'We don't know what the next step is': northern Ontario town facing financial crisis to meet with the province

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 14, 2025 10:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

A bluish Ontario town that faces a shutdown of municipal services adjacent period is gathering with representatives from Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing connected Wednesday to assistance find a solution to its fiscal problems.

 "We don't cognize what the adjacent measurement is," said Shannon Pawlikowski, the Township of Fauquier-Stickland's manager of municipal services, during a peculiar assembly gathering Monday night.

"We don't cognize if they're going to amalgamate america with different municipality oregon supply america with loans. Because the outgo of operating this municipality exceeds what the taxation basal tin afford."

Last week, Fauquier-Strickland Mayor Madeleine Tremblay said the municipality of conscionable nether 500 people, located connected Highway 11 eastbound of Kapuskasing, has a $2.5 cardinal shortage and would request to cease each municipal services by Aug. 1 without involution from the province.

Tremblay clarified astatine Monday's gathering that households would inactive proceed to beryllium connected to the municipal h2o proviso aft Aug. 1, adjacent if the state doesn't intervene.

But different services, specified arsenic garbage collection, would nary longer beryllium offered.

Pawlikowski said residents would person to bring their discarded to a landfill successful a neighbouring community because it would beryllium a liability to support Fauquier-Strickland's landfill unfastened without unit determination to tally it.

"It's going to beryllium a large occupation if we can't usage the dump," said Coun. Pierre Lamontagne.

Lamontagne noted, to immoderate laughter successful the crowd, that if each household paid $9,000 it would destruct the municipality's deficit.

"I've done the count, and that's what it is," helium said.

During the gathering immoderate citizens voiced their vexation astatine the township's mediocre fiscal standing.

Dan Michaud, who ran for politician against Tremblay in 2018, said Fauquier's financial problems spell backmost astatine slightest that far.

"We had this occupation 8 years agone and it's inactive not resolved," helium said. 

Other residents asked wherefore the municipality "went connected a spending spree."

Tremblay told CBC News earlier that upgrades to the  h2o filtration strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic went implicit budget, leaving the tiny assemblage with a measure for $1 million.

On Monday, Pawlikowski noted that operation of a caller municipal gathering and wellness centre came successful astatine $2 million.

Stagnant taxation base

She said that adjacent if the state paid disconnected the township's $2.5-million operating shortage "we would inactive beryllium operating barebones."

Pawlikowski said that portion Fauquier-Strickland's colonisation has accrued somewhat since the pandemic, the taxation basal hasn't grown since galore of the caller residents are families with young children.

In the end, assembly voted successful favour of a question saying it is willing and acceptable to enactment with the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs to assistance lick this financial crisis.