Greater Sudburians will have the province’s ear during a travelling road show consultation at the Holiday Inn Sudbury (Georgian Room) on Monday, Jan. 30, beginning at 10 a.m.
It’ll be a non-partisan event to help the province prepare its 2023 budget, at which members from the province’s leading political parties will listen to and ask questions of local speakers.
Only those who have registered for the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs can speak, though Nickel Belt NDP MPP France Gélinas said that she’d like to urge anyone interested in listening to come out.
“Anybody can come,” she said, adding that those who don’t make an oral presentation are able to send written submissions to the province until Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. by visiting ola.org/en/apply-committees.
Although many topics are expected to come up on Monday, Gélinas said the key thing she expects to hear about is health care.
“There’s a lot of health providers right now who want the government to listen to what they have to say, they haven't felt heard most of the time by this government,” she said, adding that Monday is their opportunity to be heard.
The closely aligned fields of mental health and addictions are of particular concern.
“They haven't had a base budget increase in over a decade, yet the need for mental health has grown exponentially through the pandemic,” she said, adding there are also many Ontarios without family doctors.
Sudbury NDP MPP Jamie West said the province is falling short on many health-care related opportunities, including their lack of commitment on funding the operational expenses at the city’s supervised consumption site, which the municipality has taken on.
“We have real struggles and it’s unfair for the province to download this to the municipality,” he said, citing the ongoing opioid crisis as warranting attention. “The government of the day has got to take action to address this.”
In recent months, the city’s elected officials have expressed a need for provincial funding for the supervised consumption site, a transitional housing complex and lamented the province introducing Bill 23, which is poised to shift approximately $7.5 million from development-related fees onto Greater Sudbury’s general tax base via property taxes.
West said he anticipates hearing people continuing the push for the province to finish four-laning Highway 69, address affordability and the “massive backlog” at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Those who don’t weigh in at Monday’s meeting can participate by Feb. 10 in the following ways:
- An online survey available by clicking here.
- Emailing [email protected], including your name or the name of your organization, use “2023 Budget Consultations” in the subject line and attach your submission as a PDF or Word document.
- Mail your submission to:
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
Minister of Finance
c/o Budget Secretariat
Frost Building North, 3rd Floor
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1Z1
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
