It was designed as a plan that would be the blueprint for growth across Northern Ontario for the next 25 years. However, since it was first released in March 2011, communities have not seen much action to implement the plan, penned as something to give government priorities, initiatives and investments in the North.
There have been suggestions that the comprehensive plan takes time to implement and it must be done in steps and stages, but few communities, to date, have seen any action.
Sault Ste. Marie CAO Joe Fratesi said that while the Northern Ontario mayors met with Premier Kathleen Wynne and senior cabinet ministers in Timmins last fall, Sault Ste. Marie and other communities have not seen much movement.
The group is to meet again in Thunder Bay in April with Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle. Mayor Debbie Amaroso said the Ministry of Transportation has never said when its study on the North’s transportation needs would be completed, despite her asking the question at the Timmins meeting.
“The transportation study is not new news. The MTO has said they have been engaged in that for some time but they give us no answers as to when its going to be completed,” she said.
While the agenda for the April meeting has not yet been set, Amaroso expects the Northern Growth Plan to be part of that discussion.
CAO Joe Fratesi also expressed his dismay with the plan’s progress.
“The uncertainty of the minority Liberal government may have an impact on anything being implemented and a possible spring election may play into it,” Fratesi said.
He said the lack of action is expected to be on the agenda in May when chief administration officers from across the Northern Ontario cities meet for their regular meeting.
“The deputy minister has been invited to the meeting to talk to us,” he said.
Fratesi said the city has already expressed its disappointment with the Ministry of Transportation reviewing its highway surveys and not focusing on other transportation infrastructure needs identified in the Sault’s Multimodal Transportation Strategy.
“We were very bold and we provided (the city’s Multimodal Transportation Study) to the government some time ago and explained that the work in Northern Ontario was done but we have had no further consultation,” Fratesi said.
The study, which cost $500,000 and received an injection of money from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp., was completed in 2008 showing the highlights and needs of regional transportation systems to improve the North’s economy.
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