WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON?

The Provincial election is on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 and so it seems appropriate to let residents know about a major issue that affects our quality of life locally.

It may help to know that although I am a Councillor for the Town of Richmond Hill and also a Regional Councillor for the Region of York, I have also been appointed as the Chair of the Social Economic Committee for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. As a member of both Councils, I engage in debates and vote on many issues around roads, water and sewers but I am very involved in the social services realm. As the Chair of the Community Services and Housing Committee for the Region of York and the Region’s municipal representative for the Human Services Planning Coalition, I would like you to think about the needs of our Health and Social Services.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

**We need a new funding formula for Human Services**

Human Services includes funding for Social Services, Hospital Services and our ‘Community Care Access Centres’ services.

Social Services offer employment support and rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities, outreach programs for the homeless who often suffer from mental and physical breakdowns due to abuse problems, emergency shelters for those affected by domestic violence, children’s mental health and treatment services, support programs for infants and children who have developmental disabilities and many other services.

Hospital Services are well known for delays due to overcrowding and insufficient equipment. Most residents likely do not know that hospitals are supposed to be funded by the Province and yet both the Region and the Town have had to donate significant funds over the past few years. Richmond Hill in fact donated millions to our local hospital in order to address the problems of population growth, need, and service provision. Property tax dollars should not be supporting hospitals. Hospital services should be appropriately funded by the Province.

Community Care Access Services offers among other things: nursing, physiotherapy, speech-language therapy, medical supplies and dressings, laboratory and diagnostic services and transportation to other health care services.

HOW IS THIS MY PROBLEM?
If you and your loved ones have never accessed any of these services, you may consider yourselves truly blessed with good health, good planning, good fortune, and even a little good luck. Others through different circumstances have found themselves knocking on our doors. I believe that in order to enjoy our high quality of life, we must provide for those who are less fortunate. As the expression goes, “We need to offer a hand up, not a hand out” and if you think that this is only a Regional issue and you pay taxes to Richmond Hill, may I remind you that 48 cents out of every residential tax dollar in Richmond Hill goes directly to the Region.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S A PROBLEM?
In 2007, the United Way of Peel, York, Durham and Halton joined forces to create the “Strong Communities Coalition”. They released a report called “Growing Pains” which was audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC). The auditing firm reviewed the research and concluded “...that a sizable gap exists between per capita health and social services annual operating funding in the GTA/905 area compared to the rest of Ontario, and that the annual operating funding gap grew over the 2002/3 - 2006/7 period.” That means York Region is being short changed and yet our population keeps growing. With an expected 535,000 new residents over the next 20 years, we can only expect that our funding problems and our ability to provide services will worsen unless something is done now.

HOW MUCH MONEY ARE WE TALKING?
Remember how many people were upset that York Region was forced to send $80 million plus to Toronto for their social services? Consider this:

As compared to the rest of the Province, the funding shortfall for York Region in Social Services in 2005-2006 was:
$10.8 million for Adult Social Services $41 million for Child Care Services (such as: daycare, services for Special Needs Children, and resource centres for parents of young children)
$117 million for Children’s Services including Child Welfare (which is mandatory child protection, in care and adoption services provided by the Children’s Aid Societies). AND A WHOPPING $2 billion for healthcare in York Region between 2002 – 2007 (5 years)!!!

WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
York Region’s residents need a population-based funding formula for Social Services, Health, and Community Care. The Province needs to provide the necessary funding.

We need to work with whichever political party forms the next Provincial government to craft a health and social services strategy which addresses high population growth and the changing needs of our residents. If you care about these issues, please speak to your candidates:

Nella Cotrupi (New Democratic Party) (416) 481-5151 nellacotrupi@ontariondp.com

Liz Couture (Green Party) (905) 884-6817 or lizcouture@hotmail.com

Reza Moridi (Liberal) (905) 884-8080 or reza.moridi@rogers.com

Alex Yuan (Conservative) (289) 475-5018 or alex.yuan@ontariopc.net

Thank you for reading my newsletter. Any questions or concerns may be directed to me by phone: (905) 771-2498 or my home office: (905) 770-3386 or via email: bhogg@richmondhill.ca

Brenda