Letter: Toronto just doesn't get Northern Ontario

A problem facing residents of Northern Ontario would be that we live in a different environment than Toronto.

Regulations that work great for Toronto, do not necessary work well up here.

Arguments for forming our own province sound great on paper, but in reality won’t happen. Perhaps it’s time we looked at creating regional ministries that would adjust regulations passed by Queen’s Park to meet our needs while abiding by the spirit of the law.

These regional ministries would have the power to handle provincial issues arising within their administrative areas. This would not weaken Queen’s Park’s authority, but strengthen it as the regions would be governed by an elected minister answerable to the premier and Parliament, and have a deputy minister who specializes in issues affecting that region.

It would add a layer of government to the province, yes, but it’d be a layer that understands the needs of each region, thus allowing government to be more responsive to the needs of Ontarians.

A perfect example of this need arose recently in which road paint used by the province has a mixture ratio that isn’t suitable for Northern Ontario’s harsh winters.

A regional ministry would be able to adjust and enforce a new mixture for road paint suitable for us, but still abiding by the spirit of the law — more environmentally friendly road paint.

Travis Morgan
Greater Sudbury