Fed up with waiting on the province, Northern mayors plan to develop a Northern Growth Plan themselves.
Mayors from Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Timmins all met for a two-day meeting this week to discuss the progress on the Growth Plan. The province launched the plan in 2011 and the mayors, who met in the Sault Ste. Marie, are looking for an update.
Mayor Keith Hobbs said because the province has been so slow, he and the four other mayors plan to put forth a paper of what they would like to see done in the North. The mayors’ plan would put mining as one of the top priorities.
“It’s similar to the Mining Readiness Strategy when we went to the Ontario Good Roads Association conference,” Hobbs said.
“We put a comprehensive plan together. We’re going to have to take the lead I guess and tell the province how we would like to see (the Northern Growth Plan) done.”
Hobbs said he and the other mayors are disappointed with the provinces lack of action. He joked the province still has 18 years to finish the 20 year plan.
“It has been idle for two years,” he said. “It’s time for action. All of our issues are similar. We came out very united. We’re telling both levels of government that we have a very powerful group.”
MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib. Thunder Bay – Superior North) said he looked forward to not only a discussion but also listening to the five mayors. He argued the Growth Plan hadn’t been idle for two years and instead had been moving forward.
“I will be at the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities gathering next week, which is being held in Parry Sound,” he said.
“I want to also press upon them how we are actually very keen on seeing the Growth Plan move forward as well. There are various aspects of it that are being implemented. I’m very excited about the Northern Policy Institute.”
He said with the Growth Plan the North will be in a better position to voice concerns when large funding like the $35 billion over three years for infrastructure comes around.
He added they’re putting programs in place with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation that will be directly connected to some of the implementation dates for the Growth Plan.
