Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake Staff and Council members participated in the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 2021 Virtual Conference from Monday, August 16 to Wednesday, August 21.
The 2021 delegation group consisted of Marnie Cluckie, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Lord Mayor Betty Disero, Councillor Erwin Wiens, Sheldon Randall, Director of Operations, Brett Ruck, Environmental Services Supervisor, and Victoria Steele, Executive Assistant and Communications Officer.
The focus of this year’s delegations was presenting the Council-endorsed Irrigation Systems Strategy and Master Plan. The request was that Irrigation Systems be recognized as municipal infrastructure and, therefore, be eligible for infrastructure funding opportunities and grants.
On Tuesday, August 17, the finalized Irrigation Systems Strategy and Master Plan were presented to Randy Pettapiece, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, who has met with Staff and Council members at previous conference delegations. The delegation focused on showing the Town’s commitment to improving and expanding a sustainable system for irrigators. Also discussed is how the irrigation system is vital in the fight against climate change, which has impacted the delivery of water to farms and in turn impacted the agriculture and food sectors. Parliamentary Assistant Pettapiece was receptive to recognizing irrigation systems as an emerging type of infrastructure, especially as the number of Ontario municipalities with irrigation systems increases.
The delegation group met with the Honourable Kinga Suma, Minister of Infrastructure, on Wednesday, August 18. New to the portfolio, Minister Suma showed extreme interest in learning more about the public-private irrigation system. After the presentation, she agreed that irrigation systems are critical for the survival of the community and to the production of food at national, provincial, and local levels. With the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) ending, Minister Suma’s next task is to negotiate future dollars for infrastructure. Her goal is to secure annual infrastructure dollars to improve stability and consistency in funding. The Town supports this approach and is hopeful that the irrigation system will be classified as infrastructure in the next round of funding opportunities.
“I am encouraged by the conversations had at the virtual AMO Conference,” stated Lord Mayor Betty Disero. “The Ministries were impressed we had followed through on advice from previous years and produced an Irrigation Systems Strategy and Master Plan. The current irrigation is aging and there is still significant farm acreage that does not have water security and we need provincial and federal funding to assist in meeting current and future irrigation needs and water quality.”
“While the opportunity to speak with the Provincial and Federal governments is always available, it is important to leverage the time provided at the AMO Conference to remind Ministers that Niagara-on-the-Lake needs their support,” said Marnie Cluckie, CAO.
“I look forward to providing updates about the results of these advocacy efforts and am hopeful the outcome is future dollars that will support our irrigators and our community.”
The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake also joined the Town of Lincoln and Prince Edward County to advocate for continued tax relief assistance for the tourism and hospitality sectors. The delegation team was encouraged by Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s commitment to modernizing efforts to tax alcohol.
In addition to participating in delegations, staff attended sessions tailored to issues affecting the community, such as “Municipal Digital Transformation: Building Permits in the 21st Century” and “Regulating Cannabis Growing in Municipalities – Opportunities and Challenges”.
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For more information, please contact:
Lauren Kruitbosch, Manager of Customer Experience & Communications
905-468-6458 | communications@notl.com