Duane Hicks
Fort Frances delegates will bring up local concerns with various ministers next week when they head to London for the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Mayor Roy Avis, Coun. Paul Ryan, and CAO Mark McCaig will be at the conference from Aug. 21-24 which, in addition to workshops and speakers, includes pre-scheduled meetings with provincial ministers.
McCaig said the town delegates will be meeting with four ministries, including the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry regarding the wood supply competitive process.
“Quite often we advocate on behalf of our local mill for forestry issues,” he noted.
“This wood supply competitive process, they haven’t really finalized it yet in regards to wood allocation related to the Sapawe forest, which is very crucial AbiBow’s operations in Fort Frances,” McCaig added.
“We just want to make sure that the allocation process gets wrapped up and that the wood from there, a portion of it, is allocated to AbiBow.”
They’ll also meet with Community Safety and Correctional Services minister Jim Bradley regarding municipal/OPP relations, as well as the Ministry of Infrastructure regarding the disposition of property owned by the province—namely the lot in between the clinic and old library.
“We look at it and think, it’s right adjacent to the clinic,” said McCaig. “It would be a piece of property that would be advantageous to try to acquire, either in conjunction with or on behalf of the Family Health Team.
“It provides some parking for people that really need it, close to the building,” he reasoned.
“It really seems funny that this empty lot, that obviously looks like a parking lot, is not being utilized for parking purposes.
“We want to talk to them about it, and maybe acquire it at a nominal fee,” said McCaig, adding “it only makes sense” when the clinic will, at some time down the road, be utilizing both its current location and the former library.
As well, local delegates with meet Community and Social Services minister Madeleine Meilleur regarding issues related to the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board.
These include ongoing concerns about “uploaded” program costs and how much municipalities should benefit from those savings, as reported earlier this year.
Fort Frances also asked to meet with Finance minister Dwight Duncan regarding this matter, but he declined, noted McCaig.
The town also has requested a meeting with the Ministry of Transportation regarding the fate of “Connecting Link” funding for major road projects—answers which the town has been seeking for several years now.
The ministry has not yet gotten back to the town regarding this requested meeting, McCaig said.
With the provincial election coming up Oct. 6, McCaig it’s as good a time as any to bend ministers’ ears.
“I look at this and I think, if there was some things that were easily achieved, maybe the government would be inclined to do it as this time given that there’s an election coming up,” he reasoned.
“It could be seen as favourable by our residents,” added McCaig, noting delegations will be prefaced with the town telling the ministers they would have no problem telling constituents that “you helped us out greatly with this issue.”
“Some people are saying, ‘Well, what are you going to be able to do right now because it’s so close to the election?’” McCaig conceded.
“I look at it the other way—if it’s a simple issue in [the ministers’] minds, maybe we can get some level of expediency to the resolution.”
