Northern Ont. mayors unite on growth, infrastructure

Northern Ontario mayors at the FONOM annual conference in Timmins push for Highway 11/17 safety, $100M policing grant and infrastructure help.

The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities annual conference is underway in Timmins, Ont. This year’s theme is ‘Connecting communities, driving growth.’

FONOM President and Kapuskasing Mayor Dave Plourde said he is pleased with the turnout so far this year.

Many mayors attended this morning’s annual general meeting, though the mayors of the five largest northern cities were not present.

“We represent 110 municipalities. I would say that probably, three quarters of them are here today,” said Plourde.

“Certainly, there are going to be some that aren’t going to be around.”

Highway safety, policing grant top resolutions

Registrants voted on five key resolutions.

“You can’t avoid the resolution on highway 11 and 17,” said Kevin Burke, mayor of Sable-Spanish Rivers.

“That’s a big one for us. You know, this winter was a hard one. We saw a lot of, a lot of, accidents, a lot of victims, a lot of pain and suffering… something’s got to be done.”

FONOM is also asking the province to establish a $100 million northern Ontario policing grant.

“Salaries are going up and the cost of policing is going up, and it doesn’t mean because we’re a smaller municipality that we don’t have, things to deal with,” said Plourde.

Mental health, recycling, and housing crises on agenda

Other resolutions call for amendments to the Mental Health Act to allow for time-limited, medically supervised compassionate intervention, after-hours mental health and addictions crisis response coverage and the creation of industrial, commercial and institutional recycling depots.

Cochrane Mayor and former FONOM president Peter Politis said all those resolutions have merit but added infrastructure investment remains a major priority.

“We have huge mining development in the region; forestry is an industry that we’re working very hard on reestablishing, which will ultimately be as big as mining at some point,” said Politis.

“That’s bringing thousands of people to the region with their families. We have no place for those people to live.”

‘We can’t do it alone’: mayors call for united voice

Regardless of the issue, Doug Gervais, the mayor of Espanola, said northern municipalities need to speak with a united voice when advocating to the province.

“We have to work with all our municipalities in our area, and we are also really working with all the Indigenous reserves… because that’s all part of it, we know we can’t do it alone and if we don’t work together, you don’t make it,” he said.

The FONOM conference continues over the next two days at the McIntyre Community Centre, including addresses from at least six provincial cabinet ministers.