Apparently, Diane lays this misfortune squarely at the feet of the evil Mike Harris government... very specifically citing the "downloading of social programs" to municipalities in Ontario.
It seems though, that Ms. Deans is having some sort of seniors moment. On her own website from February of this year, she reports as follows...
On January 29, two colleagues and I attended a hearing of the Provincial Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to tell the Provincial government what the City of Ottawa would like to see in the 2008 Provincial Budget.Now, for anybody who has been living in a cave since 2003... that meeting would be with... not the long-gone Harris government... but the two term McSlippery regime.
We asked that the Ontario government help municipalities become more financially sustainable *** "by uploading the cost of social programs" *** and public health, and to help us fund a youth treatment facility for Eastern Ontario.
So, Diane... does your pal Dalton... who has been running things in Ontario for five years now... and who has decidedly not reversed the Harris government downloading decision... not bear any of the responsibility here?
Funny how that works.
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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Don't suppose Deans mentioned that McGuinty closed the Rideau Correctional and Drug Treatment Center on the Southern border of Ottawa and Montague Township, eh?"*