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April 12, 2006 Report – Part 2 of 11
(Continued from Part #1 that ended with Item 4.1 Motion on "Minutes of the meeting of City Council held on March 22 nd , 2006 ")
5. Communications
(Morelli / Merulla - CARRIED as Amended)
(Please note : Communications Items are listed in this transcription in the order Council dealt with them at the meeting.)
Mayor DiIanni : "Members of Council, we have Communication items 5.1 to 5.21. Items 5.18 and 5.19 require further disposition by Council. Are there any others" (hear a glass clink) "that" (hear a couple of glasses clink) "that people wish to talk about? Councillor Kelly."
Item 5.21 - REQUEST TO AMEND RECOMMENDATION
5.21 (Added) - Correspondence from The Honourable Elizabeth McLaren, Assistant Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing declining the city's request to provide Relief Assistance for damages incurred by the City of Hamilton as a result of the November 9th, 2005 Tornado.
(http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/8B4A628C-D2CE-478B
-A859-C194B43D581B/0/Apr12Item521.pdf)
Recommendation: Be received
Amendment to Recommendation : " Whereas, the mandate of the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program is intended to alleviate hardship following a natural disaster suffered by private homeowners, that the City of Hamilton finds the response from the Ministry, dated April 6 th [2006], unsatisfactory. And, we ask the Minister [friendly amended from 'the Ministry'] to re-evaluate the process. And, again, consider the hardship suffered by the residents of Hamilton because of the tornado of November 9 th [2005]; "
"And, copies to the MPPs and area citizens" [2 nd friendly amendment]
(Kelly / Jackson - CARRIED as Amended, including the two friendly amendments)
Kelly : "Mr. Mayor, on Item 5.21. It's one of the added Communications. Members have it on their yellow sheet, that we were just given, tonight."
"Correspondence from the Honourable Elizabeth McLaren, who is the Assistant Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. And, in it is the response to the letter that we asked staff to send off regarding the damage by the tornado that occurred. They received the letter January 3 rd - and we all know about the occurrence of the tornado on November 9 th , 2005."
"And, to get to the crux of it, Mr. Mayor, what the Ministry is telling us, based on the information enclosed in the letter, the Minister has decided it is not appropriate for him to declare the specific areas in the City of Hamilton disaster areas for Ontario Disaster Relief Program."
"A number of adjectives came to mind, Mr. Mayor, as I read this. I'll settle for unacceptable at this point. I'm sure there are others that we can fill in a bit, later on."
"Further on in the letter, the Assistant Deputy Minister actually goes on to talk about the criterion they used for this. And, it is, of course, 'intended to alleviate hardship - following a natural disaster - suffered by private homeowners, farmers, small business enterprises and non-profit organizations whose necessities of life are not covered by insurance and when damages are so extensive that they exceed the financial resources of the affected individuals, the municipality and the community at large.' "
"Mr. Mayor, I was up there, a half hour after that tornado hit in the Lawfield neighbourhood. Councillor Jackson was there. I know Chad [Collins] went down to his area - because it actually went down through there. Bernie [Morelli] was there. Terry [Whitehead] - a number of us. I know you were up there later that evening, as well."
"I saw the damage. And, if anything, ANYTHING, characterizes what this mandate for this particular organization is, it's what happened on November 9 th here in the City of Hamilton . I know there's a Motion here to try to simply receive this. I'm going to suggest, Mr. Mayor that we send another letter to the Minister saying this is just totally unacceptable. And, that there is a mandate - there is a precedent" (hear a glass clink) "set. And, I know somebody's going to mention the floods in Peterborough . And, there are other examples, as well."
"This was a natural disaster - the thing that bothers me, Mr. Mayor, is they tend to rationalize it. And, you know - my word, not theirs - but, to suggest well, you know, the Province has been very helpful to Hamilton - and they have. And, I was at Queen's Park when the Budget was there. And, I talked to the Premier; I talked to the Finance Minister. And, I expressed heartfelt thanks for the great work that they did and the money they gave us for downloading."
"But, this is apples and oranges. That's a separate issue altogether. This is about a hardship that was incurred by people because of a natural disaster. That's what this fund is for. Mr. Mayor, I'm simply going to suggest - and, at the appropriate time, I know other people want to speak to this - suggest that we send another letter saying that this response is totally unacceptable and that we demand that the Minister reassess this situation. And, ask for the same kind of relief that we looked for."
"If they want to see pictures; if they want to see evidence, I know the residents in my area and in, certainly, the other areas affected, would be happy to supply those. And, we simply can't take this and say well, thanks for coming out."
"We need this sort of assistance. The residents in this city need this sort of assistance and I'll . (tape stopped, sorry)
Collins : (in progress after tape turned over) ". who are not covered for uninsurable losses. And, I believe if you've had the opportunity to read the e-mail from staff, that the uninsurable loss total was around half a million [dollars]. And, about half of that figure was our own cost that we incurred as a municipality in dealing with the response to the tornado. The other half were direct costs to the residents."
"And, Councillor Kelly mentioned that the Province has given funding relief to other municipalities who'd face similar circumstances across the Province, in the past. And, I was very disappointed to learn that, in fact, they were going to just outright deny our claim. And, I thought that, at very least, they could deal with the residents' claim."
"As you're well aware, it looks like we're looking at - thankfully - at a 2005 Budget surplus for the Municipality, as a whole. And so, maybe it means revising our request for funding in light of the fact that we're in a funding surplus for 2005. Maybe it is, that we just request the uninsurable losses to the residents of our municipality. And, I'm wholeheartedly in support of Councillor Kelly's Motion."
"I really believe we need to take it to the next level. And, we need to get our local Members [of Provincial Parliament] involved. And, I'm disappointed to date. I haven't heard anything from my local Member - Ms. Mossop - who represents a portion of my Riding. And, I'm disappointed with that. And, I'm hoping that they could pick up the torch and carry it for us the rest of the way - to secure SOMETHING for the people of this community who've been disadvantaged from this event."
Mayor DiIanni : "Councillor Bruckler."
Bruckler : "Two items, Mr. Mayor, I believe there's a correction, perhaps in Correspondence 5.1, where it indicates that the City of Hamilton was allocated fourteen - "
Mayor DiIanni : " - Sorry. Councillor, you're on another issue - "
Bruckler : " - oh, yes. I'm - "
Mayor DiIanni : " - I have a couple of speakers on this present issue. Councillor Whitehead."
Whitehead : "Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And, as you can appreciate, we did make an application during the two major storms we had in the City of Hamilton . And, again, back to the issue that that there's many individuals in my Ward - and, I'm sure across the City - that didn't have the coverage they needed for the damage that was created."
"And, I know costs for households in Ward 8 was fairly significant in regards to loss. There were dozens of people who were uninsured in Ward 8, as a result of having a number of floods over a period of time."
"So, I looked at the Peterborough - what happened in Peterborough . And, these individuals - if you just look at the criteria - would get some relief, under the program. And, I don't know how to explain to these individuals, because the community at large, wasn't hit hard enough, they couldn't qualify for that kind of relief that the Province has incorporated within that package."
"So I - and in fact, I did go to Lawfield - shortly after the storm meeting, I had in my community, is when the tornado hit - and, I headed over to Lawfield to take a look at the damage. And, there's no question in my mind that there were some individuals that were significantly hit, as a result of that storm and the tornado."
"And, I believe, strongly - this is the second time, it's strike two, in respect to the Province not addressing the residents' concerns in this community when they're hit by unique events. So, I would whole-heartedly support the Motion going forward. And, I think that we need to meet with the local MP[P]s and drive that message that we're - are citizens are not second class citizens. They pay the same tax bill as everybody else in this province. Thank you."
Mayor DiIanni : "Thank you. Councillor Merulla."
Merulla : "Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Without repeating what has been said, clearly, there have been two issues over the last year and a half related to what can be deemed disasters. The first, the flooding, as it was mentioned; and, this tornado."
"I was very fortunate - and the people of Ward 4 were very fortunate - in not having been impacted by this particular tornado. However, having said that, we were denied outright with respect to the flooding issues."
"And, most recently, we have a significant amount of Ward 4 area who are being rejected from insurance companies, as a direct result of the frequency of the type of flooding that is occurring."
"So, we have situations where, obviously, the volume of rain per second exceeded the capacity of our infrastructure. Having said that, if you look at the criteria for which they determine what is a disaster, I'm not sure how they can look at all of these individuals - the hundreds, if not thousands of people - who've been impacted quite drastically without actually taking into account the disastrous nature of the impact to their liveli - to their lives."
"And, it is a failure, I think, in many parts. I'm not sure why they're acting more along the lines of a corporate insurance type of initiative, rather than a compassionate government - which they claim to be. And, the strike one and two has been mentioned. And, I can assure you that I'm very concerned about what the strike three will be."
"Because, as you know, the liability surrounding the sustainability of downloading has not been addressed - particularly surrounding Social Assistance - not to mention the other 35 to 40 million dollars they haven't accommodated, which was supposed to be revenue neutral, with respect to all the other downloaded services - whether it be roads, ambulance, and then other responsibilities they have downloaded to us."
"So, having said that, I'm - it's unfortunate we're in this situation. I'm just pleased that my colleagues finally see that they [the Provincial Government] have failed this community. Thank you, Mr. Mayor."
Mayor DiIanni : "Thank you. And, I'll recognize Councillor Kelly's Motion. But, before I do, let me say that. I wasn't entirely surprised that we were rejected; but, extremely disappointed, as well. Because, the criteria seemed to indicate that the disaster has to be community-wide. Well, you know for those folks that were affected, that was their world. Their home was their world. And, they are deeply affected by what happened, as well. So, we'll see if we can take it a political root, I guess."
"Councillor Kelly, go ahead."
SUGGESTED MOTION - for alternate Recommendation to Communications item 5.21
Kelly : "Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Motion would be, then: ' Whereas, the mandate of the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program is intended to alleviate hardship following a natural disaster suffered by private homeowners, that the City of Hamilton finds the response from the Ministry, dated April 6 th [2006], unsatisfactory. And, we ask the Ministry to re-evaluate the process. And, again, consider the hardship suffered by the residents of Hamilton because of the tornado of November 9 th [2005].' "
"That's Moved by myself; Seconded by Councillor Jackson."
"And, just if I could speak to it - I know I've already spoken, but - "
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO MOTION
Mayor DiIanni : " - Might I suggest, before you do that, rather than the Ministry, since we're taking it up the political root, let's say: 'the Minister.' "
ANOTHER FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION
Kelly : " - the Minister - with copies to the current - to the MPPs and the area citizens. We are well-represented, here, at Queen's Park."
"And, just if I can speak to it, for a couple of seconds - and, I understand, Mr. Mayor - because I know you had conversations with the Minister about this. And, a number of us have talked to some of the MPPs about this. And, one of the reasons they say is, well, it has to be community-wide. Well, it was community-wide."
"And, the fact is, is the very nature of tornadoes is they're not like hurricanes. They don't cut a swath right through the whole municipality. There's a specific path that they take. That's the nature of tornadoes."
"You know - should we have asked for a hurricane, instead? I mean, it sounds ridiculous that they're even suggesting that. And, this is a natural disaster that cut a swath through the south, the east end of the Mountain, right down the escarpment, down through Ward 5 - had an effect through Stoney Creek, as well. And, when you consider the path that it took, it did, in fact, have a direct impact on this community, at large."
"And, for those reasons, we'll ask the Minister to reconsider this. And, as Chad 's already alluded to, I'd like copies of this to the area MPPs. And, I'd like to elicit their response for it, as well. And, that's Seconded by Councillor Jackson."
SUGGESTION FOR A FURTHER AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION
Mayor DiIanni : "Thank you. Councillor Merulla, on this."
Merulla : "Could we ask for, actually, a reassessment of the flooding issue, as well, with this Motion, because, I think, both should be tied together."
Mayor DiIanni : "Well, you know what - I mean, it's up to the Mover to see what he wants done. But, it may be best to deal with this issue. And then, if people want to revisit the other issue as well - "
Merulla : " - I just think that - "
Mayor DiIanni : " - just so that to keep the focus. But, it's up to the Mover."
Merulla : " - to include the flooding issues, as well as this one. Only because, really, we're dealing with the same Ministry; same issue; same community. To include both would be advantageous."
Kelly : "Well, I - in fairness, I'd like to separate that. I'm equally upset about that, because I've got a number of residents that were affected by the flood. And, they're - "
Merulla : " - Okay, then I'll put a separate Motion in for it - "
Kelly : " - so I - and I think, since this letter deals specifically with the tornado, that maybe we can do that. But, I'd be happy to support Councillor Merulla with a similar Motion about - "
Merulla : " - okay, subsequent - "
Kelly : "the flooding issue, as well."
Merulla : " - to this, I'll put forward a Motion for them to assess a - "
Mayor DiIanni : " - sure - "
Merulla : " - assessment to prevent - "
Mayor DiIanni : " - Sure. So, let's wait until we get to the Motions part. And, we'll recognize you, on that - "
Merulla : " - can't - No, I can do it now - can I not?
Mayor DiIanni : "Well, this is Communications, right now. We'll - "
Merulla : " - the same Ministry. We might as well get it over with - " (hear giggles from Council and gallery)
Mayor DiIanni : " - But, Councillor, whether it's now or later, it'll be recognized. So, let's just follow the procedure. Okay?"
"Councillor Kelly, go ahead, on the Communications item. You've Moved and Seconded."
"All in favour of that?" (hear councillors say carried) "That's carried."
"And, I will come back to you, Councillor [Merulla] for your Motion at the appropriate time."
"Councillor Bruckler."
Item 5.1 - REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION, POSSIBLE CORRECTION
5.1 Correspondence from The Honourable John Gerretsen, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing respecting Administration Agreement - City of Hamilton - Affordable Housing Program (AHP) - Strong Start
(http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/D43020E7-4B8F
-4AD6-8567-536EC79B78BA/0/Apr12Item51.pdf )
Recommendation: Be received
(CARRIED) (with a request to check correct figures of funding forthcoming)
Bruckler : "Yes, two items, Mr. Mayor. One, as I started to say, Item 5.1, where it indicates that: 'the City of Hamilton was allocated $14.50' "
"I think that really means $14.5 million towards '210 new units of affordable rental housing.'."
Mayor DiIanni : "Okay. I think we understood that - did we?"
Joe-Anne Priel - General Manager, Public Health and Community Services : "Through you, Mr. Mayor, I don't believe it's even $14 million. I'll have to go back and get the exact numbers. But, that would be a lot of money for 200 units."
"So, I'll have to check and get back to the Council."
Mayor DiIanni : "All right. Well, we can't amend a letter written by the Minister. But, we will get clarification on exactly what the allocation was."
Bruckler : "I think that maybe referral to that particular number in the subsequent item of Correspondence noted in the Minutes, Mr. Mayor [see Correspondence Item 5.2]
Mayor DiIanni : "Okay. Right."
Item 5.11 - REQUEST TO AMEND RECOMMENDATION
5.11 Correspondence from Durham Region respecting removal of barriers to family physicians
(http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/110120A7-F6E3
-47F7-9CF6-08C46FF5F592/0/Apr12Item511.pdf )
Recommendation: Be Received
1st Amendment to Recommendation : "Be referred to Physician Recruitment Sub-Committee or appropriate Committee"
(Bruckler) (subsequently withdrew referral Motion)
2nd Amendment to Recommendation : "Be endorsed and the appropriate individuals be notified"
(Whitehead / Bruckler - CARRIED as [2nd] Amended)
Bruckler : "The other item is 5.11. And, I know that there's been considerable concern around this table with respect to the ability to recruit physicians to our community. So, I think rather than receiving this particular item of Communication, I'm not sure whether we should be referring this to that Sub-Committee with respect to [Physician] Recruitment, or an appropriate committee to look at it, and I believe support this one."
Item 5.12 - COMMENTS
5.12 Correspondence from the Township of Malahide respecting amendment to Medicine Act
(http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/AA4ADAB9-F1F3
-4C1D-BEC4-BE684CE49FCB/0/Apr12Item512.pdf )
Recommendation: Be Received
(CARRIED)
Bruckler : "There is another one, following - Item 5.12. But, to me, that's a little more open-ended. And, I'm not quite certain whether I would want to support 5.12. But," (hear a glass clink) "if you wanted to refer both of those, we could."
"But, certainly, 5.11, I think is worthy of referring it."
Mayor DiIanni : "So, you're moving referral to the Physician Recruitment Committee on 5.11 and 5.12. Or, just 5.11?" (hear Councillor Bruckler say, off microphone - '5.11') "Okay."
"Seconded by, Councillor Whitehead - you want to speak to that?"
Whitehead : "Well, I'll speak to it. But, I believe that we have an ability right now, as a Council - it's a pretty straight forward Motion. It's just talking about how difficult it is for physicians to move from other provinces into Ontario . I think it's pretty straight forward."
"And, I would, actually, not refer it - in fact, endorse the resolution that the Province of Ontario takes a look at the accreditation to alleviate those kinds of criteria to allow doctors to move a little more freer in respect to practising in Ontario."
Mayor DiIanni : "Okay, I thought that's where you were going. But, we do have a referral Motion."
Bruckler : "If you want to take more immediate action, I have no concern with not [?] endorsing this at this point in time. But, perhaps, it should go forward, as well, for comment to the Committee, after we endorse this."
Mayor DiIanni : "All right. So, do you want to refer this to the Committee? Or, do you want to endorse this?" (hear Councillor Bruckler say off microphone 'I'll endorse') "Okay."
"So, Moved by Councillor Whitehead; Seconded by Councillor Bruckler that 5.11 be endorsed, and the appropriate individuals be notified. All in favour?" (hear councillors say carried) "That's carried."
"Any others?" (hear a glass clink) "Councillor McCarthy - sorry, Councillor McHattie was before you. Go ahead."
Item 5.17 - MOTION ON RECOMMENDATION
5.17 Correspondence from Brother Richard MacPhee, Good Shepherd Centres respecting relief from Parkland Dedication/Cash-in-lieu payment and Building Permit Fees - 143 Wentworth St. South
(http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/2BF7A72E-6D3A
-42A8-9D0A-AF25616A8D05/0/Apr12Item517.pdf )
Recommendation: Be received and referred to the General Managers of Planning and Development and Finance and Corporate Services for a report to the Planning and Economic Development Committee
(McHattie / McCarthy - CARRIED)
McHattie : "Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just - I guess we've got a logistical letter here, which needs to be referred - 5.17. A letter from Good Shepherd which they'd like have - er, the suggestion by Clerks is to refer it back to Planning and Economic Development. So, I'd certainly Move that going back to Committee."
Mayor DiIanni : "Seconded by Councillor McCarthy. All in favour?" (hear councillors say carried) "5.17 is referred back to Planning and Economic Development. And, Councillor McCarthy."
(Please note : Communications Items are listed in this transcription in the order Council dealt with them at the meeting.)
See Part #3
Continuing with "Communications" Item #5.19 - "Correspondence from Paul Moist, National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees requesting endorsement of resolution to pressure Federal and Provincial Governments to honour the promise of national child care program"
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