Lambton Warden Kevin Marriott is feeling optimistic about the future after representing the county during a recent delegation at Queen's Park.
He made the comments as he and fellow members of the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (WOWC) met with provincial leaders on Monday.
The caucus met with key members of the provincial government, including Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack, Minister of Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson, Acting Minister of Infrastructure Todd McCarthy and Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries Sam Oosterhoff.
Marriott, who also serves as the WOWC's Vice Chair, said a major area of focus was the Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build Program (COBP).
"That was announced a few weeks ago, and unfortunately we don't have a lot of new details for that, but we wanted to make sure that we got our say in as far as having access to some of those funds," said Marriott. "But unfortunately, a lot of the details haven't been released yet, so we're hoping that advances our build coming down the line as far as housing goes."
Marriott said both the province and federal government want to see reductions to development charges, however some questions remain.
"So, the more municipalities decrease their development charges, the better their chances are of accessing those funds down the road," he said. "It's mostly in the City of Sarnia, where they have development charges. So, we're going to have to figure out how that relates to Lambton County, because the county doesn't actually have development charges. So, one of the questions was, well, what if we have none now, and so we can't decrease them, are we going to be at a disadvantage to those cities that have high ones that are able to cut them in half? We didn't get a very clear answer, just a lot of stay tuned, because the details are coming."
Marriott said they're looking at the feasibility of creating a Regional Rural Transit Authority, to enable coordinated, equitable transit and improve access to jobs, healthcare, and education across Western Ontario.
"We asked and some of the counties are interested in a rural regional transit," he said. "So, we asked if there would be uptake for them to consider a feasibility study or a pilot program for a rural and small urban transit regional authority model. As you know, we've already kind of got involved with that, with the one that runs from Sarnia to Grand Bend and over to London. But what this ask is for would be more southwestern Ontario access. So, Minister Flack was open to the possibility of looking into doing a feasibility study to see if a regional transit would be justified."
Marriott said other key priorities included the possible creation of a Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) to better align funding with rural service delivery and support sustainable community based services.
"They let us know that they're spending $1.7 billion a year on that file already," said Marriott. "I had no idea that it was costing that much, but they reminded us of how much they've already increased that funding. It's a lot of money every year for a file that almost didn't exist a few years ago."
Marriott also said he'd like to see more infrastructure dollars included in next year's budget to address things like deteriorating roads and bridges.
The province also promised to address gaps in high-speed internet service in places like Plympton-Wyoming and Lambton Shores.
WOWC highlighted the importance of ensuring rural and small urban communities are fully considered in the design and delivery of provincial programs.
Marriott said their concerns and priorities are being reviewed by the province and nothing was promised or set in stone.
These conversations are being called "an important step in ongoing efforts to align provincial programs with local realities, and WOWC will continue to bring forward practical, regionally informed perspectives that support effective program design."
