Lambton County administration building on Broadway St. in Wyoming. Blackburn Media photo by Colin Gowdy.Lambton County administration building on Broadway St. in Wyoming. Blackburn Media photo by Colin Gowdy.
Sarnia

Health and child care cuts could impact local taxpayers

Provincial funding cuts to health care and child care for municipalities may cost Lambton County over $1.3 million.

Premier Doug Ford, at the annual Association of Municipalities (AMO) meeting in Ottawa, announced Monday that municipalities will now be responsible for 30 per cent of their health care funding, and 20 per cent of the cost of creating new child care spaces.

Lambton County Warden Bill Weber, also attending the AMO, said the options available now are either higher taxes or fewer services.

"We still have to further analyze what, when and how those decisions will be made, so there's a lot of unknowns at this time. We'd prefer that there weren't cuts, but we'll address them the best we can," he said. "We'll be working on it through the treasury and the budget discussions that the county will have. We don't want to downgrade or reduce services to anyone in Lambton County."

In May, the premier announced that his government would be cancelling the retroactive cuts and restore 2018 funding.

However, on Tuesday, Premier Ford confirmed that the proposed cuts would be going forward starting January 1, 2020.

Read More Local Stories