New Year’s breakfast

MPP Todd Smith meets with local community groups

Members of several different community organizations serving the Quinte and Prince Edward region were invited to a breakfast with MPP Todd Smith at the Waring House last Thursday to hear about provincial government initiatives and how they affect lives and prosperity in the Bay of Quinte riding. Rotary Club members from Belleville, Picton and Wellington were joined by members from PEC Probus, Trenton Kiwanis, Habitat for Humanity and the PEC Lions Club for the informal update. MPP Smith said this breakfast meeting was the brainchild of his assistant Adam Bramburger, but that he nearly missed the meeting himself after a misunderstanding with his digital assistant, Siri, when he inadvertently turned off his alarm and overslept. Fortunately, he woke up in the nick of time and, fortified by a stop at a Tim Hortons, made it to the Waring House in good order. He noted that service clubs play a vital role in the community by raising funds for worthwhile causes, helping individuals in need, and working towards a greater good for everyone.

MPP Smith is also the provincial Energy Minister, a post he has held for two and a half years, and said that the past year has been a busy one for him. He has travelled widely, representing Canada’s nuclear industry across the globe. He was at the COP-29 Summit in Dubai, and also travelled to London, Paris and Poland. He said there’s a renewed interest in nuclear power as an emissions-free way to generate electricity, and has been touting the benefits of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) as an alternative to coal or diesel powered generators. There are plans to build four of these units at Darlington—each one capable of meeting the power needs of a small city—and discussions are in progress with utilities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. He said that proposed electric vehicle battery plants and the conversion of steel-making facilities to electric arc furnaces will result in the industrial electric load increasing by over 25 per cent. It will take a number of years before new nuclear can be brought online and so a power exchange deal with Quebec is in place until the Ontario capacity is built out. MPP Smith also spoke briefly about the Wataynikaneyap Power project that will bring reliable electric power to 16 northern fly-in communities through over 1,800 kilometres of new transmission lines. This will reduce or eliminate the dependence on diesel generators and also provide the potential for economic and community growth.

Closer to home, MPP Smith noted that a new school building for St. Gregory is underway, as are new schools in Belleville and the expansion of Murray Centennial School in Quinte West. Loyalist College is also being expanded, thanks in part to a stream of revenue from a private career college partnership in Toronto. The college is also establishing a reputation for healthcare education. Previously, Loyalist College only offered the first two years of education in the health care field, with students travelling to other colleges to finish their training.

Many of those students did not return to this area after graduation. Now the college is offering the full four-year program, and this should encourage graduates to remain here and ease the shortage of healthcare professionals in this area. Queen’s University has also expanded its program, with the prospect of an additional 50 medical graduates per year. The dire shortage of primary health care providers has been somewhat eased by expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists, who can now prescribe treatment for 19 relatively common and minor ailments. An online virtual care clinic (virtualcareontario. ca) is available every day from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. for Ontarians without a family doctor. MPP Smith said these were stopgap measures until additional Nurse Practitioners and physicians can be put in place. He indicated that a new announcement regarding the funding of Nurse Practitioners will be coming from Health Minister Sylvia Jones in the near future.

Another provincial government focus has been on mental health and addictions. There is now increased collaboration between police, healthcare workers and social services to help de-escalate issues. “Imbedding mental health professionals in the cruiser with the police officer has made an enormous difference in the workload of our frontline emergency responders,” said MPP Smith. While homelessness is less visible in the County than it is in Belleville and Quinte West, it is a problem that the province is working towards a solution. “It is not a Belleville problem, it’s not an Ontario problem, it’s a North American problem. We’re seeing it right across the country and in the United States., and there’s no ‘silver bullet’. There are many initiatives that are necessary to solve the problem,” said MPP Smith.

Before opening the floor to questions, MPP Smith noted that the province is changing the way of delivering beverage alcohol to the consumer by modernizing the system and providing tax fairness for craft breweries, small wineries and cideries—a change that will be welcomed by many County businesses. He closed by thanking the service club members for all of the valuable work that they do. “We are so fortunate to live in this community. We have great service clubs and more volunteers per capita than I think anywhere else in Ontario.”