Concern, celebration and caution.
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie had reason for all three Monday as Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a keynote address at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting in Ottawa.
The concern comes in the form of what cuts to public services such as health care and child care will mean for the municipality.
The celebration comes in the announcement that the province will release a stream of federal investment that the city has been waiting for that would, could and should help pay for a new south end recreation centre and a new main library.
The caution comes in the form of whether the premier follows through on his statements about working closer with municipalities and giving them more say in their governance.
“The overall theme was that he seemed authentic in wanting to build a better relationship with municipalities and he was willing to acknowledge that we are best to support services on the ground for our citizens instead of Queen’s Park,” Guthrie said.
“Those kinds of statements are shared by many, including myself, but what the concern is if there are any kind of cuts coming down from the province in daycare or anything else, that needs to be made up by the municipalities and how is that going to be made up by the taxpayers at the local level.”
The premier also announced ‘transitional funding’ for municipalities in 2020 to help soften the blow for the provincial cuts.
But Guthrie said that’s a stop-gap measure and no one really knows what it entails.
The amount of that transitional funding was not revealed.
“It’s deferring the pain for later,” Guthrie said. “There was no details about that, so we have no idea what that means.”
The magnitude of cuts to public health and child care funding by the province were not detailed, although some media reports said earlier in the day it will be 30 per cent to public health and a 20 per cent cut for new child care spaces.
Guelph does not control those budgets. They are set by independent boards that the city has a seat on.
“It’s up to those agencies to determine how they deal with any cuts,” Guthrie said, adding that they could go back to their member municipalities and ask them to make up the difference in funding or cut services.
As for the release of the community, culture and recreation stream of the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, the mayor said they knew it was coming and the city is all set to make its applications regarding the new library and recreation centre.
“We’ve just been waiting for the announcement of when the intake was open. Our staff is ready to hit the ‘send’ button as soon as possible,” Guthrie said.
The province will start accepting funding applications on Sept. 3.
The province announced a 4 per cent increase in ambulance funding.
The entire provincial cabinet is in Ottawa for the meeting and municipalities will meet with them throughout the week.
Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner had this to say about today’s speech by Ford.
“Municipalities are the most underfunded level of government, yet they deliver many of the services that most directly affect people’s daily lives. So I’m disappointed that the Premier continues to put the squeeze on them, using funding cuts as an easy way to balance his own books,” Schreiner said in a statement.
“Ontario’s municipalities are already struggling with a multi-billion dollar funding gap, and on top of it they will now be expected to build child care spaces and cover public health costs.
“Ontario has the lowest per-capita revenue generation of any province and spends the least per-capita on public services.
“But instead of finding solutions, Ford is just passing the buck to municipalities, which will ultimately hurt people and communities.”
