Municipalities
Doug Ford’s downloading costs to municipalities are just cuts by another name and will mean public health services like vaccines and food and water testing in jeopardy.
Doug Ford attacked Ontario municipalities when he announced that his government will download costs for many public health services by 30%. Cuts include reducing the number of Public Health Units across Ontario by more than 70%, and reductions to provincial funding for critical services in our communities for food and water safety, infectious disease tracking and prevention, immunizations, prenatal training and safety, overdose prevention, safe needle and biohazard programs and much more.
For Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon, a municipal budget deficit of $36 million over the next three years is expected and will have to mitigated by property tax increases with cuts to key public health and other city services. As more information becomes available from the Peel Region Unifor will update the citizens of the region.
In Toronto over $1 billion in public health funding will vanish over the next 5 years dramatically affecting the delivery of key services to the most vulnerable in the city.
Child care funding cuts to municipalities and school boards will lead to the potential loss of thousands of already planned child care spaces including 3,049 spaces in Toronto, 49 spaces in Palgrave, and 204 spaces in Sudbury. As well, Doug Ford plans to end a $50 million fund to help control child care costs for families. For municipal day care centres, municipalities will now have to cover 20% of the cost for new spaces, which had been previously fully funded by the province. This will certainly lead to fewer daycare spaces and increasing costs.