to other parts of the grid through the West Bay Distribution Station,
admitted Mr. Shannon, under questioning by Mr. Green.
"We don't plan our network to provide for redundant supply," said Mr.
Shannon, who indicated the cost of a new distribution station runs
upwards of $1 million.
The utility officials said they would look into the situation at the
West Bay Distribution Station, which is the oldest in the network.
Hydro One Networks Inc. is currently assessing the growth of demand
in areas of the Island, particularly Wikwemikong, and will be taking
steps to address those increased demands on the system where
applicable.
Communication issues were also raised at the meeting, with some
audience members expressing displeasure at the automated answering
system and call centre response.
"We want to hear a human voice at the other end," said NEMI
Councillor Ann McGregor, who noted that she had to walk a call centre
employee through a map, when she finally got through after two tries.
"We never did get it across to her where the outage was."
"I am afraid, with the way technology and business are going, we will
never be going back to a real live person answering the phone," said
Mr. Ketchabow.
The Hydro One Networks Inc. call centre is a separate company, spun
off to allow it to take on other dispatching contracts to achieve
economies of scale.
Although few of the answers provided by Hydro One Networks Inc.
officials were completely satisfactory, Mr. Green said he felt
confident that the concerns of local business have been heard.
"At least people know some of what is going on now," he said.
The same sentiment was echoed by other participants in the meeting.
Although Hydro One Networks Inc. sends information on power outages
to local media outlets, many radio stations do not broadcast live on
weekends.
The meeting between Hydro One Networks Inc. officials and the NEMI
CDC was arranged through the offices of Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike
Brown. A previous request by the NEMI CDC for a meeting had received
only a letter of reply outlining the outages, their causes and what
remedial action was taken. Mr. Brown attended the meeting as well.
Praise for the work of local Hydro One Networks Inc. crews was near
universal during the meeting, as was the work ethic of the crews
which responded to the outage site, but the delay in getting remote
crews to the area from their bases in Sudbury was a keyfactor in the
dissatisfaction of many of the presenters.
"We are customers too," said Little Current businessman Phil Blake.
Still the assurances by Hydro One Networks Inc. officials that they
would look into many of the concerns raised by local business and
service organizations left many saying they felt the exercise was
worthwhile.
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Event planned to
mark 140 years of Manitoulin Treaty
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
M'CHIGEENG - Plans are under way to host an event to reflect the
Island First Nations' perspective on the 140th anniversary of the
signing of the Manitoulin Treaty.
The event will be held on Friday, October 6 at the Ojibwe Cultural
Foundation. The event will include a display of the petitions signed
by the various First Nations on the Island both prior to and
following the signing of the treat, as well as archival material.
Plans also call for the three wampum belts, which marked the
formalization of the agreement between the First Nations and the
Canadian government, to be included in the display. The belts are
nearly five feet in length. Organizers also have received a verbal
commitment from a traditional dancer from Hamilton, who participates
in the annual M'Chigeeng Pow Wow, to be on-hand to read from the
petitions.
This week also marks the final piece in the Expositor's series,
'Manitoulin Treaty: 140 years later.' See page homepage for complete series
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Province
penalizes Island for multi-site hospital |
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by Michael Erskine
MANITOULIN---Each year the Manitoulin Health Centre submits its
budget to the province, sending their monetary needs along with
statistics on the numbers and types of patient who walked through the
hospital's doors in the past year, and each year the province uses
those numbers to penalize the Island's health services when it comes
time to hand out extra money.
The heart of the problem lies in the multi-site nature of the
Island's hospital and the province's drive for top efficiency in the
health care system, or rather the ongoing refusal of the Ministry of
Health to recognize factors inherent in operating a multi-site
hospital.
With two sites, one in Little Current, and the other in Mindemoya,
emergency health care and other health services may lie within
reasonable distance for most Island residents, but there are not
enough residents in each area year-round for efficient operation of
the two sites, compared to the operation of a single site.
"Let's say, for instance, you have a load between the two sites which
calls for three nurses in emerg," said Director of Patient Care Debra
Bennett. "How do you divide the three between the two sites? Often
you can't, so we wind up having to bring in another nurse."
When those bald numbers arrive at the Ministry of Health, they do not
take into account the inherent difficulty of operating at two sites,
with the result that both hospitals appear to be running
inefficiently. Even though that is not at all the case.
"The ministry has never indicated that we are inefficient," said Les
Cramp, Manitoulin Health Centre Board of Directors Chair. "It is very
frustrating, this issue is very high on the priority of the board. We
are penalized because we are multi-site."
The situation becomes even more surreal when you realize the province
originally pushed small rural hospitals to amalgamate their
administrative functions by combining boards and creating multi-site
hospitals.
It is not as though the Ministry of Health is unaware of the problem.
Resolving the issue has been on the Ministry's to-do list for years,
but has never been addressed. The creation of expensive new
single-site operations like Sudbury's new hospital have been the key
focus of the provincial government for the past few years, and the
impact of that policy has left the Manitoulin Health Centre out in
the cold when it comes to new funding and programs.
"We have been penalized for years," said Manitoulin Health Centre
Chief Financial Officer Kim Roy, as she outlined the way hospital
funding operates during last week's Manitoulin Health Centre board of
directors meeting.
Ms. Roy is calculating the amount of money the issue of multi-site
hospitals has cost the Manitoulin Health Centre, and it already adds
up to quite a lot.
Government funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
provides nearly 90 per cent of the hospital's funding, and of that
money, 72 per cent ($7,213,544) goes directly into salaries and
benefits and by extension, into the community's economy. The
Manitoulin Health Centre is a vital segment of the Island's economy.
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