THUNDER BAY – Last week I was pleased to make a great announcement in Thunder Bay on behalf of the ratepayers and members of the local roads boards in northern Ontario. Effective April 1 of this year, our government is doubling the amount of funding roads boards receive annually to a 2-to-1 ratio. That means our government support for local roads boards will increase from $12.5 million to $25 million annually.
Roads boards in my riding, like Northern Light Lake, Kabaigon Bay, Shebandowan, Rossmere and so many others all the way to Atikokan, will benefit from this funding. The chairs, trustees and secretary-treasurers of these roads boards do great work with little acknowledgment. I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to announce this funding to help people like Bernie Roy, Billy Pilot, Tim Niitynen, Wayne Jacques, George Hystead and so many others. I want to thank them for all the hard work that they do.
The work they do maintaining these roads is essential for local residents, for school buses and emergency vehicles. It benefits more than their ratepayers, but also everyone else who uses these roads to fish, hunt, go blueberry picking or just take a ride in the country. Many are not permanent residents but seasonal campers who maintain residences in Thunder Bay and pay taxes to support those municipal roads.
This announcement reverses a decision made in the early 1990s that reduced provincial funding for roads boards by 50%. Local roads boards like Lybster and Dawson-Goldie—and the list goes on—will now be better able to support this important road infrastructure.