Ontario Budget 2025 Consultation Tool Kit
As you know, For more than a year the Developmental Services (DS) sector has actively campaigned for more funding through the #5ToSurvive campaign to provide sector stabilisation to DS agencies by adding a 5% increase to agency base budgets.
This resulted in the 2024 Ontario Budget, tabled in March 2024, announcing $310 Million over three years would be provided to community organisations funded by the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services, including those in Developmental Services. This translated to a one-time increase of approximately 3% to base allocations.
In a June 2024 webinar, OASIS, Community Living Ontario, and Community Living Toronto urged members and the sector as a whole to continue engaging with local MPPs throughout the summer through local community activities, such as barbecues, using engagement tool kits as a guide in order to make it easier to build personal relationships in a less formal setting and keep DS front of mind for MPPs.
Now, as we move into the #WaitingtoBelong campaign, with the Legislature resuming, and the Fall Economic Statement having been tabled, we are encouraging members to take part in the Pre-Budget Consultation process.
With this in mind OASIS and Community Living Ontario have worked to create a tool kit, which can be found HERE.
The kit outlines the steps to help agencies and other parties to participate in the pre-budget consultation process and effectively raise our sector’s issues through these engagements. It’s designed to ensure that all organisations in our sector present clear, impactful submissions that highlight both sector-wide priorities and the unique needs of your specific agency.
The kit, or guide, includes:
o An overview of the Pre-Budget Consultation Process;
o Step-by-step guidance for finding dates for online consultations, public hearings, and submission deadlines as well as preparing a submission
o Template Pre-Budget Submission
o Suggested Key messages
o Template Social Media Posts with graphics
o And More.
Pre-Budget consultations are important in any year. However, given that it appears there will be an early election in Ontario, potentially as soon as this Spring, raising our issues publicly for a Budget that may be the basis of an election platform is much more significant.
The Pre-Budget Consultation process is crucial for conveying the sector’s priorities and your specific needs from a local perspective. It further underscores that the needs of people with developmental disabilities, their families, and the agencies supporting them remain a focus for the Government.
We will be sharing more material moving forward, including the OASIS and Community Living Pre-Budget Submissions to also use as additional guides.
It is imperative that we all stand together to send this message, raise the visibility of our sector and further amplify our voices.