Thunder Bay mayor Hobbs...your ship has sailed....you are in for a surprise come October of 2014....when you fail to get yourself re-elected...the voters have had enough...!!!

 

Thunder Bay's laundry list

Sunday, March 2, 2014....from the Chronicle Journal....

 

WE are pleased to see that Thunder Bay political leaders got a good reception from their Ontario counterparts at a conference in Toronto this week. There is nothing new here. It happens every year. City councillors from many municipalities troop from one meeting room to another to make the case for their priorities. Cabinet ministers listen but cannot offer assurance of funds. That comes after the locals all go home and the ministers’ staffs tote up all the asks and rank them. Only then will Thunder Bay city council know what headway they made.

Their laundry list is familiar. They want Ontario funds for an event centre. Without provincial and federal help, a new arena and convention complex won’t happen. They want more long-term care beds and they cannot be ignored given the overall health care bed shortage in the city. They asked for help to build the next stage of the Golf Links Road/Junot traffic corridor expansion to ease growing traffic congestion. They sought money for a new youth centre in partnership with First Nations efforts — a worthy cause to build cross-cultural ties across the next generation of local young people.

A logical request was for a Thunder Bay office of the aboriginal affairs department. Dealing with this fast-growing Thunder Bay file from a distance does no one much good.
The councillors pressed yet again for consideration of the local generating station about which they’ve been arguing for months with Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli.

They want Thunder Bay kept top of mind as a new mining boom remains poised to inject enormous sums into the regional economy, if only all parties to the plan can agree on it.
On it went, including too-high property assessments for homeowners and a too-low assessment bid by the giant Resolute mill.

That’s a lot to digest, but Mayor Keith Hobbs called it “very productive for Thunder Bay.” With two Liberal MPs in a tight election year, he might be right.

FOOTNOTE: mayor Keith Hobbs is a blow hard and in the end will be responsible for his own downfall...funny how KARMA works....and digesting Hobbs B.S. is not easy to swallow...;)