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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor MLA Clarence Pettersen shares Flin Flonners' concerns over the lack of seniors' housing and reduced highway bussing. But it remains to be seen whether he and his government will deliver on the improvements residents are demanding. Addressing the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce last week, Pettersen called seniors' housing 'very important.' 'We've got to develop seniors' housing,' he told 11 guests gathered at the Friendship Centre Restaurant. Earlier this year Pettersen's NDP government rejected a funding application from Bridge Road Developments, a Manitoba-based construction company, for a 36-unit complex for seniors on fixed incomes. Approval of that project would have bolstered the feasibility of a separate 24-unit complex, open to wealthier seniors, that Bridge Road could have built on its own without government assistance. But now Pettersen said there is a partnership between the City of Flin Flon and the Rotary and Lions clubs to try and come up with a new proposal for funding. 'We're really going to be pushing it,' he said, adding that he believes the next proposal will be stronger than that of Bridge Road. In terms of bussing, the NDP earlier this year ended a subsidy to Greyhound, which caused the carrier to drop its daytime runs between Flin Flon and Winnipeg and eliminate all trips between Flin Flon, Snow Lake and Thompson. Pettersen said there had been hope another company would 'jump in' to fill the void left by Greyhound cutbacks, but that did not happen. 'I'm very concerned about that and hopefully we'll have some good news soon,' he said, providing no specifics. The bussing cuts have proven roundly unpopular across northern Manitoba, with everyone from businesspeople to everyday travellers expressing concern. They have also posed potent challenges for the Northern Regional Health Authority, which had regularly utilized Greyhound to move patients from the region to specialist appointments in Winnipeg. While it remains possible for a patient to travel to and from Winnipeg on overnight busses, RHA CEO Helga Bryant told The Reminder that this is 'not optimal by any means.'
