BY JASON THOMPSON
Five northern Ontario mayors say they aren’t whining or begging they just want to be treated fairly by the province.
Sault Ste. Marie Mayor John Roswell, Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren, North Bay Mayor Victor Fideli and Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson joined Mayor John Rodriguez in Greater Sudbury Friday to brainstorm and come up with a unified position on provincial policies and funding.
During the course of their meeting, the mayors identified a number of priorities common to their cities and will prepare a pre-election paper to present to the leaders of major political parties in Ontario.
Infrastructure renewal, competitive energy costs, getting a share of natural resource revenue, policy impact on northern Ontario and the municipal/provincial funding fiscal gap were mentioned as priorities.
The mayors were made available to the media Friday afternoon following their meeting.
Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez said there’s a fiscal gap between how much northern municipalities take in from taxes and higher levels of government, and the level of service they’re expected to provide.
“We can’t bridge that gap, and the do the things communities ought to be able to do…so what we’re saying to the provincial government is: you have to fix this problem, we have a gap,” Rodriguez said.
“Just as the province has a fiscal imbalance with the feds, we have a fiscal imbalance with the province. We have to try and get more out of the wealth that’s being taken out of our community and we have to get a fair share.”
Rodriguez said northern municipalities would not play the role of Oliver Twist, begging with a tin cup for “some more” from the provincial government.
“It’s a question of fairness,” he said.
North Bay Mayor Vic Fideli said money isn’t the only reason for the meeting, and that provincial policy doesn’t always make sense for northern cities.
Fideli refers to the province’s Water Tight Strategy, aimed at improving water distribution, which he said works well in southern Ontario where cities are cloistered but fails in the north where they’re spread out.
“The decisions they make in Toronto aren’t always one size fits all,” he said.
The mayors agreed that with a provincial election scheduled for November 2007, and the possibility of a federal election on the horizon, the time was right to unite.
“The fact that there is an election coming up…there’s no better time to put your case forward with the provincial parties who are looking to get seats,” said Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren.
They’re also confident that by joining forces, they can peddle some influence at Queen’s Park.
“We’re all working together,” said Sault Ste. Marie Mayor John Roswell. “A rising tide raises all ships, but that tsunami, one bad hit could wipe it all out. We’re trying to fix the things that are needed in northern Ontario so that we can prosper.”
