The first day of meetings at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa are in the books.

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says Monday was a successful day for the city.

He says he spent the day in meetings with several ministries hoping to sway their favour to benefit the city.

McDonald says a wide variety of topics was discussed.

“How do you bridge the gap from the women who’ve faced many difficult situations and how we can get the education necessary to get them back in the workplace. What we have in North Bay is about 485 jobs unfilled again,” he says.

The mayor also spoke with the Ministry of Environment regarding the local landfill, the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Infrastructure on the topic of the West Ferris Arena.

He says Tuesday’s sessions will largely focus on broader Northern Ontario issues.

An update from the mayor will follow his meetings tomorrow afternoon.