The Hintze Team Blog

$1.5 million for Parry Sound businesses, airport. The federal government is investing $495,000 into the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport to support infrastructure expansion. On Wednesday, workers assembled the rigid steel framing of an aircraft hangar, one of 24 planned in the airport’s third phase of development. Cameron Ginn/Beacon Star
PARRY SOUND – Nearly $1.5-million is being invested into the District of Parry Sound to strengthen the economy.
At the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport on Tuesday morning, Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement announced that the Canadian government was investing $1,495,000 into the region to support growth and small business development.
The investment will be made available through FedNor, a federal organization that promotes regional economic development in Ontario.
Of the total investment, $1 million will be provided to the Parry Sound Area Community Business and Development Centre as capital in the form of repayable loans, equity and loan guarantees for new and existing small and medium-sized businesses.
The business centre is one of 24 not-for-profit Community Futures Development Corporations funded by FedNor that serve northern Ontario communities and support the creation, growth and success of small and medium-sized businesses.
The remaining $495,000 will support the ongoing expansion of infrastructure at the local airport, enabling area municipalities to benefit from immediate and long-term development opportunities, according to a news release.
“I think there’s a general realization that airports can be a real focus of growth for rural municipalities, that they are part of the mix of how you attract and retain business in the area,” said Clement from inside the Found Aircraft manufacturing hangar, which supports some 35 full-time jobs in the community.
Tony Hamblin, president of Found Aircraft Canada, said support from the business centre and FedNor have been key components in the company’s continued growth.
The airport, a joint venture between Parry Sound and Seguin Township that has entered its third phase of development, was extolled as a regional asset and economic generator by several members of council from the two municipalities, including Parry Sound Mayor Jamie McGarvey and Seguin Township councillors Bruce Gibbon and Doug Sainsbury, who is also chair of the airport commission.
The third phase of development, a $1-million project that includes the construction of 24 additional hangars, began more than six months ago with ground preparations, rock blasting and the installation of water and hydro lines.
“We’ve got a real jewel here,” said Clement before continuing to the airport’s terminal for snacks. “This airport isn’t just a landing strip, it’s a place of business.”

SOURCE:cottagecountrynow.ca

A chilling reminder not to tread on thin ice. Despite warnings of thin ice, a local ice fisherman, acknowledging the risk, has already set up two shacks within 100 feet of his home on Mill Lake.
PARRY SOUND - There’s no designated timeframe when snowmobilers and ice fisherman can safely venture onto the frozen lakes.
“If you don’t know, don’t go, or you’re a long time dead,” said Bill Park, president of the South Seguin Snowmobile Club.
Right now, police and emergency personnel are asking everybody to be cautious around the ice, which can vary dramatically in density from one region to the next.
Factors affecting the weight variability of ice include thickness, currents, age of the ice, pressure cracks and snow cover, wrote Constable Charles Ostrom in a recent news release.
“For these reasons, the OPP is not in a position to declare ice conditions safe,” he said.
The OPP discourages people from going on the ice during early and late winter, when ice is generally too thin to support activities like fishing, hiking, skating and snowmobiling.
“Almost all recreational activities involve some inherent risk,” said Ostrom.
Warnings serious
So far, freezing cold weather has been relatively consistent, but after a sudden stint of rain and mild temperatures, warnings of thin ice are serious, especially since many local snowmobiling trails are routed across the lakes.
“They usually go straight down the middle of them,” said Marilyn Derks, president of the Parry Sound Snowmobile District.
Until ice trails are demarcated and deemed safe, snowmobile clubs are recommending that riders stay away from the shoreline, which is weakened considerably by the flow of currents and conjoining waterways, Derks explained.
“As you get closer to shore, you find more risky places where water is coming in,” she said.
“The ice there is never going to get as thick as it would out in the middle,” where the strongest kind of ice, black, often forms.
Experienced ice fishermen familiar with local conditions are also playing it safe.
With a fishing license handy, Peter Agnello, president of the Parry Sound Anglers & Hunters, usually starts auguring trough the ice as soon as trout season commences in early February.
Before then, the risk of falling through is greater, explained Agnello, who has been ice fishing for more than 60 years.
“Any ice that there is now, you’re taking an awful chance to go out. It’s not safe.”
Jay Wickman, another ice fisherman, has already set up two ice fishing shacks near his home on Mill Lake.
Both shacks are firmly situated in the snow about 100-feet from the shoreline. The ice can’t be more than a couple inches thick, he reckons.
“I don’t recommend it, but I’ll go out on three- or four-inches with a floater suit,” he said.
Beyond the shacks, slushy nuances warn of an icy cold nightmare, perhaps even certain death.
“To go further than that, it’s just not safe,” he said.

SOURCE:cottagecountrynow.ca