- housing, infrastructure, workforce,homelessness prevention top the list -
by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative
At the September 4 meeting of Essex County Council, Kate Burns-Gallagher, Executive Director of the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, presented Essex County Council with WOWC’s 2024-25 Strategic Priorities.
Housing was at the top of the list.
Described as an “advocacy engine” whose reps meet with ministers, MPPs, and senior government officials, and works with other regional partners, WOWC operates as a collective voice, creating stronger advocacy.
It represents 26% of Ontario and 1.6M residents. Of the area WOWC represents, 90% is rural, Burns-Gallagher told members of County Council.
“That’s the glue that binds our region together,” she said. “We advocate on the rural priorities of our region, the small, rural communities in Western Ontario.”
In speaking of housing being at the top of WOWC’s strategic priority list, Burns-Gallagher noted that at the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, WOWC honed in on two specific requests.
The first is that the two pieces of Development Charges – which recover the capital costs associated with new residential and non-residential growth – left out of Bill 185, Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, be reinstituted. That is for the cost of housing services and cost of land.
“Over the course of ten-years, those two pieces will be the equivalent of about $4B for our municipalities,” Burns-Gallagher explained. “That’s a huge chunk of change that we can use to make an impact in our municipalities.”
The second request asks for equity for small and rural municipalities regarding housing infrastructure funding.
“It is incredibly important. Our communities are the ones that are growing and supporting the housing growth in the province,” Burns-Gallagher said. “We need to make sure that infrastructure money is there to support that growth.”
During the AMO conference, WOWC had a joint-meeting with the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and the Easter Ontario Mayors’ Caucus.
The three organizations sent a joint-letter supporting AMO for its Social and Economic Prosperity Review. Its website noted this would help to create a sustainable, accountable provincial-municipal relationship.
“Municipalities across Ontario are facing increasingly complex challenges, such as tackling homelessness and climate change, without the financial tools to solve them. It’s time for the province and municipalities to work collaboratively towards solutions for the long-term stability and sustainability of municipal finances,” it states.
Another key priority for WOWC is infrastructure.
“You cannot have housing without infrastructure, and you can’t have infrastructure without housing,” Burns-Gallagher said. “They really work hand-in-hand.”
Western Ontario, she added, is the economic driver of the province, just as the province is the economic driver of the country.
In the past 18-months, there has been $40B worth of investment in Western Ontario, from LG-Stellantis, Volkswagen and PowerCo in St. Thomas, Honda in Simcoe County, and Bruce Power refurbishment and expansions.
With that investment comes 30,000 jobs, Burns-Gallagher added. And those individuals and investments “need places to grow. They need movement. They need infrastructure to support them.”
As a region, “we need to make sure we are at the table for those discussions when it comes to infrastructure build-out in Western Ontario,” she said, adding WOWC continues to work with the province to ensure they are included in those discussions.
Another strategic priority for WOWC is the workforce.
“The workforce is extremely critical in making sure that the economy in Western Ontario is a strong one,” Burns-Gallagher said, adding there is a particular focus on the healthcare sector – including PSWs and RNs in long-term care facilities – as well as early childhood education.
WOWC is working with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development to make sure there are training programs available to ensure there is enough “care economy” in Western Ontario.
The final strategic priority focuses on addictions and homelessness.
Recently, Burns-Gallagher noted WOWC met with the Solicitor General and learned the Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) funding was extended from one-year to three.
“That was in large credit [due] to our advocacy work,” Burns-Gallagher said, adding they were thrilled to hear the news.
WOWC continues to push for that MCRT funding to become permanent.
In addition, Burns-Gallagher noted WOWC is also advocating for the Homelessness Prevention Program to be a rural stream of funding, particularly in this region where the funding goes to the Consolidated Service Manager, which is the City of Windsor.
“We want to see dedicated funds for rural homelessness prevention funding, particularly because homelessness looks very different in our rural communities. It’s couch surfing. It’s living in your vehicle. It is not necessarily the visible homelessness that we see in our urban centres. So, we want to make sure that funding gets to our rural communities.”
Burns-Gallagher added that broadband infrastructure continues to be a key priority of the caucus, as well.
Essex County Warden Hilda MacDonald thanked Burns-Gallagher for the advocacy work WOWC does.
“So many times, we are asked to send letters and it feels like you are spitting into the wind. So, when you have a powerful organization like [WOWC] that speaks for us, I believe it carries a lot more weight than those multitudes of letters that seem to disappear,” MacDonald said.
She also expressed gratitude for recognizing what the issues are.
Leamington Deputy Mayor Larry Verbeke noted he was upset with WOWC’s opposition of three building lot severances per farm.
Burns-Gallagher spoke of how WOWC advocated for the protection of farmland when the Provincial Policy Statement last year proposed that every farm could sever up to three building lots. That could have led to the loss of up to 750,000 acres of farmland in Western Ontario.
Verbeke believes farmers should be entitled to at least one lot. If there is concern about losing farmland, the province loses over 300 acres a day to development. He asked how that problem would be stopped.
Burns-Gallagher recognizes the loss of farmland per day and said it is shocking. She said there are other avenues that can be looked at.
“We focused on this one because it was a sweeping piece of legislation,” she said, adding the new Provincial Policy Statement 2024 allows for more flexibility. She believes one lot can be severed in certain cases.
In commenting on the work WOWC has done in the recent past, Burns-Gallagher said, “We really hit our stride in the past five or six-years on the advocacy level, and we are seeing great results.”
WOWC also has a staff team and Economic Development Committee, which pushes information from business communities as to what is going on.
One such instance was providing information on the Blue Box transition and how that was going to affect businesses in downtown areas.
“This committee really brings up any advocacy issues to the forefront.”
The Subject Matter Expert Groups – planning, social services, communications, and economic development teams – focus on WOWC’s key strategic priorities, Burns-Gallagher explained.
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