Fort Erie asks province to replace fire rescue boats at AMO conference

A provincial staff member is now searching for money to replace Fort Erie’s fire rescue boats after Mayor Wayne Redekop put the request directly to Ontario’s solicitor general at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.

Redekop and town staff spent four days in Ottawa meeting ministers and their parliamentary assistants at the annual conference, held August 16 to 19. He told Fort Erie Radio it was the busiest AMO he has attended.

The boats carry Fort Erie’s volunteer firefighters on water rescues on Lake Erie and the Niagara River. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner pointed the town to funding programs that could cover replacements and assigned a ministry staff member to pursue them, Redekop said.

Kerzner also had high praise for Fire Chief Mark Schmitt and the Fort Erie Fire Department.

“He was astounded by the fact that a municipality of 37,000 people has a completely volunteer fire suppression,” Redekop said.

Fort Erie joined the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority in asking the province for a comprehensive Lake Erie shoreline resiliency plan, short- and long-term financing and an extension of the Flood Hazard Identification and Mapping Program.

A December wind storm eroded a waterfront section of Point Abino Road, with repairs covered under $7.2 million in provincial disaster funding, and back-to-back storms in late July and early August flooded homes and businesses across Niagara.

Redekop also joined five other Niagara mayors in a meeting with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack about strong chair powers and weighted voting, two possible changes to how Niagara’s regional government works.

The governance debate has hung over the region since March, when regional chair Bob Gale resigned after proposing a smaller regional council with population-weighted voting. The province isn’t expected to decide those questions until after October’s municipal election.

Labour Minister David Piccini identified possible funding for post-secondary training connected to Fort Erie’s aerospace, industrial and health-care employers, and put town staff in contact with senior ministry officials.

“They know us. That’s been part of our communication strategy, making sure that the decision makers in Toronto are familiar with Fort Erie, what Fort Erie is doing, what the opportunities are,” he said.

In the same meeting, the town pitched provincial aircraft purchases from its two aerospace manufacturers–Airbus, which builds helicopters in town, and De Havilland (Fleet), which builds waterbombers. Redekop said both companies are hiring and plan to expand in Fort Erie.

At the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, the town asked for stable provincial support for the Fort Erie Race Track, including a possible return of slot machines, and pushed for the Destination Niagara tourism strategy to include Fort Erie’s historic, cultural and recreational attractions.

The town also asked the province to speed up archaeological assessments, which can hold up municipal construction and private development. Provincial representatives described work already underway to shorten those timelines, said Redekop.

The federal and provincial governments announced a combined $1 billion on the conference’s first day through a new Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build funding stream for municipalities that don’t levy development charges, and Premier Doug Ford told delegates applications had opened for the next round of the $500-million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund.

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