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Native Journalism Initiative Reporter, J.P. Antonacci
Printed Jan 07, 2025 • Final up to date Jan 07, 2025 • 4 minute learn
Will the province and Ottawa give Norfolk County the cash it wants to unravel its water woes? POSTMEDIA PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
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The political scene in Haldimand and Norfolk obtained somewhat wild through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the brand new 12 months guarantees loads of intrigue.
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Listed here are six political conditions alongside Lake Erie’s northern shore to keep watch over because the calendar flips to 2025.
Brady versus Martin for MPP
A political showdown is looming in Haldimand-Norfolk as the following provincial election will characteristic incumbent impartial MPP Bobbi Ann Brady squaring off in opposition to Conservative challenger Amy Martin, at the moment the mayor of Norfolk County.
The 2 have been feuding for months in an more and more public method as Brady complained about being sidelined from conferences with Conservative ministers visiting the driving, and from the county’s delegations with the province on the Affiliation of Municipalities of Ontario convention.
Martin’s announcement in November sparked backlash amongst some native Conservatives as a result of there was no open nomination assembly held regionally, creating the notion that the mayor was appointed by Premier Doug Ford in what Brady referred to as “the demise of democracy.”
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Brady took out then-Haldimand Mayor Ken Hewitt when she received in 2022. Can she fend off one other native mayor hand-picked by the Conservative get together machine?
What’s subsequent for Nanticoke?
In late November, the province floated Nanticoke in Haldimand as a doable location for a future gasoline or nuclear energy plant to fulfill Ontario’s rising power demand. The plant can be constructed on the positioning of the previous coal-fired plant run by Ontario Energy Era.
Brady and Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley like the concept — and the brand new jobs they are saying the challenge would convey to the county.
The announcement provides a brand new wrinkle to a plan from Empire Communities to construct 15,000 properties on land ringing Nanticoke’s Stelco steelworks. The earlier Haldimand council requested the province for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to rezone the land across the steelworks from industrial to residential to be able to begin reviewing the proposal. That utility was denied final 12 months when the province modified the principles.
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Over objections from Bentley — she and Brady publicly oppose placing homes inside a provincially designated industrial park — the present council gave its blessing to the builders to reapply for an MZO. Empire says it’s nonetheless inquisitive about making use of, however will they observe by?
A challenger for Lewis?
Avid watchers of Query Interval can have noticed Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis occupying a outstanding spot on the entrance bench close to Conservative chief Pierre Poilievre.
Lewis has been much less seen within the driving, the place some voters are nonetheless smarting {that a} so-called “parachute candidate” was appointed by the get together brass — sidelining at the least one native would-be Conservative candidate.
Lewis has twice ran for the get together management and continues to seize headlines nationwide, together with final 12 months by sponsoring a petition within the Home of Commons calling on Canada to depart the United Nations and affiliated companies just like the World Well being Group.
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With an election coming in 2025 — maybe before later — will a challenger push Lewis on her native bona fides and make it extra of a race on this sometimes protected Conservative driving?
New councillors for Haldimand
Two seats are empty round Haldimand County’s council desk after the deaths of Ward 4 consultant Marie Coach and Stewart Patterson from Ward 1.
Coach, Haldimand’s former mayor, died on Oct. 31 as a consequence of problems from a automobile crash a number of weeks prior, whereas Patterson succumbed to sickness in late November.
With slightly below two years left within the present time period of council, the vacant seats should be crammed. In December, council voted to carry byelections slightly than appoint alternative councillors, which means voters within the two wards will go to the polls within the spring.
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Shot within the arm for well being unit
On the invitation of the provincial Ministry of Well being, the well being models chargeable for Haldimand-Norfolk and Brantford-Brant will merge this 12 months. The leaders of the respective boards of well being tout better effectivity, nearer collaboration and higher affected person look after residents. However some metropolis officers in Brantford fear the brand new deal will imply expanded providers for rural residents whereas metropolis taxpayers get caught with the invoice.
Grand Erie Public Well being, because the merged group is thought, might be overseen by a board consisting of representatives from Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties, town of Brantford and a number of other provincial appointees. It is a plus for Haldimand, which had no formal decision-making energy on Haldimand-Norfolk’s board of well being regardless of contributing 40 p.c of the funding.
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It stays to be seen who will run the merged well being unit as medical officer of well being, and whether or not the senior govt ranks of the collaborating well being models might be thinned. Haldimand-Norfolk is within the midst of crafting a brand new technique to handle excessive charges of substance abuse, together with amongst native youth, a problem acquainted to well being officers in Brantford-Brant.
Norfolk thirsty for water cash
Choice time looms for a way Norfolk will enhance its growing old and leaky water system. Council has endorsed a $450-million plan to shutter the county’s 5 current water therapy vegetation and pipe water to Norfolk’s city areas from a big therapy plan in Nanticoke.
The interurban water system would additionally provide cities in Haldimand and even attain Six Nations of the Grand River. Political leaders in these communities are on board, however they aren’t awash with money. So the province and Ottawa must activate the funding faucets for the challenge to remain afloat.
Norfolk County Mayor Amy Martin argues the cash might be spent anyway to shore up the present amenities, and the interurban plan would put extra customers on municipal water and ease water bills which might be amongst Ontario’s highest. That may be welcome information for a sparsely populated rural county already drowning in debt.
J.P. Antonacci is a Native Journalism Initiative Reporter primarily based on the Ontario Chronicle. The initiative is funded by the Authorities of Canada.
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