THUNDER BAY – Ontario’s Minister of Government and Consumer Services says the province plans to streamline Service Ontario’s bottom line, but promised it won’t come at the expense of jobs or outlet closures the Northwest.
Todd Smith, who on Thursday toured the James Street Service Ontario offices in Thunder Bay, said saving taxpayer dollars is the Conservative Party’s mandate.
“We have to find efficiencies and moving things to digital and modernizing government services is a key area where we can find those efficiencies,” Smith said. “That’s why it’s so important to meet with front-line staff.
“One of the things we just heard is how technology is being used now for meetings that used to cost a lot more money, because you used to have to fly people here or there. Now you can do it using technology.”
It’s a plan he wants to roll out across the Ontario civil service, said Smith, who also serves at the government house leader.
“Premier (Doug) Ford ran on reducing the size and cost of government by four cents on every dollar and there are certainly ways that we can do that. The more we can get out and meet with the front-line workers and talk about where we can find those efficiencies, we’ll be on our way to doing that,” Smith said.
It won’t come at the expense of existing staff, he said.
“One of the promises that we made was that we were going to find those efficiencies without costing anyone their job,” Smith said. “So those who work here in Thunder Bay should feel comfortable that they’re going to have their jobs and they’re going to help us achieve our goals.”
That’s a stark contrast to the plan laid out by former PC leader Tim Hudak prior to the 2014 election, when he vowed to cut 100,000 civil servant jobs across Ontario, a platform plank that likely led to a landslide Liberal majority victory.
Smith also promised Thunder Bay won’t be forgotten by the Conservative government, despite the fact voters in the Northwestern Ontario city elected Liberal and NDP MPPs in the June election.
“I can tell you that Thunder Bay is on the map. We know that Thunder Bay has some needs here in the community, particularly on the health-care side, but in other areas as well. We know there needs to be economic investment in this region to keep the jobs here in this region, and we’re committed to doing that.”
Smith said on that end, it’s clear progress needs to be made on the long-touted Ring of Fire mining project, which stalled under the previous governing Liberal government.
That’s going to change, Smith said.
“Clearly we need to get a road built into that Ring of Fire. It’s a tremendous opportunity. We have to work with our First Nations groups to ensure that that happens,” Smith said, adding Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Greg Rickford and Premier Ford have been working on the file.
“I know the conversations are ongoing. Hopefully there’s some good news on that front soon too,” Smith said.
