http://www.timminspress.com/2017/07/04/ne-urban-mayors-aim-to-put-up-united-front

Timmins Mayor Steve Black, seen here speaking at the official opening of the INEOS Calabrian plant in Timmins last week, hosted a gathering of mayors from the large urban centres in the Northeast to discuss regional concerns.

TIMMINS - Mayors from Northern Ontario’s larger urban municipalities met in Timmins last week to discuss common concerns and plan strategies to get more funding from upper levels of government.

Key issues, according to Timmins Mayor Steve Black, included the need for more FedNor funding, a bigger commitment to Northern rail networks, more money for the opioid drug crisis and the need to restructure district social services administration board’s responsibilities.

Black said the first concern was discussion over the budget promise by federal Liberals to add $25-million to FedNor’s $41-million budget over a period of five years.

“They have increased the FedNor budget but it’s not significant and substantial enough an increase to put us on equal ground with the other development agencies across Canada,” said Black.

“Obviously it’s not a standalone agency like the other agencies as well, so that still has some concern for us in terms of what they’re able to do. We’d like them to see them have the resources from a staffing perspective to be really able to focus on some of the big national projects such as the defence strategy.”

He said the Northern Ontario mayors believe the region is at a disadvantage compared to some of the other regions of Canada.

Black said the second issue of concern was the planned review of the DSSAB Act by the Ontario government.

He said the mayors plan to form a united front to bring to the annual AMO conference, which is set for Aug. 13-16 in Ottawa.

“Really in the core of it, we discussed how Ontario is the only province in all of Canada that funds EMS and social services through the municipal level,” said Black. “It’s our opinion that should be taken back over by the province, and similar to any other province in Canada, they should be the ones funding those core services.”

The third issue he said was about rail and transportation corridors. Black said the province should provide proportionate funding to Northern Ontario when compared to spending in the south.

“We see the billions of dollars being tossed around Southern Ontario in terms of light rail and high-speed rail and transportation networks. We’d like to see not necessarily a similar investment, but a substantial investment in Northern Ontario basic rail and freight lines to ensure our economic development opportunities can come to fruition.”

He said rail has to be seen as a substantial part of the future growth of Northern Ontario and he mentioned the Ring of Fire mining project as an example.

The opioid drug abuse and overdose crisis across Northern Ontario, and indeed across the province, was the other issue the Northern mayors were concerned about, said Black.

“We talked about our stats and how numbers are increasing the situations in our communities are increasing and it is something that concerns all of the mayors equally across our region,” he said. “We obviously feel first and foremost for the safety and health of our residents.”

Black said the mayors believe that more lobbying is required toward the upper levels of government to get more funding applied helping the right agencies cope with the crisis.

Black mentioned that when one compares the funding applied to traffic and highway safety, in comparison with the number of deaths from drug overdoses then it is time to increase funding for the drug abuse crisis.

Mayor Brian Biggar of the City of Greater Sudbury said the meeting was productive from the point of view of bringing the Northern leaders together and present a stronger voice to higher levels of government.

He said the rail freight issue was a key issue especially considering that all of the North is waiting for some firm decision with respect to developing the Ring of Fire chromite-mining venture located in the James Bay Lowlands.

Biggar acknowledged that Noront Resources has created a shortlist of possible locations for a ferrochrome refinery that includes Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Timmins and his own city of Sudbury.

Biggar said whatever the decision that comes down from Noront, what is good for one city is good for all the North.

“Obviously all of our individual economic development departments and staff are putting forward our best case scenarios and Noront Resources will make their decision, hopefully in the next little while,” said Biggar.

“Obviously this can have a huge impact on Northern Ontario communities as this project progresses.”

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald agreed that continued funding of rail networks is indeed a crucial concern for the future growth of Northern Ontario.

“No question, rail is a concern,” he said. “We have the ONTC (Ontario Northland Transportation Commission) in our community and actually right through the Northeast.”

McDonald said rail is a crucial piece of provincial infrastructure, which is clearly evident in the economic growth in Southern Ontario.

“We need it in Northern Ontario, especially on the freight side,” McDonald said.

“We are home to 850,000 people in Northern Ontario. We count. And we want our voices to be heard. We are seeing significant investment in the South. We need that investment in the North.”