NEWS RELEASE
ROSS ROMANO, MPP SAULT STE. MARIE
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For decades, we have all fought to keep our youth from leaving Sault Ste. Marie. As a father with three young children of my own, this is especially important to me. Last year, I created the first ever Provincial Student Committee and Job Fair, with the motto ‘Home to Stay’ to combat this problem and to show the young people in our community all the great opportunities that exist in their own backyard.
The first year of our committee was an incredible success. The job fair saw over 5,000 students attending from across the city, along with over 60 local and regional businesses. It was the largest job fair in the history of Sault Ste. Marie.
One student told me: “I always wanted to stay in Sault Ste. Marie. I talk my friends’ ears off about the opportunities that many of them do not know exist here.” Over the course of that day I witnessed so much enthusiasm and excitement from our youth, that I realized we had to make this year’s event even larger than the last.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis has created an incredible challenge for us all. As we are all doing our part to flatten the curve in order to protect our collective health and safety, there is no alternative but to postpone the Second Annual Provincial Student Committee and Job Fair until 2021.
The last few weeks have been very hard for all of us. However, the resilience and spirit of our city, province and country fills me with an incredible sense of optimism for our future. Team Sault Ste. Marie has joined team Ontario who have joined team Canada. Every day we hear stories that exemplify the very heart of what makes us Canadian.
We hear stories of people helping each other by delivering groceries to the vulnerable, while businesses donate resources to our frontline workers. There are moments of extreme kindness such as heartwarming tributes to nurses, doctors and medical professionals who are working tirelessly each day to fight COVID-19 and keep us all healthy and safe. The collective solidarity of our community and others is inspiring and reflective of the care and generosity that defines us as Saultites, Ontarians and Canadians.
As we continue on this difficult path, and with all the temptation the beautiful spring weather and sunshine bring, I ask you to please stay home and if you must go out please be safe and keep your distance from others. Our collective health and safety depend on it. We are all in this together and together, we will emerge stronger than ever!
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