Elections

Will you complete the job of uploading social services costs to the Province? Why or why not?

Responses to the question: "Will you complete the job of uploading social services costs to the Province? Why or why not?"

← Back to Election Page

In This Page:

20 Candidate Responses (top)

Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Erik Coverdale Yes The Green party has pledged to meet the promised upload of $1.5 billion in social service and court security costs by 2018 and has also agreed not to download costs, or add new ones to Ontario's limited property tax base.
Glenn Langton No The government has had 50 years to reduce poverty and reliance on social programs in Ontario yet we have more now than ever, Libertarians do not believe in government forcibly taking peoples property ( money ) to give to those they deem more fitting, Libertarians believe that private charities can and do a better job of providing for those in need than government ever will, Just think, if you had the tax dollars back in your pocket and were asked to give a dollar to a charity like the salvation army or a food bank, or a government bureaucrats? which would you choose? the government is driving private charities out of business with regulation and over taxation so they cannot compete with the welfare state, thereby creating a government monopoly on charity...this is absolutely wrong.
Robert Maton Yes Certain cities have high costs for social services while others do not. Because they may provide fewer services, or have high residential costs, wealthier communities often export their social service costs to poorer municipalities where comprehensive services exist for the least advantaged. These are costly and currently largely paid for by the municipality providing the services. The province needs to upload and redistribute the costs of social services so that all municipalities pay a more equal share of the costs.
Ted McMeekin Yes I understand the importance of this commitment to our municipal partners. We're uploading $2.7 billion from municipalities, freeing up room in their budgets to invest in local priorities and control property taxes.

Unlike the Hudak PCs, we'll honour our uploading commitments, because ultimately, there's only one taxpayer. We're uploading costs for seniors' drugs, court security, social assistance, public health, and public transit - with a plan to upload an additional $500 million between now and 2018.

When the Harris-Hudak PCs were in government, they downloaded $3 billion of costs onto municipalities - including child care, transit, housing, and public health - leading to higher property taxes and an infrastructure deficit.

Tim Hudak has a $14-billion hole in his platform. With this $14 billion in unfunded giveaways and tax cuts, we know that Hudak is planning to download costs again, pushing municipalities to the brink. He's already refused to commit to complete our download, meaning $500 million a year in new property taxes or service cuts.

We've invested $62 billion in infrastructure since 2003, with another $35 billion to come in the next three years, helping to fix sewers and water mains and improve recreation centres and arenas while creating hundreds of thousands of local jobs.

Here's what some of our municipal partners are saying:

"[Tim Hudak] was very clear. He is going to stop it... The uploading has to continue in a major way."
- Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, Toronto Star, Aug. 23
- http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1043843--no-repeat-performance-on-downloading-hudak-tells-mayors

"If uploading stops, we will have higher property taxes,"
- Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, Toronto Star, Sept. 23
- http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1058836
Trevor Westerhoff Yes During the Harris and Eaves years of provincial government, millions of dollars of provincial cost-sharing was downloaded to the municipalities. This included hospital, infrastructure spending, court security, education and social assistance. The Liberals promised to upload this money back to the province by 2018. That is seven years away. New Democrats would speed this process up by cost-sharing with municipalities. 

A new, three-year dedicated fund will provide $70 million annually to help municipalities with road and bridge repairs. The operating costs of municipal transit systems will be split 50-50. Costs for social assistance and court security will continue to be uploaded.
And the NDP will make a commitment not to download the cost of hazardous household waste disposal onto municipalities, or consumers in the form of eco-fees. 
Hamilton Centre
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Andrea Horwath Yes During the Harris and Eaves years of provincial government, millions of dollars of provincial cost-sharing was downloaded to the municipalities. This included hospital, infrastructure spending, court security, education and social assistance. The Liberals promised to upload this money back to the province by 2018. That is seven years away. New Democrats would speed this process up by cost-sharing with municipalities. 

A new, three-year dedicated fund will provide $70 million annually to help municipalities with road and bridge repairs. The operating costs of municipal transit systems will be split 50-50. Costs for social assistance and court security will continue to be uploaded.
And the NDP will make a commitment not to download the cost of hazardous household waste disposal onto municipalities, or consumers in the form of eco-fees. 
Christopher Lawson Yes Cities like Hamilton have had recipients of various social services concentrated in their population by various social service mechanisms across the province. This results in a disproportionate burden for municipalities when assigning the costs of these services at tax time. The equal distribution of the real costs of these services should be spread across the province that they serve.
Michael Baldasaro Yes The Province makes money off what used to be called illegal gambling and booze running. They should give something back.
Peter Ormond Yes The Green Party believes it is time for this to happen and has pledged to meet the promised upload of $1.5 billion in social service and court security costs by 2018. Further, the Green Party has promised to not download costs, or add new one to Ontario's limited property tax base. The Greens understand that strong local communities and municipalities are what drive government and not the other way around.
Robert Kuhlmann No No, I'd eliminate those costs altogether and let the people vote for how their tax money is spent, how much is spent, where it's spent and what it's spent on. If such a policy was implemented, you'd see a marked improvement in the efficiency and quality of services provided here in Hamilton as well as everywhere else. Nobody likes to see people suffering in their own backyard.
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Bob Green Innes Maybe Possibly, however, bear in mind that the way the question is put comes from the way the way the Liberals sold the move to make themselves look good. Uploaded? Please don't be conned by such a notion. Since the Liberals are incapable of balancing the books, what they are really proposing is to transfer the cost from the municipalities (hooray) to the next generation (boo) through increased borrowings the next generation must pay. Or if you like, the cost is being downloaded even further than it is now, since the next generation is hardly in a position to complain.

The entire question of social services needs a complete review. Everyone knows that handicapped people, which actually comprise a small minority, need assistance. But the Welfare system and the Poverty industry have grown way beyond helping a few disabled folks. This puts a strain on everyone and unfairly penalizes those that are struggling but do not qualify. There is real resentment among my constituents, many of whom are struggling on multiple part time jobs, about benefits being given to those on welfare which are beyond anything those constituents can afford. In addition, they perceive abuse of such privilege through inconsiderate behaviours that affects nearby families trying to raise children properly.

Something must be done although we must also be careful that any cuts to welfare must be balanced by even more cuts to the egregious corporate welfare and bonus system that exists in this province and country. The people are being bled dry.

As to who should pay, while I believe that local is usually best, I also believe that the government that calls the shots should pay the bill. The practice of shoveling money around leads to bad signals, wrong headed decisions and irresponsible expectations, not to mention the unavoidable skimming that takes place. The Family Coalition Party has a full policy platform for coming to grips with the imbalances and inequities of our economic system.
Mark Cripps Yes Ontario Liberals have spent 8 years trying to undo the damage done by the former Harris government. Social services should be the responsibility of every Ontario resident.
Paul Miller Yes During the Harris and Eaves years of provincial government, millions of dollars of provincial cost-sharing was downloaded to the municipalities. This included hospital, infrastructure spending, court security, education and social assistance. The Liberals promised to upload this money back to the province by 2018. That is seven years away. New Democrats would speed this process up by cost-sharing with municipalities. 

A new, three-year dedicated fund will provide $70 million annually to help municipalities with road and bridge repairs. The operating costs of municipal transit systems will be split 50-50. Costs for social assistance and court security will continue to be uploaded.
And the NDP will make a commitment not to download the cost of hazardous household waste disposal onto municipalities, or consumers in the form of eco-fees. 
W. Peter Randall Maybe A tricky and sticky wicket there…obviously we are not the power in party and I am not currently an elected MPP. One thing I have always found is that those politicians we need to fear the most are the ones that appear to have all the answers- these are the dangerous ones.

Upon being elected we would have to closely examine the books, roll up our shirt sleeves and begin to draw up a roadmap to a sustainable, greener, non-debt dependent future.

We Greens know that much work must be done and that the status quo of paying today and burdening our children with debt is not working. We do not pretend to have all the answers, simply eager, open and willing minds ready to tackle a myriad of complex issues via a new collaborative approach.
Hamilton Mountain
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Hans Wienhold No When my job is completed, social services shall be completely *off* loaded. Government should not be in the social services business at all.

Canada, I have been told forever, is a very compassionate society. If this is true then Canadians need not employ the violence of the state to manifest it's compassion. A free people will put their own money where their mouths are without the need for an armed, bloated and politically manipulated middle man which, in the end, shows far more compassion for itself and it's employees than it does for those it presumes to help. (How do you like our "one size fits all" education monopoly?)
Monique Taylor Yes During the Harris and Eaves years of provincial government, millions of dollars of provincial cost-sharing was downloaded to the municipalities. This included hospital, infrastructure spending, court security, education and social assistance. The Liberals promised to upload this money back to the province by 2018. That is seven years away. New Democrats would speed this process up by cost-sharing with municipalities. 

A new, three-year dedicated fund will provide $70 million annually to help municipalities with road and bridge repairs. The operating costs of municipal transit systems will be split 50-50. Costs for social assistance and court security will continue to be uploaded.
And the NDP will make a commitment not to download the cost of hazardous household waste disposal onto municipalities, or consumers in the form of eco-fees. 
Sophia Aggelonitis Yes Ontario Liberals understand the importance of this commitment to our municipal partners. We're uploading $2.7 billion from municipalities, freeing up room in their budgets to invest in local priorities and control property taxes. Unlike the Hudak PCs, we'll honour our uploading commitments, because ultimately, there's only one taxpayer. We're uploading costs for seniors' drugs, court security, social assistance, public health, and public transit - with a plan to upload an additional $500 million between now and 2018.

When the Harris-Hudak PCs were in government, they downloaded $3 billion of costs onto municipalities - including child care, transit, housing, and public health - leading to higher property taxes and an infrastructure deficit.

Tim Hudak has a $14-billion hole in his platform. With this $14 billion in unfunded giveaways and tax cuts, we know that Hudak is planning to download costs again, pushing municipalities to the brink. He's already refused to commit to complete our download, meaning $500 million a year in new property taxes or service cuts.

We've invested $62 billion in infrastructure since 2003, with another $35 billion to come in the next three years, helping to fix sewers and water mains and improve recreation centres and arenas while creating hundreds of thousands of local jobs.

Here's what some of our municipal partners are saying:

"[Tim Hudak] was very clear. He is going to stop it... The uploading has to continue in a major way."
- Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, Toronto Star, Aug. 23
- http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1043843--no-repeat-performance-on-downloading-hudak-tells-mayors

"If uploading stops, we will have higher property taxes,"
- Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, Toronto Star, Sept. 23
- http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1058836
Tony Morris Yes The Green Party will complete the promised upload of $1.5 billion in social services and court costs by 2018. Without a revenue base to pay for these services, municipalities are at a disadvantage in providing efficient and effective programs.
Niagara West-Glanbrook
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Anthony Marco Yes During the Harris and Eaves years of provincial government, millions of dollars of provincial cost-sharing was downloaded to the municipalities. This included hospital, infrastructure spending, court security, education and social assistance. The Liberals promised to upload this money back to the province by 2018. That is seven years away. New Democrats would speed this process up by cost-sharing with municipalities. 

A new, three-year dedicated fund will provide $70 million annually to help municipalities with road and bridge repairs. The operating costs of municipal transit systems will be split 50-50. Costs for social assistance and court security will continue to be uploaded.
And the NDP will make a commitment not to download the cost of hazardous household waste disposal onto municipalities, or consumers in the form of eco-fees. 
Geoff Peacock Yes A Freedom government will fulfill any previous obligations that are in place.

Response Summary (top)

Brief ResponseCount% of Total
Yes1575.0%
No315.0%
Maybe210.0%

22 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)

Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale
Donna Skelly
Peter Melanson
Rick Gundermann
Hamilton Centre
Anthony Gracey
Don Sheppard
Donna Tiqui-Shebib
Robert Szajkowski
Steven Passmore
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek
Gregg Pattinson
Nancy Fiorentino
Philip Doucette
Silas Khokar
Hamilton Mountain
Brian Goodwin
Geordie Elms
Jim Enos
Trevor Pettit
Niagara West-Glanbrook
Gerry Augustine
Katie Trombetta
Marty Poos
Meredith Cross
Rob Wienhold
Tim Hudak