City of London’s Division Manager Becomes President of Municipal Association

April 21, 2023, Oakville, ON – During the 129^th edition of the annual Good Roads Conference in Toronto, John Parsons, Division Manager, Road Operations with the City of London staff was installed as the President of the 2023-2024 Good Roads Board of Directors.

“John’s experience will be important as we work to get improve Ontario’s municipal road network,” said Scott Butler, Good Roads’ Executive Director.

“I’m humbled and honoured by this opportunity and looking forward to serving as the Good Roads Board President.” said Mr. Parsons’. “Good Roads does a lot. It educates thousands of trainees a year. It advocates to make roads safer. And it works with municipalities and First Nations to make them the best custodians of local roads and infrastructure that they can be.” said Mr. Parsons.

The 2023/24 Good Roads Board of Directors:

• President – John Parsons, Division Manager, Roads Operations, City of London,
• First Vice President – Antoine Boucher, Director of Public Works & Engineering, Municipality of East Ferris
• Second Vice President – Cheryl Fort, Mayor, Township of Hornepayne
• Third Vice President – Paul Ainslie, Councillor, City of Toronto
• Past President – Paul Schoppmann, St. Charles

Directors:

• Melissa Abercrombie, Manager of Engineering Services, County of Oxford
• Salim Alibhai, Director, Capital Planning & Delivery, Transportation Operations, Public Works, Regional Municipality of York
• Chris Angelo, Director of Public Works & Environmental Services, City of Quinte West
• David Armstrong, Manager of Public Works, Town of Gananoque
• Cathy Burghardt-Jesson, Warden, County of Middlesex
• Nazzareno Capano, Manager, Transportation Policy & Innovation, City of Toronto
• Aakash Desai, Asset Manager & Deputy Treasurer, Township of Southgate
• Terry McKay, Deputy Mayor, Township of Chatsworth
• Kristin Murray, Councillor, City of Timmins
• Justin Towndale, Mayor, City of Cornwall

The 130^th edition of the Good Roads Conference will take place April 21 – 24, 2024 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.

Ontario Helping Good Roads Train Frontline Municipal and First Nations Staff

Government investment funds flexible training for public works and municipal professionals across Ontario

NEWS April 17, 2023

TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing $1,850,728 in a training program through  that offers public works staff in Ontario municipalities and First Nations communities the opportunity to enhance their skills. This initiative is supported through the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s Skills Development Fund, a program that offers funding to a wide range of organizations for innovative projects that address Ontario’s labour shortage.

Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, announced this funding during the annual Good Roads Conference in Toronto where industry professionals heard firsthand about the training investment for First Nations communities and municipal staff.

“Ontario needs all hands on deck to help build the highways, transit, schools, homes and hospitals our growing population relies on,” said Minister McNaughton. “Today’s announcement will not only benefit municipal and First Nations employers but provide workers with the training they need so that they can get jobs they can be proud of and earn a bigger paycheque for themselves and their families.”

With the support of this investment by the provincial government, Good Roads will bring training to regions of Ontario where it has not been provided previously. This will benefit municipal and First Nations employers as the traditional barriers of geography and costs that confound rural, smaller, and northern municipalities and First Nations will be removed. Good Roads will be offering courses that meet the immediate needs of their frontline public works staff. Course content will include the basics of road construction and maintenance, heavy equipment operations including snowplows, and leadership training for new supervisors.

“Good Roads appreciates the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s focus on delivering training to historically underserved communities. This funding will help frontline workers upgrade their skills and better serve their communities,” said Scott Butler, Executive Director, Good Roads.

The funding announced today builds on the government’s continuing mission to attract, support and protect workers, and to make Ontario the best place in the world to work, live and raise a family. In support of this effort, the province recently introduced the third Working for Workers Act and is launching a capital stream of the Skills Development Fund which will help build and upgrade training centres across the province.

Quick Facts

• Good Roads currently offers several online trainings for courses for both technical and soft skills, visit www.GoodRoads.ca for more information.
• With the recent third round of funding, the government has increased its overall investment in the Skills Development Fund to over $700 million since the 2020 Ontario Budget.
•  Through its first two funding rounds since program launch in 2021, the Skills Development Fund supported 388 projects in Ontario aiming to create training and job opportunities for almost 400,000 people.
• In January 2023, there were nearly 300,000 jobs vacant in Ontario.
• The Skills Development Fund is supported through labour market transfer agreements between the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

Honourable Doug Ford to Address Municipal Conference

Good Roads Welcomes the Premier of Ontario to Address Municipal Officials During Annual Conference

April 14, 2023, Oakville, ON – Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, is set to address more than 1,500 attendees during the 2023 Good Roads Conference taking place at the Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto.

The annual conference brings together different levels of government from Ontario over four days focusing on municipal transportation, and infrastructure topics.  With over 80 sessions, a variety of speakers, study tours and a sold-out exhibitor hall, the Good Roads Conference is one of the most historic and largest municipal conferences in the province.

“The importance of this conference is the connectivity our roads give us in building sustainable and healthy communities. Safe roads are crucial to healthy communities and our elected officials working in conjunction with municipal staff, such as public works and engineering professionals is a perfect combination to create safer roads.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director, Good Roads. “Our conference is the gateway to connecting the right people and making safer solutions and infrastructure. Take for example our Rural Road Safety Initiative, where we are looking at the most dangerous intersections and creating road audits to improve the incident rate.” continued Mr. Butler.

Premier Doug Ford is scheduled to take the stage on Monday, April 17^th at 9:00am. You must be registered to attend this event. For media passes, please contact Rachel Swiednicki.

Good Roads is a municipal association concerned with the advancement of roads and other infrastructure in Ontario. Based in Oakville, Ontario, we have been devoted to the cause of better roads since 1894. Originally known as the Ontario Good Roads Association (and still using that name corporately), we have more than 450 member governments, including most of Ontario’s municipalities and a growing number of First Nations, as well as dozens of affiliated corporate members in the transportation and infrastructure sectors. Our purpose, in part, is to connect our members to each other, to other levels of government, and to relevant companies in the private sector. Our members look to us for training, knowledge, political advocacy, and answers to their most pressing problems. Good Roads is resolutely independent.

-30-

Good Roads Welcomes Mayor of Hornepayne To Executive Board

Municipal Association Is Pleased to Have Mayor Cheryl Fort Win A Seat As Third Vice-President

November 30, 2022, Oakville, ON – At the November 24^th meeting of the Good Roads Board of Directors (BOD) in Toronto, Ontario a vote was held for the position of Third Vice-President.

Cheryl Fort, Mayor of Hornepayne, was unanimously elected. Fort has been on the board since 2019.

“Helping Good Roads achieve their aspirations of improving municipal roads and infrastructure in Ontario aligns with the work I’d like to accomplish for all of Ontario. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as Third VP. It is my hope that we can continue to build bridges between municipalities and First Nation communities with the common goal of improving infrastructure, and in some cases creating it.” said Ms. Fort.

Ms. Fort is the first Indigenous Board member in Good Roads’ 128-year history.

“Local governments play an important role in the lives of all Ontarians. Cheryl is an important voice who reminds us of how municipalities can address northern and indigenous issues,” said Scott Butler, Good Roads’ Executive Director. “Cheryl’s leadership will be critical in meeting these challenges.” continued Butler.

Good Roads will be searching to fill three vacant board positions in the Spring of 2023.

To learn more about Good Roads and the role they play in our daily lives, visit www.GoodRoads.ca

Good Roads is a municipal association concerned with the advancement of roads and other infrastructure in Ontario. Based in Oakville, Ontario, we have been devoted to the cause of better roads since 1894. Originally known as the Ontario Good Roads Association (and still using that name corporately), we have more than 450 member governments, including most of Ontario’s municipalities and a growing number of First Nations, as well as dozens of affiliated corporate members in the transportation and infrastructure sectors. Our purpose, in part, is to connect our members to each other, to other levels of government, and to relevant companies in the private sector. Our members look to us for training, knowledge, political advocacy, and answers to their most pressing problems. Good Roads is resolutely independent.

 -30-

 

For more information, please contact:

Rachel Swiednicki

Manager, Communications and Marketing

Good Roads

1525 Cornwall Road, Unit 22

Oakville, ON L6J 0B2

905-630-0542

rachel@goodroads.ca

www.GoodRoads.ca