In the rush to streamline service delivery during the Mike Harris Conservative years, those being served were sometimes left behind. It was a curious time.
To explain better, it was felt at the time that if social services were centralized and those seeking aid were required to attend a physical office, the system would run more smoothly and cost effectively.
There was more than one question at the time about the impact on the recipients, but policy and direction from the province nixed hopes of getting real with service delivery.
Now, the move by the OPP to a larger facility at Aboyne left an opening in downtown Fergus and through very practical thinking, an opportunity has been embraced to right what we always considered a tragic wrong.
The former OPP office can be easily renovated for another government purpose, providing continued stability in a downtown that already suffers from far too many vacant store fronts. An additional defunct building would have been a great negative which county council and social services has remedied with this proposal.
Recipients of assistance in northern areas of Wellington have had their driving time cut in half. As it was, interviews in Guelph would require the better part of a day to conduct by the time a person left Mount Forest, got a ride and got back home.
Rates for the disadvantaged remained static for some time, making the requirement to attend rather than the former home-visit regimen, a more costly prospect for those involved. The Common Sense Revolution was not always about common sense.
We are reminded again of that oft used line about running government like a business. In this case, the provision of social services is an obligation without profit. While we too share a desire for thriftiness and the provision of services as cost effectively as possible, a business environment would not lose sight of the fact customers need to be looked after – in this case the recipients.
Perhaps this good example of re-thinking service delivery will be the catalyst for further reviews. After a complete decade since amalgamation reared its head, a departmental review at the county should be conducted to determine if all oars and ships are pointed in the same direction. A similar function with the townships is not out of order, either.
The challenge, of course, is the willingness to step back and wonder aloud, “Is the customer being looked after?”
The significance of that challenge is not lost on us, either, since policy makers have a way of missing what goes on around them because they are too close or favourable to their own ideas.
While attending a Newspaper convention this past weekend in Niagara Falls, Premier Dalton McGuinty addressed our audience and made compelling arguments for his government’s actions.
He also confirmed the essence of our previous statement that it is hard to credibly review your own work – especially if you refuse to take the blinders off for a different view.
It’s smart to again serve people; good on Wellington County council for that.
