Last week’s Ontario budget contained a bit of good news for tax payers in the municipalities surrounding Toronto that did not get the attention of the major media. Not until I read the local freebie newspaper (The Liberal) did I learn that the transfer payment York, Peel and Durham Regions have been making to Toronto to subsidise social services in the big city will be phased-out over the next seven years. The transfer payment has been a particular thorn in the body politic in the GTA since its introduction by the Harris conservative government. It was based on misconceptions – that the unemployed and welfare recipients migrate to Toronto to avail themselves of its social services and that there are few or no poor in the suburbs. Additionally galling has been Toronto’s refusal to account for the hundreds of millions of dollars it has received from the surrounding regions. It has been a blatant case of taxation without representation or accountability.
Never void of their own needy, the suburban regions have been burdened with demands for new social services as thousands of new immigrants requiring assistance in integrating to their new homes settle there and as city housing prices drive out more low income families and individuals. As the transfers to Toronto end, the regions will be better able to provide for their own.
The McGuinty Liberal government deserves credit for rectifying a major injustice and, potentially, improving the lives of the needy in York, Peel and Durham.
Never void of their own needy, the suburban regions have been burdened with demands for new social services as thousands of new immigrants requiring assistance in integrating to their new homes settle there and as city housing prices drive out more low income families and individuals. As the transfers to Toronto end, the regions will be better able to provide for their own.
The McGuinty Liberal government deserves credit for rectifying a major injustice and, potentially, improving the lives of the needy in York, Peel and Durham.
