The mayor of Owen Sound left this year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference feeling positive the city’s priorities were heard by the province.
City representatives as well as the Owen Sound Fire Chief took part in the annual conference in Ottawa last week.
The conference gives municipalities from across Ontario the chance to directly address provincial officials and discuss local priorities.
Mayor Ian Boddy says they made all six of their requested delegations to the Ministries of Health, Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Transportation, Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Solicitor General, and Red Tape Reduction.
“Quite often we go with asks, things that we want and this was almost sharing ideas with them that might be beneficial to everybody a little bit more, and at times saying thanks for programs that they have put in that are working for us,” says Boddy.
He says while speaking with Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, the delegation asked for the province to look at doctor recruitment.
The city also spoke to the Minister of Red Tape Reduction Andrea Khanjin about the administrative burden placed on rural physicians.
“It doesn’t really affect us as a city, but if doctors can spend more time with patients and less time with administrative systems and roles and things, then that would be a benefit,” says Boddy.
Boddy adds they also teamed up with the Town of Hanover to discuss community policing funding to ensure all policing organizations get equal funding.
They also spoke with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack about small urban community housing affordability.
“Often they will have funding for a lot of different things for rural and northern, and we are not rural or northern, nor are we a big city that can afford some of these programs on our own, so it was trying to get them to notice a place like Owen Sound that is not big, but isn’t rural, isn’t northern, and needs funding and we fall through the cracks,” says Boddy.
The mayor says the delegation left all their meetings feeling positive.
“They seemed to be listening, they were taking lots of notes, had lots of questions, were well prepared, and the ideas that we were submitting, we described them better than other times,” says Boddy.
Owen Sound will be following up with ministry staff on various action items.