The local delegation at the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference stressed the need for the province to commit to more infrastructure funding, which Kevin Marriott says seems to have gone by the wayside.
The Lambton County Warden was one of the hundreds of municipal leaders in attendance at the four day forum in Ottawa.
He said when it comes to transit, which falls under infrastructure, municipalities outside of the Greater Toronto Area are treated unfairly.
"In the GTA -- transit, the government spends $191 per resident. Whereas in our area, say Sarnia or Windsor, it's only $14 per resident," he said.
While members of the Ford government appeared to be sympathetic, Marriott said the topic was changed to what's being spent on housing and addiction services.
"Even though they didn't deny the comparison that we used, with $191 versus $14 in Sarnia/Windsor area, they didn't give us much hope either that we're going to see... I guess it's too soon after the election," Marriott chuckled. "If this was before an election, we probably would have had a different attitude."
Low-cost housing and availability were two other priority items discussed.
"Southwestern Ontario is actually growing at a faster rate than anywhere right now so we would like see help with that," he said. "It's hard to believe that we're growing that much faster but the numbers show that our population is growing by almost eight per cent compared to almost six per cent provincially and 2.3 per cent in Toronto."
Marriott said southwestern Ontario's growth also underscores the "critical need" for more affordable housing.
He said in the end, no promises were made specific to this area but the province did acknowledge the importance of affordable housing.
On Monday to kick-off the conference, Premier Doug Ford announced additional funding to help build more houses through the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program.
The topic of development charges also came up during the conference. Marriott said development charges in this area shouldn't be significantly less than the GTA. There have also been cases (in other areas outside of Lambton County) of developers walking away from builds due to development charges.
Impacts of tariffs and trade were also discussed, and several different initiatives underway in the county were recognized according to Marriott.
"We were acknowledged for having a lot of innovative things here," he said. "The 'small house' for dementia, the CHIC (Community Health Integrated Care) pilot, the HART Hub, I mean we have so many things here we should be thankful for."
Marriott attended the conference not just as Lambton County's warden, but as a representative of the Western Ontario Wardens Caucus and mayor of Enniskillen Township.
With files from Stephanie Chaves