By Clint Fleury
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TBnewswatch.com
THUNDER BAY — The Minister of Rural Affairs, Lisa Thompson, is taking a boots-on-the-ground approach to understand the priorities of the north.
“We are developing relationships and understanding, and you’re going to see us in the north on a regular basis because we have to be on the ground to make sure we understand those priorities,” Thompson told delegates from 37 municipalities at the 2026 Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association conference.
Thompson was joined by six other Ontario ministers in the traditional Ministers forum, otherwise known as the bear pit, to field questions from the delegates.
O’Connor Mayor Jim Vezina asked, with a pre-written question provided by NOMA, how her ministry is going to work with municipalities and social services to ensure that sustainable funding is going to critical services in rural and remote communities.
“We count on our local partners that cover vast geographical areas. It’s 3.5 hours sometimes between communities for our staff. We have limited resources, and we have a growing demand. We have a growing demand in housing, homelessness, childcare, and, of course, income supports,” said Vezina, who also chairs the Thunder Bay District Social Service Administration Board.
Thompson said the ministry is taking a whole government approach to be in the communities, meeting regularly with municipal leaders, and discussing how to deliver support that is needed.
She also added 338 municipalities benefited from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, a fund that helps support critical services such as road maintenance, infrastructure and health care.
“We’ve increased, over the last two years, the Ontario Municipal Partnership funding by $100 million. And so, to give you an example, in Thunder Bay, that meant an increase of $3.5 million for local priorities to invest in as they see fit,” Thompson said.
Thompson was at city hall on Thursday to announce the increase in funding.
At that time, Mayor Ken Boshcoff told Newswatch the partnership funding is a dependable source of revenue.
“There’s no doubt that this money, each municipality has their different priorities, but you can bet that it’s going to be on solid infrastructural and community stabilizing projects, whether it be water, infrastructure, mostly roads, but all sorts of other things that each individual council would decide on what their priorities are,” Boshcoff said.
