Housing, infrastructure among hot-button issues at 2024 NOMA conference

Municipalities have a chance to discuss important issues directly with provincial ministers this week at a northern Ontario municipal conference.

Hundreds of delegates are attending the Northern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) conference at Thunder Bay's Superior Inn Hotel and Conference Centre — formerly the Victoria Inn — from Wednesday to Friday.

The conference includes a number of presentations and discussions — topics include transportation, tourism, health care and attracting youth to municipal government. It includes, for the first time, a chance for municipalities to discuss pressing issues directly with government ministers.

"We explained to the ministers that a lot of our smaller towns can't afford to go to the bigger conferences in Toronto, and therefore they miss out on the opportunity to have individual delegation time and face to face with some of the ministers," said NOMA president Wendy Landry, mayor of Shuniah. "So they've obliged, and they're giving us the opportunity for some of our municipalities to have smaller meetings at this conference."

Among the ministers scheduled to attend this year are:

• Paul Calandra, Municipal Affairs and Housing.
• Greg Rickford, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs.
• Jill Dunlop, Colleges and Universities.
• Graydon Smith, Natural Resources and Forestry.
• Lisa Thompson, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
• Michael Parsa, Children, Community and Social Services.
• Stephen Lecce, Education Minister.

One municipal representative who's taking advantage of the chance to speak with a minister is Terrace Bay Mayor Paul Malashewski, who will meet with Smith.

"Obviously, we want to discuss the situation with the mill in Terrace Bay," Malashewski said. "We'd like to get some answers from the government to see if they know anything or, what they're doing to assist the people who Terrace Bay and surrounding areas."

Malashewski said the shutdown directly affects about 1,900 workers in Terrace Bay, with thousands more indirectly affected. He said the municipality meets with mill representatives regularly.

"All they've told us is there is still some interested parties in purchasing the mill," Malashewski said. "So we're hopeful of that. When we talk to the mill about, what are your plans to open up, they keep telling us that they're waiting for the price of pulp to go up.

"When we ask them, well, what's that magic number? They won't give us an answer for that."

Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff said any chance to meet with a government minister "should be taken as an important opportunity."

"Here at NOMA, our surrounding municipalities and us, the issues are mostly the same," he said. "There's a lot of transportation issues, social welfare issues, policing issues.

"Here in the northwest in particular, we share a certain camaraderie. So that's why NOMA has a lot of importance in terms of building understanding between the communities, and supporting each other."