By Chad Ingram
Published Dec. 15 2016
The provincial government isn’t providing much information on the future of the Minden Service Ontario office.
The Times initially learned in May that the province had plans to close the location along Highway 35 where residents go for driver’s licence and health card renewals licence plate stickers hunting and fishing licences and a number of other services at the end of November as more of its services become available online.
The province also had plans to close Service Ontario offices in Guelph Mississauga Milton Terrance Bay Embrun Morrisburg Blind River and Kemptville.
There was public outpouring of anger in these communities with thousands of residents signing online petitions and in June the province announced it was putting the closures on hold as it conducted a review.
Earlier this week the Times inquired as to the results of that review and what would be happening to the Minden Service Ontario office.
“Our government is extremely proud of the customer service our Service Ontario locations provide to Ontarians” read a response from the communications branch of the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. “We are always looking at ways to improve our services and service delivery options to provide the very best service for our customers which is why Service Ontario now offers 43 services online. We are evaluating the proposals to close nine Service Ontario locations announced earlier this year. Final decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis as the locations in question have unique circumstances. We take all customer concerns seriously and are committed to making the best decisions about delivery options for Service Ontario.”
The Times asked when those final decisions would be made.
“In order to ensure that the best decision is made for each community we need to take the time to thoroughly evaluate each case” the ministry replied. “At this time there is no set decision date.”
There are two full-time employees – one permanent and one on a contract – currently working at the Minden Service Ontario office.
