Grey County Warden Brian Milne will join more than 2,000 participants at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 2023 conference.
The conference is being held from August 20 - 23 in London, Ontario and is a time for municipal leaders to come together and discuss priorities, shared challenges, and innovations. The conference also has opportunities for municipalities to meet with provincial ministries and government officials to ask questions and bring attention to key local issues.
Grey County will have four delegation meetings this year, all taking place on August 21. In the morning, county delegates will meet with the Ministry of Health to discuss home and community care services and costs of ambulances.
In the afternoon, the delegation is discussing appointments of justices of the peace for our region and will be joined by representatives of Bruce County. The local Provincial Offences Court is shared by the two counties and there have been no new justices appointed in our region for several years. This is impacting the effectiveness of the court and causing delays.
The next meeting is with the Ministry of Labour to discuss paramedics and occupational stress injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The delegation will be advocating the province to support new research around the problem so services across Ontario can help prevent these injuries and better treat paramedics who are suffering.
The final county delegation is with the Ministry of Long-Term Care to discuss the Rockwood Terrace redevelopment project. The delegation will be advocating for construction subsidies for the 128-bed project, which was recently estimated at $96.7 million.
Grey County will also be supporting a City of Owen Sound delegation with the Ministry of Health about physician recruitment and Warden Milne will participate in additional meetings as a member of the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus.
Outside of delegations, participants will be busy learning about key conference topics such as housing, homelessness, women’s leadership, infrastructure, healthcare transformation, and much more. Premier Doug Ford and a number of ministers from his cabinet will also be speaking at the event.
Full program details can be found here.
