Northern Ontario Municipal Association names new president

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 24, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The caller president of the Northern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) says he's excited to pb the enactment for the adjacent 2 years.

Rick Dumas, politician of Marathon, was officially named caller NOMA president astatine the organization's yearly league successful Thunder Bay connected Wednesday.

He takes implicit from Shuniah Mayor Wendy Landry, who stepped down arsenic NOMA president aft 8 years successful the role.

"My imaginativeness close present is conscionable instrumentality the enactment to the adjacent level," Dumas said. "We person a maturation program and strategical plan. We privation to proceed moving connected that and making definite that the Government of Ontario and the national authorities recognize what NOMA is each about."

Dumas said 1 of his archetypal authoritative duties volition beryllium representing NOMA astatine the Association of Municipalities of Ontario league this summer.

"I'll bring the issues forward and marque definite we place each the issues successful bluish Ontario, and spot however we tin marque advancement with the government," helium said. He outlined respective precedence issues faced by bluish communities including homelessness, intelligence health, addictions, road safety, mining and energy.

Landry, meanwhile, volition enactment connected arsenic past-president.

"A small bittersweet connected my part," Landry said. "I consciousness truthful passionate astir northwestern Ontario that I americium blessed that I get to inactive beryllium connected the board, to inactive contribute."

Speaking to media earlier the authoritative extremity of her term, Landry said her extremity erstwhile she archetypal ran for NOMA president was to rise the illustration of the organization.

"I deliberation we've done that arsenic a committee and arsenic an executive," she said. "We've inactive got immoderate enactment to do. We're inactive acold distant from Queen's Park, truthful we request to inactive support our voices loud."

Ten provincial ministers are acceptable to look astatine this year's NOMA conference, arsenic were provincial NDP Leader Marit Stiles, provincial Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, and provincial Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

"I deliberation it's a validation that we are important, and radical find it important to beryllium present with us," Landry said.

This year's NOMA league began connected Wednesday, and volition tally done to Friday.

The agenda includes a fig of addresses covering topics similar northwestern Ontario's powerfulness needs, beardown politician powers, adjacent steps for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and agrarian and distant doc services coordination.

Another taxable for treatment is the diminution of planetary students coming to the region, and the interaction that volition have, Landry said.

"I deliberation Marathon has similar 80 oregon 90-odd occupation openings close now," she said. "Red Lake, I deliberation there's implicit 140 occupation openings. Atikokan's CAO just shared with maine ... each the postings that they have, everything from municipal roles to roles successful their communities that are not being filled."

"In confederate Ontario, they person an abundance of immigrants and abundance of caller Canadians," Landry said. "In northwestern Ontario, we don't person that, and the students truly filled immoderate of those gaps."