FORT FRANCES—The 14th-annual general meeting of the Rainy River District Municipal Association this Saturday in Barwick is shaping up to be a potpourri of issues and information concerning virtually everyone in the district.
The meeting will get underway at 9 a.m. with introductory remarks from Emo Reeve Russ Fortier, chair of the RRDMA, who predicted certain issues should prove to be informative—and possibly contentious.
“I think the presentation by the MTO [Doug Johnson] will be reasonably controversial,” Reeve Fortier remarked last Friday, referring to the new safety regulations regarding trucks passed by the provincial government last year and now in effect.
“You hear the truckers saying they are being harassed by the MTO and the MTO saying they’re just doing their jobs,” he added.
“I hope the two sides can get together.”
Another item of interest to both district municipalities and tourist outfitters is the new Clean Water Act implemented by the previous Conservative government.
Reeve Fortier said he has information the province is considering softening some of the regulations covering small municipalities, which should come as welcome news at Saturday’s meeting.
“I think the minister [of environment] has taken to heart the hardships [imposed by the regulations] to small communities,” he noted.
One item in which Reeve Fortier expressed particular interest is a presentation by Bill Kissick from the Ministry of Natural Resources, which will outline new strategies and technologies involving using waste wood as a biofuel for municipalities.
“His talk will be quite interesting. With all the scrap produced in the district, this could prove to be a real economic benefit,” he enthused.
Meanwhile, Morley Reeve Gary Gamsby also felt amendments to the Clean Water Act are essential to the economic survival to small communities such as his.
“We need some reasonable solution [to the act],” Reeve Gamsby said when he was in the Times office last Thursday.
“Our concern is because we have a rec centre, we’re trying to find an affordable way to comply,” he added.
Under current legislation, fully-qualified engineers must be available to install and maintain the testing equipment for water samples. Since Morley doesn’t have one, that would require hiring a full-time specialist or borrowing one from an adjacent community.
“We just don’t have the workforce,” he stressed.
Reeve Gamsby said he has been exploring ways to meet the regulations, but has been unsuccessful so far.
“An engineer recommended bottled water because it was the cheapest option, but the ministry said ‘no,’” he lamented.
He also said provincial downloading, particularly with respect to land ambulance services, and the problems imposed on the cattle industry by the closing of the U.S. border as matters that must be addressed immediately, as well as the necessity of getting a district abattoir on track.
La Vallee Reeve Emily Watson, who is running for vice-chair of the RRDMA on Saturday, echoed those sentiments.
“There are a lot of issues for my community,” she noted Friday. “Get the border open, get the abattoir going.
“I’m also concerned about downloading of ambulances services,” she added. “I feel the province must give us adequate funding or take the program back.”
Others scheduled to speak during the RRDMA meeting Saturday include Chapple Reeve Bill Clink, Dennis Brown (president of Northern Ontario Municipal Association), Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton, Gary Scandian (C.N. Watson and Associates), and Geoff Gillon (Rainy River Future Development Corp.)
Rounding out the list are J.R. Horne (Tri-Force/Kenora Joint Forces Drug Unit), Grace Silander (Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition), John Albanese, Dr. Pete Sarsfield, and Karen Essery (Northwestern Health Unit), Jill Colquhoun (Rainycrest Home for the Aged), and Leanne Eluk and Kim Gardiman (Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board).
The meeting will run until 5 p.m. at the Barwick community hall. A banquet and entertainment by Fort Frances Little Theatre will follow.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
