CORNWALL, Ontario – Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry MPP heard the concerns of the Cornwall City Council about the provincial budget. Most Councillors raised the issue of the strain on the healthcare system of less provincial dollars and an aging population.
"As we know the healthcare at Glen Stor Dun Lodge the high maintenance with dementia and alzheimers is a reality," Councillor Andre Rivette told McDonell. "Health Minister Hopkins have some great things proposed but I hope the hospital follows through with them."
Councillor Elaine MacDonald said that the province is giving the healthcare system less dollars despite increasing costs.
"If your only getting a cost of living increase to the healthcare budget, you’re not making any new progress in care and some hospitals are getting less than that," she said. "Hospitals are being badly served because they are being asked to work with less than what they need. Bit by bit the whole public service is destabilized. I ask you to make what every requests you can to see that the money is spent more responsibility when it comes to our healthcare. Maybe your party can encourage the government to do this, but we need a pharmacare system to reduce the cost of drugs."
McDonell said that most hospitals would feel lucky to get even a cost of living increase.
"In my discussions with a hospital, I think they’d be really happy with a cost of living increase, because they’re not getting that," he said.
Councillor Claude McIntosh hammered the concerns of Council on healthcare home.
"Healthcare is a real major issue, it goes all the way back to Bill Davis and its become like a snowball going down the hill," he said. "My doctor is nervous about the system and he can’t see it getting any better."
On top of healthcare concerns, MPP McDonell also heard concerns about education funding for rural schools. Due to Ministry rules the public school board in the area, the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) is planning on closing more than a dozen mostly rural schools in the area. These closures would mean more crowded classrooms and longer bus rides for students.
"If I were in the counties I wouldn’t want my child to be on the bus for one hour one way, that’s insanity," said Councillor David Murphy.
Councillor Justin Towndale raised the issue of wasted money at the provincial level.
"There is no accountability for how money is spent, for example the Ministry of Transport mismanaging GO," he said. "If the big dogs can’t do it, maybe its time to look at small communities, maybe its time to look at us. We’re used to using limited resources.Toronto tends to forget about Eastern Ontario and that needs to change. If they’re wasting tens of millions of dollars that means money out of the pool that we can’t get."
McDonell agreed with his assessment.
"These aren’t isolated cases, its case after case," he said. "If you look around at our smaller communities, they treat the dollars like their own."
Wednesday’s Special Meeting of Council was a culmination of a week of consultations McDonell was conducting in communities across his riding. He will be submitting his budget recommendations to the Finance Committee before the deadline at the end of January.
