Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski would like to see some of the money to fight gun and gang violence earmarked for the city.

Ontario is receiving 121 million dollars.

Powlowski notes Thunder Bay was skipped over in previous funding announcements.

“Which seems a little anomalous, given the fact that we are perennially either the murder capital or number two in murders in Canada, given the extent of the gang problem in Thunder Bay, given the extent of the drug problem in Thunder Bay right now, I think we have a higher rate of overdose deaths than Vancouver does. Even so, given all these problems, how does it end up that Thunder Bay doesn’t get any of this money now?” questions Powlowski.

Powlowski has written federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner to include the city in the allocations.

In it, Powlowski writes that Thunder Bay “has suffered disproportionately from higher, more severe and more violent rates of crime than almost anywhere else in Canada.”

He notes the overall crime rate in 2018 to be 40 per cent high than the provincial average, with the rate of severe crime exceeding the average for five straight years between 2017 and 2021.

“I would be very disappointed, really ticked off, if a healthy amount of that money doesn’t come to Thunder Bay. A lot of the drug problems, a lot of it is coming through Thunder Bay. So I think it will help. Any place where there is crime, we need to put more money into actually fighting crime, whether it’s in Fort Frances or Thunder Bay.”