Getting workers to work

One of the great things about the job of MPP is that sometimes you can solve a problem just by getting the right people together.

One example is a little change we made in Brant Transit to help some people get to work.

I was visiting a company in Cainsville, in Brant County, that was expanding and creating jobs thanks to support from the Ontario government.

When I was talking to the owner he mentioned a problem some of his employees were having getting to work.

They live in Brantford and don’t have cars. But the Brantford Transit bus wasn’t an option for them because it stops at the city boundary.

He said to me: “Do you think you can figure out a way of getting them here?”

I recalled that when I was on county council, we created a position for someone to act as an advocate for businesses within the county office.

Right then and there I called her and asked if there was some way that Brant Transit vehicles could cross into the city and pick up the workers to take them to the factory and home at the end of the day. (Brant Transit doesn’t have fixed routes, as the city does. Passengers have to book rides to their destinations.)

She said “Yeah, absolutely. We can do that.”

It went to county council which approved a pilot project for the new service. Eventually it was expanded so now it’s available to all kinds of companies with employees that have to cross the municipal boundary to get to work.

It’s a case where the city and county are working together to get something done for people in both communities.