mayor steve blackTimmins Mayor Steve Black was among hundreds of delegates at this year’s Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) Conference in Sudbury this week.

One of the guests was Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Black says there was great interaction with the provincial government overall, adding he was able to ask Wynne a couple of questions on the Connecting Link.

He mentioned the government has been doing good things for the North, but made it known that a $15-million annual fund for the province is not substantial enough to do work needed in Timmins (around $50-$70 million worth).

Black says Wynne accepted that the money isn’t enough to cover all the needs.

“That’s why they have the other Moving Ontario Forward Infrastructure Fund,” Black recalling Wynne’s words, “And they’d have to sit down in the future and discuss the project and see what’s available at that point for funding.”

Black added that lately in Northeastern Ontario, they’ve celebrated the return of provincial parks, keeping ONTC public and the Connecting Link.  He says all three of those were things the Liberals took away in the first place.

Overall, it was a different feeling for Black, attending his first FONOM Conference as Mayor.

Sure, he went to two previous meetings as a councilman, but he says as a FONOM director, he’s a lot busier.

He’ll get a lot busier next year, with Timmins set to host the 2016 annual conference.