Party leaders will answer northern Ontario questions at Friday debate

NORTH BAY — The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) are hosting a debate on Friday, May 11 at 11:30 a.m. at the Charles W. Stockey Centre in the town of Parry Sound.  

Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, PC Leader Doug Ford, and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will take part.  

“We are delighted to have the leaders of the three parties with seats in the Ontario Legislature commit to participating in a debate in conjunction with the FONOMconference,” said Alan Spacek, FONOMPresident and the Mayor of Kapuskasing.  

“We look forward to asking tough questions and hearing their plans for Northern Ontario.” 

The format of the debate will allow the leaders to provide opening comments, answer questions delivered from the FONOMand NOMA Board members and debate each other on critical issues to Northern Ontario.

If you're interested in tuning in, FONOM said the debate will be streamed live on its Facebook page.

The debate will conclude the FONOM annual conference, which kicked off May 9.

This year’s conference theme is Leading the Way Through Innovation and will feature Ken Coates, leading thinker on Canada’s future and Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation as the keynote speaker. The conference program will include workshops and information sessions on a number of topics including cybersecurityand privacy breaches, innovation in economic development, municipal-Indigenous collaboration, updates from Ontario Northland, understanding road liability, and financial planning, to name a few.

Running May 9-11, the conference will be attended by mayors, councillors and senior municipal staff from across Northeastern Ontario. 

“The annual conference is a great opportunity for municipal officials and staff across the North to come together and have an opportunity to learn from each other as well as gain insight from a variety of information sessions and workshops,” said Spacek in the FONOM release.

— BayToday.ca