The Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus (EOMC) met in Toronto on Dec. 1 with various MPPs at Queen’s Park to discuss matters affecting Pembroke and other municipalities within the caucus.
Heading up the Pembroke delegation were Mayor Ron Gervais and CAO David Unrau, who were joined by representatives from several other eastern Ontario municipalities, speaking on behalf of more than 400,000 Ontario constituents.
One of the agenda items was the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s apparent failure to conduct a reassessment since 2016, according to Gervais. The questions surrounding this matter are two-fold, he says:
Gervais says that collectively the EOMC members have paid out more than $2.6 million without a re-examination. The outcome of that conversation is pending at this point.
Also on the agenda was the plight of colleges and universities within the caucus membership, where the recent closure of Algonquin College’s Perth campus and course cancellations at the Pembroke campus were front and centre. Gervais says recent provincial decisions to reduce the number of eligible international students have hurt post-secondary institutions’ bottom lines, leading to course cutbacks and job losses:
The final topic of discussion was one near and dear to Gervais and thousands of Ottawa Valley residents, and that is the twinning of Highway 17. Gervais and CAO Unrau have been working closely with the County of Renfrew for years on the issue, which remains a hot topic in the region and one Gervais is not backing away from:
Gervais points to the number of collisions over the years on the highway to push for action, but says there has been little more than lip service paid by the province toward the issue.
The delegates were greeted at Queen’s Park by MPP Billy Denault, and Gervais says he was pleased they were given a fair amount of time to present their cases to the province. Also encouraging, he says, was that various members of the opposition were on hand to hear their concerns, offering further potential for action should there be a change in government.
Gervais remains guardedly optimistic about the outcomes of the meetings, but says he and the other municipal leaders feel they have been given a good opportunity to push for tangible results.
(Written By: Richard Evans)