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Young Drivers of Canada

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Young Drivers of Canada has announced Karen White-O’Connell as the new Regional Director for all of the Young Drivers of Canada New Brunswick locations. Karen purchased the franchise and is re-opening Young Drivers of Canada Centre offices in Moncton, Saint John, Rothesay, Fredericton and Miramichi.

“This program is so important for our youth- following the values of Young Drivers...,” she said. “This will be a big benefit for New Brunswickers.”

After Karen’s years of experience owning her own company and holding managerial positions in both the public and private sectors, Karen was ready for change.

“I am a lifelong learner and this seemed like a great new experience,” she said.

Being a strong advocate of education, and having just completed her second Masters degree, she felt very strongly about joining an organization where education is such an integral part of its success.

“Young Drivers of Canada has been teaching safe driving since 1970 and has built an excellent reputation across the country. I have seen them go beyond just meeting provincial standards and Young Drivers has proven their commitment to teaching the skills needed to keep drivers safe on the road.”

Karen was born in Miramichi. After living in many cities across the country including Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary, she was yearning to move back to New Brunswick to be closer to family. Karen made the move home in 2001.

“I’m very proud to do this for Miramichi,” she said. “This is my hometown and I couldn’t see starting this business without including them.”

She views taking over the Young Drivers of Canada franchise as an opportunity to grow a much needed service in her home province. Karen hopes to continue growing the business beyond the current locations into Northern New Brunswick.

“We are very pleased to have Karen White-O’Connell as our New Brunswick representative. Karen’s previous business experience along with her background in education will benefit the citizens of New Brunswick. Karen will be a strong representative in the YD Regional Director team where improvements in road safety are often created,” said company president Peter Christianson.

Company opts to set up shop in Miramichi

by Daniel Martins

When employer, Parago Communications, which had outsourced its customer service function to HDN and then to Fusion BPO, caught wind of Fusion BPO’s plan to move its operation to Wallaceburg, Ont., the company decided to take matters into its own hands.

“Our company ... decided to take over all the employees and employ them,” said Tom Vagt, Parago’s director of call-centre operations, who was in town this week. “All employees except for one made the move.”

That’s 41 employees in total who recently started taking calls.

Vagt said Parago is having such success with its Miramichi employees that the company felt they would be difficult to replace.

“The reps, the agents are extremely dedicated,” he said.

“Their work ethic is very high compared to our other facilities we comanage.

That was kind of the driving force behind it.”

Now that Parago has terminated its relationship with Fusion BPO, Vagt said, the company plans to hire 12- 20 more employees.

“We want to keep this facility operating at a certain utilization and efficiency,” he said. “It just gives us more flexibility to scale as we want.”

The centre operates six days a week, Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-1 a.m., starting at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, with multiple shifts.

En français: Maintenant que Parago a mis fin à sa relation avec Fusion BPO, la compagnie prévoit l’embauche de 12 à 20 employés additionnels.

Morrissy Bridge closure raises questions about traffic patterns

City council is moving to review what impact the permanent closure of the Morrissy Bridge will have on traffic in the city.

The topic was hastily added to a special Infrastructure and Capital Works Committee meeting Monday night with city engineer Csaba Kazamer telling councillors the city must move quickly.

“As a result of the closure of the Morrissy Bridge we now have 100 per cent of the vehicles coming across the river in this area concentrated in one area and not split.

That means that we no longer have vehicles that would be coming into the downtown, zipping across the Morrissy Bridge using Jane Street, having access to Newcastle Boulevard.

All of those vehicles are now coming on the King George Highway and Pleasant Street, which is over 6,000 annual daily traffic count, that is certainly going to add a significant demand on our highway infrastructure in the downtown,” Kazamer said.

He suggested the city immediately hire a consulting firm to assess the situation and come back with a recommendation.

Meeting chair Rupert Bernard asked that study not just look at vehicle traffic.

En français: Le conseil municipal est en train de revoir l’impact que la fermeture permanente du pont Morrissy aura sur la circulation dans la ville.

New home needed

The average number of long-stay patients in the Miramichi Hospital waiting for a nursing home bed has nearly doubled over the last two years, going from 10 in 2005- 2006 to 18 in 2007-2008.

The information is contained in a list of statistics and indicators in the 2007-2008 annual report of the Miramichi Regional Health Authority for the period April 1, 2007-March 31, 2008.

The report also indicates that on average for the last two years, 25-30 alternate-level-ofcare patients have occupied acute-care medical beds while waiting for either an assessment or placement in a nursing or special care home.

“This is the equivalent of one patient-care unit in the hospital.

This limits the ability to produce space for acute-care patients who require hospitalization and adds additional pressure on hospital staff who are dealing with an increased workload,” the report says.

The issue of seniors occupying hospital beds has been a longstanding one with the MRHA, which has tried strategies over the years to effectively deal with it. The latest attempt to alleviate the problem was a proposal to government that would have seen a temporary nursing unit set up in the hospital in an area that is now being used for office space.

Those awaiting placements would be cared for in the unit, thus freeing up acute-care beds for other patients.

However, the provincial department of health vetoed the plan and told the MRHA to explore other options.

En français: La moyenne de patients à long terme à l’hôpital de Miramichi, en attente pour un lit dans un foyer de soins, a presque doublé au cours des deux dernières années, soit de 10 en 2005-2006 à 18 en 2007-2008.

Sunny Corner enterprises continues to grow

A $3-million loan guarantee was provided to Sunny Corner Enterprises by the provincial government.. Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne made the announcement.

The loan guarentee will help Sunny Corner Enterprises to continues to grow and maintain hundreds of jobs in the province through work on several contracts.

This support will allow the company to undertake work secured through several contracts, including contracts in the Alberta oil sands, the Point Lepreau refurbishment and the Canaport LNG Terminal.

This led to the company increasing its employment to more than 800 employees in Miramichi, throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Alberta.

This announcement is part of the government’s commitment to diversifying the region’s economy and making economic development a priority for the Miramichi region.

Recent announcements include over 200 new jobs at Hostopia.com, which recently celebrated its first year of operation, the creation of 150 new jobs at ATCON Fabrication, strategic investments at FatKat Animation Studios, and the creation of the Miramichi Community Action Committee.

“Sunny Corner Enterprises is an important manufacturor,” said Donaghy. “It is very much in keeping with our plan to diversify and transform the Miramichi economy.”

Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc. is a Miramichi based company.

It was started in 1968 as a plumbing and heating contracting firm. The company has evolved into a company offering a wide range of contracting and metal fabrication services. It has five divisions consisting of general construction, nuclear, metal fabrication, fire-protection and industrial sales/rentals.

En français: Un prêt garanti de 3 $ millions de la part du gouvernement provincial permettra à Sunny Corner Enterprises à grandir et maintenir des centaines d’emplois dans la province grâce à plusieurs contrats.

North wants to share in south’s boom

Far from the much-ballyhooed energy projects in the southern corner of New Brunswick, development officials gathered in Miramichi recently to discuss ways to include the rest of the province in the boom.

Representatives from the Enterprise Network’s 15 regional offices convened to meet with officials from the ACOA, Business New Brunswick and the Department of Energy to discuss how business can get involved in the large-scale energy projects proposed and already underway.

“What we’re working on as a collective group of agencies is supply-chain development,” said Enterprise Miramichi Executive Director Brian Donovan.

En français: Des représentants des 15 bureaux régionaux du Réseau Entreprises ont rencontré des représentants de diverses autres agences afin de discuter de la façon dont les entreprises peuvent s’impliquer dans les projets énergétiques importants proposés et déjà en oeuvre.