Of the $1.2-billion announced Monday by Premier Ford for house construction, not much of it is destined for the North.
As president of the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association, Cochrane major Peter Politis says it’s mostly for populations over 50,000 people, and the Golden Horseshoe.
He says the challenge in the North is the inventory of homes, in light of the mining developments occurring to support the electric car sector.
“We have a huge migration challenge that’s going to be taking place, and we need homes to do that,” Politis comments. “While this is a step in the right direction, I can tell you that we’re concerned because it’s nowhere near what we need to do for Northern Ontario to ensure that we’re building that inventory.”
Politis says NEOMA has the ears of ministers and staff close to Ford, and he’s confident of support to come.
“The connections are there. That’s not a problem, and the Premier is geared towards from I can see at least, really being progressive in driving this, developing this Northern Ontario theme.”
Politis says that theme is to explain to prospective Northerners what we have to offer up here, to attract them to jobs in the resource sector.
