Grey County Delegation Heads to AMO Conference to Press Province on College Funding and Child Care
The county's Ottawa delegations target rural college funding and subsidy rules that leave middle-income families paying full fare for licensed child care.
Grey County Warden Andrea Matrosovs and a delegation of 10 county councillors and six staff will travel to Ottawa next week for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s annual conference, where the county has scheduled two meetings with provincial ministries.
The conference runs August 16 to 19 at the Rogers Centre Ottawa and the Westin Ottawa, hosted by the City of Ottawa. AMO says the conference gives municipal officials a forum to raise local issues directly with provincial and federal representatives.
According to a spokesperson, “The AMO Conference has been an important opportunity for advocacy in the municipal world for a number of years. We are looking forward to taking in the conference program, supporting AMO’s advocacy, and spending time with provincial leaders to talk about issues that are important to Grey County residents and businesses.”
College funding delegation
Grey County’s first delegation is with the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. The county says it will argue for sustainable provincial funding for rural-serving campuses, naming Georgian College’s Owen Sound campus specifically.
In its release, the county describes the Owen Sound campus as a regional workforce development hub for clean energy, health care, marine transportation and skilled trades. The county does not say what funding level, formula change or specific commitment it will ask the ministry to make.
The delegation follows a difficult two years for Ontario’s college system. Georgian College announced in September 2025 that it would permanently close its Orillia and Muskoka campuses by summer 2026 and consolidate programs in Barrie, a move the college said would save $23.5 million.
Owen Sound was not affected by that round of closures, and college president and CEO Kevin Weaver said at the time that Georgian remained committed to building on the contributions of the Owen Sound, Midland and Orangeville campuses.
Owen Sound council agreed in late July to give Georgian College $100,000 over four years, beginning in 2027.
Georgian reported an approximate $45-million financial gap for the 2025-26 school year and an estimated $15 million to $20 million more the following year. As of February 2025, the college said 229 full-time positions had been affected since January 2024 — about 22% of its full-time workforce.
Colleges across the province have pointed to a long-standing tuition freeze, provincial funding levels and the federal cap on international study permits as the sources of the pressure.
Child-care delegation
The county’s second delegation is with the Ministry of Education, on the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program.
Grey County says it will ask for more CWELCC-funded spaces to expand access to licensed child care locally. It will also ask the ministry to consider adjusting the income thresholds that determine fee subsidy eligibility, arguing that some families earning below the local living wage do not currently qualify.
The county does not say how many additional spaces it is seeking, how many local families are waiting for licensed care, what the current subsidy threshold is, or what threshold it would consider adequate.
On the conference program
AMO’s program lists Premier Doug Ford, AMO president Robin Jones, Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont, opposition party leaders and Federation of Canadian Municipalities president Tim Tierney among the speakers. AMO has announced that the keynote address will be delivered by the panel from the Curse of Politics podcast.
Program themes include infrastructure, asset management and municipal finances; leadership, governance and democracy; community resilience and emergency preparedness; Indigenous relations and reconciliation; technology, AI and modernization; and economic development.
Matrosovs is also attending meetings and events tied to the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
Grey County Council approved a conference budget of $37,100 last winter and did not specify what portion of that will be spent on AMO.
The county spokesperson said that county councillors may choose to attend up to two conferences on behalf of Grey County in a year to learn, network and advocate for local priorities. Those events may include the AMO Conference, Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference, Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference, or others.
Councillors may also attend a conference like AMO from their municipal budget but participate in a County delegation.
Each department has its own conference and travel budget lines, which are approved by County Council during the setting of the budget. Staff attendance is funded out of those departmental budgets.
AMO delegations are approved with a specific Ministry but which official representatives — a Minister or Parliamentary Assistants — will meet with delegates is not always certain.
Following conferences, oral reports are provided at the next meeting of County Council. The county spokesperson said this update will be provided at the September 10 meeting.
The trip is the last AMO conference of the current county council term. Grey County council is made up of the heads of council and deputies from the county’s nine member municipalities, and its composition will change after the October 26 municipal election.
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