Thunder Bay

Driving down the Thunder Bay Expressway not long ago, Harold Lindstrom took note of an unusual, but encouraging, sight.

Walking into a dark and chilly former Hells Angels clubhouse has all the charm and appeal of a Halloween haunted house. It is one of the most unlikely places one would pick as a community gathering place. To Linda Bruins, it makes perfect sense.

Sandi Boucher knows she has a pretty good gig. The general manager of the fledgling Thunder Bay Centre of Change gets a daily dose of inspiration from the 30 entrepreneurs under her roof. “It's the most positive place to work.

Sandy Smith has a humourous kind of fatal optimism that accompanies any survivor in the sawmilling industry.

Thunder Bay is digging deep into the mining supply and services game.

Neil Pettigrew has witnessed the decline and rebirth of Thunder Bay's mineral exploration sector. A decade ago, the vice-president of Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corp.

Thunder Bay was making its best sales pitch in November to convince Cliffs Natural Resources to build its ferrochrome processing plant on the shore of this northwestern Ontario port city.

Barb Courte knows all about the rigours of the diamond drilling business from both ends of the stick. “I was the wife of a driller and I know what the guys go through,” said the president of Thunder Bay's Cobra Drilling and Northstar Drilling.

Old school thinking in Thunder Bay is making way for a new wave of planning. For Eric Zakrewski, president of True Grit Consulting, finding a suitable space to expand was turning out to be a real headache.

The PARO Centre for Women's Enterprise is extending its reach into northeastern Ontario.