Thunder Bay City Council is coming out against plans to reduce the number of health units in Ontario.
Mayor Bill Mauro was one of five mayors to sign a letter to Premier Doug Ford opposing the idea, alongside the mayors of Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Sudbury, and Timmins.
Monday night, Councillors voted to further endorse the letter and forward it to the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, Thunder Bay Municipal League, and Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.
Current River Councillor Andrew Foulds put the motion forward.
“I think we have to come out swinging on this one,” Foulds says. “I mean, that’s how serious I think this is. This isn’t fooling around. I think Council needs to get behind this, and I think, frankly, we need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbouring municipalities.”
Westfort’s Kristen Oliver, former Executive Director of NOMA, confirms the group has already had its eye on what could happen to the Thunder Bay District and Northwestern Health Units.
“It looks like there’s some potential to see a pan-northern health unit that would encompass all of northern Ontario, which is incredibly concerning to both NOMA and the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities. The geography is simply too big,” Oliver says.
The letter, which was sent March 24th, also voiced concerns about plans to reduce provincial funding for health units and shift more of health unit costs onto municipalities.
Another big topic was the fate of the Pool 6 Dock at the waterfront. Councillors agreed to set aside $100,000 from the Municipal Accommodation Tax to prepare the site for cruise ships.
Fingers are crossed that ships will flock to the city after the pandemic, and Northwood Councillor Shelby Ch’ng is hopeful that this turns out as planned.
“There was an announcement in 2015, ‘The ships are coming,’ 2016, 2017, 2018. We’ve heard this all before that the ships are coming, [there’s a] big announcement. I haven’t seen a ship in a very long time,” Ch’ng points out.
Council heard last night that Viking Cruises has made commitments to make use of the dock, and is building a 655-metre ship that will make Thunder Bay its home port.
The plan is for work on Pool 6 to be finished by this autumn and be ready in time for the new ship to dock for the 2022 season.
