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Wardens have questions for all the candidates
swing by on a campaign visit. The wrong answers to these questions could cost some candidates and their parties support on Election Day. “The EOWC wants to get the message out to election candidates,” St-Pierre said in a prepared statement. “Municipalities have given the province a decade to accept responsibility for its own costs, and, as we know, Eastern Ontario has little capacity to raise revenue, in terms of both income and property.” The three questions are: Will you honour the upload agreement (of the past Libe- ral government) and reject downloading? What is your plan for Eastern Ontario’s roads and bridges? How will you promote more affordable emergency services? A one-page brief expands on the defini-
tions and parameters of the EOWC ques- tions. But St-Pierre stressed that the can- didates and their leaders cannot promise infrastructure improvements or aid that turns out later to reduce either the funding for or quality of some other provincial ser- vice to local governments. “Infrastructure funding cannot come at the expense of uploads or new downloads that increase other (local) costs,” said St- Pierre. “You cannot rob Peter to pay Paul.” The three questions, and their qualifiers, are basedon the EOWC’s own 2014priorities list for economic and social development in Eastern Ontario. That document was pres- ented to provincial and federal govern- ment representatives during this spring’s ROMA/OGRA conference. The EOWC report highlighted the need for stable funding for infrastructure aid programs for local com- munities and a demand for a new police services billing setup for OPP contracts for small municipalities. The United Counties of Prescott-Russell council (UCPR) adopted the EOWC election question package during its May 14 com- mittee of the whole session. Prescott-Rus- sell’s mayors also plan to add a few ques- tions of their own to the overall package
when they get their chances to talk with local candidates vying for the Glengarry- Prescott-Russell riding seat. Among those questions specific to Pres- cott and Russell counties will be: the fate of Alfred College, now threatenedy with closure as part of its alma mater the Univer- sity of Guelph’s financial restraints program; abolition of the current farm tax setup that leaves rural municipalities“holding the bag” waiting for the province to make good on its compensation share for agricultural pro- perty taxes owed to municipalities; support for the ecoLarose project; taking back res- ponsibility for County Road 17, which the past Harris/Eaves Progressive Conservative government downloaded onto the UCPR. St-Pierre, as UCPR warden and mayor of Russell Township, noted that municipali- ties in this region need an answer on an issue they have been lobbying on for years. He noted that the provincial government needs to remove sewer and water projects and programs from the municipal debt-ca- pacity load. Any loans taken out for these programs are paid back through the user fees and not through the annual property tax levy so they should not be counted as part of any municipality’s formal debt load.
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
L’ORIGNAL | If any of Ontario’s political parties hope to gain the support of East- ern Ontario on next month’s election bal- lot, their leaders and local candidates will have to have the right answers to three questions. Jean-Paul St-Pierre, president of the Eas- tern Ontario Wardens Caucus (EOWC) this year, revealed a trio of questions that the EOWC wants the wardens of all counties in the region and all of the mayors in Eastern Ontario and their councillors to put to pro- vincial election candidates in their ridings and any of the party leaders who might
Counties confirms local contractors priority
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN GREGG.CHAMBERLAIN@EAP.ON.CA
extra help. But he added his department will give first call to any local contractors who do have them if there is urgent repair work needed during the “half load” season. Kirby asked Clermont to provide himwith a written explanation about the situation so he can explain to local contractors in his township.
L’ORIGNAL | When the counties need con- tractors to supplement the own public works crews then the local outfits will get priority consideration. East Hawkesbury Mayor Robert Kirby passed on a complaint he received from a couple contractors in his area about out-of- town outfits brought in to help the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) public works department on a couple of jobs in his area. “If the counties are going to do work in the municipality,” said Kirby, “the local contractors should have a chance to bid first if they can meet the conditions.” Public Works Director Marc Clermont confirmed that the unwritten policy for his department is always to give first conside- ration to local contractors when necessary. “Generally, we have such a policy,”he said. Clermont noted that the situation Kirby was called about involved some work to be doneduring the spring“half-load”restriction period on local roads. During the first weeks of the spring thaw, provincial and local traf- fic regulations call for reduced loads for heavy truck traffic on secondary and other local roads to reduce the chance of damage until the ground below the road base re- settles. “We rarely do work during the reduced load period,” Clermont said, but added that any contractor called in during such a time has to have a separate special permit for both their heavy equipment and the truck- and-trailer used to carry it to a job site du- ring that time. Clermont noted that not all contractors may have those permits or have them in place in time when the counties works de- partment needs to issue a sudden call for www. editionap .ca Everything at your fingertips Tout au bout des doigts
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