Commentary

Building Strong Relationships at ROMA 2025

January 24, 2025 | Sandy Kursis | CFFO Executive Board Director

The annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s (ROMA) 3-day conference was held in Toronto, January 19-21, 2025. Over 2,000 municipal leaders from “rural” municipalities across the length and breadth of Ontario attended. I was fortunate to be a delegate representing the CFFO as I was able to attend numerous workshops and seminars held over the 3-day period. This afforded me the opportunity to introduce myself and the CFFO to many of the participants.

Why is it important that the CFFO attend this conference? The majority of the delegates are County Wardens, Mayors and Councillors. They are the critical decision-makers at a local level. With some of the changes to the recent Ontario Provincial Planning Statement (PPS), additional responsibilities and decision-making has been pushed down by the province to the municipal level. Consequently, it is more important than ever for us to develop strong relationships with our local politicians to ensure that they are aware of agricultural issues and consider our unique needs when drafting new by-laws or weighing land-use and zoning changes.

What struck me was how many of the mayors and councillors identified themselves as farmers when they stood to speak in the workshops. It was gratifying also how many remembered the CFFO booth last year. I was thanked numerous times for the CFFO bringing a Christian perspective to agriculture and farming issues.

It was gratifying to see that the Premier took the time from his very busy schedule to address the conference. Both the Minister of Agriculture, Rob Flack and Minister of Rural Affairs, Lisa Thompson spoke at plenary sessions and the pride in their agricultural backgrounds shone through their remarks.

All of the provincial cabinet ministers (except those in Washington for President Trump’s inauguration) made a point of mingling and being available on an informal basis at the trade show. Farmers and agriculture matter to Ontario. The agri-food industry is “an economic powerhouse,” providing 1 in 9 jobs in Ontario and contributes $48.8 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the provincial economy (6.4 per cent of total Ontario GDP). We can feel pride in those numbers.

The topics covered in the numerous workshops ranged from land-use planning, alternative energy sources, nuclear waste, municipal drains, to the state of health care services, and rural homelessness. All topics that impact the quality of our lives and livelihoods.

Pictured below: Clearview Mayor Doug Measures, Jeff Lehman, Chair District Region of Muskoka and Sandy Kursis. 

Until next time, 
Sandy Kursis

Sandy Kursis is CFFO Executive Board Director & CFFO Central Ontario District Director. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy.