Al McDonald and the mayors of the other four largest northern Ontario municipalities discussed a variety of issues in a meeting earlier this week.
The Northern Ontario Large Urban Mayors meeting held Wednesday saw McDonald, Sudbury’s Brian Bigger, Sault Ste. Marie’s Christian Provenzano, Timmins’ George Pirie and Thunder Bay’s Bill Mauro talk about key issues their municipalities face.
Opioids and homelessness
The highlight for McDonald from his discussion regarding opioids was a change in perception.
“It’s really poisonings. It’s not an overdose,” McDonald said. “If someone is addicted to a drug and is a constant user and some other material is interjected into those drugs, that’s not an overdose, that’s a poisoning.”
“It’s going to take everyone, not just government. It’s going to take society and communities to come together,” he continued.
Federal Gun Bill
The mayors discussed the Liberal government’s Bill C-21, particularly with respect to how handguns are to be regulated in municipalities.
McDonald says the group of mayors unanimously disagreed that handgun regulation should fall to the municipal level, as it could cause some inconsistencies among northern municipalities.
“The federal government needs to make that decision so it’s uniform right across the country,” McDonald said.
It comes as the North Bay area is set to return to Ontario’s colour-coded framework, which McDonald also addressed.
“Our citizens have done what they need to do,” he said. “The stay-at-home order obviously had a huge impact on our local businesses… but it worked.”
