Peel has
experienced significant growth over the last three decades. Our population grew from 467,000 in 1980 to
1.3 million people today or 11% of Ontario’s population. Mississauga has become the sixth largest city
in Canada with Brampton, close behind, as the ninth largest city.
According to the
Fair Share Task Force (www.actnowforpeel.ca), the Region of Peel is not getting
a fair share of per capita health, education and social services funding. This impacts quality of life, wait times and
service levels in the region. For
example, children’s services funding for Peel is $283.70 while it is $691.10 for
the rest of the province. Yet another
example is community health centres.
Toronto has 32 and Peel, with half of Toronto’s population, only has
three.
The funding
formula for the Legal Clinics in Peel has also remained stagnant for many
years. As a result, Peel residents have
received unequal access to legal clinic funding as compared with other parts of
the province. Other communities have
benefited from a flawed funding formula which has placed Peel in the unenviable
position of being the second most underserved community in all of Ontario.
For MCLS this
has meant that we had to stop or limit certain services in order to meet the
increase in poverty law services. For
example, we stopped providing services to victims of crime (Criminal Injuries
Compensation Work), employment law, and we have limited our immigration law work
to half a staff person. We made these
difficult choices in order to focus on the areas of law that help keep people
housed and put food on their tables.
When you look at
the numbers, it is clear that Peel is grossly underfunded when it comes to
community legal clinic funding. In
Toronto, they receive funding for 109 positions and Peel receives funding for
16. On a per capita basis, that means
that Peel receives one staff person for every 80,000 people. Meanwhile, the
provincial average is one staff person for every 30,000 people.
The funding
formula needs to be addressed immediately so that Peel residents can have equal
access to poverty law services. Clinics
with larger service areas should have more resources to ensure equal access to
justice. The Region of Peel supports MCLS’s position that a legal clinic should
remain within the Region of Peel and funded at an equitable level as other
clinics located across Ontario.
(http://www.peelregion.ca/council/council_minutes/2010s/2013/rcmin20131128.htm#appmin)
Below are the
candidates from the three major political parties asking for your vote in
Mississauga. We have highlighted those
candidates who supported our position that Peel should get its fair share of
legal clinic funding when they last held office. So ask them if they will support a Peel
clinic located in Peel and funded at an equitable level when they knock on your
door.
Brampton-Gore-Malton:
Harjit Jaswal, Progressive Conservative Party of
Ontario
Kuldip Kular, Liberal Party of Ontario
Jagmeet Singh, New Democratic Party of
Ontario
Mississauga East
– Cooksville
Zoran Churchin,
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Dipika Damerla, Liberal Party of
Ontario
Fayaz P. Karim, New Democratic Party of Ontario
Mississauga
Brampton-South
Amarjeet Gill,
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Amrit Mangat, Liberal Party of
Ontario
Kevin Troake, New Democratic Party of Ontario
Mississauga-Streetsville
Bob Delaney, Liberal Party of
Ontario
Anju Sikka, New
Democratic Party of Ontario
Nina Tangri,
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Mississauga
South
Boris Rosolak, New
Democratic Party of Ontario
Charles Sousa, Liberal Party of
Ontario
Effie
Triantafilopoulos, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Mississauga-Erindale
Michelle Bilek,
New Democratic Party of Ontario
Harinder Takhar,
Liberal Party of Ontario
Jeff White,
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Please support
us and demand that Peel gets its fair share from the province. The funding formulas for health, education and
social services should be funded on a population based model. Peel residents are sending our fair share of
taxes to Queen’s Park but only getting 33% to 50% back in services on a per
capita basis. Peel residents should be
fairly treated by Queens Park with that of other communities in Ontario.
So when the
candidates are knocking on your door and asking for your support in the June
12th provincial election ask them whether they will stand up for
families in Peel? Will they stand up for children in Peel? Will they stand up
for seniors, newcomers and people living with disabilities in Peel? Will they
fight for Peel to get its fair share?
