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MAYOR'S MESSAGE | Hoping to reap benefits from Queen's Park lobbying visit

Niagara politicians, municipal staff, make case for more resources
Mayor Marvin Junkin
queens-park
Part of the Niagara delegation to Queen's Park last week, from left, Deputy Mayor John Wink, Mayor Marvin Junkin, CAO David Cribbs.Supplied

This past week, Niagara Region hosted Niagara Week at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Town Council representatives were myself, Deputy Mayor John Wink, CAO David Cribbs, and Regional Councillor Diana Huson.

The thought process behind this event was that Regional elected officials and Regional staff would have the opportunity to sit down with senior provincial government members and discuss the areas of greatest concern of the Region. It was decided at Regional Council on February 23 that our delegates would focus on no more than four issues.

These issues were:

  1. Provincial financial support for the South Niagara Wastewater treatment plant and joint advocacy to the Federal government for further funding. The price tag for this project is just under $400 million dollars.

  2. Support for the Region’s plan to build more affordable and attainable housing.

  3. Addressing EMS offload delays in Niagara and their impact on the Region’s healthcare system. Our ambulances are often forced to wait up to 10 hours at the hospital before they can offload their patients.

  4. Ask for more provincial support for shared services and municipal modernization.

The kick-off reception featured a selection of fine wines, all of course from Niagara vineyards, and a selection of food prepared by a number of the Niagara Region restaurants.

Niagara delegates did in fact meet with Premier Ford and many senior cabinet members on day one of the weeklong event. Regional Chair Jim Bradley was pleased with the extent of exposure that Niagara gained from this endeavor. The reception provided the opportunity to discuss with some of the Region’s largest greenhouse growers, their concerns about local infrastructure and what steps are needed to support their multimillion-dollar expansion plans.

A special thanks to our MPP Sam Osterhoff for helping staff arrange the meetings with the Provincial Parliament members and for his input at the meetings. A gentle nudge is on occasion needed to remind the senior level of government that the provincial boundaries extend beyond the Burlington Skyway.