Monday October 27, 2008
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday October 27, 2008
Funding fix in works: McMeekin
It looks like a permanent solution for Hamilton’s chronic social service funding shortfall is on the way.
That’s the message from MPP Ted McMeekin, Hamilton’s cabinet minister in the McGuinty government.
McMeekin says he’s confident an upcoming municipal-provincial deal on social service delivery “will address the historic shortfall” Hamilton has complained about for so long.
The minister of government and consumer services says he expects the deal will compensate for the loss of special multimillion-dollargrants that the province has provided Hamilton to offset its high social service costs.
McMeekin says he’s “very optimistic that the pattern of Hamilton being made whole on social services” will continue as a result of the province uploading certain programs.
The agreement, which is expected to be announced shortly, stems from a review that began in 2006 involving the province, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and the City of Toronto.
They were studying the funding and delivery of social programs that were downloaded to cities in the 1990s by the former Mike Harris government. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)