Thunder Bay’s key priorities were brought to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Annual Conference in Ottawa this week.

A delegation led by Mayor Bill Mauro and Councillor Shelby Ch’ng, Vice-Chair – Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, along with Norm Gale, City Manager brought forward nine community issues to lobby for action and/or funding for Thunder Bay.

“AMO is an important opportunity for us to meet with Ministries and advocate for our community’s needs,” said Mayor Bill Mauro. “We were fortunate to have secured some important meetings to discuss critical community issues, and we used it as an opportunity to make Thunder Bay’s issues and priorities front and centre.”

The Thunder Bay delegation secured meetings with:

  • Attorney General Doug Downey
  • Solicitor General Sylvia Jones
  • Ministry of Infrastructure Chief of Staff Jenn Bell
  • Minister of Finance Rod Phillips
  • Ministry of Tourism Culture and Sport PA Vincent Ke

Topic of priorities covered included:

  • Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund stability
  • Indoor Turf Facility
  • Police Funding/Guns and Gangs
  • Inquest Recommendations 114
  • Bombardier
  • Next Generation 911
  • POA (Provincial Offenses Collection)
  • Joint and Several Liability

The delegation also attended meetings with members of the Northern Ontario Municipal Association, the Emergency Services Steering Committee, as well as the Red Tape Roundtable with Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Associate Minister - Small Business and Red Tape Reduction to learn more about reducing red tape and streamlining processes for residents, businesses and local government.

The AMO Conference has become one of the largest municipal conferences in Canada, attracting over 2000 municipal leaders. The Conference provides the opportunity for Municipalities to meet directly with Ontario Ministries on community specific issues.

Themed Municipalities: Ontario’s Frontline, the Conference included programming with expert keynote speakers, an industry tradeshow and dozens of concurrent educational sessions for delegates ranging from Cyber and Climate Change: No Longer Emerging Risks, What's Happening with Affordable Housing in Ontario, to Municipal Money Matters: Our Fiscal Future.


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Contact: Stacey Levanen, Supervisor – Corporate Communications, 625-3650