March 2, 2017 - A delegation including Mayor Keith Hobbs, Intergovernmental Affairs Committee Chair and Vice Chair Councillors Joe Virdiramo and Brian McKinnon and City Manager Norm Gale brought Thunder Bay's key issues to the Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) Conference in Toronto on Feb. 26 - March 1. 

"Thunder Bay had important facetime during several significant meetings with provincial ministers and key representatives this week," said Councillor Joe Virdiramo. "We had great conversations and secured some key follow-up meetings to continue those conversations, which we expect will help garner positive support where we need it."

The Delegation secured meetings with nine Ministers, along with presentations to New Democratic Leader MPP Andrea Horwath, Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and Progressive Conservative MPP Ernie Hardeman.

Key priorities Thunder Bay lobbied for included:

  • Anti-Racism & Respect,  Office of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and Incident and Reporting Referral Service
  • Community Crisis Response Centre, and Mobile Crisis Response Team
  • Property Assessment and Taxation - Railway Right of Way and Heads and Beds Levy
  • Homelessness Prevention
  • Mining Readiness Strategy - Energy
  • Mining Readiness Strategy - Infrastructure
  • Next Generation 9-1-1 Services
  • Tissue Processing in Ontario - Lake Superior Centre for Regenerative Medicine (RegenMed)
  • Shelter House Thunder Bay
  • Thunder Bay District Jail

The four-day conference themed "˜Leadership Matters' included sessions on Municipal Asset Management, Innovations in Water and Wastewater Stewardship, Building Disaster Proof Municipalities and The Challenges of Affordable Housing to name just a few.

For the first time ever, OGRA organized a number of Technical Briefing Seminars aimed at people in municipalities who are responsible for policy development, planning, ublic works, funding applications and project reporting. These included:

  • Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) Program
  • Connecting Links Program
  • Project Bundling for Small Municipalities
  • Road Safety Implements and Standards
  • The Implications of Autonomous Vehicles on Municipalities
  • Warning Signs and Liability (OTM Book 6)

Approximately 2,200 municipal leaders from across Canada and leading thinkers from around the world come together to discuss topics of local, provincial, national, and international importance. The goal is to invigorate public debate about how Ontario's municipalities will respond to emergent challenges and opportunities.

Conference sessions included Premier Kathleen Wynne, Hon. Bob Chiarelli, Hon. Bill Mauro, FCM President Clark Somerville, Hon. Steven Del Duca, along with James Howard Kunstler and Mikael Colville-Andersen.

There was also a Build Canada Phase II Technical Briefing where delegates had an opportunity to hear details about Phase 2 of Investing in Canada, a program to support public transit systems, green infrastructure projects, and social infrastructure projects.

"We took every opportunity to make Thunder Bay's issues and priorities front and centre with key Ministries while at OGRA, because we need investments from the Province," said Mayor Keith Hobbs. "Our meetings were engaging and productive, and that's important to help build the partnerships we need to advance our City."

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Contact:  Councillor Joe Virdiramo, Chair - Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, 628-6878 or  jvirdiramo@thunderbay.ca
  Councillor Brian McKinnon - Vice Chair - Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, 767-3945 or
  bmckinnon@thunderday.ca