ROMA April 2026 Board Highlights
Developing a Rural Health Strategy
ROMA is continuing work from its 2024 “Fill the Gaps Closer to Home” report, which identified key challenges in rural healthcare delivery and provided recommendations to improve outcomes.
AMO staff will be supporting ROMA in developing a Rural Health Strategy that reflects the current realities of access to healthcare in rural Ontario. This will include engaging partners and experts from across the health system to:
- Foster cross-sector collaboration
- Align priorities and approaches
- Support the development of coordinated, and implementable solutions to support ROMA’s advocacy
Community Safety Well-Being Plans Advocacy
Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) Plans play a critical role in improving outcomes and addressing service gaps in rural communities. However, municipalities across Ontario lack the capacity to fully implement this unfunded mandate. Rural communities, in particular, face great difficulty in delivering CSWB Plans without a sustainable funding arrangement. ROMA continues to advocate for a dedicated funding stream to resource plans to enable their implementation.
Provincial Update
The Board discussed recent provincial actions including the 2026 Budget, proposed regional governance changes (Bill 100), new housing legislation (Bill 98), and final Buy Ontario directives for the municipal sector. Additional information about these changes including a link to provincial training can be found here.
Consultation on AMO’s New Councillor Education
The Board had an opportunity to provide input into the development of AMO’s new local leadership foundations program to support newly elected officials following the October election. AMO has partnered with the Institute on Governance (IOG) to develop education programming that equips councillors for a successful first term and is currently seeking input from members on essential aspects of the program.
Questions? Please reach out to roma@roma.on.ca.