Mayoral candidate Cody Cacciotti said today that if elected he would urge his counterparts in Northern Ontario’s largest cities to use their political influence to push for safe injection sites.
Cacciotti said he doesn’t believe municipalities should be funding the sites, though.
“As mayor of Greater Sudbury, I would advocate to get Northern Ontario mayors around the table to work together and send a collective message to the other levels of government that this is an issue that needs to be addressed with funding from the provincial and federal levels of government,” he said in a news release.
The candidate suggested using northern municipal lobby and advocacy bodies, such as the Northern Ontario Large Urban Mayors (NOLUM), the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO), to press the issue with higher levels of government.
“We have the necessary tools already in place to lobby the government and together make enough noise so that issues such as this are getting the attention and support that is required,” Cacciotti said.
“If we work together, municipalities like Greater Sudbury can, and will benefit from support from upper levels of government rather than be left with another problem that cities must pay for on their own.”