Richard Harvey says Toronto initiatives don’t work in the North.
Nipigon’s mayor attended the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs for the pre-budget consultation meeting in Thunder Bay Wednesday. The consultations are intended to give the public a chance to give suggestions on what they want included in Ontario’s upcoming budget.
Harvey, who ran as the Conservative candidate for the Thunder Bay - Superior North riding in the most recent federal election, said he wanted to emphasize that if the natural resources in Northern Ontario are helping to fuel Ontario’s economy then decisions have to be made with the North in mind.
But some of the ideas put forward during the consultation had the mayor, and others, worried that southern Ontario initiatives were being seriously considered for the North.
“It’s another one of those made in Toronto decisions,” he said of a suggestion to set up a toll for the Nipigon River bridge.
“That works in southern Ontario. We don’t have that option in Northwestern when you only have one highway going through. To hold people hostage when you only have one highway does not strike me as something that people of Northwestern Ontario would be open to.”
MPP Peter Shurman, the Progressive Conservative finance critic, agrees that a toll wouldn’t be a good idea.
He added that charging a toll on the only highway in the North was a perfect example of how southern ideas don’t work in the North.
“We need approaches that give us infrastructure opportunities in the North and everywhere else that aren’t dependent on something that is informed by what’s going on Yonge Street,” he said.
“I think it’s important, like everywhere in Ontario, that there’s a steady avenue for people to be able to earn a living. We have to do what we need to do as a province as a government ultimately to stimulate growth in the North.”
Although PC leader Tim Hudak has already publicly stated that his party wouldn’t support the budget, Shurman said they want to make sure they are part of the process.
But MPP Bill Mauro (Lib. Thunder Bay – Atikokan) called Harvey and Shurman’s comments baseless.
“I could give dozens of examples of incredible levels of investment and positive decision making that has occurred in Northern Ontario and in Thunder Bay over the past nine years,” he said. “This continued narrative from opposition members that the North has been ignored is in my opinion absolutely absurd.”
Although Nipigon isn’t in his riding, he said he probably wouldn’t support the idea and added he hasn’t heard of that initiative being brought up seriously yet.
“Part of the discussion in southern Ontario is finding a way to massively expand the mass transit system in southern Ontario because of the gridlock,” he said. “[Premier Kathleen Wynne] has flown the idea of tolls on series 400 highways down there. No one has said anything of doing that to the rest of the province.”
Tolls and infrastructure investments weren't the only topics of discussion during Wednesday's consultations. Steve Mantis, treasurer for the Thunder Bay and District Injured Support Workers Group, also made a presentation to the committee.
Mantis told the committee that he didn’t believe services for injured workers were balanced.
“In Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in particular, the amount of money that big corporations pay has been reduced by a billion dollars per year,” he said. “Disabled workers are being pushed onto the street and are homeless. The government is supporting corporations getting a bigger slice of the pie and disabled workers can a smaller slice.”
Having this imbalance will mean an unhealthier society that a puts additional strain on other services, he said.
