MANITOULIN—The Manitoulin Planning Board (MPB) is asking for the assistance of provincial MPP Bill Rosenberg on concerns it has that the province has not increased funding to the MPB for services it provides (on behalf of the province) on planning matters for unorganized townships, and that the province has still not yet appointed two new members of the board for Robinson and Dawson townships, a process that has been underway for almost three years.
“We as a board approved directing staff to contact our new MPP on our concerns,” stated Lee Hayden, chair of the MPB after a meeting last week. “Their (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, MMAH) response to our letter of concerns is unacceptable. It is the same response we have been getting for the past three years.”
“All the ministry has done is used the same information they sent to us previously, on the appointment of new board members from the unorganized townships,” said Mr. Hayden. “They indicated in their letter that the process is still underway to appoint two new board members for the unorganized townships, which has been the case since September 2022. We have people that have applied for positions to be representatives on the board. They forwarded their applications and are waiting to hear the province’s decision, as we are. The ministry’s response signifies to us that nothing is happening and obviously our request is at the bottom of the pile.”
Mr. Hayden explained those board positions have been vacant since 2022 with one member of the board having stayed an additional two years before resigning, and one member agreeing to remain until a new member is appointed for Dawson township.
Board member Ken Noland noted that the funding provided by the province to take care of the planning for unorganized townships has not increased in about 15 years. “As far as I’m concerned maybe we should not continue to do the planning work involving unorganized townships and let the province do it.”
At a meeting on April 3, the MPB wrote a letter to the MMAH requesting a meeting to discuss the concerns, which also include the recent notification that the planning board cannot implement a fine fee schedule to assist with enforcing zoning contraventions for the unincorporated townships of Robinson and Dawson, the two provincial appointments and the lack of a funding increase for the planning administration since 2009.
A letter to the MPB dated June 17, 2025 from the MMAH outlined the requirements for someone to be eligible to be a board representative to a planning board,
“The appointments process began in September 2022 and remains underway,” the MMAH explained.
“The (MMAH) provides annual funding applications to 11 Northern planning boards that administer land use planning services to unincorporated territories on behalf of the province. These services include official plan and zoning bylaw administration and decision making on land division applications,” the letter continues.
“The MPB receives a total of $16,073 every year from that program. Planning boards can charge fees for applications pertaining to land use planning matters for which they are empowered to make decisions. There is also an opportunity for planning boards to apply for additional funding through a special business case funding stream for specific projects and costs. In the last 20 years, the MPB has received a total of just under $70,000 through the business case funding stream. The most recent MPB request for the special business case funding remains under review.”
“The ministry has not increased funding allocations to our board for administrating all the services that we provide for the unorganized townships, even compared to the inflation rate,” said Mr. Hayden. “Yes, the ministry has provided special funding over the years, but these are only to be used for specific projects, and the vast majority of these projects have been for updating the zoning for the new Official Plan. That has had nothing to do with the administration of the MPB.”
