Targeting poverty

Wed, January 24, 2007

Community leaders consulted in London

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER


Helping Ontario's poor and disadvantaged likely will be a focus of the next provincial budget, the provincial finance minister says.

Greg Sorbara, in London yesterday wrapping a 19-city tour of pre-budget consultations with community leaders, said he repeatedly heard about the plight of the poor.

"It's safe to presume there will be a theme to the budget and among the issues I've been hearing about is the situation with Ontario's most vulnerable population," he said in a media briefing.

Sorbara met representatives from about 50 municipalities and organizations from the London area in three hours of closed-door meetings at the London Convention Centre.

He has not set a date for the budget, but it will be the last one before the McGuinty government heads into an election, scheduled for Oct. 4.

With Ontario's key manufacturing sector taking a beating, Sorbara admitted he will have to cool expectations about what the province can afford.

"We are in a period of cooler economic weather and we had to deal with it," he said

Delegations at the London meeting included municipalities, school boards, social agencies, arts groups and farm organizations.

Officials from the City of London delivered a brief that said municipalities were being saddled with increasing costs from social and environmental programs mandated by the province.

City officials say property taxes in Ontario are already the highest in Canada and municipalities want a new deal with the province.

"Provincial services including social services, housing and health are funded by property taxes to a much higher degree in Ontario," said the brief.

Paul Davenport, president of the University of Western Ontario, said UWO is expanding graduate programs and is seeking more scholarship money.

The London event was first scheduled for November, postponed to Dec. 8, then rescheduled again because of a massive snowfall that paralysed much of the city that day.

One group noticeably absent yesterday was the London Chamber of Commerce. General manager Gerry Macartney said the chamber was not notified about the new date and only found out when contacted by The Free Press. "We definitely would have come."

A Finance Ministry official said the London chamber was notified.