Petition to split Northern and Southern Ontario finds more support

2032px-Canada_Ontario_location_map_2.svg_-263x300A recent petition that proposes Ontario be split into two separate provinces, Northern and Southern Ontario, has gathered more pace in recent days and now has over a thousand names assigned to the cause.

Of course, the idea of splitting the province is not a new one, and has been mooted by groups representing Northern Ontario for decades. It is those groups that a new grassroots movement is taking its inspiration from, with the petition founder, Trevor Holliday, saying he has been inspired by historical Ontarian separation movements, especially the 1970s’ Northern Ontario Heritage Party and other Northern Ontario separatist movements.

The petition is currently online at Change.org and has been open since Jan 1. 2016, with Holliday saying:

“I would want Northern Ontario to become its own province. That way it can be run by the people of the North for the people of the North, so that all the money from the North isn’t taken and given to the south and then we’re just left to whittle away.”

Disgruntled residents of Northern Ontario have often complained about the bias shown to southern parts of the province, with the north typically underfunded in comparison. The idea behind the new movement is for the province to be split into two separate entities, and Holliday and his supporters say Northern Ontario is more than self-sufficient enough to get by on its own.

Southern Ontario is home to Canada’s most populated city, Toronto, and other major municipalities that are the focus of government spending. Supporters of an independent Northern Ontario say there is a lack of infrastructure spending in the north and traffic spending is mostly reserved for the Greater Toronto Area.

“This idea goes back to the beginning of Northern Ontario and I’m reading reports in 1905, 1906 of rallies to separate and it usually goes in waves when there seems to be a growing imbalance,” said MP Charlie Angus (NDP — Timmins-James Bay).

“I think there’s a great deal of frustration in Northern Ontario right now when we see the policies that are driven from the south and when we see the complete imbalance in political representation between the issues of the North and the urban south. I understand why people are frustrated.”

Why do North Ontario drivers pay less vehicle license fees?

Your license has arrived in an envelope as official approval or authorization for your application for business operation, driving, hunting, or other activityAt the beginning of the month the Ministry of Transport in Ontario announced that the license price would increase in the province, with the fee for sticker validation rising. However, despite this drivers in North Ontario still pay significantly less (up to half in most cases) less than those in South Ontario, which is the most populated region in Canada.

That means that residents in North Bay can expect to pay less for their licensing fee compared to their Southern Ontarian counterparts, even if those from North are still miffed at the hiked rates. The question that keeps getting asked is, why do we pay less in the Northeaster Ontario region?

MTO spokesperson Ajay Woozageer gave an answer to The Star:

“There are several reasons that Northern Ontario residents pay reduced vehicle licensing fees. Operating costs for all types of vehicles are substantially higher in the north, as are transportation costs.

“A small population, thinly spread over a large area and a more extreme climate are further contributing factors to an economic disparity between the north and the rest of Ontario.”

So, the general consensus is that the North is still something of a wilderness that is vastly different from the South, think of the Town Mouse, Country Mouse fable and you may get the picture. Of course, this is mostly nonsense as North Ontario is as well connected these days as the South, it just has vastly less people. However, this is where the government deeming North Bay some kind of forgotten backwater pays off for motorists.

Woozageer explained at the start of September why license prices needed to rise across the province, even if they remain cheaper in the North.

“While cost of maintaining roads, bridges and highways has risen over time, fees have not, so in keeping with the recommendations of the Drummond Commission, since 2012, the government has been gradually increasing fees to help recover the costs required to deliver the service or product to customers.

“By making gradual changes to vehicle license fees we can keep costs down for families and industry, while maintaining the safe roads and bridges that Ontarian’s travel on,” said Woozageer. “Many fees, including those for driver and vehicle licenses, do not allow the government to fully recover the cost of delivering services or products. These increases will help the government recover more of these costs.”

North Bay Hospital Cuts 158 Jobs

Hospital through the eyes of a patientThe North Bay Regional Health Centre has taken drastic measures in a bid to avoid an estimated $14 million deficit, implementing major staffing cuts bring down costs.

The hospital informed the workforce yesterday that 158 full-time jobs will be slashed, which has left many worried about the level of care that can now be expected from the Health Centre. The hospital has taken another viewpoint though and president Paul Heinrich said the cuts will actually mean the facility will run with greater efficiency.

“It’s going to mean improved patient care in many respects. What we’re doing is similar to other organizations in the province, and they’re able to get good outcomes with less expenditure than us, and that’s the bar that we’re going to achieve as well,” he said.

However, despite that ambitious prediction from Heinrich, the North Bay Regional Health Centre has come under fire for the substantial job cuts. Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli was critical of the North Bay health system but laid the blame at the doorstep of the liberal Ontarian government.

“That’s in addition to the 197 front-line health care workers that were fired in the last couple of years,” he said in an interview on Morning North.

“Also, we’ve got 60 hospital beds that have been now closed in the city of North Bay [in the last few years], so it’s not very nice to be back [at Queen’s Park] and not get any answers.”

There has also been an accusation that the remaining staff will now be overworked while also performing with the potential threat of their own future job security in question. Michael Hurley, the President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/Canadian Union of Public Employees, says that ultimately it will be patients who will bear the brunt of staff cuts.

“No community in Ontario is suffering hospital cuts to the extent that the North Bay community is suffering them,” said Hurley. “The Liberals saddled North Bay with an enormously expensive P3 hospital after promising to scrap the deal and they are cutting the hospital’s budget by almost six per cent a year. The province must step in immediately with funding to stop the bleeding out of vital patient services.”

The hospital has been forced into the position as it received $14 million less than it needed to maintain operations at full capacity through 2015. As the department attempts to recover that deficit it has also had to close 30 beds alongside the outgoing staff members.

Government steps in to bring clarity of Ontario Ombudsman search

OmbudsmanAndré Marin, the departing Ombudsman of Ontario, can finally step down as the search for a replacement has reached a resolution after the Liberal government in the province stepped in. The government decided to take action as the selection process has been mired in bickering and partisan infighting.

Marin’s term actually ended on May 31st, but he was given an extension until September 14th as a search for his replacement was sought. As that cutoff date approached the Ontario Legislative Assembly looked to have another extension put in place but it was blocked. In response to that and the consistent inability to appoint a new Ombudsman the government stepped in.

The result was Barbara Finlay, currently the deputy ombudsman, has been brought in to an interim post while a new full time ombudsman is found.

Of course, it is ironic that this search has been dogged by petty infighting and has worsened into a mess that the government had to sort out. After-all, it is the ombudsman who is supposed to protect North Bay and all Ontarian citizens from convoluted government bureaucracy. The Ombudsman of the province is supposed to be impartial and work independently and with integrity, so does the inability to find a new chair for the post mean the Ontario Legislative Assembly is struggling to find someone who meets those criteria?

That’s unlikely, but it is certainly something some citizens will be asking as the search for a replacement for Marin continues. In his ten years as Ombudsman of Ontario, André Marin has been considered to have done a good job, pushing through reforms for provincial systems, although he has also courted controversy on occasion. He has also been outspoken against the liberal government, comparing the leading office in the province to a “banana republic”.

Marin is interested in keeping his post and has said he will put his name forward during the search, but thinks the government is committed to getting rid of him. “It does not appear they were interested in the best person for the job,” Marin told reporters.