This year has been a mixed bag for Flin Flon and area. Let’s start with the positive side of the ledger.
Entrepreneurs continued to show faith in the community by opening new businesses and revamping existing ones. And we’re talking some pretty big bucks.
Initial fundraising began for a potential (and much needed) overhaul of the Flin Flon Aqua Centre. Kudos to those volunteers.
The provincial government pumped serious dollars into the region, upgrading the 20-km stretch of Highway 10 into Flin Flon and announcing a new 20-unit seniors’ housing complex, among other initiatives.
Various exploration companies expressed confidence over deposits around Flin Flon and Snow Lake. And if optimistic CEOs are to be believed, it’s not unthinkable that mines will one day result (or again result) at McIlvenna Bay (90 km west of Flin Flon), Tartan Lake (15 km north) and Puffy Lake (65 km northeast).
On a smaller scale, Flin Flon gained some positive press when Travel Manitoba named Flinty the province’s top roadside attraction. A good call.
On the other side of the ledger, outgoing Hudbay president and CEO David Garofalo said efforts to extend the life of 777 mine have proven futile – and come to an end.
Mayor Cal Huntley called this a “significant announcement” but also predicted no “devastating effect” on the community.
Based on the way Flin Flon has survived, if not thrived, when other components of the company have closed in years past, I tend to agree with the mayor.
Besides, Garofalo himself noted that Lalor mine near Snow Lake is going to be here for a long time yet, and northern Manitoba remains “very prospective geologically.”
Toward the end of the year, Hudbay implemented a small number of layoffs. As a community, our hearts go out to those impacted.
But we also can’t help but wonder whether those individuals will, as has happened so often in the past, eventually be called back to the company in some capacity.
At the very least these folks should be able to find work in another sector. If there’s one thing I hear from local business owners and managers, it’s that good help is getting awfully hard to find.
Elsewhere, the historic Streamer’s Hardware closed its doors after 88 years. The Cranberry Portage general store remained viable, its owners said, but it was time for them to retire and there were no interested buyers.
Closer to home, Creighton’s Prospector Inn abruptly shut down in January and remains for sale. The conventional wisdom is that there is money to be made at the Prospector and that a purchase within the next year is more than possible, provided the asking price is befitting.
Food bank usage increased for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, and stats released mid-year showed Flin Flon’s violent crime rose in 2014 – a trend that hopefully will not extend to 2015.
We lost some great citizens in 2015, either through people passing on or moving elsewhere to pursue new challenges.
But as the cycle goes, we also welcomed many newborns along with newcomers arriving to work, be closer to family or enjoy a serene retirement.
Flin Flon has its share of doom-and-gloom types, but despite their constant transmissions of negativity, our community carries on year after year.
It does so because thousands of people choose to live in this area. Sure, many of them grumble – about their jobs, their taxes and how much cheaper gas is in The Pas (Lordy, do I hear that one a lot!) – but at the end of the day, they stay here.
They stay because although Flin Flon always has had, and always will have, imperfections and obstacles, they want to live in a community like ours.
Which is a good thing. Because I don’t know how many other communities are quite like ours.
The holidays are a time of celebration, right? So why not take a moment this week to rejoice in what’s going right in Flin Flon and area?
Merry Christmas.
