Kenora has a small delegation at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention in Ottawa.
AMO began on Sunday and Mayor Andrew Poirier is the lone representitive from the city.
He says he’ll still present several issues the city has, such as controlled entrance to the LCBO store.
“It’s a crown corporation…it’s a provincial facility…and we’re being asked to pay an awful lot of money to police a very small area where the LCBO and the Beer Store are,” says Poirier.
“And our calls for service there are astronomical…they’re catastrophic.”
Poirier says they have been lobbying for a controlled entrance to the LBCO for years, but their request seems to be falling on deaf ears, after an earlier attempt failed.
He adds that they have a couple of meeting set up with cabinet ministers including the finance minister the increasing the rebate for policing the Court House and the Kenora Jail.
“The pot has not grown in probably about 10 years. All the other costs have increased, but the pot is being shared by the same municipalities, but the costs have gone up. Hence the rebate is not where we want it to be.”
Poirier says he’s been hearing from more and more municipalities, especially in southern and eastern Ontario, concerned with the high cost of policing.
He suggests it’s not just a northwestern Ontario issue anymore.
