The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities conference is underway in Parry Sound.
The annual event has attracted about 250 mayors and councillors from across Northeastern Ontario.
The municipal politicians will discuss issues affecting the north, and FONOM’s past president and North Bay city councillor Mac Bain says a contentious issue delegates will discuss is a fire med program.
Bain says this is where a firefighter is trained as a paramedic and is staffed at fire halls.
The rationale is firefighters are usually the first responders to an emergency so it makes sense to have a paramedic type person arrive and they help the injured.
Bain says it sounds perfectly reasonable to do this but the cost is a major concern for municipalities.
“We want the autonomy to do this ourselves,” Bain said.
“Our fear is this program is going to be much the same as 24 hour fire shifts which were arbitrated in. Our concern is as soon as one municipality runs a pilot project, other municipalities would be mandated to do it through arbitration.”
Bain says municipalities are trying to nip the program in the bud by voting against the program at FONOM.
Bain says delegates will also discuss trying to create a special energy price for large users in Northern Ontario.
He says there’s more than one example of industry leaving the northeast and moving to Quebec where hydro is much cheaper.
Bain says this is an issue the province has ignored but needs to be addressed in order to keep Northern Ontario competitive.
At about 250, the number of delegates at FONOM is higher than normal and Bain says it’s because the organization was able to secure an appearance by all three mainstream political party leaders who will take part in a leader’s debate on Friday.
