Midland mayor wants a voice at the big cities' table

Midland Mayor Bill Gordon in this undated file image.

Midland is good-sized town on the edge of Simcoe County.

However, it’s not a city, which cuts it off from joining area big city mayors who are pleading with the provincial government to give them an assist when it comes to homeless people's encampments.

That hasn’t stopped Midland’s Mayor Bill Gordon from jumping feet first into the fray to ask the province – once council approves his letter – for direction when dealing with a burgeoning homeless population.

In his November 5 letter, Gordon asks the government to give municipalities a little leverage, by using the Notwithstanding Clause if necessary. He wants the province to:

• Become an intervener in any court case restricting a municipality’s ability to prohibit encampments,
• Expand community-based and residential mental health care and services for people with addictions
• Allow a system that would focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration
• Give the Trespass to Property Act a little teeth, so officers can charge people for multiple infringements of trespassing

According to Gordon, “Midland’s homelessness is third-highest in the county, second only to Orillia and Barrie, both of whom are ‘separated cities’ within the county structure.”

Like the 14 smaller municipalities in Simcoe County, once he gets council approval, Gordon wants to be a part of the big cities’ ask of Queen’s Park to humanely get the homelessness crisis under control.