MS Kenora pulls threat to leave home port

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This article was published 16/12/2011 (5223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAIL AWAY: After threatening to take their cruise ship and go elsewhere, owners of the MS Kenora have decided to stay put.

The Lake of the Woods cruise ship threatened to move after this year if it saw no signs of tourism improving in Kenora. The ship’s passenger traffic has fallen 50 per cent since 2001. Critics say MS Kenora made its threats just to leverage a better arrangement with the City of Kenora.

Allan Luby, MS Kenora captain and co-owner, said ship owners never asked for concessions. However, the MS Kenora wants to run the shuttle service to Coney Island, for which different docking would be required on Coney. Luby said a shuttle service could be incorporated into its schedule.

Better weather in 2010 saw the cruise ship enjoy its highest passenger traffic in five years, although the previous four summers were dismal.

But Luby is most happy with Kenora’s efforts to bring back tourists. With the loss of its forestry industry, Kenora is consulting experts and embarking on a huge tourism campaign.

Part of that campaign will be a rebranding. The public is encouraged to help. A questionnaire can be filled out on www.kenora.ca, where it says Making Tourism Work For You.

 

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MINOT’S ARK: One of the stranger stories from flooded-out Minot is how officials emptied its Roosevelt Park Zoo in just 36 hours before the premises flooded. The Minot Daily News recently reported the zoo transported 150 animals to 20 different locations, mostly other zoos across the U.S.

Three otters wound up in Cape May, N.J.; a snow leopard in Syracuse, N.Y.; and two trumpeter hornbills in Fort Worth, Texas. They’re going to be there for awhile. No date has been set for the Minot zoo’s reopening.

 

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VACANCY: The resignation on Dec. 12 of Neepawa Mayor Ron Forsman didn’t come as a complete surprise. Forsman had confided to some people he felt overwhelmed by the mayor’s chair. The bigger surprise may have been his decision to run for mayor in the first place. Forsman served for 26 years, all but one of those years as councillor.

In a statement, Forsman said the job was affecting his health.

Neepawa’s new council has had some turmoil. Residents turfed everyone but two incumbents last municipal election. Then chief administrative officer Allison Bardsley quit. She was snapped up by neighbouring RM of Langford, which severed its administration agreement with Neepawa.

Deputy mayor Lisa Pottinger will serve as acting mayor until a byelection is held for a new mayor.

Neepawa is a boom town these days, thanks to the HyLife Foods hog processing plant, one of the principals of the proposed Olymel plant that Winnipeg turned down several years ago. Neepawa expects to grow to 5,000 to 6,000 people within five years, from 3,200 residents three years ago.

But Neepawa has nowhere to put the newcomers. The town has no inventory of land. Neepawa hoped it could find a developer to transform the East View Lodge, a seniors home, into rental housing, but the province quashed a deal. Heating has been shut off in the building and if a buyer isn’t found soon, it will be demolished.

Neepawa could soon sign a deal to buy an adjacent block of land. If the deal goes through, the town will put in water, sewer, and roads so developers can put up affordable housing.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca