Niagara Regional Chair Delivers Upbeat ‘State of the Region’ Address During Tough Times

“Let us choose wisely, let us act boldly, and let us do so with the knowledge that our best days are yet to come. …Together, we can make Niagara a model of progress, the standard bearer for collaboration and a testament to the power of community.”               – Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley

A Foreword by Doug Draper of Niagara At Large, followed by a link you can click on to  read the full transcript of Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley’s 2024 State of the Region Address

Posted March 28^th, 2024 on Niagara At Large

In front of an estimated audience of 400 members of Niagara’s private and public sector communities seated at the John Michael’s Banquet and Event Centre in Thorold this March 27th , Regional Chair Jim Bradley delivered an annual State of the Region address that focused on both achievements and the challenges the Region and its many partners continue to focus their efforts on.

Bradley began his address citing a number of statistics and dollar figures in a host of areas, including Niagara’s employment rate, housing, agricultural, tourism and in the recruitment of family doctors he said shows that the region is “on an upward trajectory.”

“When I reflect on the state of our economy,” he added, “I am filled with a sense of optimism for the future of the Niagara region.

“Yes, there are challenges,” he continued, “but almost every community across the country shares those with us. I believe that Niagara, has once again demonstrated its resiliency in building itself back after the economic impacts of COVID, and its tenacity in coping with the significant global economic slow down.”

Among the items Bradley called “remarkably challenging” for the his council were two budgets in a row that delivered two property tax hikes (each hitting around seven per cent on the regional government’s side of the tax bill for 2023 and 2024) that were among the highest in the  Region’s more than 50 year history.

“They were also larger than any of us (on the Region’s council” wanted,” said Bradley, before stressing that more than 90 per cent of the revenue collected from the taxes have gone and continue to go to “essential services.”

“This makes it hard for the Region,” he said, adding that no one at the regional government level and he’s sure few if any members of the public ant to see the Region “get out of the business” when it comes to services people need.

He went on to stress how important it is for the Region and local municipalities in Niagara to join with other municipalities across Ontario in pressing the provincial and federal levels of government to provide more funding in essential areas like public health services, housing and building infrastructure like roads, bridges and water and wastewater treatment facilities.

In the meantime, “we continue to cope with the impacts, as do all municipalities, of the province, and even the federal government, downloading costs onto the Region by making costly policy decisions,” Bradley said.

“Put simply, property taxes were never designed to cover the costs of complex issues like mental health, social housing, hospital development, Ontario works, asylum seekers or climate change. Despite the limitations of property taxes, the Region is continually being called on to respond to these issues.”

Following his address and during a question and answer period with Mishka Balsom, CEO of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce which hosted the State of the Region address, Bradley expressed confidence that Ontario’s Doug Ford government is not necessarily bent on amalgamating Niagara’s regional government and 12 local municipalities if it determines that services are being delivered to residents and businesses efficiently and effectively.

The provincial government look at how well the  current municipal system is doing to deliver essential services in a cost-effective way, said Bradley, before making any decision about “blowing it up.”

Niagara At Large encourages you to read the full transcript of Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley’s 2024 State of the Region address which focuses on a whole those of challenges our region continues to face like the housing crisis, homelessness, keeping the cost of policing and other key services under control and building public transit service.

To read a transcript of the entire address -click on – https://createsend.com/t/t-F533BD68057D22222540EF23F30FEDED

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