MPP Arnott rips into Municipal Affairs Minister for cutting tornado disaster assistance

MPP’s dissatisfaction triggers “late show” debate

Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott took Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen to task during Question Period on December 13th. He criticized the Minister for his “miserly” treatment of Centre Wellington and Mapleton Townships, which need financial assistance from the Province for clean-up costs resulting from the tornados that hit in August.

Dissatisfied with the response from the Minister, Mr. Arnott filed a motion which forced an additional debate known as a “late show”, which occurred later that evening.

In his question, Mr. Arnott had pressed the Minister to account for why the provincial disaster assistance grants had been cut.

“In calculating the provincial support grants, the minister cut our grants by an arbitrary figure amounting to 4% of the municipalities' budgets,” Mr. Arnott stated.

“That's like making a donation to the Salvation Army at Christmas time and asking for change,” he charged.

Mr. Arnott then asked the Minister to meet with municipal officials and representatives of the Grand River Conservation Authority to allow them to make their case that funding be increased.

In his response, the Minister did not express a willingness to meet with the municipal officials and the GRCA.

“I couldn’t believe that a Minister of Municipal Affairs wouldn’t commit to meeting with our elected municipal leaders when directly asked to do so,” Mr. Arnott said.

During the “late show” debate, Mr. Arnott persisted with his case that Centre Wellington and Mapleton have been shortchanged.

“Again, my request -- specific request, I guess -- is that this 4% of the municipal budgets deduction that the minister has arbitrarily attached to our grant be removed. If that were the case, our municipalities would receive approximately $330,000 more,” Mr. Arnott said.

“I don't feel I'm asking for the moon. It's a drop in the bucket in comparison to the overall provincial budget, which is some $80 billion…,” he continued.

Responding on behalf of the Minister was his Parliamentary Assistant, MPP Brad Duguid.

“I can give the assurance that the Minister will look actively at their requests. We’ll stay in touch with the Member and ensure that we make the appropriate allocation for these municipalities,” Mr. Duguid said in House.

“Our exchange ended on a positive note. I am hopeful that the Minister will now give this request the consideration it deserves,” Mr. Arnott concluded.