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Oro-Medonte mayor confident after meeting with premier

'In my mind, there’s no doubt that results will occur,' Harry Hughes says after raising local concerns with Doug Ford
2018-12-11 Doug Ford and Harry Hughes
Premier Doug Ford, left, and Oro-Medonte Mayor Harry Hughes met Monday at Queen's Park. Supplied photo

The mayor of Oro-Medonte had some valuable face time with Ontario’s premier Monday and left their meeting feeling confident about the township’s future.

Mayor Harry Hughes and township CAO Robin Dunn met with Premier Doug Ford for 45 minutes at Queen’s Park.

When Hughes received the invitation Friday — “an invitation without any details” — he was curious.

“It comes down to an approach for dealing with the deficit,” he told OrilliaMatters. “This meeting was about finding ways to grow the economy of Ontario.”

Ford had summoned mayors from municipalities of various sizes to hear their concerns, and Hughes gave the premier an earful.

The first issue Hughes raised was the province’s Places to Grow Act, which is “putting a damper on us being able to move forward to create jobs and grow the economy.”

The act, Hughes said, is too restrictive, limiting the amount of land the township can zone as industrial, and limiting the type of industry allowed in the municipality.

As a result, “we are turning industry away on quite a regular basis,” he said, noting the Highway 11 corridor is one of the areas affected.

The mayor also raised the issue of the former Edgar Occupational Centre. The site used to house adults with disabilities. TRY Recycling wanted to have the approximately 100 buildings on the property demolished and repurpose much of the material.

An application submitted seven years ago went nowhere, and the purchaser of the property had to have the buildings demolished. Now the material is “buried in a landfill somewhere in southern Ontario,” Hughes said, adding the TRY Recycling option would have created jobs, too.

Hughes also told the premier of a man who purchased a golf course in the township and needed approval for a septic system, but the province wasn’t going to be accepting such applications for six months. Time was of the essence for the development, Hughes said.

He was impressed with Ford’s response. After Hughes aired his concerns with Places to Grow, he said Ford told him, “This is a no-brainer. Let’s get on that.”

“He gave direction to staff to get working on it,” the mayor said.

He said he was not concerned that easing those restrictions would have a negative impact on the township and the environment: “The checks and balances are there.”

During his few terms as mayor, Hughes has met with other premiers and high-ranking government officials, but he rarely left those meetings feeling confident about any meaningful action being taken. His face-to-face with Ford was different.

“In my mind, there’s no doubt that results will occur,” Hughes said.

There are three types of leadership, he said: “One is to lead, one is to follow and one is to get out of the way.” The impression he got was Ford wanted government to get out of the way.

When the meeting was over, Ford gave Hughes his cell number and told him to call or text any time he has a concern.

“I’m looking forward with more optimism than I have in the past,” Hughes said.


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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