MPP angry over licence bureau closing; Users of Caledonia office told to go to Hamilton or Hagersville

Michael-Allan Marion
Brantford Expositor
February 08, 2007 - 01:00

The provincial government continues to show its "insensitivity" to the needs of rural and small-town Haldimand-Norfolk by closing the automobile licence bureau in Caledonia, says MPP Toby Barrett.

The riding's Tory MPP has been fielding phone calls for a week from angry motorists who have driven to the licensing office on Argyle Street North only to find a sign notifying users it is closed and directing them to offices in Hagersville and Hamilton.

After the first few calls, he drove to the office himself to read the sign. Then he got on the phone to government officials to find out when the decision was made and why officials didn't try to tender the service again to another private contractor.

Ministry spokesman Bob Nichols said the office closed because the issuer on contract resigned.

The ministry is not currently seeking a new operator. Rather, Nichols said, ministry officials are working with ServiceOntario to develop a long-term strategy for providing driver and vehicle licensing services across the province, including those in Caledonia.

wrong message

For now, he said, Haldimand drivers can use driver and vehicles services in offices in Hagersville, Dundas or three locations in Hamilton.

Barrett argues the state of affairs smacks of insensitivity from many standpoints. He noted the Caledonia area has sustained economic hardship as a result of the ongoing land dispute at the Douglas Creek Estates, where native protesters continue to sit on a former housing development after almost a year.

"With the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario office closing, residents and businesses once again see the provincial government packing up and leaving town," said Barrett.

"If we'd been tipped off six months ago, we could have worked on possible solutions to keep the service in town. We could have tried to find someone to bid on a tender. Instead we get this bureaucratic decision."

He called the move similar to the recent closure of the licence office in Delhi, another town suffering hardship in the decline of the tobacco economy.

Barrett said he is concerned that the closures are symptomatic of a general decline of government infrastructure in the rural southwest. He contends that both closures show the inability of government officials to think in the broader context and show sensitivity to the realities of the small towns they're hurting.

"So much of government is going the way of the corner store," he lamented.

"This is not the time for government to close up shop. This is the time to be there. Small town and rural Ontario does not ask for much, in my view."