The Belleville Chamber of Commerce is advocating for the province to take back responsibility for health care and housing.
As discussions continue regarding the City of Belleville’s budget and the financial impact of ongoing management of the health care and housing crisis affects Belleville taxpayers, the Chamber is outlining and demonstrating its active involvement supporting municipalities at the provincial level and throughout the chamber network.
A release from the Chamber stated while social issues are not often associated with corporate advocacy, community health and safety are a structural necessity for a successful economy.
Chamber CEO Jill Raycroft stated the crisis has also had significant cost impacts for business that were not being collected or identified; hidden within the context of “the cost of doing business”.
“Our shared responsibility should be reframed as a collective voice to urge the Government of Ontario to fulfill its provincial responsibility to provide adequate health care and housing systems to serve all the people who live here,” Raycroft noted.
“Essentially, it is time for the province to take this problem back.”
As the next step, the Belleville Chamber has submitted a policy resolution document that will be open for debate in late April, with two simple recommendations; that the Ontario Chamber of Commerce urges the Government of Ontario to restore systems that will provide adequate access to primary health care and housing stability and support communities managing the crisis by reducing administrative barriers to funding.
A Hidden Costs of Community Safety Report can be seen at this link.
