Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath addressed the leaders of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Tuesday, saying that Doug Ford must stop meddling in Ontario municipalities \u2014 and promised a bill to ensure that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n
Horwath outlined a way forward to help grow rural and northern Ontario with policies focused on jobs for young people, better infrastructure and respect for local decision-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cRural Ontarians built our economy and continue to put food on the table for millions of people across the province and around the world,\u201d said Horwath. \u201cWith industries from forestry and mining to start ups and agricultural innovation, rural families are truly the bedrock of our economy. When rural Ontario thrives, our province thrives.<\/p>\n
Rural and northern families deserve a government that\u2019s in it for them, that supports local jobs so their children can build a life and grow a family in their community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horwath said that while Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals let rural families down, Doug Ford is making things even worse by trampling local governments and making deep cuts to school repairs and mental health funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Premier\u2019s job is to work with municipalities, not to rule them,\u201d said Horwath. \u201cYet, time and time again, Ford has trampled local decision making and meddled in their affairs. He is using his office to settle personal scores at any costs. Now, Ford is setting his sights on rural municipalities throughout the province and threatening amalgamation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horwath said that when the legislature returns the NDP will introduce legislation that would stop Ford\u2019s meddling in municipal elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cRural and northern families deserve a government that put their interests first, not one mirrored in personal vendetta\u2019s and grudge matches.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath addressed the leaders of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Tuesday, saying that Doug Ford must stop meddling in Ontario municipalities \u2014 and promised a bill to ensure that\u2019s the case. Horwath outlined a way forward to help grow rural and northern Ontario with policies focused on jobs for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-provincial"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 01:53:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18597,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596\/revisions\/18597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}