[Northern Ontario] Mayors fed up – by By Gord Young, QMI Agency (Timmins Daily Press – May 11, 2012)

 The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Frustration boils over at FONOM conference

Frustration turned to anger Thursday as municipal politicians from across Northern Ontario screamed outrage over the provincial government’s silence regarding the divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

Municipalities and chambers of commerce from across the North were urged to lower their Ontario flags to half mast as disenfranchised and fed up mayors demanded a new deal for Ontario Northland.

“You have ignored the North for too long. You have taken us for granted. And we won’t stand for it any longer,” said North Bay Mayor Al McDonald, during a news conference involving politicians and business leaders representing just about every community in Northern Ontario.

The event, held in the midst of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) conference in North Bay, saw mayor after mayor slam the provincial government for leaving Northerners out of its decisions. They also promised to continue raising the bar when it comes to being heard.

“As Northern mayors we will continue to fight and we will continue to fight unprecedentedly for what we believe is our way of life, our people and who we are,” said Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis. “This is a call by all of us mayors to everybody across Northern Ontario to recognize we need you to join the fight.”

Northern municipalities, ONTC unions and the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to launch a campaign aimed at raising awareness and building support for the fight to establish meaningful discussions with the province regarding the future of the Crown agency. The group also announced a website where residents can follow the campaign at nd4on.ca.

Additional measures are expected to be rolled out over the next few days.

“We will not allow Northern Ontario to be annexed and we demand to meet not only with (Northern Development) Minister (Rick) Bartolucci but for (Premier) Dalton McGuinty to answer the Northern mayors,” said North Bay chamber of commerce president John Strang, calling the pair arrogant for refusing requests for meetings.

Strang said the local chamber’s request to meet with Bartolucci has gone unanswered, and Northern mayors have complained for several weeks that McGuinty hasn‚’t responded to their requests.

“These guys have forgotten that they work for us,” said Strang. “We are taxpayers in the province. We demand the same treatment as southern Ontario. And we will not let up the fight.

Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren pointed to a backdrop emblazoned with the words new deal for Ontario Northland, saying “it’s a God darn shame that we have to be spending money on advertising that we want a new deal when we’ve been saying that from Day 1.”

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