Grey County Warden Selwyn Hicks is heading to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference next week and participating in six delegations with various provincial ministers.
The AMO conference will be held Ottawa from Aug. 14-17.
It gives a chance for municipal officials to talk about shared challenges, learn, and create new opportunities to benefit their communities.
Grey County says its first delegation is with the Ministry of Transportation to talk about enhanced support for the Grey Transit Route intercommunity transit service.
The next delegation will be with the Ministry of Long-Term Care to discuss health human resources and funding.
A delegation to the Ministry of Education will follow, regarding wage supports in the childcare sector.
A delegation will then be made to the Ministry of Health to talk supportive housing and the extension of community paramedicine street outreach.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry will receive a delegation on management and risk concerns at popular provincial properties.
The final delegation will be directed toward the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and housing on additional tools to support the development of affordable housing.
“When it comes to discussing the issues that are most important to the people of Grey County, there’s no substitute for in-person conversations. I’m excited to get back on the road and spend time face-to-face with many of our provincial leaders,” says Hicks.
Hicks adds the delegations given will be considered by the ministers and taken under advisement, with any further action possibly taking days or months.
“If you are meeting on a issue, like for example long-term care and the challenges that we have around human resources in long-term care, well everybody across the province is having that challenge. So this is just an opportunity for us to inform the ministry and the minister of our particular challenge and how it fits into the bigger picture. The solution to something like that, might take much longer,” says Hicks.
When not in delegations, Grey County representatives will be learning about key conference topic like municipal sustainability, community building, adapting to climate change, and others as Premier Doug Ford and a number of ministers from his cabinet will be speaking along with several expert speakers.
