Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj sees a number of gaps remaining when it comes to municipalities getting infrastructure funding from the upper levels of government.
On March 10, Ross-Zuj reported on a recent meeting in Thunder Bay regarding information on the Building Canada program.
She says “when you look at it, there are some positives, but then there are a lot of gaps.”
Ross-Zuj does not believe those gaps will be addressed in 2014, “but we are still at the table talking about it to see how to close that gap.”
She said the municipality needs to be prepared for the potential of applications coming out and be ready with projects for which the municipality could apply.
She added that while $1 billion was designated for small, urban and rural municipalities, “we can also apply for the big pot too.”
Later in the meeting, councillor Fred Morris expressed disappointment with the provincial government in terms of infrastructure funding. He pointed to the recent Ontario Good Roads Association conference.
“I’ve attended many of these over the years. I came away with a sense that there was a united front among municipalities in presenting to the government and the ministers attending, the urgent need which exists within the province for infrastructure funding,” said Morris.
“The only disappointment in it all was the response of the Ontario government, which was telling municipalities to go into debt to fix their own infrastructure.”
He added, “There is a growing crisis in the province and it is affecting every municipality.” Morris said he hoped that once election season is out of the way, all levels of government will be able to work out a sustainable plan.
Ross-Zuj added Centre Wellington representatives did meet with various ministers during the conference.
“We sent a very strong message to Minister (of Infrastructure Glen) Murray about the Connecting Link Program … and the last thing I was able to get across was the question of what happens if the St. David Street Bridge has to close?”
The mayor said the discussion involved a round table of 25 mayors.
“Everyone spoke with such conviction on the need for help,” said Ross-Zuj.
She laughed as she recalled that – because she tends to talk with her hands – her coffee went flying across the room.
“It was a dramatic finish.”
She stressed, “it wasn’t thrown at the minister.”
She added Centre Wellington had a very positive meeting with Minister of Economic Development Eric Hoskins.
“He showed absolute wonderful concern for our area and what is going on within the municipality. He really wants to keep in touch,” Ross-Zuj said.
“He was delighted we got our BR&E (Business Retention and Expansion) plans underway.”
Councillor Walt Visser said he believed the minister was very impressed with what Centre Wellington is doing in terms of economic development for the area.
