Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) and the Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario (MARCO) have renewed a call for an emergency meeting with the province to advance solutions for the chronic homelessness, housing affordability, and the mental health and addictions crises facing our communities.
Mayors made the request while meeting with municipal officials at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference in Ottawa last week.
“The province should immediately convene the leaders that can help address the homelessness, addictions and mental health pressures in Ontario cities.” Said Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie, Chair of Ontario Big City Mayors.
“Our municipalities have been forced to step up to address the urgent needs for housing and healthcare when we are not financially or structurally set up to do so. This is the responsibility of the provincial government.”
OBCM and MARCO passed two unanimous motions requesting the provincial government to meet with municipal leaders to discuss health care planning matters that directly impact Ontario’s municipalities.
“We believe that the province must come together with the municipalities, sector experts, and other key stakeholders to put in place the supports and resources urgently needed for our chronically unhoused and those suffering with mental health and addictions. We look forward to working collaboratively with our provincial counterparts to provide for our communities most vulnerable,” Guthrie explained.
They also requested a meeting on health care planning and infrastructure matters that directly impact municipalities, including demands that the federal government increase funding for health care.
“Ontario’s Mayors and Chairs support government investments in healthcare and improved healthcare infrastructure, including hospital expansion and refurbishments. However, OBCM and MARCO are calling for health care partners to be fully funded to meet health care costs, which were never intended to be funded by the municipal property tax base,” the big city mayors wrote in a motion.