Disentanglement – or Disengagement?
Ontario recently announced plans to shift powers and costs between the provincial and municipal governments with respect to a wide range of human services. The changes come on the heels of the work of the disentanglement committee whose mandate was to propose ‘who does what’ in the province. Contrary to the recommendations of this panel, municipalities will have to assume more of the costs for welfare and social services (other than child welfare). But the regressive municipal property tax is not appropriate for financing a counter-recessionary program like welfare. Neither is the property tax suitable for supporting services like home care, the demand for which is expected to rise as the population ages. The proposed changes do nothing to ‘disentangle’ the Ontario and local governments. Provincial disengagement from human services appears to be the more likely rationale.
ISBN – 1-895796-68-7