A Sarnia city councillor concerned about unemployment in Lambton County is continuing to push for a local jobs task force, despite a staff recommendation against it.
County staff, in response to a motion from Councillor Bill Dennis, has recommended a task force not be investigated at this time because it's not needed.
County council, however, will have the final say at its meeting February 5.
Dennis said he disagrees with the staff report.
"Right now we're in the middle of probably the best economy in our generation, and our unemployment rate, we're kissing seven per cent," said Dennis. "The provincial unemployment rate is around 5.4 per cent, the national is about 5.6 per cent, and what's really alarming is that we're supposed to be in a golden age in this town, you know with the NOVA expansion, with a lot of the good things that are taking place. If seven per cent is the best we're at, can you imagine what it's going to be when we hit a downturn?"
Dennis said a jobs task force would be a collaborative approach to lowering unemployment in Sarnia-Lambton.
"So many great community organizations [in Sarnia-Lambton] do have similar goals in terms of local employment, so let's basically just get everyone together, put our collective resources to use and see what we can do better," he said. "I don't think there's enough we can do when it comes to trying to bring jobs to the area, good-paying jobs, improving people's lives. I think everybody should be concerned with the local unemployment rate. As an elective representative, it's my job to make our community better, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is through valuable employment opportunities."
Dennis said other communities across Ontario are already benefiting from their own jobs task forces.
"Many communities have taken this path and we are no different. Let's try what has worked for others, like London for example, and see if we can make things better here. If our ship doesn't come in, we have to swim out to it. London is doing this right now, and we can't afford to let other communities get ahead of us in our hyper-competitive environment."
Dennis said despite the county staff recommendation, it's still possible council could support the idea.
"The county councillors may decide to go against staff recommendations or they may decide to go with it, but I've met them all, they're all pretty decent people, there's a lot of common sense out there, so whatever it will be, will be."
Dennis said the cost of the initiative would be mostly in time, effort and commitment.