Steve Black

Like the band Twisted Sister, 22 mayors from Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec aren’t going to take it anymore.

The communities are banding together on common issues like the impacts of environmental extremism and how it could affect the future of the region.

NEOMA (North Eastern Ontario Municipal Association) is  asking Cochrane and Hearst mayors, Peter Politis and Roger Sigouin form a task force to report back to NEOMA with how other communities feel about starting an alliance to fight special interest groups and the provincial government.

Sigouin says they’re latest meeting with NEOMA on May 27th showed solidarity throughout the region.

“As Mayors we can no longer sit by while policies are being formed by government that are driven by extremists with money, continuing to put our communities at both short term and long term risks. ”

Timmins Mayor, Steve Black says if the government were to get us in the conversation up front, we won’t have to undo the damage from certain policies after the fact.

Politis says the opportunity to shift the focus of theses special interests groups and the government is now.

“That opportunity is here.  The onslaught of policy and social engineering taking place in our regions that is counter intuitive to the development and growth of an entire group of people and their way of life, has been allowed to reach dangerous proportions. I’m looking forward to seeing if the pieces can be lined up in a way helping us become more effective at balancing the scales.”

NEOMA Chair, Mike Doody adds, he’s looking forward to Mayors Politis and Sigouin’s report because a lot is at stake.

“For some northern communities, there life is on the line.  We need to whole north to support us especially anyone in the logging and lumber industry which is vital to their jobs and well being.  We owe it to the people who chose to live here to be helping them because for some it’s become a crisis situation.”