1Regional Councillor Report

Submitted by: Colleen Jordan, Regional Councillor Wards 3 & 4

Date: April 9, 2009

Regional Council - April 1, 2009

Health and Social Services

Regional Council endorsed motions originating from the Health Committee which provide comments on the LHIN Clinical Services Plan. The comments suggested that the CSP recommendations be reviewed from the patient perspective. Concerns were raised that patients and Emergency Medical Services were not included on advisory teams to create the plan. It was recommended that the Region be invited to participate in any future clinical services integration project for which it is likely that Regional operations and finances will be impacted. Other questions were raised including requesting further clarification on the CSP recommendations and how the proposals will meet the needs of the southern communities, which will be the main centres of population growth over the next 25 years. There was also a suggestion to have a more accessible, candid and understandable version of the CSP.

Recommendations were also endorsed to improve political oversight of any future hospital foundation financial assistance requests to the Region. The requesting organization would have to be prepared to make annual visits to relevant Regional committees to address health related matters. In addition, there would be a request that governing by-laws be amended to allow the Region to appoint one representative to the governing body(ies) of the requesting institution.

Subsidy Programs to Assist Homeowners with Chronic Sewer Backups

On a vote of 13 -- 11 a motion to provide a partial subsidy for residents (i.e. Lawrie Road residents) moved by Councillor Jordan and seconded by Councillor Crawford was defeated. Such a program which has been implemented in a number of municipalities, who have had chronic sewer backup issues, have assisted the homeowner in protecting their property. A research paper on sewer backups for the Institute of Catastrophic Losses by Dan Sandink, 2007 states that climate change and more extreme rainfall events combined with increasing urbanization and the lack of municipal resources to address deteriorating infrastructure will result in an increased risk of sewer backups. The paper suggests that formal education programs to educate homeowners as to how they can protect their property are required. The paper also cites other research which has shown that subsidy programs are effective in encouraging homeowners to adopt risk reduction measures. The paper may be found at www.iclr.org.

Incinerator - Environmental Surveillance Program

A motion that the environmental surveillance program for the incinerator be developed based on the recommendations by the consultant Jacques Whitford was amended so that further enhancements to the program could be made at a later date, which could include such things as soil monitoring, ambient air monitoring and human biomonitoring.