Halton Leadership Summit on Poverty Reduction

Today I attended the Poverty Summit. Rather timely after being at FCM meetings last week. The summit was well attended by social, faith, and other community groups. As well as leaders from the United Ways of Halton, Habitat for Humanity, school Boards. But most importantly by people who either are receiving social assistance or who have been recipients in the past. We were reminded the name should be elimination not reduction as reduction says that a level is allowed.

Poverty is estimated to cost the Canadian economy 72 Billion per year according to the Toronto Star editorial on Nov 21st. We have been studying it to death. We have the studies from the “social determinants of Health”; we have the data collected by the Our Kids Networks and the groups like the United Ways. We have the data what we have not had in Halton is the program or the people to push it. Push it big time. Hamilton has done a Roundtable on Poverty Reduction. That is a model I have had phone calls from people in other areas tell me we should do. Or the work of the Toronto City Summit Alliance.
The City of Vancouver has found that the cost of providing housing for someone is about 37,000 a year. But the cost for that same person if they were homeless is over $52,000 a year. The home gives them a base and a place to grow in and feel safe.
I do not think the solutions to Poverty elimination are all government. But business, community groups and all level of government must work together and find the solutions.

My thanks to the organisers for the hard work they did in getting everyone together.

Election Wrap up

The elections are over and there going to be new people representing Halton in every Municipality. The face of our school Board has changed as well. First off a thank you to all those who put there name forward and ran for Council or the School Board. Even in defeat they brought forward ideas and fostered discussion and debate.
In Halton Hills we have lost Ward 4 Councillor John Duncan who always brought a businesslike view to Council. In his place we will have Anne Lawlor who is a long time community volunteer, a member of our Hydro Board and a business woman in her own right. She will be a great addition to our team.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. I look forward to continuing to work for you. I also want to continue to represent both Halton Hills, and Halton on the national level.

The changes at Halton Region will be dramatic; we have 2 people in Burlington who will be new and a new Mayor. In Oakville we will have a new Councillor; Milton has new wards and a new Councillor as well. All willhit the ground running and will be eager to get to work.

During the election we all heard from the public as to what they saw as the issues and the expectations they had. In Halton Hills, the citizens were concerned about the prospect of a 8 lane highway cutting through the centre of our rural area. Taxes and services are always a concern, as well as the need for new recreational facilities and parks. The impacts of growth is always an issue. This is not the complete list but a snapshot.

We listen and will take those concerns to our staff and colleagues. They will be raised at our strategic plan sessions and in our committee meetings. We will look at how to implement them and strategies for inclusion in our capital budget.

Due to the town having to purchase the MSB lands our budgets will feel the impact for a number of years. A small town like Halton Hills will have to juggle the budget for the over 1 million we had to spend to purchase it.

There were changes to both the public and catholic school board. At the public side Gillian Kutarna was elected as the sole rep for Halton Hills. She is a capable women who served as Chair for 2 years as well.
At the Catholic Board historian Mark Rowe is the new trustee. He is a retired teacher who has spent many hours as the Chair of Heritage Halton Hills and is a local author.

The MSB issue was divisive almost as much as the short sighted decision to cancel bussing to the High Schools. I have never seen so much public anger towards both school Boards and the arrogance of the staff in dealing with it.
But let’s move on. The Town will need to work with the new trustees to rebuild the relationship with both boards. The Board will need to treat us with respect and understand our limitations. We must always remember that there is only one taxpayer.

My Council colleague’s and I, have been given the sacred trust to represent you and a mandate to continue to build Halton Hills and Halton Region into the best place to live, work and play.
We have challenges ahead of us but as always we will deal with them head on. You expect nothing less and demand something more.