The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Question: In one of your past answers you said that when someone moves out to the lake from Flin Flon, there is always someone there to take their place. How can this be true when the census shows the population keeps going down? Mayor Therien: Your question is a good one, however, you are equating population and the availability of homes together when they are totally separate entities. The original question centred around our tax base. Currently, there are not a lot of vacant homes for sale in Flin Flon. However, even if they are vacant, someone is responsible for the taxes, so our tax base does not suffer. Many factors influence population growth or reduction, not just the sale of homes. For example, a family of five moves to the lake and their home is bought by a family of two. The tax base remains but you suffer a reduction of three in your population base. I used to wonder why a city like Winnipeg's population has only increased marginally yet the city has expanded in all directions since I lived there 30 years ago. The answer lies in that Winnipeg has the highest percentage of single-person dwellings than any other major city in Canada. The tax base is there, the population is not. * * * Question: How will the Bombers do this year? Mayor Therien: I think this year, you have to be excited by what you see on the ice. I know I am. There appears to be a great team chemistry and we appear to be all working on the same page, if you will. Mike has done a great job in putting this TEAM together. I stress TEAM because the players all seem to know what their roles are and seem to be buying into this process. This has transferred into the success that has been shown to date. It is too early to compare this team to the 1992-1993 championship team and, really, I do not wish to put pressure on the guys, but I see a lot of parallels in these teams. Good luck to the guys and I hope to see you on the ice well into 2010. * * * Send your questions for Mayor Therien to The Reminder by phone at 687-3454, fax at 687-4473, e-mail at [email protected] or standard delivery at "Ask the Mayor," C/O The Reminder, 14 North Avenue, Flin Flon, R8A 0T2. No names are required. Ask the Mayor runs Mondays.
