MPs and members of the Thunder Bay District Municipal League found common ground over their frustration with the federal government.
MPs John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay – Rainy River) and Bruce Hyer (NDP, Thunder Bay – Superior North) and MPP Bill Mauro (Lib, Thunder Bay – Atikokan) spoke at the final day of the fall Municipal League meeting on Saturday.
Rafferty said he’s been fortunate to have received an invitation to the meeting for a number of years. It’s important to be able to be able to hear about the issues that municipalities in the area have since it’s sometimes difficult when he is in Ottawa, he said.
One of the things that Rafferty and the members shared was their frustration with the Conservative government.
“It’s more frustrating now with this majority government,” Rafferty said. “I don’t think majority governments have to be frustrating. I think there’s a special responsibility that comes with being a majority government. It was interesting that the municipal councilors also voiced their frustration with the federal government. But we keep fighting. Canadians expect us to do that.”
One of the sources of that frustration was the omnibus crime bill. If passed, the 110-page bill would see changes to drug laws, youth sentencing, the pardon system, detention of refugees, parole and house arrest and anti-terrorism measures.
Rafferty said the bill handcuffs judges who no longer have discretion on crimes such as drug possession.
“It’s a frustrating situation because we do have a majority situation,” he said. “We talked to the Conservatives and we said there’s some stuff in this bill that we like particularly the parts about child predators and we’re quite happy to push those through very quickly but there’s big problematic parts. Conservatives don’t see it but there’s a huge impact on municipalities.”
The crime bill will cost billions of dollars but the federal government isn’t attaching any money to it so it will fall onto the provinces, which will then snowball onto the municipalities with the end result being the property owners paying the price, he said.
Rafferty added he hoped Conservative MPs would change their minds about the bill once they know how much it would impact Canadians.
“This bill will pass in its present form if that’s what the Conservatives want and it’s going to be a huge downloading onto the provinces and municipalities,” he said.
Larry Hebert, president of the Thunder Bay District Municipal League, said it’s a benefit to hear from both MPs, Mauro as well as MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay – Superior North), who spoke the day before, because it gives the delegates a chance to voice their concerns.
The second day of the meeting had the heaviest agenda for the members. One of the topics dealt with an increase in workload for city paramedics that might lead to changes for coverage in the district.
Hebert said that would be one of the top issues that the dignitaries take back home with them when the meeting ends.
“Emergency Medical Services is a controversial topic,” Hebert said. “It was a great opportunity. Superior North EMS director Norm Gale did a great presentation to talk about some of the issues. We know there are issues coming up and it is certainly going to be on the plate of the city council in Thunder Bay to deal with it but it’s also very important to the region as well.”
