Warden, County Councillors attend the Association of
Municipalities Ontario (AMO)Annual Conference
RENFREW COUNTY (Pembroke) — Several County Councillors, along with senior staff from the County of Renfrew, joined over two thousand participants at the Association of Municipalities Ontario’s (AMO) 2019 Conference in Ottawa from August 18 to 21.
The annual conference presents an opportunity for municipal officials to discuss and move forward on shared challenges, to learn, and to create new opportunities that can benefit their communities.
In addition to attending the conference program, County Elected Officials and staff appeared as delegations before several ministries to have detailed discussions on issues that directly impact service delivery and quality of life here in Renfrew County.
The delegations included:
Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services, with Minister Todd Smith. Regarding changes to Social Services delivery and collaboration with the Province.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, with Parliamentary Assistant Parm Gill. Regarding the County of Renfrew Service Delivery Improvement Project.
Treasury Board Secretariat, with Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. Regarding opportunities to find efficiencies while providing cost savings to ratepayers.
Ministry of Infrastructure, with Minister Laurie Scott regarding the proposed County Road 51 project in Petawawa.
Ministry of Transportation, with Minister Caroline Mulroney regarding the use of the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail for Active Transportation, versus hard shouldering of the TransCanada Highway 17.
Ministry of Long-Term Care, with Minster Dr. Merrillee Fullerton regarding Long-Term Care Funding.
In addition the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus had a multi-ministerial meeting with the Province, and with the NDP Caucus regarding key issues concerning Eastern Ontario Municipalities.
Warden of the County of Renfrew Jennifer Murphy shared this comment about her experience at the conference;
“We had a very busy schedule appearing as delegations this year. We had eight meetings with Provincial Ministers and their staff. We expressed clearly our concerns about shifts in funding to municipalities from the Province and how that will impact service delivery to our residents.”
“We want to thank the Province for the opportunity to present our issues, and we feel that they were receptive, and attentive, and we look forward to more conversations with them in the near future.”
Chair of the County of Renfrew Health Services and Social Services Provincial Modernization Ad Hoc Committee, Michael Donohue echoed the Warden’s comments;
“I’m encouraged by the many conversations we had with Provincial Ministers and their staff and would say we’re cautiously optimistic that our messages resonated with them.”
“These conversations expressed the culture of innovation at the County and underscored our eagerness to work collaboratively with the Province to ensure our delivery of services continues to provide outcomes residents in Renfrew County both deserve and expect.”
AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario’s 444 municipal governments. AMO supports strong and effective municipal government in Ontario and promotes the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada’s political system.
