County Warden Brian Ostrander and Northumberland County staff will join more than 1,600 participants from across the province at the 2025 Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Conference. The conference is being held in downtown Toronto, from January 19 to 21, 2025.
Key presenters include Ontario Premier Doug Ford, opposition leaders, and provincial ministers.
Keynote speakers at this year’s event include political columnist Chantal Hébert who is passionate about Canadian politics, public policy, and matters of national interest, and Jordan Simmons, Co-founder and CEO of Nominee, discussing democracy and Canada’s path forward after the 2024 US election.
ROMA Chair Christa Lowry and Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) President Robin Jones will also speak.
Concurrent sessions will focus on topics that are top-of-mind in rural communities, like fostering healthy local democracy, cyber security, community benefit agreements for energy and broadband projects, and managing municipal waste.
During the conference, County staff will deliver delegations to the Province of Ontario to advocate for:
· Northumberland Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub pilot program: This delegation from Community & Social Services and Northumberland Paramedics will encourage the province to support a Northumberland HART Hub pilot program, which would work closely with the Pathways to Recovery & Resilience program to address the critical needs of Northumberland County’s most vulnerable residents. These initiatives will enhance mental health, addiction recovery, and homelessness supports in Northumberland.
· Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) Program delivery changes for paramedics: Supporting a resolution brought by the Eastern Ontario Paramedic Chiefs, this delegation from Northumberland Paramedics will advocate for changes to the delivery of the WSIB mandate to better ensure paramedics are supported in recovery from mental health injuries.
· Ontario Works rate and structure adjustments: This delegation from Community & Social Services will advocate for adjustments to the Ontario Works program to better support residents. With no legislated formula for determining Ontario Works rates increases, this delegation will advocate for adjusting rates to reflect inflation over the past five years, implementing a yearly increase for inflation moving forward, and streamlining the requirements to provide residents with clearer eligibility requirements.
For more information about ROMA and their 2025 conference, visit roma.on.ca.
About ROMA: ROMA takes pride in promoting, supporting and enhancing strong and effective rural governments. About 270 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities have populations of less than 10,000, while scores more are rural in character. The rural arm of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, ROMA advocates for policies and programs that will help build thriving rural Ontario communities. .
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
