Mayor and hospital say Ford's provincial budget will help, while NDP MPP says it's lacking
Windsor's mayor tweeted some applause. The regional hospital CEO says he's waiting for details. The Downtown Mission of Windsor says it'll help.
Overall, the Ontario budget got cautious approval Thursday from some in Windsor, while Windsor West's NDP MPP says it falls short.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled the budget at Queen's Park Thursday. That budget includes record spending — $204.7 billion. It also comes at a time of above-target inflation, high interest rates and a possible recession.
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens tweeted in approval for $202 million more for homelessness prevention.
"Premier we are ready to put these dollars to work ASAP," he said.
In the budget, the government earmarked money for a number of hospital projects, including support for Windsor Regional Hospital's new Windsor-Essex Acute Care Hospital, that will consolidate acute care services, while retaining the existing Ouellette campus for urgent care and ambulatory services.
Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj sent out a statement applauding the increased funding for hospitals in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The government has signaled a 4 per cent base funding increase to hospitals" Musyj said. "Windsor Regional Hospital's current annual budget is in excess of $610 million. We will await the detailed funding transfer letters which will provide exact details to Windsor Regional Hospital."
Downtown Mission of Windsor's executive director, Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, said she was also happy with the hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health services and homelessness prevention.
"More funding for housing, supportive housing and homelessness," Ponniah-Goulin said. "That will hopefully help us here in Windsor-Essex with that very large list of people on a wait list that we have."
What it could mean for manufacturing
However, Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky slammed the government on a number of fronts, including rent increases and the cost to purchase a new home.
"There's nothing in there that's going to address the fact that we have a dramatic increase in people accessing food banks," Gretzky said, adding that women's shelters and autism services were left out.
Rakesh Naidu, president of the Windsor Regional Chamber of Commerce applauds a 10 per cent tax credit for businesses that invest in their firms. He said it will help increase business investment in the area.
"Support to the manufacturing sector through an investment tax credit is a good move," Naidu said. "It will help in bringing further investment into the province as well as support existing companies in investing in technology and infrastructure to take advantage of the fast evolving manufacturing sector."
Naidu also said more money earmarked for skills development will help fill gaps in the workforce, and he is also glad to see the province and the federal government funding skills development for immigrants.
Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie was very excited about the budget.
"I'm just so delighted to see everything in here for our region," Dowie said. "So the Volkswagen announcement just came out, the details are yet to come. But obviously the provincial support for that is going to be part of this budget. Also our hospital infrastructure, the regional acute care hospital. Let there be no doubt this hospital is being built by this government that it is not going to be an omission as we've seen in the past."
