Mayor makes his expectations clear
No matter who’s elected premier of Ontario, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said he and other mayors will be making it clear what they expect from a new government.
“We do not want to see downloading back to municipalities on social services as a way to balance the provincial books. That can’t happen,” Sendzik said Friday during his monthly online video chat #AskSendzik at The Standard.
“We also want to make sure that when it comes to affordable housing, that we’re partners in the construction and creation of affordable housing in communities but the province can’t abdicate its responsibility there.”
Sendzik said the issues have been discussed by members of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario – a group of 27 mayors who represent populations of more than 100,000 residents.
“This is going to be a fundamental turning point, no matter what, come June 7,” Sendzik said, adding he believes there will be a change of government. “Whatever change that takes, we have to work with the new government.”
Other issues the mayors caucus are advocating for include additional funding for mental health. He said St. Catharines is verging on a crisis in mental health because it’s seeing a rise in numbers in the community from those suffering from mental health illnesses.
Ensuring that supervised injection sites in municipalities come to fruition is another issue.
St. Catharines city council voted unanimously in February to support a supervised injection site to help prevent opioid overdoses and Sendzik said they’re going to hold the next government to that. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care approved the application earlier this month by Positive Living Niagara and the Overdose Prevention and Education Network of Niagara.
“That needs to be in our toolbox,” Sendzik said. “Everyone locally is saying that needs to be in our toolbox. That’s part of what a compassionate city looks like.”
Finally, Sendzik said the Greenbelt must be kept intact.
While it might sound great to continue growing the city into suburbia, Sendzik said that would take over too much farmland, jeopardize future generations being able to have farms and would hurt the environmental space that surrounds the community.
“That’s not an appropriate way for communities to grow, I believe, today. I think we have to create additional incentives to grow vertically, and I think the provincial government needs to be a partner at that table to help create the incentives for communities like St. Catharines to grow.”
The full video chat can be seen on The Standard’s website.
Sendzik also touched on other issues during the chat that included Regional council, the Lincoln Fabrics proposal in Port Dalhousie, the affordable housing project at Church and Court Street, the lack of an on and off ramp from Hwy. 406 to the hospital and whether the city’s inventory of employment versus residential land is appropriate for growth.