North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says he is going to fight the OPG job cuts by rallying area politicians in a campaign to reverse the corporation's announcement this morning that 44 jobs will be transferred out of the city, and its offices here closed.
"The jobs aren't all in North Bay," he said in a telephone interview with BayToday. "The people live in Powassan, Astorville and Callander but it's still in our region and this is where I need the regional mayor's to lend their voice in keeping the jobs in our region."
It will be tough. Al Reid, OPG's Chief Operating Officer, said there is no going back.
"We are committed to making these cost savings for the business," he told BayToday.
But McDonald is undeterred.
"That's what they told us about the ONTC. I'm going to battle for those jobs.
"We need the support of our MPP, our MP and our regional mayors to lend their voice to keep the jobs here. I will be writing a letter to the Ombudsmen's office to have them look into this."
Fedeli says he's already started.
"I started this morning by putting the government on notice that what they did was very onerous to the city of North Bay. They didn't give the municipality any opportunity to mount any kind of defence before their announcement.
"Coming up with an analysis of operational deficiencies that may come as a result of moving, safety concerns that will come before the operating plants in our region that may come as a result would be good starting points to mount a defence. But the fact they've done this as a fait accompli adds insult to the community. They're treating it like there is no opportunity to change. They've made financial commitments now to people to try to lock in as much of this as possible. It's disturbing that the Minister can't return calls to anybody."
