recently announced 150 new local jobs<\/a>, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker is already pushing for more.<\/p>\nThe economy and health care were at the top of the mayor\u2019s mind during the Association of Ontario Municipalities conference in Ottawa this week, where Shoemaker was joined by councillors Luke Dufour and Lisa Vezeau-Allen to advocate for the city\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had success with OLG,\u201d Shoemaker told SooToday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve announced 150 new hires in the Sault, but we are going to continue to push for additional jobs because the Sault office, if it is truly the head office, should have the vast majority \u2013 if not all the jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond OLG, Shoemaker said the province has shown a willingness to work with the city on the proposed $250 million Port of Sault Ste. Marie project \u2013 a top priority for the Sault delegation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that those two priorities continue to be the top two issues that we push at AMO,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the city has committed $15 million to the multi-modal, deep-water shipping port \u2013 which aims to connect northern industries with southern markets \u2013 the province\u2019s funding relies on the federal government stepping in to help with the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe port is the top economic priority in terms of diversification of our job offerings in town,\u201d Shoemaker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe premier said this when he was here at Tenaris a couple of months ago, that if the federal government puts in their funding the province will be at the table with funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shoemaker said the city expects to hear back on a funding application with the federal government before the year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was part of the discussion with the province (this week),\u201d Shoemaker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the federal decision comes down, it will be all hands on deck at the provincial level to be sure that we are identifying the sources of funding that the province may need to put in.\u201d<\/p>\n
On health care, Shoemaker said he continued pushing for a NOSM U campus in the city \u2013 a move he said could be vital for developing a pipeline for local doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bulk of students that study at the Sudbury campus stay in Sudbury, and the bulk of students that study at the Thunder Bay campus stay in Thunder Bay,\u201d Shoemaker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you settle in a community and you put down roots and you’re there for three or four or five years of your education . . . you become comfortable in the community and you make it your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although a record-setting cohort of medical residents are now training in the Sault, and the city\u2019s physician recruitment and retention committee will soon bring on a second recruiter, Shoemaker said a physical NOSM U campus is key to ensuring all residents are eventually connected with doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a request for a physical structure to go up, then it would require provincial approval, which is part of what we were advocating to the Minister of Health about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil everybody in town has a family physician and our roster of specialists is healthier than it currently is, I don’t think the work ends. You\u2019ve got to keep your foot on the pedal on this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Sault Area Hospital reported a $9.4-million deficit earlier this year, Shoemaker said the Sault delegation brought financial concerns to the Ministry of Health this week \u2013 as many Ontario hospitals struggle to keep their finances out of the red.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in their face with it, and it’s part of what they’re looking at right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 144 hospitals in Ontario, and there are a significant number of them that are in a similar type situation, so they are reviewing the model entirely to determine how best to manage these deficits.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sault reps brought their top priorities this week to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference Even though…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-865683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}