Sault MPP Ross Romano was one of three provincial cabinet ministers fielding questions from northern Ontario businesses in a ‘Meet the Northern Ministers’ virtual town hall meeting held Wednesday.
Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities, was joined by Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines and Minister of Indigenous Affairs.
The virtual meeting came after Fedeli, with Premier Doug Ford, announced another wave of retail stores and services may open beginning this Friday, such as garden centres and nurseries (in-store and curbside pick-up).
That will be followed by the opening of hardware and safety supply stores (in-store and curbside pick-up) Saturday, retail stores with entrances facing the street able to offer curbside pick-up beginning Monday.
“It's time to get out and support all of these businesses right across the north,” Fedeli said.
Fedeli said outdoor activity in Ontario will be loosened up in three stages, with golf courses and marinas allowed to open first for post-winter repair and maintenance.
The reopening of Ontario’s economy will be met with a backlog of NOHFC-approved and funded construction projects.
“We’re going to run into a lot of problems with recently announced construction projects...there’s going to be a backlog of construction projects for a time to come,” Rickford said.
“The good news is that these will be major employment opportunities for communities across the north so we’re not going to stop doing them,” said Rickford, stating the government will do its best to get those projects up and running as soon as possible.
When asked if the service sector, which doesn’t usually benefit from NOHFC funding, may be eligible for help, Rickford said efforts are being made to build what he called “a COVID tranche” within NOHFC funding.
“We want to cover as many businesses as we can.”
Rickford also told the audience of his direction to defer any repayments of principal and interest on NOHFC loans coming due during the three month period from April 1 to the end of June.
Meanwhile, because colleges and universities are economic drivers for the communities in which they are located, Romano was asked by Rory Ring, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce CEO, how he sees the role of colleges and universities changing and producing tomorrow’s workforce.
The question came after Sault College and Algoma University, like other post-secondary schools province-wide, quickly transitioned to solely online instruction because of the COVID-19 shutdown.
“I certainly have concerns for smaller institutions (such as those in the north). They’ve been impacted,” Romano said, but added the government has stepped forward with financial aid for institutions during the virus crisis.
More specifically, Romano spoke of a new era of post-secondary institutions granting ‘micro credentials’ to students through more online instruction, even after society goes back to normal.
“We were already moving in this direction of digital learning...within the post-secondary environment we’ve been able to make some significant moves forward in that (digital) area, and I think we’ll continue to see more of that as we move forward in the post-COVID world.”
Romano said people deciding to return to school after losing their jobs due to the economic impact of COVID-19 should be able to retool their careers through online, micro credential training which they can receive in a matter of weeks at a fraction of the cost, in terms of time and money, compared to three or four-year programs.
“What would be great is if we could see more of our private sector look at ways to work together with institutions within their communities to develop programs together (producing graduates for in-demand jobs)...I think we can do a lot of that through micro credentials.”
“In the post-COVID world I think the opportunity that exists for our institutions, for our communities and the people within them is going to be substantial,” Romano said.
The ‘Meet the Northern Ministers’ virtual town hall was hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with chambers of commerce in Sault Ste. Marie, Greater Sudbury, North Bay and Thunder Bay.
The virtual town hall had over 200 registered viewers from across the north.
