From onetoronto.ca:
On Mon., Nov. 28, Toronto’s 2012 Operating and Capital Budget was launched. The proposed budget contains over $88 million in cuts to services, programs and jobs that will affect residents in all parts of Toronto. The proposed cuts will be damaging to our city and to our communities. You can read an overview of cuts that have been proposed.
These budget cuts are unnecessary. To learn more about how city budgets have been balanced without service cuts in the past, please read this report from the Wellesley Institute. We know that these cuts can be reversed. To get involved in community-based work to build the Toronto that residents want, visit these links:
- TTC Riders: www.ttcriders.ca
- Commitment 2 Community: www.commitment2community.org
- Toronto Environmental Alliance: www.torontoenvironment.org
- Tenants for Social Housing: www.tenantsforsocialhousing.com
- ArtsVote: www.artsvotetoronto.ca
- Toronto & York Region Labour Council: www.labourcouncil.ca
Social Planning Toronto issues a good newsletter on these and other important matters; the organization is “committed to diversity, social and economic justice, and active citizen participation in all aspects of community life.” The current newsletter can be seen on the web and there a link at the bottom of that page where you can subscribe to receive it by email.
One of the projects reported on in that issue is a petition to help save the City’s Hardship Fund: sign your name to it at http://togethertoronto.ca/campaigns/hardshipfund/. You can read a recent article about the Hardship Fund from the Toronto Star. If the Fund survives the current budget process, our members might like to know that this little-known resource provides medically based assistance on a short-term basis — including such items as prescription drugs, eyeglasses, dental and denture needs, and even funerals — to low-income Toronto residents who are ineligible for Ontario Works (OW) or Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
