MPP's funding motion gets approval

Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh's motion calling for municipal and hospital funding to be based on current population counts was supported by the Ontario legislature recently. Members of the legislature voted 31-1 in favour of the resolution that insists the Ontario government use updated population counts when determining provincial funding transfers to municipalities, hospitals and other partner agencies. "I was surprised the member for Ancaster-Dundas-FlamboroughAldershot, who represents several growth communities, voted against this," said Chudleigh. "All other members of the legislature seemed to understand that this is simply a non-partisan request for funding equality for the people of Ontario." Chudleigh said now the issue needs to be taken up by the government, especially in light of the strong multi-party support it received in the legislature. He said he would push the government to act on the issue. "In some parts of the province population growth is so rapid that census data, which is used to determine provincial funding, is obsolete even before it's available," he said. "People who live in high growth municipalities are being short-changed of their fair share of provincial dollars." For example, census data from 2001 has Milton's population listed as 35,000, but Town officials say Milton's true population is 62,000 and rising. As part of his motion to the legislature, Chudleigh proposed that population figures should be based on household counts from property tax rolls with a multiplier to account for children. This system is currently used by the Province to determine which communities qualify as medically under-serviced.