The provincial representative of Glengarry and Prescott-Russell discusses attending the AMO conference, school budget cuts, a new program launch and new funding initiatives such as 200 million dollars available to be placed towards sport complexes.

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In the month of August, Stéphane Sarrazin attended the Associations of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, which allowed municipalities to ask questions and request funding such as the 200 million dollars available to be placed towards sports complexes or sports infrastructures. Furthermore, he addresses the supposed cuts in the school board's funding leading to shortening the school bus pickup distance and discusses a new program that enables nurses to go to the homes of new parents to offer support.

Supporting the municipalities

Stéphane Sarrazin’s attendance at the AMO conference this August created an opportunity for the mayors of participating municipalities to ask questions and request funding. He noted, “All of them [the municipalities] had something to ask, or questions, and some of them came to thank the provincial government for past funding.” He elaborated on how the AMO conference enabled municipalities to request funding by citing: “One of the funding for example is a sports complex and sports infrastructure, so there’s going to be a 200 million dollars available for municipalities.” He added the example that The Nation could use part of this funding to renovate their arena and that the Russell Township could get up to 10 million dollars to build their sports complex.

School budget and funding for new parents

When asked about the school boards’ decision to shorten the distance for school bus pickups in the area due to funding constraints, Sarrazin replied, “We met with the school board trustees, and we did ask some questions because we got more funding this year than we got the year before, so I think we increased the funding by 4. (something) % and why all of a sudden - you know, we can’t deal with that kind of money.” Additionally, the Ontario Conservative Party has launched a new program that enables the Ontario health unit to send nurses to the homes of new parents. According to the representative, this initiative is designed to assist parents in caring for their newborns.