Local non-profits, government agencies make funding appeal ahead of 2024 budget

Making a funding pitch to the province The province is hearing pitches from local non-profits and agencies during the 2024 pre-budget consultations. Marek Sutherland reports.

The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is holding meetings three times a week in different parts of Ontario. The goal is to better understand where government services and non-profits are struggling.

“It does give us a great opportunity to show them how serious the situation is with different groups,” said Committee Chair Ernie Hardeman.

Situations are in many cases are dire.

Many presenters cited a difficulty retaining or attracting staff, creating a vortex of inability to provide service

“When we can't fill the shifts, we need to temporarily not admit people to our beds that are otherwise available,” Janet Groen from Jr. Joseph's Hospice explained.

Anova has had to turn away women in need because they are beyond capacity, according to Executive Director Jessie Rodger

“Having to turn away 95 per cent of the calls is not only difficult for the woman on the end of the phone to hear, but it is incredibly difficult for our team to to do that on an hourly basis," she said.

London West MPP Peggy Sattler reacted to the presentation of Alex Summers and said the health unit had to restructure staff to fit within the fiscal guidelines, which hurt services.

“It's very troubling when you hear the medical officer of health for Middlesex-London health unit say that that they are not able to meet Ontario public health standards," she said.

The committee allows each speaker seven minutes to present, and then respond to questions from members like London North MPP Terrance Kernaghan.

"This is an opportunity for all of these organizations to put their concerns forward to the government. And we hope that the government will truly listen and make sure that they put these forward in the 2024 budget," he said.

Committee Chair Ernie Hardeman said that's exactly what they are doing, and they are passing on their findings to the finance minister.

“What we're doing in committee is hearing those stories and then reporting back to the minister what we've heard and he has to decide what the solutions are to that," he said.

The committee still has stops in eastern and northern Ontario before reporting back to the finance minister, with the budget expected sometime in March.