We would ordinarily welcome Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson's latest forecast that a deal to relieve cities of the burden of downloading will be forthcoming within a month, except for one detail: He made the same prediction in August and failed to deliver.
In fact, a deal between the province and the municipalities was initially expected in early 2008. It was put off until the spring, then the summer. Just before the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario at the end of August, Watson said he was confident an agreement would be reached "within three to four weeks." Now we are in October, and there is still no deal.
Pressed for an explanation, Watson said this week he was confident an agreement would finally be in hand by Oct. 31. To quote Yogi Berra, this is "like déjà vu all over again."
At issue is the downloading of $4 billion in provincial programs, including welfare and social housing, by the previous Conservative government onto municipalities. Premier Dalton McGuinty has promised to "upload" the programs back to the province, sooner or later.
To be fair, a consensus is required, and that's not easy with so many players at the table and an economic downturn restricting the province's ability to act. The talks are obviously challenging.
But both the province and the municipalities must soon start work on next year's budgets, so they need an answer one way or the other. Or, as Watson also noted this week, "this thing can't go on forever."
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