The appointment of a Brockville director to the Federal Bridge Corporation will bring a much-needed local voice to the running of the Thousand Islands Bridge, Senator Bob Runciman believes.

Diana Dodge, the executive director of the Bridlewood Manor long-term care facility in Brockville and former executive director of the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce, is among the appointees to the new bridge corporation board announced earlier this month. Dodge will serve a three-year term.

Its good to see it moving in the right direction, said Runciman, the senator for Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

While the senator hopes Dodges appointment will bring a local voice to the separately run Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, an official at the federal corporation stressed Monday the two entities are separate.

The Federal Bridge Corporation amalgamated with its subsidiary, the St. Marys River Bridge Company, and the Blue Water Bridge Authority to form a single Crown corporation under the Federal Bridge Corporation name on February 1. It also owns the Thousand Islands Bridge.

The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority manages that bridge under an agreement with the federal corporation.

Since 2013, Runciman has been calling on the federal corporation to nominate a local resident to the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority.

The latter, an American-operated authority, has four U.S. directors and three from Canada, and none of the Canadians are from the surrounding area.

On the American side, the four members are appointees from Jefferson County and carry a mandate to promote tourism from their county government, notes Runciman.

Since the federal corporation generally appoints its own directors to the Thousand Islands authority, Runciman is hopeful Dodge may soon sit on the local international panel as well.

The rest is here:

Brockville bridge corp. nod hailed