Mayor's Message - February 18, 2018
Hi all, Bonjour !
Happy Family Day Weekend everyone !!
We have plenty of activities occurring all over the County this weekend, for me, I am staying close to home to enjoy our 70th Penetanguishene Winterama. We kicked off in spectacular fashion Friday night and we run all weekend with plenty of fun to be had.
I also want to highlight programming at our County Museum. From snowshoeing, tobogganing and of course skating on our new 1km long skate trail, the Museum is the place to be. If you haven’t had an opportunity to strap on your skates and hit the trail, check out our promotional video as it’s fun for the whole family https://youtu.be/YW1-IStg0gA.
Please do check the Museum’s website at www.museum.simcoe.ca prior to joining us to make sure that our outdoor activities are open.
It is important to note that I join our partners from Waypoint at the Museum on Family Day as we will be handing out hats to attendees to promote the launch of our new Have Hope campaign. As you may recall, the County provided $175,000 towards this initiative which includes a youth mental health awareness component and a training initiative.
The following is my monthly summary of a very busy and newsworthy four weeks at the County, and a look at all the activity ahead of us for the next month:
For this month’s did you know (DYK), I’m sharing some high level details from our newly released Positive Aging Strategy:
DYK …
We have a regional seniors’ population above the provincial average (16.7% Ontario vs.18% in Simcoe County aged 65+)
We are living longer as the average lifespan for Canadians aged 65+ is now 87 for men and 89 for women
The percentage of Simcoe County’s residents aged 55 and over could jump from 31 percent today to 41 percent by 2041
Care needs are becoming far more complex as one in 10 individuals in Ontario over the age of 65 is living with Dementia
33% of all Canadian seniors report having some form of disability
There are great needs in the areas of social housing, retirement homes and long term care, where a lack of funding, resources and services currently exist – these gaps must be addressed to meet the needs of our aging population
Recognizing this tremendous need we released our Positive Aging Strategy earlier this week, which includes detailed planning framework and recommendations to support regional and municipal governments and businesses in building and strengthening age-friendly communities. Data was gathered through more than 3,000 completed resident surveys, 16 focus groups across our municipalities and eight Public Consultant meetings.
The full report can be viewed at https://www.simcoe.ca/dpt/ltc/age-friendly, however here is a short overview of our key goals during the next 5 years:
Communications and Information
Goal: Remove communication barriers that progressively cut older people off from others, particularly barriers related to accessibility, affordability, low literacy and diminished capacity by providing timely, practical information to manage life and meet personal needs vital for active aging.
Transportation
Goal: Provide transportation options that are accessible and affordable to promote active aging. Improve mobility options, support social and civic participation and increase access to community and health services.
Housing
Goal: Ensure sufficient, appropriate, and affordable housing dedicated to older people is provided and located close to essential services and transportation. Ensure older people are well informed of these housing options across Simcoe County.
Health and Community Supports
Goal: Remove barriers that older adults experience with accessing and utilizing community and health supports. Ensure services offered address the needs and concerns of older people to enhance quality of life and meet personal health needs.
Outdoor Spaces and Buildings
Goal: Provide pleasant, clean, secure and physically accessible outdoor spaces and public buildings by increasing accessibility and removing barriers that limit opportunities for people with disabilities or age-related impairments to participate in healthy, active living activities and to access services in their communities.
Civic Participation, Volunteerism and Employment
Goal: Increase awareness of the impact of an aging demographic, and provide opportunities for employment, volunteerism and intergenerational programming that cater to older adults’ interests and abilities.
Social Participation
Goal: Remove barriers that prevent older adults from participating in their community such as inaccessible buildings; personal safety at night; transportation needs; affordability; and sometimes restricted admission. Social participation and support are strongly connected to good health and well-being throughout life.
Respect and Social Inclusion
Goal: Simcoe County older adults will be treated with respect, recognition and inclusion.
We have already started to work toward achieving many of these goals with recent and planned investments in regional transit, affordable housing, seniors’ services and general planning policies, however this it’s going to take all our municipalities, businesses and residents to jump on board to continue to make our communities as age-friendly as possible. Visit www.simcoe.ca/age-friendly for the full report.
County News:
Battery Collection
Our Committee of the Whole received an update from staff on the results of our 2017 Curbside Battery Collection program – we have to be “charged up” about the fact that we are tops in the province among municipalities with similar programs! During last year’s collection, 24,038 kilograms of single-use batteries, nearly one million batteries, were received which is an increase of 7.2 per cent from the previous year. Kudos to all our residents for helping us grow this program and keeping batteries out of your garbage and our landfills. The program is back next November and remember we’re also offering two more curbside collection programs this year in an effort to increase diversion – textile collections running June 11-22 and electronics collections running September 17-28.
2018 Skilled Trades Expo
We’re calling for local businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs from the skilled trades to participate as exhibitors in the 2018 edition of the Simcoe Muskoka Skilled Trades Expo, being held Thursday, May 17, 2018 at the Elmvale Community Arena. The 2016 and 2017 Expos garnered provincial, national and international awards from various economic development agencies, and we’re anticipating that the 2018 version will be bigger, better and even more impactful for our skilled trades sector. The 2018 event will feature two sessions: a student/school session for grades 7/8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a session geared for the general public from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. New this year, the evening event will feature a live Job Fair, which will provide participating businesses an opportunity to meet and interview skilled tradespeople during the event. It’s free to participate as an exhibitor and you can get on board by contacting our economic development office at edo@simcoe.ca.
County Investment in Stevenson Memorial Hospital and Georgian College
In late January, we completed a 10-year funding commitment to Stevenson Memorial Hospital through the Simcoe County Hospital Alliance. We provided $1.15 million in funding over the last 10 years to the hospital, enabling it to purchase a state-of-the-art CT Scanner in 2009. In 2016/17 alone, the scanner provided treatment to 5,900 patients. We also completed a cheque presentation of $500,000 to Georgian College which wrapped up a previous commitment of $4 million, and saw us make our first pledge in a renewed $5 million commitment.
Save-A-Life CPR Day in Stayner
Our Paramedics completed another successful Save-A-Life CPR and Debilitation training course in Stayner in early February. We trained more than 80 residents in life-saving techniques, bringing our totals to more than 13,300 residents trained through the program. Our next event will be held in Barrie in May. More details will be released once registration opens in spring.
Simcoe County Museum Activities
In addition to the Family Day activities I mentioned above, the Museum is hosting a new exhibit called Canada Day 1. It’s a bilingual exhibitionthat explores the diverse first experiences and first impressions of immigrants to Canada, from Confederation to present day. The exhibit will be on display at the Simcoe County through April 15th. Canada: Day 1 is a travelling exhibition produced by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 as a legacy project of our nation’s 150th anniversary and supported by RBC Foundation. You can also join us every Tuesday evening at the Museum for Snowshoeing and/or enjoy the Skating Trail (weather and conditions permitted).
Social Housing Builds Update
We have a number of builds underway across the County. The Collingwood Social Housing build is on target and the first building continues to be developed. The completion of both buildings are still scheduled for spring 2019. We are hoping to receive final planning approvals to the Wasaga Beach build shortly and hopeful to start breaking ground this spring. Just this past week, we also released our schedule for the Barrs Motel build in Barrie, which will see us convert an old motel into social housing units for our most vulnerable residents. This project will start once building permits are received in early spring and we are hopeful that the construction will be completed by the end of this summer. We are also preparing a timeline for a new Orillia build we anticipate it will be completed 2019-2020. I’m also pleased to announce that our Committee of the Whole has recently endorsed a commitment to set aside funds to support new concepts in our rural or non-urban communities that can meet the unique social housing needs of these communities. As you can see we have a number of projects underway and doing as much as we can to help our residents and achieve our targets of creating 2,685 new affordable units by 2024 (of which approximately 800 are already completed).
Upcoming Initiatives:
Hospital Funding Announcement
On March 27th, our Council will gather with our partners from the Simcoe County Hospital Alliance to confirm our new 45 million dollar , 15 year funding commitment to support capital projects at our area hospitals. We encourage media and residents to join us as we launch this important investment for our communities.
Local Immigration Partnership – #ItStarts Campaign
I’m truly excited to announce that our Local Immigration Partnership will be working with regional partners to launch their second annual awareness campaign called #ItStarts, which will focus on raising awareness about diversity and multiculturalism in our communities. The program will run from April 23 to May 4 this year, and we will be rolling out the program over the next few weeks.
Completed Meetings and Events:
The following is a few highlights from my County meetings over the last month. A formal list of meetings are presented to Council as part of the Warden’s Communications - available at http://www.simcoe.ca/dpt/clk/amr.
January 17 – I attended the Opening Celebration of RVH's Simcoe Muskoka Regional Heart Program – this is a tremendous step towards saving more lives and increasing our health care offerings within our region
January 19 – County CAO Mark Aitken and I were proud to host the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus AGM & Regular Meeting. I was also honoured to once again be elected as Chair for 2018
January 21 – 22 – I was joined by staff and a number of our County Councillors at the ROMA Conference in Toronto – we had a number of healthy and productive discussions with various Ministries
January 25 – I attended my monthly Mayors’ and Chief luncheon
January 29 – Along with a number of our councillors, I attended a provincial announcement that saw funding towards three new schools, 2 additional renovations and an increase in child care spaces in Simcoe County
February 7 – I attended a provincial announcement to support a provincial apprenticeship strategy
February 8 – I attended a provincial announcement which saw funding towards three of our area businesses - Canplas, Beta Tech and Theta TTS
Media Interviews:
I completed a few media interviews over the past month including a monthly chat with the Peak FM, a sit down with CTV to talk about key projects for 2018, and I also chatted with reporters from Metroland media and CTV following our Council meeting on Feb 13th about various topics discussed during the session.
My week to be
Monday - Family Day , see’s our office closed, that said, I will be at the County Museum to join Waypoint in our Have Hope campaign kick off !
Tuesday - I meet to discuss the Greenbelt Study, I connect with SWIFT CEO Geoff Hogan for an update and attend a team meeting. Please don’t forget to attend our Main Street Reconstruction project update at the arena. The update session starts at 7 p.m.
Wednesday – finds me at Queens Park with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to discuss Provincial investments to make Small Town/Rural Ontario prosperous. I head back home for discussions on the French Language University.
Thursday – I meet to discuss Food Insecurity in our area, I join Rama Chief Noganosh and local area mayors for a monthly update, I meet to review the pending SWIFT Board agenda and our Museum Committee meets.
Friday - I meet with Midland Deputy Mayor, Mike Ross for a local update chat, I attend a meeting with concerned residents to discuss the aggregate pit expansion in Tiny Twp.
Saturday – I get to be a judge at the Midland Cultural Centers spelling bee!
And don’t forget to check out today’s Winterama fun by clicking the link below !
http://www.penetanguishene.ca/en/discover/resources/2018-WINTERAMA-EVENT-SCHEDULE.pdf
Hope to see out and about !
Mayor Gerry
Gerry Marshall
Warden County of Simcoe,
Mayor Town of Penetanguishene,
County (705) 726-9300 Ext. 1260
Town (705)-549-7453
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