OTTAWA – Monday at the Chateau Laurier, Barrie’s border negotiating team was having breakfast when a waiter asked Innisfil Mayor Brian Jackson whether he’d like to join them.
Jackson took a pass.
But just a few hours later, when Jackson, the Barrie team and Simcoe County were all looking forward to meeting Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson – alone – they were surprised to find they were meeting together.
A half-hour after lunch with the minister who took on the municipal affairs post this spring, the three parties began to talk once again, for the first time in months.
Discussions broke down in February, despite the assistance of then-provincial development facilitator Alan Wells.
“It was a positive meeting, a 30-minute discussion,” said Barrie’s negotiating team spokesman Coun. Mike Ramsay. “You can’t expect all the issues to be resolved, but it was the first joint meeting between Barrie, Innisfil and the county since the talks broke down when Innisfil walked out.”
There have been some technical discussions since the formal talks broke off, but a cabinet shuffle put a further damper on the issue. The two former ministers who came to Simcoe County in April 2007 to tell all local municipal to get their growth issues resolved if they wanted to access infrastructure cash had been replaced. Their strategy was to use a carrot, rather than a stick.
After months of intense work under Wells, the talks failed, followed by the cabinet shuffle. No one was sure what the new minister’s approach would be a year-and-a-half later.
“We keep expecting the hammer. The minister said he still wants a local solution,” said Innisfil Mayor Brian Jackson.
Innisfil has a population target that even Simcoe County can’t support. Innisfil’s Official Plan – its long-term strategic planning document – still must be approved. The county’s growth plan (a component of the county’s OP) calls for growth in Innisfil, but also in Bradford West Gwillimbury, New Tecumseth and Wasaga Beach; the county has the final say on the town’s plan.
The county’s updated Official Plan, in turn, is in its final stages and must receive provincial approval.
Barrie has objected to the county’s plan and criticized its Highway 400 economic corridor as sacrificing prime agricultural land, as well as its plan for spreading growth around in south Simcoe.
“Barrie’s position is we need boundary changes to provide employment lands to provide jobs for people for all people in Central Ontario, and Barrie is in the best situation to protect the health of Lake Simcoe. We have an expanding sewage treatment plant. We are the only urban growth centre north of the GTA,” Ramsay said.
“Barrie has always been the economic engine for all of Simcoe County. Even the county has acknowledged that. Even in a shrinking (provincial) economy with little or no growth, the premier (earlier in the day) made it clear he wanted to encourage economic growth. That is a reason why we need to have our boundary changed.
"Innisfil’s employment lands would be serviced and people in Innisfil would get far more jobs sooner. People throughout Simcoe County want jobs; they don’t want to commute to the GTA.”
Jackson said the meeting brought Watson up to speed on the local issues, although the minister still wants local politicians to solve the issue.
“There wasn’t anything resolved. We met, just a general discussion of the ongoing issues,” said Jackson.
County Warden Tony Guergis said the province gave the county credit for its work – although in a letter earlier this summer, the province reserved the right to allocate population.
“I fail to see the urgency (of Barrie-Innisfil talks). Everybody’s growth issues are important, and the issue important to the urban growth centre in the county is important to us,” he said.
