The City wants in on access to the Province’s Build Faster Fund.
That was one of the big-ticket items that the Thorold delegation that attended the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference tried to drive home with provincial officials, Mayor Terry Ugulini says.
Currently, with fewer than 50,000 residents – the city’s population as of the 2021 census was less than half of that at 23,816 – Thorold has no way to access funding, even with the city being the fastest growing municipality in Niagara and fourth fastest provincially.
“Obviously are we're pushing that it gets lowered, and a municipality such as us are able to access that fund,” Ugulini said. “It's important, because, again, you want to make sure that we’re getting funding to service the growth within the municipality.”
That was the point the delegation was trying to make when it met with Matthew Rae, parliamentary assistant to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra.
Ugulini, along with Chief Administrative Officer Manoj Dilwaria led the four-person delegation from the city that attended the annual event. Others who made the trip to the nation’s capital for the four-day conference were councillors Tim O’Hare and Ken Sentance.
O’Hare agreed with the mayor, calling the system “quite unfair,” especially when Thorold is outpacing the region’s three largest municipalities – St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Welland – for growth.
“We are exceeding targets of cities, municipalities larger than us, and yet we're being left out of the funds that are being granted to build homes faster that were created to assist us in helping offset our infrastructure costs.”
He said Rae listened to the group’s concerns, but O’Hare felt it was unlikely the message was getting through.
“Even though they were very patient and listened to our opinions and position, there doesn't seem to have been any movement In agreeing that we were being unfairly treated for the incredible growth that we've been having here in Thorold.”
Likewise, Dilwaria, said the fact that the city didn’t meet the population threshold, meant there was no housing target assigned to it. The city wants to see that change.
“We were basically telling them that, yes, we will contribute towards your goal to build homes faster. However, we need some support,” Dilwaria said.
Like O’Hare, Dilwaria said the city’s growth has been outpacing the rest of Niagara and he expects that to continue.
“We have this momentum that is going to continue for the foreseeable future,” Dilwaria said. “Because we have developed land and in our urban area boundary and our location is very centralized as well.”
Ugulini pointed out, though, that while the city won’t be able to get help from the Build Faster Fund, there are other avenues for the City to tap into for financial help through programs for things like roads, sewer, and water.
Things were more positive when the group met with Lumsden to talk about the city getting some help to install a turf field in Rolling Meadows. Council has already asked staff to begin pre-design work on the project, preparing a budget and engaging with residents to get their input.
“That meeting went very well,” O’Hare said. “I think the minister (Tourism, Culture and Sport Minister Neil Lumsden, who is also a former professional football player) understands our position and the need for the turf field and agrees with all the steps that we're taking. I'm hoping that we will have a collaboration and support from the Province in moving this plan forward and receiving some assistance with it.”
The decision on the turf field also came at a good time, O’Hare said, as the province recently established the Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund and will earmark up to $200 million over three years to support communities with new and revitalized sport and recreation facilities.
The meetings are a big part of the conference and the Thorold delegation also met with Amarjot Sandhu, the parliamentary secretary to Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma.
“These conferences are important because you've got to go there,” Ugulini said. “It's an opportunity to have face-to-face meetings with the different ministers and ministries … concerning projects that you have coming up that you're looking to get funding.”
Dilwaria agreed.
“The intent is to make sure that we secure financial support to address some of the pressing issues that Thorold is facing,” he said.
In addition to the provincial politicians, Thorold’s delegation also met with representatives of Hydro One, the city’s supplier for electricity.
“We talked about the growth in the city,” Ugulini said. “And making sure they're going to be able to service that growth.”
