Parry Sound council is asking the provincial government to cut down the time it takes to process certain funding applications.
Specifically, it’d like to see approval timelines for getting Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation Business Expansion and New Investment funding reduced to six months or less. Right now it takes more than eight months.
Council passed the resolution to make the request at last Tuesday’s meeting.
It points out that lengthy processing times are a challenge for the area because the weather shortens the construction season. The town says that can then lead to losing out on investment opportunities and applicants abandoning their applications and their plans to invest in Northern Ontario altogether.
To speed the process up the resolution asks the province to hire more than one audit firm to go over the applications. The resolution is being sent to Minister of Finance Vic Fedeli, Minister of Energy, Mines, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford, and Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller.