NICKEL BELT – Following the tabling of the 2017 Federal Budget by Minister of Finance Bill Morneau this afternoon, Marc Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt, and Chair of the Northern Ontario Liberal Caucus issued the following statement concerning the increase to FedNor’s annual operating budget.
“I would like to thank all of the Mayors, organizations, and other stakeholders throughout Northern Ontario who met with and sent us letters highlighting FedNor as one of their top priorities for Budget 2017.” remarked Serré.
“Our Caucus collected these priorities throughout the year, and over the past several months we worked hard to meet with Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, and departmental staff to make sure that the priorities of Northern Ontario were heard and considered by decision-makers at the highest levels of government. The fact that Budget 2017 includes an increase to FedNor’s funding demonstrates that the hard work of the Northern Ontario Liberal Caucus is producing positive results for all of Northern Ontario,” Serré continued.
FedNor will see an increase to its annual operating budget in the amount of $5 000,000 million dollars each year for the next 5 years. This will enable FedNor to effectively strive to meet their mandate to promote economic development, diversification and job creation in Northern Ontario.
“I would like to thank the Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, Minister Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, Patty Hajdu, and the Minister of Infrastructure, Amarjeet Sohi, for being so open to discuss the priorities being raised with them, and most importantly for the action they have taken in Budget 2017 to address our priority of increasing funding to FedNor,” added Serré.
“I’m proud that our government is reversing the trend of over a decade of budget cuts to FedNor made by the previous Conservative government. This is good news for future economic development in Northern Ontario and a prime example of how we are stronger when we work together!” Serré concluded.
