Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Friday morning.
First month of speed cameras leads to 1,029 tickets being issued
In their first month and a bit of operation, Greater Sudbury’s six automated speed-enforcement cameras resulted in the issuance of 1,029 speeding tickets. The average fines for each location ranged from $95.70 to $164.16, while the average ticketed speed ranged from 14 km/h over the posted speed limit to 20 km/h. The city has declined to share what the threshold for tickets is, but the lowest fine example they provided on their website is $40 for 5 km/h over the posted speed limit. Members of the Sudbury Speed Cameras Facebook page (who oppose the cameras and celebrate their vandalization) have been trying to pinpoint the threshold but haven’t come to a consensus with evidence. The speed cameras’ vendor did not provide the city with a breakdown of each camera’s findings, but city Linear Infrastructure Services director Joe Rocca said the cameras on Falconbridge Road, MR 15 (Main Street) in Val Caron and Algonquin Road were anecdotally the busiest.
Audit concludes Leduc breached campaign finance rules
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc appears to have broken campaign finance rules in a few areas, and the 2022 Grandparents’ Day event should have been accounted for as a campaign function. This, according to a third-party review by KPMG which followed two related complaints from members of the public last year and the Election Compliance Audit Committee concluding there were “reasonable grounds” to proceed with an investigation. The committee is scheduled to consider KPMG’s report during a July 3 meeting at Tom Davies Square. Leduc told Sudbury.com that he has hired a lawyer to help him fight the ruling, and hopes to find himself exonerated of wrongdoing. Central to the complaint is a Sept. 11, 2022, Grandparents’ Day event which took place at Chartwell Westmount on William Retirement Residence.
New monument commemorates 1984 Falconbridge mine tragedy
A moment of silence was observed at 10:12 a.m. June 20 to commemorate the 40 years since a seismic event — a rockburst — occurred at the Falconbridge Mine, claiming the lives of four Sudbury men. The event also saw the unveiling of a new memorial garden and monument at the Mine Mill Local 598 Unifor campground at Richard Lake in Sudbury. Wednesday's memorial event, held at Richard Lake, was a formal recognition of the 40th anniversary of the incident that seems forever engraved in the hearts of the family members and co-workers of Sulo Korpela, Richard Chenier, Daniel Lavallee and Wayne St. Michel. They were the miners whose lives were taken after the rockburst happened near the 4,000-foot level of the No. 5 shaft at the mine. The event measured 3.5 on the Richter scale. Immediately after the moment of silence, two bagpipers from the Greater Sudbury Police pipe band played a lament.
Creditors to receive proceeds from Laurentian president’s home sale
The proceeds from the March sale of the Laurentian University president’s house will go into the distribution pool to pay creditors stemming from LU’s 2021-2022 insolvency. This according to Lynn Wells, the university’s new president, who spoke about the sale of the historic six-bedroom 179 John St. home traditionally occupied by Laurentian University presidents during the June 18 meeting of Laurentian’s senate. The listing price for the home was $899,000. Following the meeting, Sudbury.com reached out to Laurentian for more information, and we were sent a May 2 internal memo on the topic. The memo said the property received multiple offers in its short time on the market, and was sold for a total of $925,179.
New stamp pays homage to Wiki-born 'Grandmother Water Walker'
Dozens gathered in the Spirit Garden's Celebration Circle to honour the legacy of Josephine Mandamin, who dedicated her life to protecting the waters and advocating for Indigenous rights and environmental conservation. Mandamin is from Wiikwemikoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, but had been living in Thunder Bay for many years. Regina Mandamin, Josephine's daughter, said it’s surreal to know that her mother has made such an impact on many lives. “It’s exciting, a big honour. Our family is really proud. It’s really nice to see this all come together,” Regina said, adding that her mother was a very determined, kind and generous person.
Prime: Retiring successfully actually takes a bit of work
There are more than seven million Canadians in their prime. I am one of them. Almost a fifth of the nation's population is over 65. And another 20 per cent of Canadians are between 55 and 64 and approaching their prime. (The average age of a Canadian is 40.) The prime generations are healthier than their grandparents and can expect to live well into our 80s or longer. Almost six per cent of Canadians are over 85. Statistics Canada says the number of Canadians aged 100 or older was 9,545 in the 2021 census. People in their prime want to enjoy every minute of life they have left and to make every day count. If not wealthy, they want to be healthy and happy. In this article and future ones for Sudbury.com, I plan to write about how to have a satisfying second act. More than 20 per cent of Canadians aged 55 to 59 are in semi- or full-retirement but the average retirement age is 64.6.
