For Immediate Release
March 25, 2008

An MPP’s Perspective of the 2008 Provincial Budget

“This Budget invests heavily on people skills, public transit and the elimination of poverty and that’s great for the everyday people in Toronto,” says Mike Colle, MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence.

Here are some of the highlights from a Toronto perspective:

QUICK FACTS

SENIORS

• The government is proposing a $30 million in one-time funding to support expansion
  and renovation projects at community agencies that provide services to children and
  vulnerable populations, including families requiring child care services; women
  experiencing abuse; adults and children with developmental disabilities; and youth with
  emotional or behavioral problems.
• $1 billion over five years for a new Senior Homeowner’s Property Tax Credit
  Grant of you to $500 a year by 2010 for seniors with low and moderate incomes
  who own their homes
• $16 million over four years to enhance the Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credit
  program to ensure that senior couples receiving the guaranteed minimum level of
  income from government receive the full benefit of those credits year.
• $107 million over three years to move towards hiring 2500 more personal support
  workers in long-term care homes
• $278 million over three years to address various program needs in long-term care
  homes
• $700 million over three years to continue the Aging at Home Strategy

EARLY ACTION ON THE POVERTY ACTION PLAN

• $135 million over three years to provide better dental care to low-income families
• $32 million over three years to double funding for the Student Nutrition Program
• Two per cent increase in social assistance benefits in 2008-09.
• Consecutive annual Minimum Wage increases of 75 cents on March 31, 2008 onwards (bring the wage to $8.75 March 31 08 and $10.25 by 2010)
• $36.4 million to rehabilitate existing social housing units in Toronto ($100 million province-wide)

EDUCATION

• Increasing spending in education to $18.8 billion, through Grants for Student Needs, in the 2008-09 school year to improve literacy and numeracy, increase graduation rates and decrease class sizes.
• $10 million in English as a Second Language in the 2008-09 school year
• $67 million in special needs funding in the 2008-09 school year
• $750 million investment beginning in the 2008-09 school year, to build new schools and repair facilities
• $13 million in increased funding for the Community Use of Schools Program
• $57 million for programs to ensure students have a safe and positive learning environment
• $385 million over three years for an annual Textbook and Technology Grant that will
  help every full-time university and college student.
• The government is strengthening schools by investing $750 million beginning in the 2008-09 school year,
  to build new schools and repair school facilities

SKILLS TRAINING-SKILLS TO JOBS ACTION PLAN

• $1.5 billion, three-year Skills to Jobs Action Plan will get more Ontarians into well-
  paying jobs and into long-term training for new job opportunities.
• $355 million over three years for a Second Career Strategy that will help 20,000 unemployed workers make the transition to new careers and well-paying jobs in growing areas of the economy
• $75 million over the next three years to expand apprenticeship training
• Enhancing postsecondary student aid and investing in capital expansion and renewal.
• $25 million in 2007-08 for employer based training in the manufacturing sector through the Yves Landry Foundation

TRANSIT

• Toronto-York Yonge subway extension to Richmond Hill (Phase I): The Automatic Train Control (ATC) from Eglinton to Union to be installed by 2013.
• Projects funded under the $497 million in 2007-08 for public transit in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton, include the following Metrolinx projects:
• $293 million for Yonge Subway capital improvements
• $7.1 million for TTC Transit City Light Rail Transit (LRT) Head Start
• $382 million in 2008-09 for rehabilitation projects, including improvements to GO Transit facilities at Union Station and other stations throughout the network, as well as replacement and renewal of GO Transit equipment

HEALTH CARE

• $40.4 billion in health sector spending in 2008-09, a six per cent increase, which includes:
• More than $500 million over three years towards hiring 9,000 nurses by 2011-12
• $180 million over three years for hospitals to reduce emergency department wait times and improve patient satisfaction
• $53 million over the next three years to add more Family Health Teams
• $38 million over the next three years to add more nurse practitioner-led clinics
• Increasing enrolment spaces for midwives and nurse practitioners.
• $17 million over three years to fund an additional five MRI machines
• $154 million over three years to increase early detection and facilitate treatment of breast, cervical and colorectal cancers. PSA tests will be covered for the first time under this funding and the HPV program will be expanded.
• $190 to implement a Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Strategy, starting with diabetes
• $10 million annually in a childhood obesity strategy
• $80 million over three years to improve mental health and addiction services
• Working with Cancer Care Ontario and the Ontario Medical Association to identify, target and reduce the number of cancer-causing agents released in the environment
  

For additional information on the Provincial Budget please visit the Ministry of Finance’s website at: www.fin.gov.on.ca .

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Contact:

Mike Colle, MPP
Eglinton-Lawrence
416-325-4091