The Prince Edward County delegation led by Mayor Steve Ferguson took part in three delegation meetings with provincial ministries at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference earlier this week.
“We had several fruitful conversations with elected officials and their staff members about issues that impact our ability to best serve the residents of Prince Edward County,” said Mayor Ferguson, who was accompanied by councillors Sam Branderhorst, Chris Braney, Sam Grosso, Kate MacNaughton, Bill Roberts, and Phil St-Jean as well as Interim CAO Adam Goheen. “In addition, we are returning from the conference with a lot of great ideas and lessons learned from the various conference sessions that we look forward to exploring further in the local context.”
The county delegation met with Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and a large panel of ministry representatives to advocate for further provincial investments in water and wastewater infrastructure in Prince Edward County. Mayor Ferguson also urged the ministry to consider reinstating rent controls, in light of the high cost of rental dwellings in the county, and for movement on reinstating property reassessments in Ontario, which were last undertaken in 2016. The tone of the conversation was positive, with Minister Flack acknowledging the unique perspective of rural municipalities like Prince Edward County.
The county delegation raised concerns about the long timelines for processing vulnerable sector screening checks with MPP Silvia Gualtieri, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General. The delays are impacting employee recruitment, especially at the municipality’s long-term care home, as well as the volunteer sector and local employers. The delegation was pleased to learn from MPP Gualtieri and OPP Deputy Commissioner Chris Harkins that new processes and resources are now in place that will result in a much shorter timeframe for the checks.
In a meeting with MPP Andrew Dowie, Parliamentary Assistant the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the county delegation discussed ways to reduce the number of nuisance or false emergency service calls from the local provincial parks, which are costly and divert fire and rescue services during the peak tourism season. Mayor Ferguson extended an invitation to MECP officials to visit the county later this year to continue the conversation about possible solutions.
The conference sessions attended by council members focused on topics covering the breadth of rural municipal matters, including rural access to health care, Indigenous relations, codes of conduct, community safety and well-being plans, infrastructure, waste management, housing, and road safety in rural communities.
