City of Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic is joining other elected leaders from Kitchener, throughout Waterloo Region, and across Ontario this week in attending the first in-person Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference since 2019 in Ottawa. Following the Province’s recent Throne Speech, conference attendees heard from Premier Ford and are meeting with Provincial Ministers to partner and collaborate with the provincial government to advance shared priorities, rebuild communities impacted by COVID-19 and grow the provincial economy. Mayor Vrbanovic is joined at this year’s AMO meetings by Kitchener Ward 3 Councillor John Gazzola and Ward 6 Councillor Paul Singh.
“The past two years have shown what all orders of governments can achieve when we work together, and that needs to become our regular practice, if we are to effectively support our residents and businesses following the challenges of the past 2+ years,” said City of Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “We know that many individuals and businesses are still struggling, and we must continue to build on the success of our partnerships and collaboration to date to make sure nobody is left behind and everybody shares in post-pandemic economic growth.”
Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) and the Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario (MARCO) joined together with key municipal leaders at the AMO conference to renew the call for an emergency meeting with the Provincial government to advance solutions for chronic homelessness, housing affordability, and the mental health and addictions crises facing our communities.
“We are seeing the impacts of COVID in many areas, particularly in the need for greater investments in supportive and affordable housing, and related operating funding for wrap-around services to support those struggling with mental health and addiction. We know that these are complex health care issues, often requiring new and different resources than some of the traditional police-based approaches of the past. That’s why we need an integrated and comprehensive response to the homelessness, mental health and addiction crisis, which can’t simply fall on municipalities, small businesses and non-profit services providers. We have brought together a strong coalition of partners on this issue, and it will require all orders of government working together to support and make significant investments in solutions that assist our residents, communities and businesses,” said Mayor Vrbanovic.
Over the course of the AMO conference, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic met with various Provincial Ministers, including Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney, and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli. We look forward to working with these Ministers, and many others, to make key infrastructure investments to strengthen Kitchener, our region and our shared local economy.
“Investing in infrastructure will be key to kick-starting the post-pandemic economy and unlocking Ontario’s potential. Infrastructure projects such as a new hospital, the University of Waterloo Health Innovation Arena in Downtown Kitchener, and Highway 7 expansion between Kitchener and Guelph, and others, will be key to not only supporting local economic growth, but also strengthening and growing the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor, all of which create jobs and grow the Provincial economy as a whole,” said Mayor Vrbanovic.
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OBCM and MARCO passed two unanimous motions which echo our call for an emergency meeting and request that the provincial government engage with Municipalities on health care planning matters that directly impact Ontario’s municipalities. Since OBCM has called for the emergency meeting, key stakeholders have signed on to attend, these groups include the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Association of Business Improvement Areas, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, AMO, Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario and the Ontario Tourism Industry Association.
OBCM approved motion:
Motion: Continuing the call for an urgent and emergency meeting to discuss solutions to chronic homelessness, mental health, safety, and addictions issues in our communities
That Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) once again call on the provincial government for an emergency meeting that will immediately address our shared goals to accelerate solutions for the root causes and impacts by residents, businesses and municipalities of homelessness, addictions, and mental health issues in our communities.
That the Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario (MARCO) support OBCM’s position and request for an emergency meeting.
Key stakeholders from across Ontario, including the Canadian Mental Health Association, AMO, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Ontario Chiefs of Police Association, and the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association, have joined us to call for a solutions-based meeting and both MARCO and OBCM are asking that they also be included in this discussion.
Motion: Requesting the Provincial Government engage with Municipalities on health care planning matters that directly impact Ontario’s municipalities.
That Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) and the Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario (MARCO) are joining the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) in calling for municipal input to be a mandatory part of health care service planning.
That Ontario’s Mayors and Chairs support the Provincial Government’s call for expanded health transfers from the Federal Government.
That Ontario’s Mayors and Chairs request the government work with health system partners to address offload delays that are preventing Ontarians from receiving emergency care and furthering the crisis of hallway medicine.
That Ontario’s Mayors and Chairs support government investments in healthcare and improved healthcare infrastructure, including hospital expansion and refurbishments. However, OBCM and MARCO are calling for health care partners to be fully funded to meet health care costs, which were never intended to be funded by the municipal property tax base.
For more information about:
Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)
AMO – Mental Health and Addictions submission to the Ministry of Health
For more information please contact:
Paul Grivicic
Chief of Staff
City of Kitchener
226-749-3410
Shawn Falcao
Manager, Corporate Communications
City of Kitchener
519-500-5418