Provincial reps stop in Thunder Bay for northwestern perspective on budget

Ontario’s 2026 pre-budget consultation tour ended on Thursday in Sudbury, following almost two months of visits to municipalities around the province.

Wednesday’s Thunder Bay visit marked the provincial government’s only stop in northwestern Ontario.

Representatives from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party heard presentations from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Poverty Free Thunder Bay, the Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group, the Thunder Bay Real Estate Board, and many more local and regional interest groups.

Representative Dave Smith, MPP for Peterborough—Kawartha and the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance, says many of the region’s issues are felt across northern Ontario, such as rising homelessness, the need for more long-term care home spaces, and a lack of access to veterinary care.

He says the province is looking out for common themes that many places have to deal with, even if their local nuances demand slightly different solutions.

“If in 10 of the 15 communities that we go to, we hear that there are challenges around infrastructure, then obviously we need to have a program specifically for infrastructure,” Smith says. “If we’re hearing a lot of one-offs on things, that’s a little bit harder to address from the budget standpoint, because we’re developing programs for the entire province.”

Smith says northern and southern issues can sometimes diverge, with communities in the north less concerned about something like subway lines.

But he says many issues are common throughout the province, such as long wait times to build new long-term care spaces.

“The process from start to finish is five to eight years from when someone says, ‘let’s build one’ until it’s actually open. You hear that across the province, regardless of where it is,” he explains.

Smith suggests that provincial programs need to be adaptable, so individual localities can shape them for their individual needs.

“If we hear that there’s a challenge with homelessness, it’s always a little different in Thunder Bay than it is in say Peterborough or Brockville or Ottawa, so you need to have that flexibility.”

Smith is grateful for the chance to “get out of the Toronto bubble and hear what’s going on.”

He says the provincial legislature in Queen’s Park is very Toronto-centric.

“We always have to keep in mind that we represent all of Ontario, not just Toronto itself.”