NOMA meeting a calm affair

Although regional municipalities face less funding and more red tape than ever before, there appeared to be little antagonism towards provincial and federal leaders at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association’s annual meeting here last week.
“There wasn’t too much hollering and screaming, but I think everyone realizes the changes have been made and we have to work with those changes,” Fort Frances Mayor Glenn Witherspoon said.
“I think the messages that have been driven home by the board over the last [few] months have been pretty consistent,” he added.
Among the messages delivered to MPs and MPPs attending the meeting, as well as with the association’s resolutions, was the demand that the difficulty Northwestern Ontario municipalities will face under Bill 140 be recognized.
“With Bill 140, the declining assessments only affect Northwestern Ontario and the municipalities need your participation to bridge the gap and not put it all on the backs of taxpayers,” Mayor Witherspoon told a panel of MPPs, including Northern Development and Mines minister Dan Newman, on Friday.
“We need relief in regards to re-assessments in the up-and-coming budget,” agreed Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff.
In the “bear pit session,” an opportunity for small-town leaders to voice their concerns with provincial reps, questions were kept pointed but there was little heat put on them.
Sitting with Newman on the panel were parliamentary assistants Toby Barrett (natural resources), John O’Toole (finance), and Gary Stewart (agriculture, food and rural affairs).
As well as being faced with issues encountered by most municipalities, the panel faced local municipal ones, too.
“I have probably spent the last 15 years coming to these meetings to get a new bridge,” said Lake of the Woods Mayor Valerie Pizey. “Well, we got a new bridge, now I’m trying to find out when we can get the road fixed.
“Before the excuses was, well, we can’t fix the road because we can’t get across the bridge.”
Mayor Witherspoon also raised his concern about the impending closure of the Fort Frances Jail.
“I find it only fair before a decision of this magnitude that we should really take a long hard look at our jail and I would ask Mr. O’Toole, as the [representative] of the minister of finance, to listen to what I am saying,” the mayor remarked.
“I pledge myself to listen to your concerns,” said Newman. “Some regions in Northwestern Ontario have not shared equally in the opportunities.
“When northern leaders speak with a united voice, things happen,” he added. “There’s one issue in common in every municipality and that is the need for a made-in-Northern Ontario medical school.”
The meeting was NOMA’s 55th-annual and with the theme, “Governing in the Fast Lane,” it was geared towards helping municipal leaders deal with the rapid changes and challenges municipalities now face such as changes to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and liabilities faced by municipalities.
The conference ran from May 3-5 at La Place Rendez-Vous here.