Premier Doug Ford told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Monday that municipal funding cuts for public health and child care are going ahead in January.
The new plan will see municipalities pay 30% of public health care costs and 20% of the cost for new child care spaces, which the province had previously fully funded.
Speaking to Quinte News from the AMO conference in Ottawa, Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk said there is one good sign.
The province also announced a 4% increase in funding for ambulance services.
Panciuk says the Ontario government is serious about reducing its expenditures but now sees it’s a little more complicated than just taking it from municipalities, since municipalities are involved in so many program aspects.
He says the city will apply for a new stream of federal infrastructure funding for culture and recreation, announced by the premier.
It is about $1 billion for Ontario alone.
Returning to the provincial government funding cuts, Panciuk said, “Last year they were all about moving quickly and I think they’ve seen a number of unintended consequences. The message about today’s speech is about co-operation and working collaboratively and indicating what their intentions are so we could give feedback. I think that’s a big change from last year.”
He added, “…Fiscally they feel they inherited a real problem in Ontario and they need to take some action, but they’re not going to do it without speaking with us.”
