FORT FRANCES—The Rainy River District Municipal Association agreed to endorse, in principle, the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association’s Regional Recovery Plan at its 16th-annual general meeting Saturday in Emo.
The plan was presented by Iain Angus, chair of the Regional Recovery Program (RRP) committee, who explained they have developed a common approach to taking the economy of the region forward.
“Key to this is the creation of a Northwestern Ontario Regional Development Authority,” he stressed.
The concept of NWORDA would see regional representatives working together to identify, promote, and develop economic opportunities in and for Northwestern Ontario.
Angus indicated the RRP committee also identified a number of key areas “where work is urgently needed to move the economy of the region forward,” some of which require the creation of a task force or committee with a specific mandate.
The proposed areas of focus include:
•a regional enhancement committee to provide region-wide leadership for community and labour adjustment;
•a task force on energy to examine and develop a regional energy authority;
•a regional health and education task force;
•a Northwestern Ontario highway task force to focus on access to a growing economy;
•a regional tourism council to develop and foster a tourism strategy that would address planning, policy, and product development;
•a Northwestern Ontario research investment and development corporation to provide “a co-ordinated entry point into the knowledge economy by marketing the region as a node for partnerships and immigration”; and
•a Northwestern Ontario Policy Research Institute, which would serve as “an arm’s-length source of policy advice to regional leaders and a repository of knowledge and data on the region.”
“I’m asking that you endorse this and the creation of NWORDA,” Angus told delegates, but noted the document will not be final until adopted by NOMA.
“In principle, I endorse it,” Lake of the Woods Mayor Val Pizey said from her seat on the floor. “But I haven’t had time to look over the details to endorse the document itself.”
Angus was willing to change the wording of the endorsement and the motion was carried.
The report—available to the public at www.noma.on.ca—will be presented at NOMA’s annual general meeting April 25-28 in Dryden.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
