Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) reps returned home from their annual meeting feeling good after getting plenty of face time with Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet ministers.
“Over the past year, we have attended literally dozens of meetings with decision makers,” said Al Spacek, mayor of Kapuskasing and FONOM president. “But today, for the first time in memory, we met with the premier and five of her cabinet ministers – connecting the dots for them, to help them understand that a strong North is important to all of Ontario.”
The 53rd annual meeting was held May 8-10 in Parry Sound.
“While we still face pressures from other levels of government and from our aging infrastructures, I felt encouraged by the level of participation and engagement shown by Premier Wynne and her cabinet,” said Spacek. “Not only that, we had Tony Clement, a senior cabinet minister from the Harper Government and who is responsible for FedNor and now the federal lead for the Ring of Fire file. So we had the ear of the key government decision makers in Canada – and they were generous with their time.”
One serious issue raised was the series of “devastating” rulings by the review board of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation(MPAC) on forestry mills across Northern Ontario.
The impact on municipal budgets was brought to light in a “no holds barred” meeting with Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey.
Spacek said Jeffrey pledged to follow up on their concerns quickly.
“This is the kind of dialogue we’ve been missing in the North for a long time, so I feel encouraged.”
