THUNDER BAY -The Board of Directors of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association met on Friday morning in Thunder Bay. The meeting included the appointment of Mayor Ron Nelson (O’Connor) to the position of Interim President and Mayor David Canfield (Kenora) to the position of Interim Executive Vice President. Mayor Nelson has been the Mayor of O’Connor since 1995 and previously served on the NOMA Board for many years including as President in 2001/02. Mayor Canfield also served as NOMA President in 1998/99. Mayor Dennis Brown (Atikokan) will continue to serve on the NOMA Board as Immediate Past President.
“I am proud to represent NOMA as its President and look forward to working with the Board as we make our issues heard at Queen’s Park,” said Nelson. “Northwestern Ontario is on the cusp of many positive, new developments, but we need the support of the Ontario Government to make sure these opportunities are realized.”
The NOMA Board also discussed Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan, which was announced on November 23rd. The plan does not adequately address the energy transmission and distribution needs of the Northwest to ensure a stable, reliable system for all communities. In addition, the Plan does not take into account the electricity that will be required by numerous mining developments in the Greenstone, Atikokan and Red Lake areas.
Nelson remarked, “It appears that the Province has once again left a large part of Northwestern Ontario out of their energy planning process. NOMA will be actively and aggressively informing the Government and Opposition parties of the deficiencies in the Plan and will be outlining the short- and long-term energy needs of our region to ensure economic development opportunities can be realized.”