For Immediate Release – January 25, 2007

Funding Gap Widens Between GTA/905 and Rest of Ontario

GTA/905 Residents Lack Provincial Funding for Key Social Services

Toronto – More than three million GTA/905 residents are receiving less and less provincial funding for social services relative to other Ontarians and the funding gap for local social services continues to widen for GTA/905 residents, according to information received by the Strong Communities Coalition from the Government of Ontario.

Provincial Government information indicates that the total funding gap for key social services between the GTA/905 regions and the rest of Ontario reached $688 million in 2005/06, an increase of 25 per cent from the 2003/04 period. The annual operating funding gap grew across all provincially funded social services examined such as child care, children’s services including child welfare, adult services and developmental services. The per capita funding gap widened most for child care services where it grew by 62 per cent.

The widening gap in annual operating funding for social services is due to GTA/905 residents receiving between 50 to 60 per cent less funding on a per capita basis when compared to other Ontarians for each social service being tracked. GTA/905 regions receive $51 less per capita for developmental services compared to a provincial average of $101. Overall, GTA/905 residents receive $213 less per capita for key provincially funded social services when compared to what other Ontarians receive from the Provincial Government.

“Increasing numbers of lives are compromised in the GTA/905 because of the growing inequity in provincial funding for social services, said Barbara Burton, CEO of the United Way of Oakville, a member of the Strong Communities Coalition. “Provincial funding for social services as well as health care has not kept pace with the rapidly growing population of the GTA/905, which will see 100,000 new residents, which is the population of Kingston, added annually for the next fifteen years”.

The new information provides further evidence of the growing funding gap in health care and social services documented by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in its fall report: Assessing the Gap in Health and Social Services Funding Between the GTA/905 and the Rest of Ontario. That report indicates that the residents of the fast growing regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York have less provincial resources for health and social services when compared to other Ontarians and that the annual operating funding gap is growing.

“Human services should be regarded as an investment in economic growth,” said Dr. Colin Saldanha, a family physician and past President of the Mississauga Board of Trade. “Adequate and equitable funding of social services and health care allows residents of the GTA/905 to fully participate in their communities, be more productive in their jobs, and in so doing, to maximize their contribution to the economic growth of the province.

“We continue to see a growing need for local access to health care and social services in our Region”, said Colleen Zakoor, Executive Director of Canadian Mental Health Association of York Region. “A lack of provincial funding for local services and longer wait times for service means that by the time someone is able to access service, their needs have become more critical and requires more costly intervention. It is imperative that the funding gap be addressed to ensure a responsive and sustainable system in York Region and to ensure equity of access for all Ontarians regardless of where they live.”

The Strong Communities Coalition is an alliance of the United Ways in Peel, York, Durham and Oakville and the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance with the support of York Region Human Services Planning Coalition and the Peel Fair Share Task Force. The Coalition’s goal is to improve local and timely access to comprehensive and quality health care and social services in the GTA/905 regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York.

In its Growing Pains report released with the PWC report, the Coalition’s recommendations call for immediate growth funding for health and social services in Ontario’s high growth regions; allocating provincial health and social services funding on the basis of population size, growth and needs, i.e., population-based, and the development of a human services plan to complement Places to Grow.

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For further information contact:

Paola Arci at (416) 205-1331