Service Ontario Expands in Manitouwadge
by Karina Hunter
- Public computer available to use at no cost.
MANITOUWADGE, ON – As of the September 27th 2010, Manitouwadge residents have a newly integrated and renovated ServiceOntario centre where they can access health card and driver and vehicle services under one roof.
Driver and vehicle licensing services, previously available at the Recreation Centre, are now available at the ServiceOntario centre at 40 Manitou Road, in addition to the General Information, Health Card outreach and MNR services already offered at this location, the office having been renovated and expanded makes it a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ more convenient for users.
“The people of Manitouwadge expect government to spend their tax dollars wisely to provide excellent customer service. ServiceOntario is consolidating locations and integrating services to make things faster and easier for people to get the government services they need,” said Brown who was very pleased that in his riding of Algoma-Manitoulin (which includes Manitouwadge) services had increased from:
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing services – from 13 to 15 locations
- Health Card services- from 0 to 15 locations
With the arrival of routine Health Card services by December of this year, Manitouwadge families will get full-time, year-round accessibility to Health Card renewals. Provincial Ministry of Natural Resources hunting and fishing licences have also been available at this location for several years.
These changes give people access to more routine government services and better meet customer needs as they remove the need for residents to travel to Thunder Bay or Sault Ste. Marie to access services.
ServiceOntario is making it easier for people to get important government documents by modernizing and streamlining its service delivery network and providing a broader suite of services being available and more accessible across the province which will save Ontarians valuable time, effort and money. These changes are creating the more streamlined, modernized and centralized services that Ontarians have told the provincial government they want and need.
Currently, about 190 integrated centres are now providing combined driver and vehicle licensing and routine health card services across Ontario. When the integration initiative is complete, access to routine Health Card services will expand from 6 to 67 locations in northern communities. This is a significant improvement in availability and convenience, especially considering the distances involved and the impact of winter.
Harinder S. Takhar, Minister of Government Services re-iterated the benefit of having these provincial services under one roof “Ontarians will benefit from a one-stop shopping experience for most health card and driver’s licence services at all of our ServiceOntario centres by the end of this year.”
QUICK FACTS
- ServiceOntario is making it easier for people to get the government services they need by
making changes to its service delivery network. - Services are expanding at nearly 300 ServiceOntario centres across the province. Centres
will offer integrated health card and driver and vehicle renewal services under one roof. - When the integration initiative is complete, access to routine Health Card services will expand from 6 to 67 locations in northern communities.
HOURS OF OPERATION
The ServiceOntario centre in Manitouwadge is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
These regular hours are part of the added convenience, increased from the former hours of Recreation Centre office which was open 12:30 to 4:30 p..m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
LEARN MORE
- Discover the services offered by ServiceOntario.
- Visit the online service location finder to get up-to-date information on what your local ServiceOntario centre offers.
