Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs
2023 Pre-Budget Consultations
Presented February 2, 2023
Last year’s announcement of Ontario’s ‘Critical Mineral Strategy 2022-2027’ was welcomed news, and we recognize how important the growth and success of northern municipalities will be to the province in coming years. Our local MPP and the Minister of Mines has a mandate to develop the ‘Ring of Fire’, which will be unfeasible without first improving the health and well-being of people in communities such as ours.
Frankly, a large portion of our population is not well. The city of Timmins ranks among the worst in relation to most social determinants of health. We have some of the highest rates per capita of homelessness and opioid-related overdoses and deaths in Ontario. For a municipality of approximately 42,000 people, which also serves as a northern service hub, but is not adequately funded as such, the present circumstance is no longer tenable.
More housing of all types is urgently needed if we are to fulfill our economic potential and address the health and social issues challenging our community. Thus, we urge the province to apply a northern lens when creating policy and programs to ‘build homes faster’ in order to ensure that opportunities are equitable and strategic.
1. Culturally-Appropriate Supportive Housing
We know from the last Point-in-Time count that nearly 90% of the homeless population in Timmins self-identifies as indigenous, which is why we fully support our partners at the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council and the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB) in their plan to develop culturally-appropriate supportive housing to offer a range of on-site, wrap-around supports that would encourage rehabilitation through independent living and integration into community.
The development initially proposed is a 54-unit building with a construction cost of approximately $15M. The City of Timmins has a signed relationship agreement with the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council and, as such, is committed to providing the land required for this supportive housing development if desired. Whatever contribution the province makes will determine the depth of affordability for these housing units.
Since facilities that are focused on serving mainly Indigenous clients should be Indigenous-led, we are engaged with First Nations leadership to come to a suitable arrangement for operations, which will also need to be appropriately funded.
2. Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) – Safe Health Site Timmins
The City of Timmins has taken seriously its responsibility of ensuring the overall well-being of the people residing in our community. In 2022, we committed over $1M to the establishment and operations of Safe Health Site Timmins (SHST), a supervised consumptions site in the downtown core. The current ongoing operational cost is approximately $85,000 a month.
Officially opened in July 2022, SHST has demonstrated positive results and has been critical in reducing the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths in our city. Again, being a regional service hub, our Mushkegowuk partners are looking to us to deliver on this vital component to the treatment continuum for the area.
Applications were submitted last Friday by the Canadian Mental Health Association – Cochrane Timiskaming (CMHA-CT) for provincial funding for the CTS site.
To date, SHST has been fully funded by the municipality, but the window to continue funding is quickly closing as we have a number of infrastructure priorities that need to be addressed (including, for instance, the redevelopment of the Golden Manor long-term care facility).
3. Infrastructure – Rehabilitation of Municipal Road
Between April 1997 and January 1998, numerous highways were transferred to the City of Timmins. The magnitude of the transfer was 86.8 km which represents 80% of all highways transferred amongst the Northern Regional Hubs, which include Timmins, North Bay (who had no highways transferred), Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste Marie.
It was foreseen that the transfers would create shortfalls in both the Operating and Capital Budgets of the Municipality. The magnitude of the download has become unmanageable for our municipality. The condition of these transferred highways is very poor and the inventory requires full replacement in the next 5 to 10-year period, as maintenance costs are escalating.
An example of a highway that is deteriorating fast is Municipal Road, which connects the City of Timmins and Highway 101 to Highway 11 and the Town of Iroquois Falls. The road conveys forestry traffic from west of Timmins to mills in Quebec and Timiskaming District. Located on Municipal Road are Kettle Lakes Provincial Park, as well as some rural and seasonal dwellings on that route. Little of the traffic is local, most being provincial.
Municipal Road is approximately 22 km long, with 10 km being part of the City of Timmins and 12 km belonging to the Town of Iroquois Falls. The estimated cost to renew Timmins’ share in 2023 was $7M (based on $657/m + guide rails, etc.), assuming the base is sufficient.
Considering an upload to the province is likely improbable at this time, we would request that a special purpose grant be made available to City of Timmins and the Town of Iroquois Falls in order to jointly keep Municipal Road open.
4. Child Care Provisions for Economic Development
Coming back to the notion that, much like the rest of Northern Ontario, the City of Timmins must grow its capacity to meet current and future labour market demands, it is essential that we address the shortage of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) in our childcare system.
That said, ensuring the availability of qualified child care providers does not only have an economic benefit. We know that quality early learning is essential to the development of skills required to succeed in school and beyond. As we struggle to grapple with health challenges among working-aged residents, early childhood education should be seen as an upstream strategy to solve worsening social issues but ensuring that our future generations get the best possible start in life.
In Timmins, children’s services are administered and delivered by the CDSSAB. Presently, we need 113 additional ECEs in order to fully utilize the allotted spaces across the Cochrane District, with another 56 additional ECEs needed to fulfill the new notional targets. In the City of Timmins, 79 additional ECEs are required today to meet our current need.
We are concerned with our ability to meet the demand for childcare spaces created by the new Canada-Wide Early Learning & Child Care (CWELCC) System as recruitment and retention of ECEs is jeopardized by the low rates of enrollment and graduation of ECEs in the North, particularly hampered by the wage gap between ECEs in childcare centres versus those in the education system. This is especially concerning with regard to our ability to continue to ensure the availability of French-language early learning in the City of Timmins and the broader northeast region.
Therefore, we ask that the relevant ministries work together to offer a ‘Stay and Learn’ grant specific to Early Childhood Education programs offered in Northern Ontario, similar to the one that was announced for paramedics in January 2022.
With more time, we could also speak to the need for increased provincial supports and services for newcomers, assistance to municipalities with preconstruction costs for land development, assistance with physician recruitment, and much more.