A news release from the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities states that Premier Kathleen Wynne, PC leader Patrick Brown and NDP leader Andrea Horwath will all be in North Bay this week. They will be attending the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Northeastern Municipal Conference that gets underway at 12:45pm on Wednesday at Nipissing University. Wynne will give an address on Thursday at 1:15pm, followed by Horwath and Brown. FONOM President Alan Spacek says the conference is a great opportunity for municipal officials and staff across the North to come together and have an opportunity to learn from each other.
This year’s conference theme is Forward Thinking for a Greater North and will feature Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda as the keynote speaker. The conference program will include workshops and information sessions on labour trends in the Northeast, municipal finance training, updates from the provincial and federal governments, opportunities in the bioeconomy, and tools for increasing affordable housing among other topics.
The conference runs from May 10th to May 12th, and will be attended by Mayors, Councillors and senior municipal staff from across Northeastern Ontario. One of the highlights include the Minister’s Forum will be held on Friday at 11:00am with several Cabinet Ministers confirmed including Minister of Municipal Affairs Bill Mauro and Minister of Energy, Hon. Glenn Thibeault among others. Approximately 250-300 delegates are expected for the conference.
