HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-02-06, Page 14Gari! Reid
Huron -Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson (second from left) and Perth -Wellington MPP Randy
Pettapiece (right) welcomed MPP Jane McKenna (second from right) (Burlington), PC critic
for Children and Youth Services and MPP Toby Barrett (left) (Hald(mend-Norfolk), PC critic for
Community and Social Services to the Knights of Columbus Hall in Wingham on Jan. 30 for a
roundtable discussion session on social services delivery In Ontario, specifically in rural Ontario.
Local area MPPs host healthcare
roundtable discussion in Wingham
Garit Reid
OMI Agency
Local MPP Lisa Thompson (1 iuron-Bruce)
and MPP Randy Pettapiece (Perth -Welling-
ton) believe giving back to social services,
children and youth is important in making
stronger communities and citizens for all of
Ontario.
'Thompson and Pettapiece welcomed MPP
lane McKenna (Burlington), PC critic for
Children and Youth Services and MI'I''l'oby
Barrett (1laldimand-Norfolk), PC critic for
Community and Social Services to the
Knights of Columbus Hall in Wingham on
Ian. 30 for a roundtable discussion session
on social services delivery in Ontario, specif-
in rural Ontario. Also attending the
!table discussion were many local
social service professionals from United
Way, Community Living. Children's Aid
Services, etc.
In January, the Progressive Conservative
party launched two white papers, Paths to
Prosperity - A Fresh Start for Children and
Youth and Paths to Prosperity -- From Wel-
fare to Work, aimed as a platform for discus-
sion on the direction of social services deliv-
ery in Ontario. 'Thompson and Pettapiece
invited McKenna and Burrett and individu-
als from the across the health care sector to
come together for a discussion about how
government can better deliver social service
programs.
"Coming out to places like Wingham is
great because at the end of the day we are all
under one roof and it's very important that
we all have a voice in matters like social serv-
ices and job creation," said McKenna. "It's
not just one person's voice and the white
papers are discussion papers. It's about our
stakeholders and frontline people who are
doing all of this work for children and youth.
I'm just the facilitator for that. 1'111 thrilled to
be here today because we have all kinds of
people here that all have a voice and we have
found, from things like this, that the system
is fragmented and it needs to be fixed. 'this
type of discussion is just one way in fixing a
broken system"
Barrett said his PC white paper on welfare
and work is a discussion on figuring out the
best way to get people back to work who are
currently on social services like welfare. Bar-
rett said for most people they would rather
work than he on welfare.
"There are SO many people not only on
welfare but also on disability that would like
to be working and we want to put measures
in place so that we can help people back into
fulltime work, part-time work, volunteer
work, etc," said Barrett. "We regrettably haVe
about a half million people on unemploy-
ment right now and almost the same amount
on welfare plus about 400 million people on
disability. Many people are there to no fault
of their own, but for able-bodied people, in
their hearts, they want to work. We just have
to find the right steps in order to get these
people back to work.'
'Thompson said she was impressed about
what people had to offer at the roundtable
discussion and can't wait to use the input to
help further the discussion and help organi-
zations in the social services area.
"1 am pleased with the number of people
who wanted to come out and have their
voices heard on social service delivery in our
community," said Thompson. "There were
many common themes come out of this
evening, including the need for flexibility in
programs to be delivered differently in rural
areas than in urban and the need to be sen-
sitive to transportation barriers"
Since being elected in 2011, 'Thompson
said she has been meeting with social serv-
ice providers from across 1luron-Bruce, but
used Ian. 30 in Wingham, as an opportunity
to bring different parts of the sector together
to discuss improvements that can be made
with social services delivery.
Wednesda Februa 6, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 13
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