Calls are growing for the provincial government to step up its response to social and economic issues manifesting in homeless encampments across Ontario’s towns and cities.
The leaders of Ontario’s three opposition parties joined a plea on Monday started by municipal mayors for the province to negotiate a new deal with towns and cities, taking back control of services that were once under the umbrella of Queen’s Park.
During her speech at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa, NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she would push the province to begin delivering services it handed to local governments years ago.
“Ontario municipalities are investing over $60 billion annually in vital services and infrastructure, and what do you get in return?” Stiles said, addressing the largest gathering of local leaders in the provincial calendar.
“Forced to jack up property taxes on people you know are already struggling to pay their bills, subsidizing programs other levels of government should be chipping in and paying for. I think we should call these double-digit increases what they really are: a Doug Ford tax.”
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, who spoke after Stiles, came with similar criticism, also promising to strike a new deal with cities if she is elected premier.
“The reality is that Ontario’s municipalities need a new, fair deal,” Crombie said.
“We’re asking you to do a 21st-century job with 19th-century tools. You need a sensible, modern way to fund your operations sustainably.”
The opposition comments come as the province faces growing pressure through a coordinated campaign led by Ontario’s Big City Mayors, who are focusing on the need to address homelessness as the key symptom of local neglect from Queen’s Park.
Burlington mayor, and OBCM chair, Marianne Meed Ward is leading the charge, calling for the province to appoint a minister to deal specifically with the issue, which is becoming the headline demand at the annual AMO conference.
“This is not a municipal focus,” Ward told Global News, suggesting that dealing with homeless and addictions in downtown cores touches 16 different provincial ministries.
“We deal with potholes and community centres and parks. But we are actually stepping into helping with supportive housing, with mental health, with addictions… but we’re subsidizing the province even on those programs.”
The call for a coordinated approach led by one minister has not yet been answered by the government.
During his speech at the conference on Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a new website for cities to list available commercial or industrial land to attract job-creating investors.
He also said applications have opened for a fund to repair sports and recreation facilities.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the speech failed to deliver when municipalities are struggling the most.
“Municipalities are literally begging the province to deal with the housing and homelessness crisis gripping our province, and instead they’re getting an unrelated online portal,” he said.
“This is the Ford government in a nutshell.”
While the government has yet to respond to the request to add a minister specifically to concentrate on coordinating a response to homelessness issues in Ontario, the premier expanded his cabinet to a record-breaking 37 ministers and associate ministers on Friday.
After the resignation of his education minister, Ford unveiled a mini reshuffle that included the creation of a position: the associate minister responsible for auto theft and bail reform.