One of the highlights of 2015 for Lambton County Warden Bev MacDougall was seeing “the fruits” of the county’s $5-million pledge of support for Lambton College.
County officials were on hand in June when the federal and provincial governments announced they were following Lambton’s lead and would each contribute $10 million to a new health sciences building the college expects to begin building in 2016.
“We were the first level of government to put money on the table for that important next step for our local community college,” MacDougall said.
“I think that certainly stands in my mind as one of the big financial achievements of this past year.”
Recently, college officials said a groundbreaking ceremony is expected in March, followed by the start of construction in September on its $30-million Nova Chemical Health and Research centre, along with a $12-million athletics and fitness complex.
The facilities are expected to open in 2018.
MacDougall, a Sarnia councillor entering the second half of her two-year term as chairperson of county council, also pointed to a $40-million, 20-year commitment that county council made in 2015 to upgrade 830 units of social housing in Sarnia-Lambton.
“That will rehabilitate housing stock that is really, really important to people in our community,” she said.
“Council’s endorsement was a really important step to make to the future of those assets that are built and in the ground, and being well-used.”
As the federal government moves on its promise to invest in social housing, “we’re going to be ready with our plan in hand,” MacDougall said.
“Once the federal coffers open up, we’ll be able to go in and grab some of those funds.”
Most of the social housing units administered by the county were built in the 1960s and 1970s.
MacDougall also pointed to a $1-million, five-year commitment that Lambton County council made to a SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) plan to expand broadband internet access for under-serviced small towns and rural areas in the region.
“That’s a very ambitious project,” she said.
The $287-million regional effort hopes to attract close to $189 million from the provincial and federal governments.
“That is another project I think is very, very important for Lambton County, moving forward,” MacDougall said.
Another important issue that began in 2015, and will continue into the coming year, will be discussions Lambton officials have been part of to ensure greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade system Ontario is developing to battle climate change doesn’t leave Sarnia-Lambton behind, she said.
MacDougall said Ontario’s minister of environment and climate change promised “he was going to do everything in his power to keep the Sarnia-Lambton community from having its Kodak moment, where all of a sudden our local economy collapses and the replacement isn’t there.”
Eastman Kodak, a film and camera company formed in 1880, was battered by advances in technology.
Sarnia-Lambton’s Chemical Valley was founded on refining crude oil and the manufacturing of chemicals, economic activities that could find themselves on the wrong end of government moves to address climate change.
MacDougall said provincial officials have talked about using money generated by a cap and trade system “to reinvest in areas that need to innovate, that need to reshape the economy.”
She said a commitment she has made for 2016 is to see that efforts continue to ensure Sarnia-Lambton’s needs are considered as the cap and trade system develops.
“My commitment for every resident of Lambton County for 2016, is to continue the strong work started in 2015,” she said.
“I see good things ahead for Sarnia-Lambton.”
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