During a series of meetings with Provincial Cabinet ministers as part of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference held last week in Windsor, Ontario, members of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) raised a number of significant issues facing the region, including:
- Extending natural gas into rural communities for the residential and commercial sector;
- Bringing improvements and expansions to the hydroelectricity transmission grid, on an urgent basis, to serve the growing needs of businesses and industries across the region;
- Making mobile broadband services available to businesses and residents by closing the coverage and capacity gaps in the current cell networks, while building a first responder public safety network that can serve as a model for the provincial and federal levels;
- Urging the provincial government to focus on plans for growing rural Eastern Ontario’s economy rather than creating more barriers to development;
- Stemming the rising tide of Ontario Provincial Police and other emergency services costs, which are impacting the ability to invest in local municipal infrastructure.
The EOWC represents 13 Counties and single-tier municipalities and 90 local municipalities across rural Eastern Ontario, and has a proven track record of providing accurate research to upper levels of government and completing projects on time and on budget. With its history of success, the EOWC’s goal is to make Eastern Ontario a model region for both Ontario and Canada.
Peter Emon, EOWC Chair and Warden of Renfrew County explained “…Energy costs… are increasing at an unprecedented pace, with no end in sight, and the reality is that rural customers are shouldering a disproportionate burden compared to their urban counterparts.” He went on to explain that “high energy costs force families to choose between electricity bills and other basic necessities and services, posing a growing threat of ‘energy poverty’ across our region and the province. They also hurt the growth potential of our businesses, which have also expressed the urgent need to address grid reliability issues and high expansion costs.”
City of Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham was among the municipal representatives voicing concern to the province, saying “We also spoke directly with Ontario ministers about other concerns that create significant financial burdens on municipal budgets, such as the rising cost of policing and emergency services, the broken interest arbitration system contributing to those escalating costs, and the current legal system known as joint and several liability that holds municipalities financially responsible for issues often out of their control and jurisdictions, and raises their insurance premiums.”
According to Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones, residents and businesses are experiencing the impact of increased energy costs which are affecting the ability of businesses to locate and/or expand within their region while the affordability of electricity is becoming more of a concern to many homeowners and the agricultural community. “Based upon research, we have determined that rural municipalities pay for higher distribution costs, and the global adjustment charge component of hydro bills makes it difficult to realize any cost savings even when energy conservation practices are implemented. In order to help promote economic growth and affordable energy solutions for both businesses and residents the EOWC believes it is necessary to have an expansion of natural gas into more areas.”
These rural concerns were loudly communicated at last week’s conference as the EOWC delivered a written formal submission to the Ministry of Energy regarding the Province’s next Long-Term Energy Plan. The submission includes recommendations around making the necessary infrastructure investments needed for the expansion of energy systems; bringing a reliable flow of natural gas and electricity to rural and remote areas of Eastern Ontario; and advocating for more affordable energy solutions for rural Ontario. KG
