Huron County Warden Says Roma Conference Close To Setting A Record

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County Warden Jamie Heffer says close to 1,900 people attended this week's Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in Toronto.

Heffer says one of the most important parts of the conference for him was the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus delegation and the opportunity to hear from the Minister of Rural Affairs and Huron-Bruce MPP, Lisa Thompson, about the Rural Economic Development Strategy and the government plan to put ten million dollars into the program over the next two years. Heffer says that funding will help with what Huron County is trying to do to build on the economic development in the county.

Heffer says housing and homelessness were major issues, in part because every municipality in the province is dealing with those issues. He says the programs are multiplying and becoming more complex and there just aren't any immediate solutions. He says no one's doubting the seriousness of the problem and people are working to address the issues, but he says it took us a long time to get to this point and it's going to take a long time to resolve it.

This year's conference was also unique for a few reasons. One was the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States and the other is the possibility of an early election in Ontario and a Federal election very soon as well. He says we don't usually get all of those things at the same time. There is the potential for several changes by our neighbours to the south and all we can do is wait and see what happens, but Heffer says it definitely was on everyone's mind at the conference.