County News
Heavy hand
MPP urges Council to fall in line with provincial priorities
MPP Tyler Allsopp says that Mayor Steve Ferguson is right to worry that $18.3 million in provincial funding may be riding on Council’s decision not to endorse a waterworks financial strategy.
“I share Mayor Ferguson’s concern that this funding (and possibly federal funding) could be lost based on this vote,” wrote the member of the provincial parliament in a statement.
The financial strategy Council rejected as unaffordable, however, carries an estimated price tag of $360 million, with the at-risk provincial contribution amounting to roughly five per cent of that total liability.
The Bay Quinte representative at Queen’s Park added that if “Council is working productively and is well informed, its goals should be in line with those [provincial] priorities.”
Allsopp suggests Council may have brought this upon themselves, that they knew that the mayor could veto its decision, and should have considered the possibility before rejecting his preferred plan.
“Mayor Ferguson is within scope to consider using this tool, and councillors can have their say on his proposal should he bring one forward,” said MPP Allsopp.
The MPP says he did not have any communication with Mayor Ferguson on the matter prior to the mayor signalling his intent to veto the council decision.
Lame Duck
Questions about strong mayor powers during lame duck period swirl
Many residents are asking how the outgoing mayor can commit future councils to a plan estimated to cost $360 million—particularly as council is now considered in a lame-duck restricted-acts period (when, after nomination day, it isn’t guaranteed that 75 per cent of its current members will return).
The province clarified earlier this year, in a matter with a Cochrane council, that strong mayor powers cannot be used to make major provincial decisions, sell significant assets, or hire or dismiss senior staff while in lame-duck status.
Mayor Ferguson also can’t veto a bylaw that wasn’t passed. On September 8, Council declined to endorse a waterworks financial strategy. There is no bylaw to overturn.
As a workaround, the mayor may propose his own bylaw, one advancing “provincial priorities” and, subsequently, demand that Council vote on it. If a majority still won’t support it, he can get it passed anyway with just one-third of council’s support, including his own vote.
But even in this case, any future motion must be framed as “pursuing further study” rather than as endorsing a specific spending plan such as Scenario 2b, or it will likely violate lame-duck restrictions.
In any event, Mayor Ferguson has kicked over a wasp’s nest that is bound to snarl Prince Edward County into years of turmoil and legal thickets of buckthorn.
He is doing so with just days left as mayor.
I concur with HOPEFUL. And I encourage any reader to frame Allsopp’s comments with reference to his 2024 by-election campaign contributor list (available readily at Elections Ontario https://finances.elections.on.ca/api/contributions). An extraordinary haul by a Belleville bicycle mechanic.
/ kudos to Tim Jones, whose lawsuit against “Base 31” allows insight into who contributed to Allsopp’s 2024 campaign…
And let’s remember: the reason Prince Edward County’s Council revolted is that the County was trying to implement a tier-one infrastructure plan without strict tier-one protections. Staff were asking Council to approve the debt before the developers had signed ANY binding, asset-backed Front-Ending Agreements.
And the County is in DIRE financial straits now, without this.
The new Mayor and Council need to get the County back on a sound financial footing. And there is no rush, because NO DEVELOPERS are building houses anytime soon, in anywhere near the volumes that such a major expansion would justify.
The new incoming Council, if they are smart, will immediately pass a Motion to defer Budget deliberations until the new year, to give Staff time to prepare a much more clear ask for Council.
And also, any spending or borrowing needed to fund developer-requested infrastructure should be deferred UNTIL the Stats Canada census results are available. Presently, population counts are scheduled to be released Feb 10, 2027. That’s plenty of time to get a reality check on the various theoretical projections being thrown around.
No request to approve debt. That’s false.
The provincial “commitment” of $18.3 million has ALL SORTS of strings, Allsopp (and those who are cheering the mayor and his cabal on).
This “commitment” is an application-based grant.
These grants operate on a “cost shared” and “Reimbursement based” timeline.
Under the standard Ontario HEWSF (Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund) framework, no money flows UNTIL the municipality achieves SPECIFIC PROJECT MILESTONES, submits progress reports, and files eligible expense claims.
For the first intake block of the fund, projects must have a clear start and completion roadmap. NOTE: That’s not the $18.3 million. That’s just the first intake block of money.
So, as the author of the article quite rightly points out, this so-called “windfall” is around 5% of the cost. And only on a reimbursement basis.
So, an appropriate analogy is:
1) Drive your car into a very large, risky and deep swamp, to an eventual destination on the other side of the swamp, where life is great and you are financially better off.
2) Let’s say the cost of your journey through the swamp is, for the sake of argument, $1000.
3) The province will give you $50, but only after you’ve started. And it won’t be all at once, either.
Perhaps they will air-drop the blocks of the $50 from a drone, whilst you are stuck in the swamp.
And if you are lucky enough to get through the swamp, you have no idea whether or not the benefits you thought you would have at the end of the journey, are actually real.
That’s what the Mayor and the cabal is planning.
ALL SORTS of fun, Allsopp.
So we are now clearly aware that the Province and our MPP support the Mayor’s position. That is crucial information moving forward.