The Mayor of Chatham-Kent is feeling more optimistic these days about resolving a few top local issues after getting reassurances from the province this week.
Darrin Canniff told Blackburn News he was reassured virtually by several ministers at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference they would work with the municipality and the federal government to fix shoreline erosion, address the closure of Highway 3, and get high-speed internet up and running soon.
Canniff warns the shoreline erosion issue is complicated and far-reaching and will take a while to resolve. He also said Highway 3 is owned by the municipality after the province transferred it and should get provincial funding to relocate it, but connecting towns with high-speed internet should only be two years away. Canniff said he is looking for funding from upper level of government to relocate Highway 3 further north and avoid it from falling into the lake due to erosion.
"They didn't pull the cheque book out and hand me any money but certainly it's something they need to look at. The fibre, they are putting their money where their mouth is. The erosion and flooding, they're going to have to come up with a consistent approach for the province because what they do in Chatham-Kent they're going to have to echo across," said Canniff. "West of Chatham-Kent they're looking at making Highway 3 four lanes but then when they get to Chatham-Kent it's closed. So, really it's a provincial highway and we need help with funding for that."
The mayor said Highway 3 will remain closed unless the municipality gets $50 million to $100 million to relocate it.
Canniff also said he's not giving up on a new arena because the premier is interested in working with the federal government to get some extra infrastructure funding similar to what happened after the 2008 fiscal crisis.
"I certainly sense they're serious about it and when the premier says he's dedicated to getting more infrastructure funding out there, we didn't talk about the arenas, but he wants to get more funding out for that. He truly believes in community centres and sports complexes and those things that tie our communities together," said the mayor.
Canniff said he also raised Chatham-Kent's high priority issues with Premier Doug Ford when he visited Windsor last week.
Within the past two years, Chatham-Kent has issued four emergency declarations and closed three sections of roads along Lake Erie, including Highway 3. The province transferred a series of provincial highways and structures to Chatham-Kent in 1998. The maintenance cost of those is $324 million and to date, Chatham-Kent has spent more than $100 million to maintain them. Fixing the shoreline erosion would cost at least $217 million.
Both local school boards have said a lack of widespread affordable high-speed internet has been a concern for them for many years and the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified it as a serious problem that prevents the delivery of online education to students in their homes on an equitable basis.
During the conference, Premier Ford announced that Ontario will maintain the structure of the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) for 2021. The OMPF is the province's general assistance grant to municipalities. The government also announced further support for public health units as they continue to respond to COVID-19 across the province by investing approximately $47 million in one-time funding for both the 2020 and 2021 calendar years.
The funding will ensure that municipalities do not experience any impacts as a result of the change to the 70 per cent provincial and 30 per cent municipal cost-sharing for public health units that came into effect in January. The Ontario government is also providing $77 million in additional funding to support paramedic services and dispatch centres, and increasing its funding to the Land Ambulance Service Grant by five per cent in 2020/21.