Normally a new council is elected and then proceeds to build a strategic plan for the next four years of their mandate. Much has changed over the past three years and a new council will be elected in the fall of 2022. What are the issues that councils across the Rainy River District will be facing?
Now is a wonderful time to begin focussing on the future of the area. With the border having been closed for 18 months, tourist operators have had to change who they focused on for their services. Traditional camp operators across Northwestern Ontario attracted anglers, hunters, and families from the central United States. Over the past year, operators looked to Manitoba and southern Ontario to fill their camps and lodges. What steps can area communities do to again attract US visitors back to Northwestern Ontario?
Along with the pandemic, district residents have looked to local producers for meat and produce. Shop at home has never been more important. But the drought in the past year has forced many cattle producers to reduce the number of cattle on their farms. In many cases, it will take years to rebuild the herds back to pre draught times. The drought not only affected district cattle producers, but extended across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and the results are now being seen in our grocery stores as beef, pork and poultry prices have risen to levels we would never have expected. What initiatives might be used to develop year-round market gardens in the district expanding the volume of fresh local vegetables and produce available in stores?
In Fort Frances, citizens have heard the constant clatter and banging as the paper mill has been reduced to rubble and metal. The metal is being hauled away to be melted down and repurposed. Within the mandate of the next council all that will remain will be a brown field zone fronting the river from Victoria through to Central and Third. The taxes from the mill buildings have now been transferred to homeowners and businesses.
The question that the current council and its successor remains, “How can this old brown field industrial site be repurposed?” “What types of businesses or industries could use this property and how can they be attracted to locate in Fort Frances?”
One of the many lessons of this pandemic is that people have learned to work remotely from offices in towns and cities. Millennials have discovered that housing is unaffordable in the larger centres of Ontario and even those within 100 km commuting distances. By comparison, housing is much more affordable in the Rainy River District. What can a council do to attract those millennials to the area from metropolitan areas?
One of the shortages facing Fort Frances is housing lots. What can a council do to attract developers to create new subdivisions and build more mixed-use housing?
These are but a few of the challenges facing this currant council and the next council. What other ideas do residents of the district have to attract people to the area and expand opportunities for employment and quality of life? A grassroots strategic plan, involving all the people of the district would be welcomed to plan for the future.
Jim Cumming, Former Publisher
Fort Frances Times
