Town officials meet with ministers at ROMA conference

Atikokan - Mayor Rob Ferguson, Chief Administrative Officer Jason Young and Councillor Liz Shine attended what the mayor called a "very successful" ROMA conference.

The Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) held its annual meeting in Toronto earlier this week, which included numerous participating municipalities from across the province, including Atikokan.

The Ontario government used the event to announce infrastructure and other funding programs to support municipalities.

These include a new Rural Economic Development Strategy, with $10 million annually for a new Ontario Rural Development Program to support economic growth, workforce capacity and business development.

This is more than the previous Rural Development Strategy, and Ferguson noted that the province "has expanded the scope of what can be applied for."

He said: "There will certainly be some municipalities that will benefit from (the expansion of the program), but whether we can find ways to adapt our projects to fit the program is another matter."

The province also announced that it is opening applications for $175 million in water and wastewater infrastructure funding to support the development of new housing.

Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma also announced that the province has completed its assessment of applications for the $400 million "Housing Support" fund and approved 58 successful projects in Ontario.

According to a government press release, these projects "will help build up to 160,000 new homes and ensure these growing communities are connected to reliable roads." The press release said the list of successful applicants will be released soon.

After the meeting, Ferguson told The News Watch that the infrastructure funding programs, "while they all have conditions attached, are interesting."

"The message we got is that they are genuinely interested in working with the North, which sounds good to us, and I think municipalities in northwestern Ontario should be able to access some funding."

Ferguson said the Atikokan team met with Health Minister Sylvia Jones "to discuss some healthcare issues" and with Hydro One "to discuss our opportunities regarding the Waasigan transmission line and some other ongoing projects."

The $1.2 billion Waasigan transmission line will extend from Shuniah to Atikokan and then to Dryden. A groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1 construction (to Atikokan) was held in November at Hydro One's Lakehead transmission station in Shuniah.

"It's always good to meet with ministers," Ferguson said of the meetings. "Overall, the conference was very successful."

Source: https://www.nwonewswatch.com/local-news/town-officials-meet-with-ministers-at-roma-conference-10119332?utm_source=tbnewswatch.com&utm_campaign=tbnewswatch.com%3A%20outbound&utm_medium=referral