Peel social services are calling for help, but local PC MPPs show no sign they’re listening

More than 1.6 million residents across Peel have been dangerously underserved for decades, but Premier Doug Ford and his local MPPs remain silent on the shortfall in provincial funding for public health, housing, mental health and addictions support and a range of other critical services.

Warning that Peel’s community services had “reached a breaking point,” the Metamorphosis Network — a collective of more than 100 non-profit organizations and community groups in the region — launched its ‘Cut in Half’ campaign during the recent provincial election. It requested all candidates commit to providing a fair-share of funding for Peel to dramatically reduce an almost $870 million annual shortfall from Queen’s Park for social services in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon. 

Outdated funding formulas and a failure to implement needs based investments that more accurately reflect the population boom in certain parts of Ontario over the last few decades have resulted in widening inequities. Some municipalities with stagnant or even declining populations enjoy the same funding levels they received decades ago, while Peel’s per-capita investment levels continue to fall further behind due to rapid growth which Queen’s Park has mandated without ensuring a fair share of funding for that growth. 

Ford and his local PC MPPs neglected to respond to the pledge or acknowledge the funding issue during the election campaign, and the silence continues. 

“The absence of the Premier, and the PC candidates in every riding, is still a worrisome gap,” community advocate Angela Carter previously stressed in a press release, which asked candidates to commit to “righting the wrongs in Peel Region.”

The Pointer reached out to the Premier’s Office as well as each of the 11 PC representatives across Brampton and Mississauga for comment on their silence on the issue during the campaign, but did not receive a response. 

While the PC apathy toward the Metamorphosis campaign is cause for concern as the Party begins its third majority government, Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO of Indus Community Services, told The Pointer the Network's primary concern “has been and remains about the people who rely on the services and how their needs will be addressed.” 

Malhotra said the Metamorphosis Network, which has been demanding change for two years, has stressed the dire need for funding to the incoming MPPs (all save for Silvia Gualtieri in Mississauga East—Cooksville are incumbents) and has “received ongoing support for the idea of working” to advocate for fair share funding (Peel residents receive $578 less for critical social services compared to similar Ontario communities despite paying the same tax dollars as residents in other municipalities across the province). A report released by the Metamorphosis Network last May detailed the specific shortfalls.

“[The shortfall’s] impacts affect someone near you or in your family all the time, and that's what we want to remain focused on and make sure our elected officials be focused on because, after all, it's perfectly reasonable to expect that Peel receives the resources that it generates in order to provide basic social and health services,” Malhotra told The Pointer. 

Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO of Indus Community Services, says the Metamorphosis Network’s focus continues to be on the direct impact the funding shortfall has on Peel’s residents.

(Submitted)  

While Peel remains one of the fastest growing regions in the province with its population forecasted to reach about two million over the next decade and a half, funding has not kept pace to support needed services. The Network’s report found Peel is being shortchanged $868 million annually for essential services such as housing, childcare, educational programs and seniors care, as well as non-profit community services including mental health support and youth programs, compared to other municipalities with similar populations. This “has a cumulative and painful impact on people, families and communities here in the region,” Malhotra said.

It leads to overcrowded and understaffed schools and children forced to learn in portables or other alternative environments; youth waiting more than 700 days for access to mental health counselling; a worsening opioid crisis with few treatment beds for those seeking to escape their addictions; and hospital hallways filled with patients due to the lack of available beds to treat them; and service providers trying to help women fleeing domestic violence or human trafficking fighting over small pots of money to launch short-term programs that are ineffective over the long term. 

“We do think that this is a really important thing, and like all good things, it's going to take a little bit of time, and we're looking forward to seeing demonstrated success and progress in the next couple of months.”

Prior to Queen’s Park being dissolved in anticipation for an election a year ahead of schedule, Malhotra said the Network brought the report's findings to the Minister of Finance during budget consultations in early January and made clear that its members are looking for three concrete steps, each of which were outlined in the Network’s recent campaign.

It called on candidates, if elected, to commit to increasing investment in Peel immediately as a first step to solving increased homelessness, rising food insecurity, funding gaps to support victims of violence against women, the ongoing overdose crisis and a range of other societal problems, many linked to high costs and a lack of government funding. This, Malhotra told The Pointer, would include some sort of a down payment on progress that would be seen as early as the next budget with resources set aside specifically to address the ongoing shortfall in Peel, as well as developing a sustainable plan to correct funding shortfalls over the long term.

The campaign also requested successful candidates create a working group with the province, municipalities and nonprofits from the region “to ensure that all community services are properly funded in perpetuity.”

A report released last year by Peel’s Metamorphosis Network revealed the extent of social services funding gaps in the provincial government’s spending.

(Metamorphosis Network) 

While the PCs did not sign on to the pledge (unlike other candidates) Malhotra said the Network believes the region’s incoming MPPs “are seized of this issue and are planning on making good on the taxpayers and residents here in Peel” and that its members “are comfortable that they are each aware of the problem.”

Recognizing that rectifying the gap will take time, he is optimistic that, through the Network’s strategy “there should be indications that we are moving forward with this.”

“I genuinely feel that they are anxious to make this right,” he said, while also stressing the urgency of seeing action taken to address the longstanding issue of funding that is not fair, and is not based on current population figures. 

“They can't do everything at once, which is why we're being reasonable. But we must open communications. We want to see a down payment indicating a positive direction of dealing with this, and we'd love to work on a reasonable, sustainable plan for addressing the shortfalls in the next three years,” he said, adding that the Network would like to see Peel’s fair share named in the budget with resources being set aside specifically for the region. He also wants government officials to be aware that the funding issue in Peel is evidence-based and not just a plea for funds. 

“We will be doing our best to educate our MPPs as to what these challenges mean locally, and giving them the information they need to go forward,” he said. “We're not asking for anything special. We're just asking that what we help raise here comes back here in a way that is balanced right across the province.”

Previous calls to Doug Ford and his PC government have “seemed to land with a thud,” according to Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish, who has demanded a fair share of funding since stepping into the role in June. She previously told The Pointer she “didn’t feel much progress was made on Peel’s underfunding for social issues,” a sentiment shared by Mississauga councillors who felt their advocacy on the issue at last year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference was largely overlooked by the region’s local MPPs, despite indications from Ford that his government “would look at staging some help.”   

Malhotra said the Network remains optimistic it will begin to see the first signs of funding flow in the coming months. 

“I feel that we've done our homework well, and it's an accurate representation. But it can't be something that can be ignored, and we remain optimistic that the newly reinvigorated government will remain focused on addressing these shortfalls.” He added, “$868 million every year missing means that last year and the year before, a young person didn't receive the mental health supports they needed, and is probably in a worse off situation now than they were then if we had had a timely service available. So we have to turn that tide.”

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Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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