FONOM Agrees To Meeting With Province On ONTC
Alan Spacek, Mayor of Kapuskasing and President of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), was ‘cautiously optimistic’ about attending a meeting he’s been called to, to discuss the future of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC).
“I received word that officials at Infrastructure Ontario want to discuss the province’s divestiture of the ONTC with us. We view this very positively and want to work with our provincial government to get our concerns across and if necessary to get the best deal possible for the North and Northerners”, explained Spacek.
Mayor Tom Laughren of Timmins and Vice President of FONOM agreed. “We’ve been pushing for such a meeting and are happy to share our thoughts on how important we feel the ONTC is to the North. We spoke about these matters at length at the FONOM Annual General Meeting last week. Someone from (the provincial) government must have listened”.
“Kathleen Wynne, the Provincial Government’s Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, spoke at the FONOM AGM last Friday,” noted Mayor Al MacDonald from North Bay. “The Province cannot continue to ignore Northern needs. Our communities will be negatively impacted by the closing of the ONTC, and hundreds of North Bay families will be hurt significantly”.
Tom Laughren had given an impassioned plea to Provincial Minister Wynne last Friday (May 11) at the FONOM AGM to implore her Cabinet colleagues to “get back to the table and work with us. We need to work together to get through these difficult, rapidly changing times. Your government needs to communicate with us – more and better – particularly concerning the abandonment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. We asked Minister Wynne to take that message back to the Premier and her Cabinet colleagues and we are now happy to report that we have a meeting with Infrastructure Ontario,” noted Laughren.
Spacek went on to state “Municipalities from across the North are working together to represent our people. We want to work with all levels of government for the betterment of Northerners. FONOM is committed to giving voice to the needs of Northerners and Northern municipalities – with the Province, the Federal government, with First Nations and with other stakeholders,” noted Spacek. “So I’m very pleased we will have this opportunity to have a full and frank dialogue concerning the ONTC”.
FONOM’s membership is made up of 110 municipalities, towns and cities in Northeastern Ontario. FONOM acts in an advocacy role in relation to political and economic issues of concern in Northern Ontario. Its board of directors consists of 11 municipal leaders from the seven Northeastern districts and four cities.
