Rainy River mayor brings concerns with doctors, housing & red tape to government

The mayor of Rainy River has returned from meetings in Toronto.

Deborah Ewald sat down with representatives from four government ministries during her attendance at this week’s Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference in Toronto.

One of the issues touched on was the funding for housing provided to the District of Rainy River Services Boards.

Ewald, who serves as the board’s chair, says some of that housing is showing its age.

“We don’t have the funding for what we need to replace them or refurnish them and rehabilitate them,” says Ewald.

Ewald says they are working with other Social Services Boards in northern Ontario facing similar housing challenges in exploring funding opportunities that all can access.

The doctor situation in Rainy River was discussed at a meeting with Ministry of Health officials.

Locum doctors have been helping to keep the emergency department at Rainy River Health Centre open since the town’s physicians closed their practices two years ago over a funding dispute with the Ministry.

“We have an elderly population, and a lot of people are afraid and have angst because they don’t know if there’s going to be doctors there or not,” says Ewald.

“So far, we’ve been fortunate that we’ve got good locums that are helping out, but there needs to be a permanent solution.”

Ewald also met with government officials on the need to reduce red tape.

She says the amount of paperwork pushed at municipalities has become ridiculous.

“We have small staffs, and even with the DSSAB with their programs, there’s sometimes just one person that does all the paper stuff. So we just suggested some ways that they could reduce the red tape so that people aren’t scrambling to fill out the forms and whatnot that they’re requiring.”