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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ay 30 ,2 01 9 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised family of newspapers is comprised f of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. 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OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM EDITORIAL Municipal governments across Ontario are feeling caught between a rock and a hard place by the Ford government's announcement that it will provide $7.35 million for freelance auditors to review spending and find efficiencies. Aside from the natural suspicion about provincial meddling in local government, there's the justifiable fear that Ford's team of auditors will be programmed to follow his government's partisan ideological bias, in which case they'll be recommending even deeper service cuts, privatization and who knows what else. The truth is most municipal governments already do value for service audits, so this will be duplication. But that doesn't mean there will be no efficiencies found, which brings us to the hard place. If mayors and councils don't demonstrate openness and willingness to take part in the audits, they'll be perceived as not being welcoming to savings opportuni- ties. That's not a good look for local elected officials caught between Queen's Park and anxious taxpayers. That anxiety is not misplaced. Ford's government has already made deep cuts to municipalities, legal aid, tree planting, flood prevention, artificial intelligence and health research, public health units and emergency and policing services. And according to Ontario's indepen- dent Financial Accountability Officer, Peter Weltman, Ford will need to find another $6 billion in savings in order to balance the budget on schedule and deliver promised tax cuts. Green Leader Mike Schreiner put it succinctly: "If you think that people are upset about the cuts the Ford government's already made ... they're going to be espe- cially upset when another $6 billion of unannounced cuts happen over the next three years." And the anxiety isn't just about the draconian nature of the cuts. Increasingly, they also appear to be poorly planned with little or no understanding of the impact on citizens. For example, the government is ending all out-of- country medical coverage as of Oct. 1. That will mean, among other things, that people who rely on regular dialysis to cleanse their blood due to malfunctioning kidneys will not be able to leave the province. According to Health Minister Christine Elliott, this didn't occur to her ministry as it planned cuts. Now they're scrambling to put patches in place to address that and other problems not foreseen due to haste and poor planning. If that single anecdote doesn't fill you with confi- dence, you're in good company. What other impacts has the government not foreseen? It seems we're dealing with a government that doesn't consult, doesn't listen to what it hears when it does and isn't overly concerned about collateral damage. That's legitimate reason for anxiety. IF YOU THINK FORD'S CUTS SO FAR ARE BAD, GET READY ... So, you sold your house three months ago, the clos- ing is next Friday and your realtor is getting antsy. The long, cold spring has numbed your toes and your mojo, and you haven't yet faced the many tasks thatfaced the many tasks thatf will get you prepared for the move. Once more, all these tasks and more are dumped on you, the lady of the house and maven of last resort. You find yourself bouncingYou find yourself bouncingY about like an errant party balloon, the air slowly leak- ing from your head as you sink to the floor like empty clothes. You thought ahead a few weeks earlier and found a mover, but your husband, to save some money, told them he would take care of the packing - which is now your job, as he's unexpect- edly preoccupied with grumbling and guarding his old motor parts, an- cient computer wires and his 300 copies of Mechani- cal Duck Digest. You reviewed the hutch and decided to dispense with the Royal Albert, but not the Paragon. You have no further need for martini glasses, but the Rosenthal crystal still winks at you even though you are down- sizing and have no place for it and your family wants nothing to do with any- thing so old-school. You figured out what canYou figured out what canY go to charities like Safety- Net, Habitat ReStore, or Goodwill, but you haven't dealt with the clogged hall closet, the cringeworthy spare room, that weird crawl space, the 30 bins of Christmas decorations or that crammed space under the kitchen counter where old pans go to die. Your son refuses to de- cide on the 38 boxes of com- ics and action hockey fig- ures that your daughter-in- law refused entry into their tiny Toronto condo. The garage is an unmention- able situation. What you need is a circus master, an ally who's been through this rodeo before and can destress you with extra energy and can take on that list pronto - even be on hand when rumpled strangers drop by for the free stuff you've posted onfree stuff you've posted onf Freecycle and Facebook. It's never too late to en- gage a circus master to get ready. Stephen Ilott is a profes- sional home organizer with decluttering.ca and author of The Domestic Archaeologist. For more information, visit www.de- cluttering.ca or contact him at info@declutter- ing.ca or 416-460-8098. IF IT'S A CIRCUS YOU NEED, HIRE A CIRCUS MASTER NO NEED TO GO THROUGH THE STRESS OF MOVING ALONE, WRITES STEPHEN ILOTT STEPHEN ILOTT Column