$50M funding boost for rural municipalities

Ontario’s Minister of Rural Affairs announced a $50 million increase in provincial funding for Ontario’s rural and northern municipalities.

Ontario’s Minister of Rural Affairs, Lisa Thompson, came to her home riding of Huron-Bruce to announce a $50 million increase in provincial funding for Ontario’s rural and northern municipalities Friday.

Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding will rise to $600 million for 388 rural and northern municipalities in Ontario. That is a 20 per cent increase from 2024 levels.

Money from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund can be spent on anything from roads and infrastructure to recreation, and is at the discretion of municipalities how they wish to use their allotment of the provincial funding.

The announcement was well received by the room full of Huron-Bruce mayors in attendance in Goderich.

“We’re seeing inflation rates much higher than the average consumer. In the municipal sector, especially road construction, costs went up substantially. So this will allow us to, you know, at least keep up and hopefully get more and more jobs done and more roads repaired to help out our residents,” said Central Huron Reeve Jim Ginn.

“One of our biggest concerns that I receive from our residents who live here in the town is the conditions of our streets. Right? So this is money that we can use to help with that, as well as many other things that we’re dealing with. We’re feeling the pressure. Just like everyone else is,” said Goderich Mayor Trevor Bazinet.

“We’ve taken time to listen and to understand and we are enabling small, rural and northern communities across this province to look ahead to 2026 with confidence,” said Thompson.