Londoners will go to the polls October 6 to cast their vote for local candidates running for office in Ontario's 2011 Election. As we have done during the 2007 provincial election, the City of London is asking candidates in the four London area ridings to complete and return a questionnaire addressing a number of issues of municipal interest and concern. Candidate responses are being made available on london.ca as they are received.  By riding, you will be able to view candidate's answers to questions concerning their personal and party positions on number of number of issues of critical importance to our municipality. As well as individual responses to the entire questionnaire, you will also be able to review the question-by-question answers of all candidates.

"It is important to gauge your and your Party’s views on how you are prepared to assist London as it emerges from the recent economic difficulties. The health of Ontario’s municipalities and our communities is a vital key to Ontario’s future prosperity and the well-being of all our citizens. This can only be accomplished through continued development of partnerships and collaboration between all three orders of government – federal, provincial and local – to achieve our goals. As a result, many of our questions focus on how you and your Party will recognize the importance of the relationships and the tools required to build strong, competitive, prosperous and sustainable communities."

Provincial Election Questionnaire

In addition to the reference material identified for each of the 12 questions, please see the Association of Municipality of Ontario (AMO) election platform analysis for additional background.

Question 1 (All responses received)
How will you and your Party work with municipalities to create prosperity, support local economic initiatives, innovation, and community development?  See the London Economic Development Corporation website.

Question 2 (All responses received)
How will you and your Party support the ongoing implementation of the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review (PMFSDR) as a measure to restore the provincial-municipal fiscal imbalance in a fair, equitable, and sustainable manner? Will you and your party commit to uploading further municipal funding responsibilities to the province for services such as Public Health, Social Services and Land Ambulance?  See the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the  Association of Municipalities of Ontario as well as an AMO media release for further information on the PMFSDR.  See City of London backgrounder.

Question 3 (All responses received)
What are you and your Party prepared to do to maintain and support provincial and federal investment in municipal infrastructure? How will you and your Party ensure that the province commits to an equitable distribution of provincial and federal infrastructure investment? See chart of Provincial and Federal Government Infrastructure Investment with the City of London as well as AMO 2011 Pre-Budget Presentation to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and City of London pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

Question 4 (All responses received)
 Will you and your Party commit to an early review of the Development Charges Act to remove some of the statutory exemptions and other barriers to full funding of growth related costs and to explicitly ensure municipalities are the beneficiaries of new sources of revenue?  Refer to pages 16 and 17 of the City of London pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. See report of the PMFSDR’s Development Charges subgroup.

Question 5 (All responses received)
How will you and your Party support public transit, in particular the nature, extent and application of dedicated Provincial Gas Tax funding? How will that plan be implemented, including timing? What is your Party’s position for working in partnership with Federal and Municipal officials supporting a specific transit initiative of a municipality, e.g. Bus Rapid Transit? See backgrounder by London Transit Commission and City of London.

Question 6 (All responses received)
Will you and your Party implement a new arbitration system that provides greater fairness toward taxpayers, recognizes the limits of the municipal public purse, the relationship between the municipalities and their employee groups, in particular the emergency service workers, and reflects relevant comparator groups and labour market conditions in individual communities?   See City of London backgrounder.

Question 7 (All responses received)
Will you and your Party work with the City of London to develop a federal-provincial-municipal solution to address the housing needs of low income households, those households requiring support services (i.e. mental illness, addictions, victims of domestic violence), and the housing needs of Aboriginal household households as identified in the City of London’s position paper entitled “Towards a Community Addiction and Mental Health Strategy for the City of London”? Will you and your Party agree to approve and release capital commitments for new affordable housing units? Background to this question includes Provincial/Territorial Affordable Housing Trusts Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program and information published in the AMO report Shifting the Foundations: Considerations for Moving Towards a New Housing System in Ontario.

Question 8 (All responses received)
How will you and your Party address the shortfall in capital reserve contributions for non-profit and cooperative housing as well as the funding shortfall for public housing capital repairs? Will you and your Party support a change to Social Housing social assistance rents to the maximum shelter allowance used in the private sector rather than legislated rent scales to reduce the subsidy required from the local property taxpayer? View all candidate responses to this question received to date and the background provided in document Provincial/Territorial Affordable Housing Trusts Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.

Question 9 (All responses received)
Do you and your Party support the principle and implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which holds producers and consumers more directly accountable (e.g., financially) for the waste they generate rather than transferring the cost to municipal taxpayers? See AMO website.

Question 10 (All responses received)
Will you and your Party make municipalities exempt or zero rate the provincial portion of the HST for municipalities? Refer to pages 3 and 20 of the City of London pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

Question 11 (All responses received)
The City of London is supportive of the objectives of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). How will you and your Party address the question of sustainable implementation and funding which must accompany the new standards? See backgrounder by City of London.

Question 12 (All responses received)
How will you and your Party continue to be supportive of the cultural initiatives of municipalities such as the War of 1812 Celebrations and Culture Days? See backgrounder by City of London.