By Cecilia Nasmith

On the fifth day of Mona Fortier's pre-budget-consultation tour, Cobourg rated a visit Friday morning.

The Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance met with Mayor John Henderson, Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin and Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf at Venture 13, then met with representatives of local news media.

“I have been in different communities, and I am excited to be here to better understand not only the challenges, but also the great opportunities we have to work together and see what we can do as a Federal partner to pursue that growth in Cobourg, and also work on those challenges that families and members of your community have,” Fortier said.

The Cobourg stop follows visits to Montreal on Monday, Windsor on Tuesday, London on Wednesday, Hamilton on Thursday, and (after Cobourg) a Friday visit to Napanee before going on to Ottawa.

“Our theme is, how do we continue to grow the economy and strengthen the middle class? How do we keep Canadians safe and healthy?” Fortier said.

“We were talking about how do we continue to fight against climate change, protect the environment. And our other theme is reconciliating with Indigenous peoples. How do we continue to reconciliate with the Indigenous peoples?”

One of the most important topics she sees brought up – in Cobourg and elsewhere - is affordability and quality of life.

“How do we continue to work with families to have good-paying jobs but, at the same time, work on those concerns that some families are living with – the cost of living.”

At Northam Industrial Park, Henderson pointed out, there are plants representing multi-national multi-million-dollar companies.
“It is a constant struggle to find skills matching with the right service delivery and the right talent pool, a concern not only in Cobourg but across Ontario. How do we find the right balance?” the mayor said.

“We are one of the first small councils to be looking at the concept of a living wage – not minimum wage, but a living wage. In our case, it was promoted by Kristina Nairn, who represents the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit.”

Affordable housing has also been on the council agenda, with a Community Improvement Plan in the works.

“What options can we put in to make it attainable and continue in our community to have a good-paying job and find livable accommodations? It's a challenge not only in Cobourg but – if not across Ontario – certainly across Canada,” Henderson said.

“These are related factors. Jobs are not separate from living wages, not separate from attainable housing or sustainable food and well-being. It's all connected. We are looking at total community well-being.”

Though the recent announcement of the loss of 180 jobs as the Weston plant closes was not part of the pre-budget consultation, it was discussed afterwards.
Henderson had issued a brief statement upon learning of the closure:

“I can confirm that all three levels of government and our community partners are committed to ensuring support and resources are provided to all employees affected by the closure of Weston Foods. Our community partners are working diligently to help ensure displaced employees find employment within Northumberland County through the Make Work Better! campaign.”

Weston has always been a good corporate citizen, the mayor said on Friday morning, with a plant in the community for a quarter-century. Its closure was entirely unforeseen. But sometimes these decisions are made in distant corporate headquarters unbeknownst to their host communities.

“I can't imagine being an employee. It's probably the worst-case-scenario news anyone could receive,” he said.

“Our first goal is making sure employees are taken care of in all facets possible. I have been having a conversation with (Northumberland-Peterborough South MP) Philip Lawrencre and, of course, MPP David Piccini.”

The most important consideration in all this is the people affected, Henderson continued.

“These are lives we are dealing with. They have homes, they have families, they have needs, they have wants. Right now, our main focus is what we can do collectively between the Federal, provincial and municipal for the transition to make tomorrow a little bit brighter.”

“My heart goes out to those families affected by the loss of these jobs,” Fortier added.

“I echo how important it is to support these families in this critical time and help them transition to the next good-paying job, and I think that is the most important thing. We want to partner with the Town of Cobourg and find ways we can support these families. I believe we will continue to work together to make sure we ensure the pursuit of that growth in this region, but also making sure all those families will be supported.”

These pre-budget consultations are not just an exercise with mayors and elected officials, Fortier said. Everyone is encouraged to participate at an on-line forum that is set up at budget.gc.ca