The Ford government and official Opposition jockeyed over who has the best interests of rural Ontario at heart at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference on Monday.
There were no earth-shattering announcements, but some key dates for funding streams were revealed.
In the morning, Premier Doug Ford announced how rural communities could get their share of the Building Faster Fund. When it was announced last summer, Ford said ten per cent ($120 million) would be set aside for small municipalities with no provincial housing targets. Those municipalities will be able to apply for a slice of that fund, which will prioritize projects that can move fast, the government said.
Ford also said BFF funding will roll out to municipalities that have met their housing targets. The cash left over from municipalities that haven't met their targets will be used for infrastructure spending, which any city or town will be able to apply for, Ford said.
"Unlike previous governments, our government will never ignore the needs of rural Ontario,” Ford said.
Housing has been a sore area for the Ford government, to say the least, as housing starts have declined for two consecutive years after a 30-year high in 2021.
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma followed the premier, announcing a Jan. 29 application start date for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund — a $200-million bucket for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects.
Small municipalities have fingered a lack of water infrastructure as a bottleneck to building housing.
And on Sunday, Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson announced plans for a new rural economic strategy, including a virtual summit next month.
Taking a bigger-picture approach, Paul Calandra, in his first ROMA as municipal affairs minister, touted his government's policies and spending on broadband, roads, bridges, long-term care, education, health care and homelessness.
The government's next housing plan will speed up construction, build modular housing and create an "attainable housing program," he said.
"Let me be clear: we will be even more ambitious," he said.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles, clad in a shirt supporting a push to allow councils to defenestrate harassers, painted a dark picture of Ontario — low wages, out-of-reach housing, services stretched thin, skyrocketing food bank usage, long health-care waits, a lack of family physicians, and encampments in many towns popping up for the first time.
"I hear the Conservative ministers and the premier here, and just about every day in the legislature, frankly, telling Ontarians things are just great. Best ever. And I think, are you kidding me? What planet are they living on? Did I wake up in the Twilight Zone?" she said.
Municipal Affairs Min. Paul Calandra says he's working with the attorney general on a bill allowing municipal councils to kick out harassers, but it needs to be "airtight" and constitutional.
— Jack Hauen (@jackhauen) January 22, 2024
He referred to "when" it comes, not if.#onpoli
But Stiles took credit for getting the government to reverse course on the Greenbelt, with municipal help, and said her party has a better plan for the province, including by speeding up housing approvals and getting the public sector more involved in building housing.
She called on the Tories to pass Chad's Law, deliver a northern franco-Ontarian university and give municipalities a "new deal" with more stable funding.
"We cannot and we must not keep downloading service after service and slashing your revenues," she said. "Look, if it's good enough for Toronto, right? Make our municipalities whole."
ROMA itself is also pushing for a new deal, saying its rural municipalities are drowning in infrastructure, water, and sewage costs.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie and Green Leader Mike Schreiner will make their speeches to ROMA delegates on Tuesday.
