HART Hubs, Hydro among issues London council will discuss at municipal leaders meeting this week

A weekend of flight attendant strikes and cancelled airline trips did not stop London's mayor and seven city councillors from arriving in Ottawa for an annual municipal leaders conference that started Sunday.

It's good news, council members say, because the event is their yearly chance to lobby and share ideas with provincial ministers in-person, with the goal of increasing support for some of London's top city issues.

"When you meet people face-to-face, it's different in that you're lobbying them directly. I always find it's hard to do this at an arm's length," Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister said. "Putting a name to a face and a name to an idea is really important."

The four-day Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference brings together local municipal leaders across the province with provincial ministers, parliamentary assistants and other stakeholders, who will connect at short delegation meetings until Wednesday.

"It's not just access to the ministers at formal delegations, but the ministers are there the entire time of the conference," Mayor Josh Morgan said. "There are many opportunities to engage with them in the hallways, to talk with them more casually [and] to tell them about our city."

London council members have a list of local issues they plan to discuss with ministers and stakeholders at a combined nine delegation meetings this year.

Here are three topics that are top-of-mind for this year's AMO conference:

There's one big question on McAlister's mind going into meetings this week: "I'm still curious in terms of when the province is going to sign the agreement to get the [Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment] (HART) Hub open," he said.

Morgan said there is still no exact date for London's HART Hub, which was originally slated to open April 1, but that it's coming "in the short term."

"I'm really, really confident that coming out of the AMO, we'll know very close to the exact date that those will be opening," Morgan said. "That's really critical and something that I've been working on for the last couple of months."

A meeting with the housing minister will also take a broader look at London's housing infrastructure, including supportive housing, Morgan said.

Ward 3 Coun. Peter Cuddy said his top priority is a meeting to discuss health and wellness in London, with a specific focus on mental health support.

"It's going to be a good opportunity for us to advocate for badly-needed services in London," he said. "We really don't get the funding that I think we require ... [so] I'm excited we're going to be meeting tomorrow with the minister and I think we'll make some good headway."

Following a recent power outage in northwest London, leaving more than 2,000 people in the dark during a heatwave, Morgan said a meeting with Hydro One about electricity infrastructure is especially important this week.

Representatives from London Hydro will be part of the meeting, alongside McAlister and Ward 7 Coun. Corinne Rahman. They plan to discuss a proposal from London Hydro to create an "affiliate" company that will offer additional services.

"We have to consider the future of electrification and how that impacts London," Rahman said.

Ward 5 Coun. Jerry Pribil is looking forward to meeting with the province's solicitor general to discuss funding for the new London Emergency Service Campus, which promises to be a main training hub for southwestern Ontario's first responders.

"The [Ontario Provincial Police] services will be needing such facilities and I truly believe that our facilities will be fantastic," Pribil said. "I really think there is an opportunity to do both sharing of the facilities and cost-sharing."

Other projects councillors said they hope to discuss include improvements to Wharncliffe Road and the Greenway Wastewater Plant.

Halfway between infrastructure and education, Rahman said discussions about building new schools and other childcare spaces is another one of her priorities at the conference.

"These are really important conversations to continue to put before [parliamentary assistants] and ministers," she said. "We need to advocate as a city for those spaces that we need for young people in our community."

McAlister is also seeking clarity from the province about what is happening at the Thames Valley District School Board, four months after it appointed a supervisor to take over operations.

"I get a lot of questions from my constituents in terms of what's going on with Thames Valley and who we should talk to, so there's a few things I think we need to clarify from the province in terms of what their long term plans are," he said. "I'm really hoping we can get some more answers."