Oshawa council is set to decide whether to extend the city's contract with a security firm patrolling the downtown core. It remains unclear whether the Region w
, Oshawa city staff claimed they had not yet received a written response from their regional counterparts.The dedicated downtown patrol teams have been costed at around $893,000. That figure was approved as part of the city’s 2023 operating budget at aWhile the vote was unanimous, a number of councillors raised questions about which level of government should be responsible for the funding.
“This is the type of item that I do support with some reluctance,” said Ward 4 Councillor Derek Giberson. “We’re here as a lower-tier municipality, trying to find mitigating approaches and tools to something that isn’t in our jurisdiction – not just policing, but social services, affordable and supportive housing, mental health and addiction supports.”
“We need more action, because we shouldn’t even need to be resourcing something like this,” he argued. “People should have places to go. They should have resources to help them. They should have community supports to keep them embedded in a healthy, happy, fulfilling community. And right now we continue to fall behind on that.”
“I think if the concentration of services was a little more dispersed throughout the region, we wouldn’t have to take this action,” argued Ward 3 Councillor Bradley Marks. “I’m not suggesting we don’t need the service, but every time we rein a million dollars out of the local tier, we’re taking it from parks,” argued Ward 5 Regional Councillor Brian Nicholson. “We’re taking it from fire services. We’re taking it from roads. […] At some point, the region’s got to pony up. If they don’t want to do it, pay us and we’ll do it.”
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