Committee of the Whole · January 14, 2025 · Item 12.1
Future in Focus: Guelph’s Advocacy Plan be approved.
Main motion under the agenda item Future in Focus - Guelph's Advocacy Plan - 2025-09
Carried (11 to 0)
11 in favour, 0 against — unanimous
What was voted on
The motion in its exact words, as recorded in the minutes.
That Future in Focus: Guelph’s Advocacy Plan be approved.
Moved by Councillor Goller, seconded by Councillor Gibson.
How the room voted
In favour (11)
- Allt
- Billings
- Busuttil
- Caron
- Caton
- Chew
- Gibson
- Goller
- Guthrie
- O'Rourke
- Richardson
Who spoke to it
Kimberly Krawczyk, Manager, Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, introduced Future in Focus - Guelph's Advocacy Plan. Ilya Spivak, Intergovernmental Advisor, explained the Advocacy Plan.
What council was given
The staff reports and correspondence attached to this item. The summaries are written automatically, so you can tell what a document is without opening a ninety-page PDF.
- Future in Focus - Guelph's Advocacy Plan - 2025-09.pdf
Council is asked to approve "Future in Focus," the city's advocacy plan for 2025-2027, which sets out how Guelph will lobby the provincial and federal governments on issues it cannot solve alone. Built with input from council and senior staff, the plan creates a set process for picking priority issues and tactics so the city speaks with one voice. Staff would then carry out the advocacy work.
- Attachment-1 Future in Focus - Guelph's Advocacy Plan.pdf
- Attachment-2 December 2024 Advocacy Issues and Outcomes Snapshot.pdf
- Attachment-3 Future in Focus - Guelph’s Advocacy Plan Presentation.pdf
A summary is this site’s description of a document, not the City’s. Open the document before relying on one.
What was said
5,372 words from the meeting recording, transcribed automatically. Times are from the start of the recording.
Read the debate(click to open)
1:01:39that's uh coming forward called future in focus I like that terminology by the way I like that a
1:01:47lot wealth's advocacy plan we're going to have staff do a presentation and then we can open it up for
1:01:55some questions so I'll turn it over Kim are you going to come up first okay perfect all right
1:02:12good afternoon mayor and council today we have the pleasure of presenting to you the future in
1:02:17focus advocacy plan which provides a renewed and strategic approach to the city's advocacy efforts
1:02:23in the coming years this plan was developed with input from many of you as well as from city leadership
1:02:29from across all four service areas in the organization excuse me the organization this plan
1:02:35will provide strategic guidance to the city as we work collectively to advance the four themes of
1:02:39the future wealth strategic plan our discussion today is going to begin with an overview of where
1:02:50we started why we undertook this work and the key goals we set out to achieve with the development
1:02:55of this plan we will then go over the process that we followed in developing the plan and provide some
1:03:00details on the major components within this plan that is really going to drive this work forwards
1:03:05we will also provide you with some context about next steps including how this plan can
1:03:09enhance work on some upcoming priorities the development of this plan was identified as one
1:03:19of the key initiatives under the advocate for our city objective within wealth strategic plan
1:03:24the need for this strategic approach to advocacy really emerged in response to the rising volume
1:03:30and complexity of issues facing the city that require intergovernmental collaboration
1:03:35from housing and infrastructure renewal to homelessness and mental health
1:03:39wealth is increasingly dealing with significant challenges requiring increasing levels of support
1:03:45these challenges are being faced across local governments meaning there are limited opportunities
1:03:50to directly engage with decision makers this means that the city's advocacy needs to be targeted
1:03:56and impactful to stand out in a saturated advocacy landscape another factor that makes this plan so
1:04:03important is the wide diversity of perspectives on issues mayor council and staff all have valuable
1:04:09insights on different advocacy topics and it is essential that the city's advocacy reflects these
1:04:15perspectives while also creating a united voice in achieving these goals the advocacy plan is
1:04:22intended to provide transparency on how the city advocates and ensures that council staff and community
1:04:29partners are informed of the role and process for advocacy to be able to meaningfully support our
1:04:34efforts and so with that now going to pass this over to Ilya Spivak our intergovernmental advisor
1:04:41who was really instrumental in the development of this plan and he's going to walk us through
1:04:45the actual slides around the plan itself right thanks Kim so the development of the advocacy plan
1:05:00began with an internal engagement process which was conducted in two phases with both city leadership
1:05:05and with members of council this engagement helped us gain a better understanding of not
1:05:10only the key directions for advocacy in the coming years but more importantly the supports and tactics
1:05:16that will help us advance the city's priorities through this engagement we were able to refine the
1:05:20priority areas for advocacy and gain a better understanding of councils and the city's advocacy
1:05:25needs and perspectives to help plan our future work in parallel with the internal engagement
1:05:31process we also undertook the development of an advocacy process that can be used to identify
1:05:36prioritize and action advocacy in various issues part of this work we defined the scope of the
1:05:41city's advocacy defined stakeholders and their role in advocacy developed advocacy issue prioritization
1:05:47criteria and developed a consistent approach for selecting advocacy tactics for any given issue
1:05:57so this takes us to our discussion of the advocacy plan itself the two core components of the advocacy
1:06:03plan are really the advocacy process and the key advocacy directions which you see very roughly
1:06:09outlined on the screen here these components set out both the methods and the strategic direction
1:06:14that will allow the city to undertake the impactful advocacy in a consistent and transparent manner
1:06:20the next few slides will walk you through these components and elaborate on how they will enable
1:06:24better advocacy so the advocacy process forms the backbone of this plan and describes how
1:06:33so the city conducts good advocacy work this process is split into four general steps as outlined
1:06:39in this slide as we go through these steps feel free to follow along using the advocacy plan that
1:06:44is provided in attachment one the first step before any advocacy can happen is to identify and
1:06:51outline the issues requiring advocacy this involves identifying the specific desired outcomes of
1:06:56advocacy and setting realistic intermediate and long-term goals for our work the next step is to
1:07:02identify the key external stakeholders which includes identifying the specific decision and
1:07:07policy makers who can influence our desired change also important is identifying any organizations
1:07:13that we can partner with to amplify our voice and message once an issue has been defined and
1:07:18characterized in the first several steps we undertake the critical step of evaluating the
1:07:22priority level of the issue based on the perceived alignments to internal and external priorities
1:07:27alignments to previous direction from council and the urgency of the problem among other criteria
1:07:32this prioritization informs how the city will approach the issue the final step and arguably
1:07:39the most important in this process is to identify the appropriate advocacy tactics to be used for
1:07:43each issue we have defined tactics under two different categories engagement based and supportive
1:07:48tactics to maximize the outcomes of our efforts we aim to use engagement tactics as much as possible
1:07:54which include direct meetings visits and other interactions with key decision and policy makers
1:08:00these tactics all offer maximum engagement and present relationship building opportunities
1:08:05making them best suited for higher priority and urgent issues some examples of these tactics are
1:08:10provided on page nine of the plan supportive tactics such as writing letters and creating
1:08:16other materials are not necessarily best suited for directly influencing change but can create
1:08:21awareness and support for issues these tactics are combined with more direct tactics example of
1:08:27supportive tactics are provided on page 10 so taken together this assortment of tactics provide
1:08:33the city with the flexibility to advocate in a way that most effectively utilizes city resources
1:08:37to advance our advocacy needs taken all together these four steps provide a framework which will
1:08:44support a more proactive and consistent approach to the city's advocacy work and will enable improved
1:08:49advocacy outcomes this brings us to the other important component of the advocacy plan which
1:08:57is the key directions for advocacy whereas the advocacy process provides the tools and method
1:09:02that we use the key directions outline the high level areas of advocacy that I needed to advance
1:09:07our future wealth strategic plan these key directions are the outcome of the leadership team and
1:09:12council engagement mentioned earlier and are organized by strategic plan themes to provide
1:09:18some context and examples I'll highlight a few of these directions in more detail under the
1:09:24foundation theme our key directions for advocacy relate to supporting fiscal and operational
1:09:28sustainability this includes advocacy for improved fiscal tools funding fairness and legislative
1:09:34changes to allow the city to effectively undertake its legislative duties under the city building
1:09:39theme our advocacy will focus on securing policy change and funding support that allows us to
1:09:43enable more housing and sustainably accommodate new growth under the environment theme our advocacy
1:09:49goals are centered on funding to support the various innovative uh environmental and climate
1:09:54initiative that the city undertakes and finally under the people and economy theme our advocacy
1:10:00is focused on health well-being and economic development the community health safety and
1:10:05well-being direction is centered around working with partners to advocate in highly complex and
1:10:09systemic issues such as homeless less mental health and substance use among others on the economic
1:10:15development side um advocacy is focused on the policy and funding that support golf and unlocking
1:10:20employment lambs and attracting investment taking together these key directions outline the current
1:10:27area of focus for the city's advocacy as new issues arise or others are resolved to some extent
1:10:33the specific issues that make up these key directions may shift and change as needed now we
1:10:41want to briefly touch about on the next steps coming out of this plan the advocacy plan provides a
1:10:47baseline from which we'll work to launch a variety of advocacy actions part of this will
1:10:52include developing tailored and detailed plans and profiles that outline the tactics timelines
1:10:56and approaches to advocacy and various issues and directions these plans will be flexible and are
1:11:01intended to inform and track our actions in the short to medium term we will also seek to engage
1:11:07with key partners to better understand collaboration opportunities and share information and data to
1:11:11advance shared outcomes finally tracking and evaluation of advocacy activities will be another
1:11:17important continuing part of our work to ensure success transparency and continuous improvement
1:11:22the city's work will continue to leverage the inner governmental performance index to track and
1:11:27report our activities as part of the annual strategic plan reporting cycle we will also
1:11:33seek to integrate additional outcome-based performance measures and qualitative data
1:11:37that specifically evaluates any results coming out of our advocacy and with that I want to hand
1:11:43it back over to Kim to wrap up our presentation and talk about some examples of how the plan will
1:11:48be implemented the near future so now as we look forwards we wanted to provide an example of how
1:11:59the future and focus advocacy plan can be leveraged in our intergovernmental work with this plan
1:12:04there are opportunities to not only frame issues in a unified voice but to also use the branding
1:12:11of the advocacy plan to tie all of our intergovernmental outreach together under a consistent look and
1:12:16feel a good example in the coming months is that the intergovernmental services team will be developing
1:12:22materials as part of our election readiness efforts should either a federal or provincial
1:12:26election be called in the near future this not only helps improve our requests and communications
1:12:31but but also can leverage the branding to enhance awareness around wealth priorities and outreach
1:12:41so this future and focus advocacy plan has laid out a strategic framework and provides direction
1:12:46that will enable the city to undertake effective targeted and inclusive advocacy work that aims
1:12:52to achieve real outcomes for wealth we look forward to implementing this plan with you in
1:12:56the coming months and years and thank you for your time today great thank you so much Kim and
1:13:02Ilya for your presentation we we really appreciate it we are let me tell you we are very very
1:13:10fortunate to have you and the intergovernmental team when myself and others you know we go to
1:13:16AMO or FCM or whatever you know yeah we're sometimes the ones doing the talking here or there but
1:13:24everything is coordinated and done so very well by by you guys and and what you do so
1:13:30you know our our city has been also extremely successful in a lot of grants
1:13:38and funding and total credit to to you we're very very fortunate to have you and this this
1:13:47this presentation and I think where this is scoped and moving forward is is really really well done
1:13:53very well done it's probably one of the best I've seen honestly so I really appreciate what you
1:13:58guys have done um with that this is a moment for approval and I just wondered if someone would be
1:14:06willing to at least just move okay Gaur will move and Gibson will second it and then how about any
1:14:13questions at all or comments you could do questions or comments at the same time boost it till and
1:14:19then it'll work okay and then then alt thank you and through the mirror thank you for the excellent
1:14:26document and the presentation I just have two questions and the first one is around city building
1:14:31and it was in the attachment to and I know it's not comprehensive and when I look around city
1:14:37building and it was around water increasing water supply and you know it's a priority I'm
1:14:45wondering how do you balance the conversations with the stakeholders but also government agencies
1:14:51around increasing water and conserving mitigating the water demands that are being placed by the
1:14:57provincial government that kind of awareness raising and advocacy around whoa you know slow
1:15:02down here we have very concrete if you can speak to that and then I have one more thank you for
1:15:15you mr. mayor to councillor Busuttil so in attachment number two there are a number of different issues
1:15:21in here where we are still really trying to collect much information to inform what the advocacy will
1:15:28actually look like in terms of tactics and approach etc many of them will engage with stakeholders
1:15:33whether they be intergovernmental or otherwise there are there is works underway in terms of how
1:15:40we actually reach out to community partners or other stakeholders some of the ways that we do
1:15:45that currently right now are through our policy consultation process so when consultations are
1:15:50made public for the city to comment on those are things that we actually do take advantage of quite
1:15:55regularly which you'll see through the information reports that come out each Friday and most recently
1:16:00there was one that came as part of a permit to take water which the city did provide some
1:16:04comprehensive comments on and so we leverage many of those existing opportunities that we have
1:16:08available to us to make comments on those thank you and that's exactly what I was thinking I hate
1:16:13to use the picture of you can turn the tap on or increase water supply but you can also turn it off
1:16:19the second question that I had is about in the same chart it's the people in economy one and I
1:16:25was curious when I read this originally in the first box it talks about item number one number two
1:16:31increase provincial funding for Wellington County as Guelph's Consolidated Service Manager and I
1:16:37guess my question is making the connection between increased wealth advocacy you know we talk about
1:16:44you know the experience here the numbers the social economic kind of context and should it not say
1:16:50you know something like increase provincial funding for Guelph through the Consolidated
1:16:57Service Manager because as we're making advocacy for our residents and our service providers and so
1:17:03on and then we go back to the Consolidated Service Manager what we've heard from the community is
1:17:07they want to see accountability and so my question is just around the wording of that you know instead
1:17:13of going into like a you know a black box not that it's a black box but you know what I mean we're
1:17:19putting resources and money and effort and you know information data collection into advocacy for
1:17:24Guelph within that system and if we're looking for that accountability back I was just curious
1:17:29about in that section the language through me through you Mr. Mayor to Councillor Bousetel that's
1:17:36a another great question in terms of how we structure some of these advocacy items that
1:17:41you're seeing in attachment number two I'll just kind of start at a high level before we get a
1:17:44little bit more specific but there are ones in here where you're going to see where they are not
1:17:49necessarily under the per viewer responsibility for the city of Guelph but has direct impacts to our
1:17:54community and we have specific interests in seeing these outcomes and so for these instances we would
1:17:59seek to have joint advocacy opportunities with somebody like Wellington County for issues that
1:18:05we find we have common desired outcomes for to get more specific to your question in terms of
1:18:13you know restructuring how that's framed to advocate for Guelph through Wellington County as
1:18:18the service manager you know not often or not all the time do we know how funding is going to flow
1:18:23from the province and often it's nice to just get the message out there with that defined kind of
1:18:28collaborative desired outcome of the advocacy in partnership with Wellington County. Thank you for
1:18:35the clarification. Thank you and then a Rourke please. Thank you Marga three through you to
1:18:41staff I have a couple questions the first is about the timelines I'm looking at attachment two
1:18:46this just occurred to me that the title for attachment two says December 2024 advocacy issues
1:18:53and outcomes snapshot so is there a timeline like a forward-looking timeline because I'm
1:18:58guessing this is not a here's what we did in 2024 report right so I'm just wondering if you can
1:19:03clarify that. So through you Mr. Mayor to councillor O'Rourke attachment number two is something
1:19:08that we developed throughout the engagement process in developing the actual advocacy plan and framework
1:19:14the intention for attachment number two is to really provide the intergovernmental services team
1:19:20that you see at the table here with some information provided by yourself so some members of council as
1:19:27well as city leadership from across all four service areas of what advocacy issues we know
1:19:32that are current so happening right now and which issues are emerging that we know we're going to
1:19:37need to address whether it be in months or years it's really meant to be a living document and so
1:19:43us providing attachment to as part of this package is really just giving you exactly that just a
1:19:48snapshot in time of what we know that is on our list for either a current action or could become
1:19:55something that we would want to action in the future as I'm sure all of you guys know these
1:19:59things happen and evolve very quickly the landscape changes quite rapidly and so it's part of our
1:20:06roles to continue to monitor update and then action based on the the results within the
1:20:12the snapshot itself so it's living if I could put it in simple terms. Perfect because my next
1:20:19question was is there space in the plan for emerging issues right sometimes you look at your
1:20:24coming year and it's just full on but I know you've respond to a record number of consultation
1:20:29documents you have to quarterback that across a number of different departments so in your plan
1:20:35do you have room for emerging issues as well? Through the mayor to councillor work I appreciate
1:20:42the opportunity maybe to share a bit of the work that the team has done as well so this team as we
1:20:47know has been operating at full capacity with the amount of legislative change we've seen for a
1:20:51number of years. We're fortunate to have great partners throughout the organization who support us
1:20:56and help us manage some of that capacity but certainly with the legislative environment and
1:21:01potentially two elections on the horizon in 2025 we are operating as a very busy crowd. There is one
1:21:08other member of our team who supports us through the grant process and and and if I can look back on
1:21:142024 this team supported 26 consultations plus some pretty significant legislative change through
1:21:21bill 185 and bill 212 27 intergovernmental meetings and secured almost 42 million dollars in funding
1:21:32which is up almost 86 percent from 2023 so so we appreciate council's recognition of this very
1:21:39small but mighty team that's doing really important work for the city. And through you,
1:21:44America, three just two more specific questions so I'd encourage the public to read the document
1:21:50because some of the priorities are things people might not assume right like heads and beds or
1:21:55payment in lieu of taxes for the Ontario reformatory so those are quite interesting when you look at
1:22:00what the list of priorities are. I know those are lower tier priorities but it is really interesting
1:22:06to see where there are opportunities for different levels of government to modify things to be helpful
1:22:12to the city. Just a quick question around trains actually so I'm just curious on the issue list
1:22:22is the Gulf Cambridge Go so is that a level C because it's not really in our hands and so that
1:22:30one is on the chart but two-way all-day go is not so is that because two-way all-day go is coming
1:22:37it's in the works there's no advocacy really to be done other than you know keeping the
1:22:43the train on time literally and then the the Gulf to Cambridge piece is because it's sort of
1:22:49proceeding so can you help me understand that? Absolutely so through you Mr. Barrett to you
1:22:53Councillor O'Rourke for the issue of the Gulf to Cambridge Go we have that on the list identified
1:22:59as an emerging issue it's very early in its stages so it's we're not confident at this point yet
1:23:05exactly what type of advocacy that will need other than the general support which is in the works at
1:23:10this point in time and so we do expect that that issue will elevate in priority and would require
1:23:16some additional action from the team in the coming months or years in terms of the two-way all-day
1:23:22go issue following some pretty extensive advocacy on that issue in past years at this point in time
1:23:29that issue is moving forwards as in there is commitments from the province on that issue
1:23:34and at this point in time we've essentially exhausted the the need for advocacy on that issue
1:23:42should something change that would be reprioritized and reconsidered and then we would
1:23:46reevaluate that within that framework. Great thank you and then through you Merga through my last
1:23:51question is also about what's about Guelph Central Station I'm asking the question because
1:23:56publicly because I had this question personally so this says Guelph Central Station
1:24:06is you know we're trying to get that the Central Station open so that people can be sheltered
1:24:11or use a washroom and I know that in past years especially in the winter we've also had issues
1:24:17with the shelters not being unlocked so somebody waiting for a goat train can't go in and get out
1:24:23of the elements so I just wanted to be clear for the public you know our operations can still
1:24:30advocate directly to Metrolinx for some of these operational things even if it's not a big
1:24:37organizational push with employers or the chamber or GCAT right so an advocacy piece looks different
1:24:45than just an operation operation we can still work keep working on this. Through the Mayor
1:24:51sorry through the Mayor to council for our work on that issue with the Guelph Central Station we
1:24:58we will always continue to talk to Metrolinx about the issue about not having access to washrooms and
1:25:03not having a place to wait for the train protective of the elements we continue to have those discussions
1:25:09we meet with Metrolinx on a regular basis and that's top of the agenda they kind of know that
1:25:14that's coming but we'll continue to have discussions with them on that outside of the the normal advocacy
1:25:21channels. Terrific thanks very much. Mayor Guthrie just a comment if I may. I think it's a great piece
1:25:28of work and I think part of council's responsibility is to give you space to advance these priorities
1:25:34and that that as a council we need to be a little bit cautious about sort of new advocacy issues that
1:25:41come up that may not have the same sort of rigor in the the prioritization in the ranking so
1:25:48you guys go do your work we'll try to be disciplined and and anything I think that
1:25:54council can do any networks that we have to to bring to bear then we are happy to assist
1:25:59in the measure that we can to advancing these initiatives. Great thank you I believe I have
1:26:08Alton and Kate. Mayor Guthrie following somewhat up on my colleagues I want to deal perhaps with
1:26:18metrics and how we measure success I did hear from one of the staff one of the measures of
1:26:23success is the grants that we receive but there is with any potential change of government
1:26:29possibly those grants will dry up and then the the measure of success changes markedly. I was
1:26:36wondering if we could perhaps comment on how we measure our success what perhaps a couple of
1:26:42specific targets or objectives might be and most importantly do we have target dates for some of
1:26:48these things and when I say that I recognize some of this must be fluid like all today and all the
1:26:56way go and and go to Cambridge and so on and so forth but nonetheless I think council work is
1:27:01correct the public does need to to to read this and and understand that we have some significant
1:27:07priorities and and in many cases we have to moderate those with any any government that might come
1:27:16along. So through you Mr. Mayor to Councillor Allt I think that's a very good question so just in
1:27:25speaking to what we currently do so for the past number of years we've been reporting on our progress
1:27:30successes and performance measures in the intergovernmental world through the intergovernmental
1:27:36index that index is reported to council via the strategic plan reporting from the corporate
1:27:42performance and reporting team on an annual basis. What's changing as we move this plan
1:27:47forwards is that we are going to be seeking to find more meaningful measures that really try to
1:27:52measure the outcomes of our work as opposed to the inputs or efforts that we're putting into it
1:27:57and I think that by measuring the outcomes which is difficult in this world we will be able to
1:28:03show a better story of the successes of the efforts that we've all been making and trying to advance.
1:28:09Another opportunity that is that you will see in the next performance reporting cycle is that we
1:28:14are going to be seeking to include qualitative data so the opportunity to actually tell those stories
1:28:20to help interpret the data that you'll be seeing as part of that index and so that would be coming
1:28:25in July of this year through the corporate performance team.
1:28:32Very groovy. Thank you very much. I appreciate that and I do recognize as Ms. Sales said earlier
1:28:39mentioned that you are on shifting sands all the time and I wish you the best in dealing with those.
1:28:47Thank you and then it looks like I'm wrapping up with Kate and please.
1:28:53Thank you. Sir you Mr. Mayor. I love it first off. I think it's great. I love to see everything
1:29:00in one spot and I think the prioritization has been done really well. It looks really nice to
1:29:05kind of see all of the advocacy work that the city is doing and I know that it's all going to a great
1:29:11place. My question is kind of similar to Councillor Allt and I was wondering if there was an opportunity
1:29:18to have kind of more of a public reporting style like we have other projects on the website
1:29:22where we have like when we've got some sort of big win then it goes on the website and we can see
1:29:28it so the public is more aware of the intermediate steps rather than having it coming on a quarterly
1:29:33report because I know that as much as those reports are fantastic they don't seem to get
1:29:39pushed up into the public view as much as a lot of the website stuff does. So is that something
1:29:43that we're looking to do with this as well? So through you Mr. Mayor to Councillor Caton,
1:29:49there are a number of ways that we can not only continue to provide public awareness on the
1:29:55efforts that we're making so there's many opportunities that we already undertake in
1:29:59terms of communicating with council but there are some additional opportunities to being able to get
1:30:04this messaging out there. In terms of materials, so for example for AMO we developed in the past
1:30:10two years some what we call our leave behind materials which are like tangible materials
1:30:15on the advocacy issues that we have and those are actually posted online publicly for the public to
1:30:20see what we're doing when we go to AMO and we link through those we link to that website via the
1:30:25social media posts that we make during the AMO conference. I think in time there's definitely an
1:30:30opportunity to better leverage that website that public website to be able to display and show
1:30:36these really great materials that are being developed for each advocacy issue to kind of show
1:30:40the public the issue that we're advocating on who we're advocating to and what those calls to action
1:30:45look like. So it's almost like bringing the public along as we make advances in many of those issues.
1:30:53That would be fantastic. Thank you very much. Thanks Councillor Keaton. I'm just going to circle
1:30:59back one more time very quickly to Councillor Busuttil and then I'll call the vote. Thank you
1:31:05and through the mayor I apologize I couldn't read my writing, couldn't figure out what this was
1:31:08till later. So the what I wrote down here and I think I've had a conversation before is long-term
1:31:13care beds and where does the advocacy for that happen is that the I believe it's DCO Clack Bush
1:31:20and I had the conversation is that part of the city's responsibility in people in economy to look
1:31:26for long-term care beds and is that part of our advocacy? So through the mayor to Councillor
1:31:32Busatil it isn't really in that the Ministry of Long-Term Care really has the oversight for
1:31:37where long-term care beds go in the province. Our advocacy is for our own facility that we
1:31:42obviously are the license holder for in the Elliott. Beyond that the addition of any long-term care
1:31:47beds into Guelph or in fact the whole catchment area really is at the discretion of the Ministry
1:31:52of Long-Term Care and to my recollection the city has not at any point taken an active role
1:31:59in engaging that beyond our role as long-term care provider. Thank you and just a follow-up. So
1:32:05is there any awareness raising when long-term care beds are lost in the community to to the
1:32:12Ministry? Certainly through the mayor I mean I will think back when our announcement about the
1:32:19Elliott long-term care beds came there was certainly connection with the Ministry at that time because
1:32:24St. Joe's also received licenses for beds they're still in the process of going through their process.
1:32:29So I think from a sort of on an ad hoc basis we do engage with the Ministry from time to time. I
1:32:35know certainly Mayor Guthrie had conversations with I forget which Minister it was but the
1:32:40Minister who was here might have been Calandra at that time for that announcement and so we did
1:32:44have conversations at the time about the needs in Guelph for long-term care beds being added
1:32:50but we have not had any engagement with the Ministry of Long-Term Care more recently with
1:32:56the loss of the licenses at La Pointe Fisher. Thank you very much. Great thank you Councillor
1:33:05Bustill. So it has been moved and seconded clerks that's correct you got that down okay.
1:33:12Well I've already gave my comments at the beginning so there you are. With that I will
1:33:18call the vote then is there anyone against the approval of the future in focus Guelph
1:33:24Advocacy's plan? Nobody so that's unanimous great thank you and that brings us to the end of our
Automatic transcription is imperfect. Treat quotes as a guide and check the recording before relying on exact wording.
The motion, the vote and the debate come from the City of Guelph’s published record, reproduced rather than interpreted. The document summaries above are the exception: those words were written for this site.