Prince Edward County will be among the hundreds of municipalities attending the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association conference starting Sunday in Toronto.
The County’s delegation will include Mayor Steve Ferguson, several councillors and a few staff members.
Ferguson says they will have discussions with officials from the Ministries of Health, Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development as well as Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Discussions with the Ministry of Health will include more than the current doctor shortage.
“But we’ve got long term care we have to consider as well as other staff that are necessary to work with in the health care field. So the meeting with the minister is going to be an opportunity to talk about what we locally are doing.”
In their meeting with Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ferguson says they will talk about the County’s transitional housing plans and other affordable housing initiatives such as the acquisition of the Queen Elizabeth school property and the former Duke Dome in Wellington that is being converted into affordable housing.
With delegations lasting only 15 minutes, Ferguson says they need to choose the points they want to discuss very carefully.
“Making sure that the provincial government representatives have an opportunity to respond. And these meetings invariably lead to longer ones down the road whether at Queen’s Park or locally.”
In addition to the meetings with various ministries, Ferguson says two of the County’s senior staff members have been invited to participate in panels at the conference.
“Elis Ziegler of our Affordable Housing Corporation is going to talk about increasing housing in the rural context. And Emily Cowan our Director of Community Services, Programs and Initiatives, is going to discuss economic development in rural communities.”
Cowan will likely speak about the Thrive PEC initiative which brings together individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations to create a collective vision for community and economic development in the County.
Ferguson calls it a terrific opportunity to showcase what Prince Edward County has done and for other municipalities to learn from them.
The ROMA conference runs Sunday through Tuesday.
