21 | Thursday, June 5, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Halton Highlights 2014 June Asking Halton's provincial candidates to be our partners in Advocating for a Strong Halton Halton Region is a resident focused, well planned, safe and healthy community. Residents enjoy a high quality of life, a perfect mix of urban and rural communities, and beautiful natural surroundings, including the scenic Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario shoreline. Halton's high quality of life, strong financial position and AAA credit rating combined with the right mix of low taxes, competitive business costs, proximity to market and talent availability support both welcoming neighbourhoods and a vibrant business community. Regional Council is committed to ensuring that our future remains strong and stable. Our Advocating for a Strong Halton campaign defines Halton's advocacy issues. We developed the campaign to highlight and provide information to residents and our provincial and federal governments about the challenges and critical issues related to Halton's future. Infrastructure, costs associated with growth, housing, public health and provincial cost sharing agreements are all issues residents have identified as important. In advance of the June 12th provincial election, we have invited candidates from the Burlington, Halton, Oakville and Wellington-Halton Hills ridings to complete a questionnaire explaining to voters how they will advocate for Halton and how their party will resolve the challenges facing Halton Region. Candidate responses are posted at Halton.ca/ OntarioElection2014. We need to know where every candidate stands on these important issues and we need to know they will voice Halton's concerns at Queen's Park. We are committed to working in partnership with other levels of government, Halton taxpayers and our community partners. We hope that our residents will take these issues into consideration when researching election candidates and when casting their vote in the upcoming provincial election. Working together we can continue to make Halton a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. For more information on Advocating for a Strong Halton visit Halton.ca/Advocacy. Keeping you informed by highlighting what makes Halton a great place to live. Gary Carr, Regional Chair Infrastructure In order to accommodate the growth mandated by the Provincial Places to Grow Plan, Halton requires adequately funded community infrastructure. Investments in transportation (including highways), schools and hospitals are necessary to meet the needs of our growing community. Transportation continues to be the number one issue of importance to Halton residents. Halton Region has invested a significant amount of money into our infrastructure to ensure that people and goods are able to move around and through the Region efficiently, but we cannot do it alone. All levels of government must come together to meet Halton's transportation needs. Celebrating 40 years of service The Regional Municipality of Halton marks its 40th anniversary this year. On January 1, 1974, the County of Halton was dissolved and the Regional Municipality of Halton was established by the Regional Municipality of Halton Act, 1973. From its inception, the Region has delivered high quality programs and services. Today we continue to meet resident needs in a cost-efficient and effective manner. Learn more about our programs and services at Halton.ca. Public Health and cost sharing agreements Halton Region continues to experience funding shortfalls in our cost shared programs with the provincial government in the areas of public health and paramedic services. The resulting funding shortfall in 2013 is $8.7 million. While provincial funding is not keeping pace with growth in Halton, the Province continues to mandate service delivery targets for Public Health Standards and response times for Paramedic Services. Hospital offload delays continue to impact Halton Region. To meet the needs of Halton residents, predictable and permanent base funding is required in order to resolve offloading issues. Meetings at Halton Region Provincial Responsibility Cost-shared Programs Provincially-funded Programs Paramedic Services 75% 100% 50% 2014 Provincial Funding Share 61% 68% 47% 2104 Provincial Funding Shortfall 14% 32% 3% 1151 Bronte Rd., Oakville L6M 3L1 June 10, 9:30 a.m. June 11, 9:30 a.m. June 11, 1:45 p.m. June 18, 9:30 a.m. Health & Social Services Cttee Planning & Public Works Cttee Administration & Finance Cttee Regional Council Please contact us as soon as possible if you have any accessibility needs at Halton Region events or meetings. This page has been donated by this newspaper to communicate important information to Halton residents at no cost to taxpayers.