Williams goes out fighting

From the Niagara Falls Review: The way Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith wants to tender the right to run boat tours on the Niagara River will harm the Niagara Parks Commission, Niagara Falls’ tourism industry and tourism provincewide, says former Niagara Parks Commission chairman Jim Williams. He’s not going quietly after resigning his $250-a-day government-…

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PARKS CHAIRMAN RESIGNS

From the Niagara Falls Review: Jim Williams stepped down as Niagara Parks Commission chairman Thursday over a dispute with Tourism Minister Monique Smith’s support for him, and over his “grave concerns” about an historic bidding process she ordered that could see the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co., replaced as operator of boat tours on…

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No shakeup at the Parks

From the Niagara Falls Review: There are no plans to shake up the Niagara Parks Commission, Tourism Minister Monique Smith says. In an interview Tuesday, she brushed off a Conservative critic’s claim that replacing the whole board is the only way to restore public confidence in the government agency. “We have no intention of replacing…

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Province orders lease for Maids reopened

From the Niagara Falls Review: For the first time in years, the Maid of the Mist will have to fend off competitors to hold onto the right to run boat tours in the Niagara River. Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith announced Wednesday the Niagara Parks Commission will solicit competing bids from companies interested in leasing…

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Three Parks posts refilled -but no word on Gale’s spot

From the Niagara Falls Review: The province has reappointed three Niagara Parks Commission members whose terms were ending -but not Bob Gale, the controversial member whose term expired in February. “We wanted to make sure the board remained functional. We were concerned about that,” Ontario’s Tourism Minister Monique Smith said in an interview Tuesday. Niagara…

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Tourism minister pushes ‘stay-cations’

From the Niagara Falls Review: The provincial government is doing its part to help Ontario’s tourism industry, and the roughly 300,000 people who depend on it for all or part of their living, through challenging times. That’s the message Tourism Minister Monique Smith delivered during a luncheon meeting sponsored by the Niagara Falls Chamber of…

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