Finding ways to save were a key part of Fedeli’s message at the location of a future Indigenous Early Years Hub located in the former Dr. MacDougall school building on Brookes Street.
Fedeli wore his hard hat at the construction site and called out municipalities, education facilities, and other agencies, boards and commissions, to find savings.
“Don’t take the easy way out and start by saying ‘well I guess that means we have to raise taxes, I guess that means we will have to let people go,’ that is the easy way out,” said Fedeli.
“We want you to find those efficiencies, work with us and if you can’t find them, we will work with you, the offer is on the table that we will work with you to find those efficiencies.”
Fedeli spoke in front of this future child care facility and noted that the province is injecting $2 billion into child care through the CARE program.
“This is the most flexible program in the history of Ontario where you could send your child to any program that you and your family deem to be child care, it could be home care centre, it could be a day camp, you get to choose and it is up to the age of 16,” he said.
“This will help 300,000 families in Ontario so that is why we are standing in front of this future child care facility but the real message today is we are urging our partners to work with us to find four cents on every dollar."
In Ontario, over 90 per cent of provincial spending goes towards funding school boards, hospitals, municipalities and other outside organizations.
Fedeli notes that the government is offering to help empower organizations like the DNSSAB to work towards the shared goal of returning the province to fiscal balance while making sure vital programs and services are maintained.
In March, the government announced Nipissing municipalities would share in $200 million in municipal modernization funding.
“We share DNSSAB’s goal of protecting what matters most to the people of Nipissing,” said MPP Vic Fedeli.
“We can help them find four cents on the dollar in savings to make sure we can provide sustainable public services for our children and grandchildren.”
