Around the North

Sudbury is more than ready to handle a flurry of building activity in 2010, which according to the Sudbury Construction Association will be busier per capita than Barrie or Toronto, writes Mayor John Rodriguez in a column issued to the press.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry – Institut forestier du Canada (CIF/IFC) is calling upon the United States Green Building Council to expand its recognition of certified wood from sustainably managed Canadian sources in its green building systems.

A government-funded business incubator is stepping up inside North Bay's Northgate Square shopping centre. Stepping Stones is an office space being set up to lure home-based entrepreneurs into more professionally-looking digs.

Highways in Northern Ontario will again be scenes of major construction activity this summer.

Construction firms want to see the deadline for government infrastructure stimulus extended beyond March 31, 2011. The Ontario Construction Secretariat released its 2010 survey of 1,000 contractors, April 14.

Persistence and patience pays off in mineral exploration. Those virtues were rewarded to several recipients at the annual Northwestern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium in Thunder Bay, April 7.

The Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission is taking steps to brand the city as a mining supply and services hub by unveiling its new on-line goods and services directory.

A coalition of railway unions is calling on Queen's Park to take over operations on the threatened Ottawa Valley Railway in northeastern Ontario.

The Budd passenger cars that roll the rails in northeastern Ontario are being rebuilt. VIA Rail Canada awarded at $12.6 million contract to Moncton's Industrial Rail Services for complete modernization of six of the self-propelled rail diesel cars.

A projected $7.5-million shortfall in Cambrian College's operating budget is forcing the Sudbury school to enact a number of changes, including shutting its day care and restructuring the maintenance operations.