Today’s Liberal budget goes a long way in recognizing the hard-working
people who provide vital services to people with developmental disabilities, but
it falls far short of restoring proper funding to public services in other
areas, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.
“It’s clear the government has listened to our message, and our members
should be proud,” said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. “The $200 million in
new funding for developmental services over four years is a good start and
we will continue to hold the government accountable to restore funding to
this sector.”
But
Casselman said the McGuinty Liberals can do better in addressing the
continuing crisis in public services, particularly in long-neglected areas
such as community college funding and natural resource management.
“This budget does not provide enough to pull Ontario’s colleges out of 9th
place in funding among the Canadian provinces,” said Casselman. “And a
further cut of five per cent to the operations of the Ministry of Natural
Resources is a scandal: It means that we will continue to see a downward
spiral in protection of our wildlife and our parks system.”
OPSEU represents more than 120,000 workers including those working for all
Ontario government ministries, developmental services agencies, health care,
colleges and universities, the LCBO, and many other public services.
