For anyone interested in the Association of Municipalities Conference I have a short update on the conference and our meetings with ministers and their staff.
I am at the conference as a regional delegate along with Chair Carr and councillors from Oakville and Halton Hills.
On Monday we met with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing regarding the new official plan which still has to be approved by the province and various housing projects which Chair Carr and the delegation requested further help with seniors housing which is a real need throughout the region.
Next the delegation which included Donna Danielli our school board trustee met with the Minister of Education regarding the Best Start program, school construction regulations and surplus school sites which the Board, Towns and Region will be submitting a resolution to the Ministry soon regarding our concerns with delays in the process and having surplus school sites like the Laurier Avenue site in Milton kept as parkland for the neighbourhood.
The group which also includes Councillor Lunau the Town representative on the Halton Health Care board met with the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy regarding the funding for the hospital expansion which the Minister requested a detailed funding request from the board to fit into their 10 year capital plan a good sign as this Ministry has the lead role in allocating the billions of dollars of requests for provincial funding.
Next the group met with the Minister of Transport highlighting the need for funding and action on the #401 corridor, Tremaine Road interchange and GO transit upgrades as well as concerns over the proposed GTA west highway that may cross the middle of Halton Hills. The minister and staff indicated they would review our requests as part of the Big Move plan to improve GTA traffic and transit infrastructure.
Lastly on Monday we met with the Ministry staff of Correctional services requesting their support for the hospital expansion as at any one time Maplehurst residents account for 2-6% of the bed use at the hospital and they indicated they would raise the issue with the Ministry of Health.
On Tuesday the group met with the Minister of Health regarding the hospital expansion and she indicated that they would seriously consider the request as part of their 10 year capital plan based on Milton's growth and needs for various services. Mayor Burton of Oakville also raised the request for turning the current Oakville-Trafalgar hospital into a long term care facility with would help relieve some of the pressure off all the halton hospitals as about 20% of the beds are currently used for chronic care use that would be more suitable in a long term care centre which the existing hospital would be suited for and this change in use has been done in other communities such as Guelph.
Lastly the group met with the Minister of Natural Resources and Chair Carr and Councillor Lewis of Halton Hills stated the groups concerns with quarry applications in the region and the affect on the community from quarry activities such as heavy truck traffic and the need to reform the existing royality payments from quarries to communities to maintain roads in the immediate area of quarries.
Throughout the conference there has been a number of sessions regarding energy efficiency, the new Green Act, municipal services and policies that I will be raising at the next Council meeting.
Sorry that this was a long post but it is a quick summary of over 3 hours of meetings which the mayor indicated was the most he has ever seen in 45 years of attending these conferences of behalf of Milton and Halton.
You can also see more details on the conference at the AMO website.
www.amo.on.ca
Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Candidate for Local & regional councillor
Wards 2,3,4,5, North of Derry road.
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