Mayor “cautiously optimistic” for next meeting with Solicitor General to discuss high policing costs

Tim Brody - Editor

No solutions proposed, but a commitment from the Solicitor General to keep working on one to address high policing costs in Sioux Lookout, Pickle Lake, and Kenora.
The mayors of Sioux Lookout – Doug Lawrance, Pickle Lake – James Dalzell, and Kenora – Andrew Poirier met with Solicitor General Michael Kerzner on Jan. 23 at this year’s Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in Toronto to address the high cost of policing in their municipalities.
Eleven months ago the three communities formed a coalition to address the matter.
Lawrance said of the meeting with the Solicitor General, “At the end of the day I think the talks with the Solicitor General went well in the sense that the Solicitor General seemed very engaged and committed to work with his staff and keep in touch with us and meet with us in a manner of weeks. We would have hoped, of course, to have a solution when we went to ROMA in the meeting, but his commitment is, I guess, the next best option.”
“We’re cautiously optimistic for the next time we meet in a matter of weeks,” Lawrance said.
Lawrance has met with the Solicitor General of the day on this matter several times over the years and said, “The focus with the Solicitor General has been on the unfair policing costs that Sioux Lookout is burdened with. So yes, it goes back a long time. It was very good to be in a coalition this time, that we formed just under a year ago with Pickle Lake and Kenora, two communities that are under the same burden that we are. We have been able to meet with the Solicitor General’s staff over the course of the year and with the Solicitor General at AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) in August, so progress I guess is incremental.”