MPPs have voted to support a motion introduced by Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece, which calls attention to what he feels is a growing rural-urban divide.
The motion, passed on Sept. 6, called on the provincial government to “re-evaluate policies that negatively affect residents of rural and small-town Ontario and are a source of growing frustration in rural communities, which are key to a strong, healthy province.”
“I’m very pleased that we put rural Ontario back on the radar,” said Pettapiece after the vote. “My intention with this motion was to highlight the rural-urban divide and some of the issues that I believe are contributing to it, as well as to get MPPs thinking about ways to bridge that divide.”
During the debate, Pettapiece brought forward concerns he’s heard from across Perth-Wellington, including many from local municipal leaders.
“Municipal leaders told us that the province too often imposes unfair or unrealistic pressures – financial, regulatory or environmental – on rural municipalities,” he said.
Among the area council members Pettapiece quoted during the debate was councillor Neil Driscoll of Mapleton Township, who said, “We in rural Ontario are tired of being the low-cost solution to big-city problems.”
Pettapiece also blasted the Liberals for the Green Energy Act.
“By forcing municipalities to accept industrial wind farms even where there is overwhelming local opposition, the province is telling rural Ontario that its views don’t matter,” he said.
Pettapiece also cited comments from Mapleton councillor Andy Knetsch on the Green Energy Act: “Basically, I have difficulty with the province telling us, the local citizens, what is good for us via the creation of legislation and, thus, tying our collective hands.”
The Liberal government’s decision to cancel the Slots at Racetracks revenue-sharing agreement, impacting Ontario’s horse-racing industry, is also contributing to a widening rural-urban divide, Pettapiece contends. He spoke about what people said at a public meeting in Wellington County.
“They were outraged that the government would kill the horse-racing industry, seemingly to support its intention to build large casinos in urban centres. Many see their own province waging a war against them,” Pettapiece told the legislature. “It’s no wonder we have a divide,” he added.
In his remarks, Pettapiece brought forward a range of other issues affecting rural Ontario, including what he sees as over-regulation in agriculture, school transportation procurement policies, skyrocketing hydro costs affecting manufacturing, and the government’s refusal to share gas tax revenues with small and rural municipalities.
During the debate on the motion, several Liberal MPPs, including Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin, responded to Pettapiece’s contention the current government isn’t rural-friendly.
“You didn’t talk about a lot of the schools or community projects our government invested in: the Alma Community Hall, the Mount Forest Curling Club, the Mapleton playground, the Palmerston Lions Park, the new Perth East Library, the Mitchell splash pad, the Mitchell Curling Club, the St. Marys accessible playground. You didn’t talk about the Golden Valley Farms investment through AMIS or Erie Meats in Listowel. In fact, you left out a whole lot of stuff that was really important in your effort to denigrate the government and perpetuate the convenient myth you want to create there,” stated McMeekin.
McMeekin also pointed to provincial investment in hospital redevelopments in Listowel and Stratford, a dialysis unit at the hospital in Palmerston, a new MRI scanner in Stratford, and plans to develop the hospital in Mount Forest as examples of the Liberal government’s contribution to rural Ontario, including Perth-Wellington.
McMeekin also questioned the record of the last Conservative government on rural issues.
“The single worst thing that ever happened to rural Ontario was when then-Premier Mike Harris reduced the number of seats in Ontario from 130 to 103,” he stated, adding, “We lost all kinds of influence.”
Pettapiece concluded by challenging MPPs from all parties, rural and urban, to address the divide and focus on building the province to the benefit of all regions.
“Surely we can agree that a growing divide between urban and rural Ontario is not healthy,” Pettapiece stated. “Surely we can agree that to bridge that divide, to move forward as one province, we need our entire province – rural, urban, north and south – to be successful.”
