Service delayed is service denied

The Province of Ontario’s much-praised long-term, smart growth planning strategy, unveiled in Mississauga last June, was entitled Places to Grow.
It is no coincidence that the study commissioned by the Strong Communities Coalition (SCC) and unveiled at Queen’s Park Tuesday morning was called Growing Pains.
For every growth action, there is an equal and opposite demand for human services — a demand that has gone unanswered for far too long in Mississauga, Peel and the entire GTA/905 where a population the size of Kingston, about 100,000 people, is added every year.
The Coalition, made up of the United Ways in the 905, has joined forces with the 905/GTA Health Care Alliance — formed to fight the good fight for equal hospital funding in the ring of municipalities outside Toronto — and together they have commissioned a $35,000 report by independent auditors Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
Growing Pains tells us what we already knew and feared: Peel has a very limited capacity to deliver human services across the board — in mental health, developmental services, children’s services, child care — you name it.
The government’s policy of giving out annual increases in human services funding of 1, 2, 3 per cent or whatever, to every jurisdiction, for many years severely penalized high-growth regions such as ours.
There are a blizzard of numbers in the report that are alarming. Perhaps the worst realization is that, despite the ongoing efforts of the Peel Fair Share Task Force which first brought this issue to public light 16 years ago and has been lobbying ever since, we are going the wrong way.
The gap between what Peel receives per capita for services and what other areas receive is widening, not shrinking. The faster we go, the behinder we get.
After the press conference, United Way CEO Shelley White said it’s the same old story: when the glory of the press conferences announcing the capital building projects is over, there needs to be the reality of the operating dollars that follow, dollars that allow that infrastructure to be used to provide the services people truly need.
“We have a community of 1.2 million in Peel and one emergency youth centre (Our Place Peel) with 14 beds.,” said White. “They have to turn teens away. We have only three shelters for abused women and their children. That’s just not enough space.”
Mark Creedon, executive director of Catholic Family Services of Peel-Dufferin asked why Peel gets 33 cents on the dollar to provide counselling to reduce violence against women. “In children’s services it’s 50 cents on the dollar” compared to the provincial average.
Even if the current campaign is successful, Creedon pointed out that there’s a backlog of funding deficiencies that can never be addressed. “From 1970 to 1998, we got the same increase as everyone else in the province, even though we were adding 30,000 people every year in Peel,” he said. “It’s like you dig yourself into this huge pit. That pit has never been addressed.”
Despite the expected bad news, Peel’s human services officials are as optimistic as they’ve ever been that this problem will finally start to be addressed.
“No government has ever denied the need,” noted Creedon. “Probably the most responsive government we’ve ever had is the current one.”
It’s time for responsive rhetoric to turn into funding reality.
Correction. Past time. Long past time.

Comments

[The Mississauga Muse]

John,

You wrote:

"The gap between what Peel receives per capita for services and what other areas receive is widening, not shrinking. The faster we go, the behinder we get."

Actually that was one theme in Mayor McCallion's question-and-answer period.

True-to-form she was no shrinking violet on how Mississauga and Peel get the shortest of the short end of a short funding stick.

You ending today's Blog with:

"It’s time for responsive rhetoric to turn into funding reality.
Correction. Past time. Long past time."

just makes me realize more just how vital it is for us to have the best people possible, in government at all three levels.

We're DOOMED, aren't we, John?

Signed,
The Mississauga Muse