(Niagara At Large is posting the following February 27 media release from the Ontario NDP for our readers’ information and possible comment.)
Queen’s Park– During a speech to the Ontario Good Roads Association / Rural Ontario Municipalities Association combined conference today, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the minority Liberal government to protect and create good jobs in rural municipalities.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath
“Ontario’s books won’t be balanced if Ontario families are falling behind. Too often they get a sense that their government just doesn’t care about their challenges, especially in rural Ontario,” said Horwath.
“We’re facing tough times and the plan to deal with them has to be balanced. Balanced by looking at government revenue and spending as we confront the provincial debt and balanced in terms of priorities. That means focusing not just on the deficit but on creating jobs, making life affordable, and ensuring our healthcare system is there when we need it.”
Horwath says Ontario’s government needs to focus on a plan to create and protect jobs.
“We’ve seen what can happen when big corporations get handed no-strings-attached tax giveaways. It’s time for this minority government to focus. Let’s reward job creators and tie any investment of public dollars to job guarantees.”
According to Horwath the road to prosperity starts with fresh investment in rural Ontario.
“Good roads aren’t a luxury in rural Ontario. They’re a must. Construction and maintenance projects drive the rural economy. They shouldn’t fall victim to austerity measures.”
Horwath added, “New Democrats made sustainable funding for regional and rural municipalities a priority during the election. We’ll work with other parties to put rural issues at the top of the agenda in the Legislature.”
(Niagara At Large invites our readers to tell us what you think on this issue. You can share your views in the comment boxes below, and please remember that NAL only posts comments by individuals who attach their real first and last names to them.)
Niagara At Large 
It is nice to hear from an elected official that actually gets it. Roads are an existential issue for rural communities. And regardless of ideological persuasion, roads and rural communities will be with us for a long, long time. Short of a deliberate government policy to shut down rural Ontario because “they don’t vote right” or in the name of “efficiency”, since the days of the Romans roadway were always the predominant route to sustainable communities.
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More Rhetoric
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It worked for Roosevelt during the depression.
More criticism.
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Chris is right on, about the Romans, they ruled most of Great Britain for 400 years,first thing they did was build roads, good roads some are still in use today, straight as an arrow, those guys knew how to build, and to last !!!!!
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Of course Chris those roads were not built with cars in mind, which do nothing to help make sustainable communities. If anything it’s quite the opposite.
As for ‘shutting down rural Ontario’? As long as more people continue to move into urban areas and leave rural ones, the government will see fewer reasons to do anything for rural Ontarians/Canadians.
There are some things I miss about living in a small town in northern Ontario, but in the end living close to things won out.
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Well, Ryan, you could be right. Goat carts and mule trains could be an option. Do you know where I can stock up on parchment and quills? Staples seems to have run out.
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Sustainability ain’t going to happen, not in this modern world, last Fort Erie municipal Election many candidates touted this mantra, history has shown us that the economy is boom and bust and usually war driven ,Free Trade killed any chance of even a modicum of sustainability Brazil and Argentina are prime examples of boom and bust,Brazil has done a remarkable job of weaning itself off foreign oil also it is blessed with a wealth of minerals literally mountains of nearly pure iron ore, what the future holds for Brazil is still unfolding.
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I suspect we’ll have differing of opinions of what a sustainable community is.
From an urban perspective, cars (or rather how cities have re-designed themselves and how people use them) have destroyed the idea of a sustainable community.
When I lived up north in a small town, (about the size of north-St. Catharines), people would still drive despite being under 3km away from shopping. The “downtown” (or main street) was always congested and people spent more time (and gas) looking for somewhere to park.
There is really no other way to get to places such as Huntsville or North Bay other then car of course.
Here are just two links for what *I* view a sustainable city as…Of course I am looking at it from an urban POV I suppose.
http://sustainablecities.dk/en/actions/interviews/jan-gehl-making-healthy-cities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_city#Transportation
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Can we start a thing where we include our Twitter handle with our comments? Or maybe Doug could add an additional field to the comment details section? @CitizenCee
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