There’s no doubting that Penetanguishene is a dog with a bone in trying to resolve the Central North Correctional Centre policing costs, but the concern remains how effective the tug-of-war is between the town and the province.
The CNCC is a provincial institution which had its funding for policing ceased in 2019 by the former Minister of the Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, as part of a province-wide roll-out for a new pricing program. Unpaid invoices mounted, and the town struggled to minimize the impact to the ratepayers for the 2022 and 2023 budgets.
A report detailing the policing costs at the CNCC, including an update as well as strategy and recommendations, was brought to the recent meeting of Penetanguishene council.
Coun. George Vadeboncoeur noted, “This issue of recovery of policing costs is of high interest to members of our community. It’s something that I get asked about on a regular basis; and I was happy to see this report.”
He commended the efforts of Coun. Doug Leroux, former mayor of the town, as well as current Mayor Doug Rawson in trying to remedy a solution.
“(The policing costs are) not insignificant,” said Vadeboncoeur. “It is acknowledged that they are declining as a result of the CNCC triaging their issues that occur at the facility; but still, they are costs that are incurred by the municipality.”
He added it was “the province who should be ultimately responsible for paying these police costs.”
Council supported the strategy outlined in the report to continue lobbying the province for fairness on the issue, which had been the strategy for nearly three years.
“This has been a priority for this entire council term,” Rawson stated. “We just got through our first year (and) this has always been on my radar. We meet with our local Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop on a quarterly basis; we cross paths on a regular occurrence – there’s not an occasion I don’t bring this up.”
Town representatives consisting of Rawson, Deputy Mayor Dan La Rose and CAO Jeff Lees met with Solicitor General Michael Kerzner in spring time, with a shake of hands in what Rawson called a positive meeting.
“We were told that we were going to have his visit here by the end of June, and then we had more dialogue through the summer getting some positive responses that things were going to move forward," said Rawson.
“But these were all fallen on deaf ears, and nothing has occurred since then,” said Rawson. “So we continue the conversation from our end, but it’s been a one-way dialogue.”
Rawson addressed the council approval to intensify their campaign in addressing policing costs, through more petitioning.
“The next thing is going directly to (Premier Doug Ford), and letting the premier know that the response to our community isn’t appropriate; it’s disrespectful to our taxpayers. We’re going to be demanding some attention and some resolution to this matter; it can’t continue into 2024.”
He added, “We’re going to continue our dialogue with the Solicitor General and with our local MPP. We’ll be seeking support from our member municipalities within Simcoe County. We’ll also be soliciting support from AMO (the Association of Municipalities of Ontario), and the list is going to go on where we’re going to be standing loud and proud and letting the province know that this isn’t acceptable.
“We’re going to move forward in an appropriate way that’s measured so that we get the response that we need,” Rawson stated.
The policing costs at CNCC update and strategy report can be located on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
