Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Friday morning.
Latest batch of city buses cost $970K apiece
In a limited tender awarded last month, the city agreed to purchase six GOVA Transit clean diesel buses at a total cost of $5,824,960. At their current $970,000 per bus, the price tag for municipal buses has ballooned from the $564,000 the city paid in 2018. “Definitely, significant price increases,” city Transit Services director Brendan Adair told Sudbury.com this week, adding that between COVID-era cost escalations and tariffs, it’s been tough. Buses were $642,000 in 2021 and $828,000 in 2024. That said, he clarified the buses would have likely been even more expensive if not for the city’s partnership with Metrolinx, an agency the province created in 2006 to co-ordinate transportation services in the province and uses bulk-buying to get municipalities lower prices. This and future potential jumps in bus costs are being absorbed by a city council decision during last month’s 2026 budget deliberations to reassign $5.1 million previously earmarked toward a rapid transportation program.
North sees 117% increase in homelessness since 2021
A new report on the municipal struggle with homelessness shows not only is the crisis on the rise, but it’s increasing more rapidly in Northern Ontario than the rest of the province. Northern populations are approximately five per cent of Ontario’s total population, but account for nearly 10 per cent of all known homelessness. The north has seen a 117-per-cent increase in the number of people who are homeless since 2021, versus a 49.5-per-cent increase across the southern part of the province. The new report, released Jan. 12, is called Municipalities Under Pressure: One Year Later and was created by the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association (NOSDA), in partnership with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA).
Bélanger wants Liberals to scrap gun buyback
The Liberals’ gun buyback program needs to go away, Sudbury East – Manitoulin – Nickel Belt Conservative MP Jim Bélanger argues in a media release his office issued this week. “The government’s approach fails to address the real source of rising gun violence in Canada: illegal firearms being smuggled across our border from the United States,” Bélanger said in the media release. “Instead, the government is targeting law-abiding firearms owners.” Despite carrying a cost of approximately $742 million (the program’s cap), Bélanger argues that it “does little to deter criminal activity and unfairly impacts hunters, sport shooters and rural residents who use firearms responsibly.” His media release notes that violent crime has jumped by 55 per cent since 2015 and gun violence has increased by 130 per cent, which Bélanger said is indicative of the Liberals missing the mark. “In Northern Ontario, hunting is not just a hobby; it’s a way of life,” Bélanger said in the media release.
Greater Sudbury MPs respond to apparent shift in federal Liberals’ ideology
Neither of Greater Sudbury’s two MPs subscribe to the notion that Liberals are essentially Conservatives now, but both maintain the party has shifted politically. The news cycle in recent months has been peppered with reports regarding a shift in Liberal policy. Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre called Liberals ‘counterfeit’ Conservatives, and past NDP leader Tom Mulcair contended that Liberals aren’t to be trusted. Liberals “flash left and turn right,” he wrote in an opinion piece, concluding that the NDP’s role will be keeping the Liberals from becoming Conservatives, which he called “a tough battle.” Some points of evidence the Liberals have shifted to the right, according to Poilievre and Mulcair, has come in the form of then-Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault resigning from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet over what he described as the dismantling of climate policies. This included the Liberals pausing an electric vehicle mandate, which the Conservatives pushed for, and expressing pipeline support.
Mission 31 sets record-breaking $140K fundraising total
The Elgin Street Mission entered 2026 on a solid financial footing, with a record-setting $140,000 raised during last month’s Mission 31 efforts. For context, the 2024 effort raised approximately $50,000. “We start off the year in the black and then we’re not having to do a lot of fundraising,” Elgin Street Mission executive director Rev. Amanda Rochichaud told Sudbury.com of the financial boost. This, she added, will allow them “to serve our clients with hot meals all through those winter months. … Today is -20C, so on a day like this it’s nice to have a warm meal in their bellies.” Located in downtown Sudbury, Elgin Street Mission serves approximately 300 meals per day, including “a lot more young families and a lot more children” than in past years, Rochichaud said.
Website, social media pages tease Temagami Dry comeback
It's been years since Temagami Dry fans have sipped a crisp ginger ale. A new website and social media pages suggest the wait for a fresh cold one could soon be over. A relaunch of the beloved brand that first started in 1916 seems to be in the works. "This relaunch is about more than nostalgia. Temagami Dry is proudly produced in Northern Ontario. Through an economic royalty model, every bottle sold helps support Tourism development and local jobs for the long term, here in the north. This brand gives back to the place it comes from," reads the About Us section of temagamidry.com. When Cochrane's Fortier Beverages announced it would stop making Temagami Dry in 2019, the Municipality of Temagami sprang into action and acquired the trademark. In October 2025, the trademark moved from the municipality to the Canadian Shield Beverage Corporation.
