Conservative MPPs selling-out Hamilton: NDP

HAMILTON—Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas NDP MPP Sandy Shaw is calling on Hamilton-area MPPs to push back against Doug Ford’s $9 million in cuts to their city, rather than backstabbing the city.

Shaw is responding to comments made by local Conservative MPP Donna Skelly (Flamborough—Glanbrook) on Friday. Skelly defended Ford’s cuts, blaming the City of Hamilton for spending too much.

“Doug Ford is cutting the services Hamilton families depend on every day, from child care to public health,” said Shaw. “It’s truly disappointing that local Conservative MPPs are parroting Ford’s rhetoric and attacking our city rather than standing with Hamilton and pushing back against these cuts.”

Ford’s cuts to municipalities created a $9 million hole in Hamilton’s 2019 budget, with $3.5 million ripped away from municipal child care subsidies, $2.4 million cut from public health and a potential cut of $1 million from addiction services. The Conservatives cancelled a planned increase to the municipal transit transfer—a share of the existing gas tax. Ford’s also cutting 25 public health units throughout the province, eliminating Hamilton Public Health Services and forcing it to merge with the Niagara, Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk health units.

“Hamilton families are either going to feel Ford’s cuts, or they’re going to have to add a Ford Tax to their property tax bills,” said Shaw.