There is no plan to close the Service Ontario location in Blind River at this time, says Minister of Government and Consumer Services and Sault Ste. Marie MPP David Orazietti.
“Nine Service Ontario offices across the province were under consideration for possible closure,” Orazietti said. “That is on hold pending further review.”
Orazietti also says Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha knew plans to close the Blind River office had been suspended when he issued a news release issued today.
In fact, he knew about it on Friday.
“I was surprised he issued that release,” Orazietti said. “His office was contacted directly, as were the Service Ontario offices [on the list for possible closure].”
The Ontario government is looking for efficiencies and, as access to online services increased, the ministry decided to look at possible closures of desk locations.
Some of the online services Ontarians can access include renewal or change the address on drivers licences and they will soon be able to renew their health cards online as well.
Some of the things looked at were distances between locations of desk service, duplication of services at those offices and service volumes in them.
“We were looking at locations with other locations a reasonable distance away,” said Orazietti.
When it came to the nine locations considered for closure, he said, the nearest alternates were between three and 28 kilometres away, with the same services offered.
“We are still striving to maintain desk access to all who need it,” Orazietti said. “We were also looking for ways to reduce costs. Blind River may not end up being one of the offices closed.”
The full text of a release from David Orazietti follows.
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“Our government is extremely proud of the customer service our ServiceOntario locations provide to Ontarians, including access to a wide range of services such as driver and vehicle registration, land registration and issuance of health cards and birth certificates.
Recently, a decision was made to close nine centres in selected communities across the province over the next year.
These centres are located in Mississauga, Terrace Bay, Milton, Guelph, Morrisburg, Embrun, Minden, Kemptville and Blind River.
We take all customer concerns seriously and are committed to making the best decision possible. It is important for us to take more time and do a further review of this decision in order to ensure that we continue to provide the best service for our customers while being fiscally responsible.
Our goal is and always has been to maintain a sustainable, multi-channel network. ServiceOntario is committed to continually refining our services and service delivery options to better match customer demand.”
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