03/05/2020
Toby Barrett not a help but a hindrance to local needs
Local mayors criticize lack of help and support from H-N MPP
First elected in 1995, Toby Barrett has been our provincial representative for 25 years. During that time, his party has twice been in office with a majority government.
One would think that, given that amount of time, Toby has had ample time to deliver modern public infrastructure for Haldimand-Norfolk.
Unfortunately, the truth is that he has not done so. Even more concerning is that increasingly he is seen as an obstruction to the aspirations and needs of our community.
Recently Norfolk Mayor Kristal Chopp voiced her frustration with Toby. As reported by the Simcoe Reformer Feb.13, she said he is “ineffective” and “more a hindrance than a help”.
Mayor Chopp’s comments were prompted by Toby’s lack of support for some important local infrastructure needs.
The cost of a proposed recreational hub for Norfolk County, estimated at $50 million, is eligible for two-thirds funding through the $1-billion federal infrastructure fund. Accessing the money would require provincial support. That means our provincial representative needs to get behind it. Instead, Toby essentially threw up his hands, taking to Facebook to say, “there is a good chance that Norfolk will not get the funding they seek”.
Matters of importance cannot be left to “chance”. If our local MPP is not standing up for us and is not fighting for funding, then other communities represented by spirited and active MPPs who strongly advocate for projects will get the funding.
Norfolk deserves good recreational facilities. But clean drinking water is even more important.
Norfolk needs more, higher quality drinking water in order to meet the needs of our people and in order to allow our community to grow. Luckily there is a ready solution. The water treatment facility located in Haldimand County in Nanticoke, has excess capacity. All we need is a water pipeline deliver the water.
As the Simcoe Reformer reports, Haldimand Mayor Ken Hewitt invited Toby to a meeting with Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott at the recent Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) at which the proposed water pipeline from Nanticoke to Port Dover was the subject. Instead of attending himself, he sent an assistant who contributed “little or nothing” to the meeting.
Paying for a water pipeline is beyond the capacity of local taxpayers. That’s the role of the provincial government. But it is a big province with lots of needs. That’s why we need stronger representation to move along projects such as this.
My approach, if I were elected as our provincial representative, would be to convene regular meetings with our two mayors so that local needs are known and to ensure we work together and co-ordinate to make our local projects happen.
We know Barrett is a friendly fellow who faithfully attends local events such as spaghetti dinners and is famous locally for driving a tractor in local parades. Spaghetti dinners and Canada Day parades are important, to be sure, but our community needs more than this. We need an MPP to be our voice and advocate for us at Queen's Park. It is concerning that, after 25 years in office, Toby does not understand this.
Dan Matten
Provincial Liberal Candidate 2018
