Review-Mirror

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Mirror The Review Thursday, January 21, 2016 Serving North Leeds and area since 1893 Vol. 125, No. 3 $1incl. tax Canada Post Contract No. 40021501 •Continued on back page Call 359-5660 53 Main St., Elgin duncan s TV & APPLIANCES Gallery 30" Range •Quick Clean •Keep Warm Zone •Even Baking Technology Regular 949.95 Model #CGEF3030PW $ 799 95 Continuing a 30 year tradition serving North Leeds - Delivery & Set Up Available Gallery 24" Built-in Dishwasher •Orbit Clean™ Technology •DishSense™ Technology •Spacewise® Organization System Regular 699.95 Model #FGID2466QW $ 599 95 NEW MOVIE RELEASES at the Old 'n' New General Store and Sandwich Shack Groceries, Snacks, Gifts, Antiques Hwy. 15 & Cty Rd. 42, Crosby 613-540-1812 Westport Village Pharmacy 3 Church St., Westport, ON 613-273-2922 westportvillagepharmacy@gmail.com Mon.-Fri.: 9-6 • Sat. & Sun.: 10-4 Even MODEST WEIGHT LOSS Can Have an Enormous Impact on Your Health Join us for an OPEN HOUSE AND PRODUCT TASTING Stop in and see us for more information. www.idealprotein.com By Howie Crichton The Review-Mirror The Village of Westport finalized their 2016 bud- get Monday night and ratepayers will collective- ly be paying close to 17 per cent more than last year. Westport Council final- ized the numbers Monday night and, without a few items stroked off the list at the last minute, the increase could have been over 32 per cent. "The question is, how will the additional required taxes be funded? "Is there anything in there that can be reduced or deferred,?" Mayor Robin Jones asked coun- cil. Ratepayers will pay $749,562 in 2016, up from 642,372 last year – an increase of 16.6 per cent. Assessment growth went up by five per cent this year, including .5 per cent in real growth. If your house is valued at the Westport average of $211,000, and didn't go up in assessed value which would make it a virtual unicorn, the municipal portion of your bill will go By Howie Crichton The Review-Mirror Plagued by mild weath- er, freezing towers and continuing high inflows, Westport's Snowfluent system hasn't been keep- ing up this month, trigger- ing the trucking of waste- water that will cost the vil- lage at least $120,000. Trucks are expected to start hauling from the lagoon for treatment in Smiths Falls this week in a previously arranged agree- ment that will cost $60,000 for every 5,000 cubic meters (cm3) of wastewater. "The question isn't whether we have to haul, but how much and how soon," Mayor Robin Jones told Council at Monday's Committee of the Whole meeting. After a perfect snow- making season last winter, and the Snowfluent oper- Skate the Lake this weekend Cold weather has made Portland Outdoors 12th edition of Skate the Lake XII a go this Saturday and Sunday after double-digit temperatures over the last two weeks have helped turn open water into a winter playground. Volunteers have been busy with preparations this week to open the 1km, oval, create some addi- tional rink space and set up temporary structures for the weekend's activi- ties. Last Sunday the ice thickness was sufficient for the group's ice surfac- ing machine to begin its work to smoothing out ice which had been ravaged by freeze-thaw cycles ear- lier this month. "The ice is in fairly good shape. Tonight the oval will be in excellent condition," said Portland Outdoors president John Bongers who on Tuesday morning had found 13 inches of ice on shallow parts of the bay. This weekend's races include a 10 km and a 25 km race as well as a kids' 5 km (under 12), a 5 x 1 km team relay and a Spe- cial Olympics race on Sat- urday. After the last race of the day on Saturday there will be public skating to music followed by fire- works at dusk. A ham and bean supper will be held in the hall at the end of the By Margaret Brand The Review-Mirror Ryerson student and Rideau District High School graduate Benjamin Canning has begun to real- ize his dream of building a community greenhouse project on the Arctic Cir- cle. Canning is the project manager of an Enactus project which Ryerson students have begun to make a reality after fundraising over $200,000 through corporate dona- tions and crowd sourcing. Enactus is a global organization in 36 coun- tries around the world which is named from its mission-Entrepreneurial action for others creates a better world for us all. Chapters across the world conduct sustainable pro- jects around the world. While many Enactus projects are overseas Can- ning and his co-project manager Stephany Nieto decided to find a project within Canada. "We don't need to look overseas to find issues," said Canning who with his team did extensive research on the issue of food security in the north. They e-mailed 30 com- munities in the north about their greenhouse project idea and got an enthusiastic response from local leaders in Naujaat (Repulse Bay). The com- munity is located on the mainland at the northwest- Rideau District High School graduate and Ryerson University Commerce student Ben Canning has been leading a non-profit project which has fundraised to build a geo- desic greenhouse dome in Repulse Bay, which when it begins operations this spring will harvest locally grown produce for the town's Inuit community to combat local food insecurity. Greenhouse project becoming a reality for northern community •Continued on page 6 Westport tax levy to rise 17 per cent Council authorizes haulage of $120,000 worth of wastewater to Smiths Falls Snowfluent can't keep up •Continued on page 3 •Continued on page 3

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