Welland seeks partnerships to promote French heritage
While Welland Mayor Frank Campion and CAO Gary Long sought to raise the city’s francophone community profile with Ontario’s minister of francophone affairs this week, MarieFrance Lalonde told the two men she was very familiar with the local French community.
Lalonde said she had attended a couple of cultural events in Welland.
Campion and Long met with Lalonde at the Ontario Good Roads Association Conference in Toronto and discussed potential partnership and funding opportunities.
The city said the mayor made Lalonde aware of enhancements to bilingual signage, new Frenchlanguage content to the city’s website that will be launched in March, and partnerships with organizations such as CERF Niagara, Foyer Richelieu, Club Richelieu and Musée de Welland.
A release from the city said the mayor and staff are working with local organizations and other bilingual cities to promote francophone tourism and the growing interest in genealogical tourism through the city’s participation in the Francophone and Francophile Cities Network.
With Lalonde also serving as minister of correctional services and public safety, Campion spoke with her about the importance of having infrastructure funding programs that support new fire halls, as well as having programs and grants to assist municipalities with the increased costs of emergency management.
While in Toronto, the city’s delegation, which included a number of senior staff from various departments, also met with the parliamentary assistant to the minister of transportation to discuss industrial developments along Highway 140. They also joined elected officials and staff from Niagara Region in a meeting with the transportation minister to discuss provincial support for a consolidated transit system in Niagara.
Meetings were held with MPP Ernie Hardeman, the Tories’ municipal affairs critic, and senior officials with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.