The Northwestern Ontario Recycling Association board will meet in Kenora next Wednesday to discuss what impact the Harris government’s decision to break a commitment to fund half the program this year may have on its future.
“We had hoped the government would handle half the operating cost this year but then we got a letter that says there will be a delay of one year,” NORA chair Dennis Brown said Tuesday.
“Now we have to decide what to do,” he noted.
While the province initially had indicated it would fund 50 percent of the program’s operating costs in 2000, the government reneged on the agreement last month, announcing its share of the costs would be deferred until 2001 while they tinker with a funding formula.
Although the province will continue to provide $8 per capita, as it did in 1999, costs such as the recycling trucks and blue boxes won’t be covered this year.
“The trucks are getting on in age, and we’ve hesitated to buy any more until we have assurance from the government,” Brown said. “We have five trucks, and some have 400,000 km on them.”
He added the trucks were key to the program, which serves 22 municipalities and several First Nations in the Rainy River and Kenora districts–a huge geographic area.
Brown would not discuss any specific options or solutions before next week’s board meeting but he remains positive about the future.
“As long as the municipalities keep doing their part, maybe we can keep the program going,” he remarked.
In related news, the NORA board also will decide whether to renew its contract with Buttner Enterprises in Fort Frances once it expires at the end of March.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
