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 met with Mayor John Rodriguez in Greater Sudbury Friday to discuss the challenges they have in common.
The mayors identified priorities and will prepare a pre-election paper to present to the leaders of major political parties before the October election.
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.
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 then 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.”
Northern municipalities would not play the role of Oliver Twist, begging with a cup for “some more” from the province, the mayor said.
