MPP Michael Mantha’s News from the Park
NDP MPP Michael Mantha, Algoma-Manitoulin
This week the legislature returned and the NDP welcomed two newly elected MPP’s. During the summer by elections Percy Hatfield was elected in Windsor-Tecumseh and Peggy Sattler was elected in London West. We are proud to have these two fantastic additions to our caucus and look forward to working with them.
In this session, New Democrats will continue to work hard to deliver results that create jobs, strengthen healthcare, make life more affordable and make government more transparent and accountable. We will be working to create balance, fairness and accountability at Queen’s Park.
New Democrats will hold the government’s feet to the fire to ensure that the government keeps the promises made during the budget to get young people working, cut healthcare wait times, cut auto insurance premiums and get the Financial Accountability Office up and running. We will work to build prosperity that everyone can share in.
We have been debating Bill G95: Financial Accountability Office this week in the legislature. We all know the Financial Accountability Office is being created because of the hard work of New Democrats. The last legislative session was plagued with scandal after scandal, and the public saw a serious lack of respect for their tax dollars. In budget negotiations New Democrats brought forward measures to make government more accountable. This will stop governments of any party from wasting money. People want to trust the government, but after years of broken Liberal promises, they find that hard to do. They want to see some accountability; a new Financial Accountability Office would start to rebuild some of that trust.
Back in Algoma-Manitoulin this week, many communities were devastated with severe rain causing flooding. We had several communities declare states of emergency. Heavy rains caused several roads to wash out and shut down a large portion of the TransCanada highway. This has not only forced motorists to make massive detours, but also resulted in extensive damage to towns, communities and person property.
When I was alerted to this flooding I spoke directly with the Minister of Community Safety. Minister Meilleur and her staff assured us that resources would be available once a full assessment of the damage is completed. In addition I have had discussions with Minister Jeffrey’s, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with regards to the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP). ODRAP provides funding to municipalities who have been affected by disasters. I have been in constant communication with the mayors of each town and continue to monitor the situation and provide any support possible. Emergency services and road crews continue to be on the scene at all the affected areas and are working hard to reopen all roads. My office is committed to providing support and assistance to all affected individuals and will work hard to ensure these communities’ needs are being met and appropriate action is being taken. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members who lost their loved one in the Plummer Additional area in an accident as a result of these heavy rainfalls. We wish all others who were injured a speedy recovery.
As always, please feel free to contact my office about this issue, or any other provincial matters. You can reach my constituency office by email at mmantha-co@ndp.on.ca or by phone at 705-461-9710/1-800-831-1899.
Michael Mantha MPP/député
Algoma-Manitoulin
