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Clifford "of all trades" Francis gave the trees along Staying In Touch John O'Toole Durham East MPP At our constituency office, we have had a number of inquiries from people wanting to assist the péople of Manitoba. The flood of the century in Manitoba, like every emergency, brings the best out in all Canadians. The Canadian Red Cross is accepting financial donations at most banks and credit unions. Cheques can be mailed to the Canadian Red Cross at 1623 Young Street, Toronto, Ontario M4T 2AL. Make cheque out to Canadian Red Cross - Manitoba Flood Relief or call 1-888-662-3211. Material donations can be dropped off at any branch of the Salvation Army, accord- ing to the information I have. Call your local Salvation Army for additional information. Locally, the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 419, Bay Street, Port Perry is accept- ing donations of non-perish- able food items, clothing and blankets and small household items on, Saturday May 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information call the Branch at 985-8502. We will try to keep an up to date list- ing of how you can help at bur constituency office at 697-1501 or L/D 1-800-661- 2433. Last week, Municipal Affairs & Housing Minister, the Hon. AI Leach announced a significant change in how the province will work with our municipal partners. After much discussion with AMO (The Association of Municipalities of Ontario) and ROMA (The Rural Ontario Main Streef a much needed trim last week. Municipal Association) as well as others, we have listened and responded with a new method of funding provincial and municipal services. The most important changes are as follows. The province will continue to fund Long Term Care at 100% and Welfare at 80%. The municipalities were very concerned with the orig- inal proposal of human ser- vices being funded at 50% by the local taxes. The original proposal was to fund educa- tion entirely from provincial revenue. This meant that the $5.4 billion dollars municipal taxes for education were going to be spent on other municipal services like roads, ambulance and social ser- vices and long term care. The new proposal will have the province set the mill rate on 50% of the educational por- tion of your municipal taxbill. For example, if your munici- pal tax bill is $2,400.00, approximately 50% of this was going to education with the other 50% paying for other municipal services like police,' fisse, roads, parks, administration and a portion of welfare. With the proposed change, 25% of your local tax will be funding education with the remaining 75% funding the traditional municipal ser- vices with fewer provincial grants. The biggest change is still educational funding. The provincial goal continues to be funding each child equally. 'fThe new funding formula will recognize special education, second language, inner city school issues as well as capi- tal, maintenance and admin- istration costs. The significant change here is that areas of the province that have little assessment will still receive an equitable share of educa- tion funding. I believe that it is important for governments to listen and be willing to make changes that accom- .modate the wishes of the peo- ple. Our Finance Minister, the Hon. Ernie Eves has finally won agreement with the fed- eral government on a Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program. This program will create over 10,000 jobs and will be fund- ed by ail three levels of gov- ernment. I am not a big sup- porter of governments spending borrowed money to put up new buildings and parks which will cost munic- ipal taxpayers •more money annually to operate. However, I do understand that Ontario and our cities must have the best infrastructure, like roads, water and waste water treatment to have a safe, competitive, and productive economy. I hope these funds are not used for election or political purposes. I believe it is important to remember that, Canada and Ontario both have significant deficits and debts so we are borrow- ing foreign money or we would have to increase taxes to pay for these infrastructure grants. The Health Services Restructuring Commission will be in Durham Region on May 6, 1997. Dr. Duncan Sinclair and the other com- missioners will I am sure, examine the work of the District Health Council and the Hospital Council of Durham. I have had our hos- pital board chairs advise me that they welcome the Commission and they feel confident about the restruc- turing of health care in Durham. The hospitals in Durham want to get on with the planning for our regional health care model. We al want the cancer treatment, MRI and other services local- ly. I know our Minister of Health, the Hon. Jim Wilson will respond to Durham after the commission makes its recommendations. Our Minister's plan is to put peo- ple, not bricks and buildings first. We must have the right services in the right place at the right time. Finance Minister Ernie Eves will announce details of the Ontario budget on Tuesday, May 6th. I am con- fident that our plan of reduc- .ing taxes and government spending will be shown to be successful. I am confident that our deficit and hence government borrowing will be down substantially. We will be spending less on interest payments, which will allow us to iaintain spending in other important areas like health care. In the long run, our plan of reducing taxes and con- trolling government spending will encourage the small busi- provincial revenue. I recog- nize that change is difficult in the short term, but every- one recognizes that we had little choice, but to stop the taxing and spending strategy of the past decade. I want every citizen of Ontario to have hope and opportunity. I believe that this will be a good news budget and I also believe that every citizen, young and old, should be thanked for their sacrifices during these difficult times, This week is Education Week with the theme of, "Better Education for a Brighter Future.' Next week- end is Mother's Day and an important time in the life of my family. May is also sexu- al assault month and a time for every one of us to reflect on stopping all violence. I often remember a saying my mother used. "Kndness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see." 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