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WATERUX)CHIONIC1£ ~ Wednesday, December it, 20” - a Region tries to find solutions to poor EMS res onse times ' ' - 'wp. . whee." ' - [3va Murmur to blame for not providing a can times are 90 seconds longer than For the Chronicle solidated 91 1 system. Kitchener and Waterloo. North Dumfries Mayor Rob “What other resources do we t's the low hanging fruit that's Deutschmann used the response need? What are the cost of those Ijust waiting to be harvested. times contained in the EMS quar~ resources so that we all feel com- said regional Coun. Tom Gal- terly report to make his pitch for fortable in terms of emergency loway. including another rural emergency service delivery in the region?” But for now, it's still out of response unit (RERU) in next year's Craig asked Stephen Van Valken- reach. budget. burg. the region's director and While his fellow councillors Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig is chiefofEMS. showed their dismay at high rural looking for more information. Galloway said more isn't the 4; emergency response times. with including numbers on what is an answer. .31: . , ‘ Wellesley close to 20 minutes. (ial- acceptable response time for a “We are kind of chasing our tail "4‘!” "" "‘ loway said the province is the one rural area and why Cambridge a little bit on response times." he w “as. I; .. 1‘ 5 . J , .i . , ,. said, adding the region can keep ' K " “I” 1 ‘ rt adding response vehicles only to V c5. , . take away 10 to 30 seconds. while a ’ . ' _ . new emergency dispatch system ‘ ,_ ’ “a ‘. g ‘7‘ ' 7 ’ would cut about one minute. V ., . r: ' , "We could add another million 3; ' » ' dollars or a 12»hour ambulance . f9 73‘ ' and two rural emergency response ‘ ‘ , _. . r ‘ - units, but that may only bring Regional officials are struggling to bring down ambulance response times .7: ' ' times down by 20 seconds. We and are looking at impediments put up by the province. in More I have a minute staring us in the ‘ face." he said after the meeting. benchmarking report for 20 l 2, with what we have but what we are 1 '. "That to me is where our efforts which compares the region to starting to see is we are stretching I should be concentrated on, other communities It notes that the system we have and we are . . , _ instead of spending millions on the region is well below the aver stretching it in the wrong way and - new resources.” age number of senrice hours pror things like a RERU would be a sig- ., . But Deutschmann disagreed vided per 1,000 people. nificant benefit.” Deutschmann i - and referenced a municipal “l think we've been efficient said. 0 o 0 Craig calls for delay of LRT in regional budget that hurts the poor BY RAY MAirnN posed budget cuts wouki have on to review the initial phase one of system this year, equating to a 15 Trimming $7.5 million from the ( ImLiefhmnu'I:_ constituents.” he said in a press the rapid transit plan and report per cent increase. is “too great a draft budget would put the region ‘ release. back with options on how to sacrifice to endure in these difficult in line with the 1.9 per cent tax be draft regional budget “Second. it continued to place reduce the overall cost of the proi- ‘ economic times." increase target council set last I punishes the poor. dimin rapid transit in the forefront of all ect. 'l'm not suggesting to throw lune, ‘ isbt-s local arts and culture.’ concerns to the detriment of a lie suggested that the rapid [rapid transit! otit because that’s The draft budget proposes Jo and serves to grow the infrastrut number of other programs that transit route be scaled back and not going to happen. even if I did cuts. including 82.3 million from titre deficit. argues ( ambiidgt‘ now find themselves on a list of the completion date bcextendcd, suggest it. But i am suggesting the roads revitalization reserve. Mayor l)oug( rang. proposed cuts " lit the release, (Iratg called rapid there‘s no reason they can't look at S83l.000 from Grand River Tran iit' has issued a n()ll(‘(‘ of As such. Craig is asking for com transit the“lloly(irail.” scaling it back a bit " fill“ increasing some distances motion he plans to tit-liter to the mint-e support to defer any ('ontn "We‘ve got to go back to looking Scrapping rapid transit funding between stops and wait times ~ rt'gltitldl budget (linlllllllt't' today. buttons to the Regional Trans at phasmg it down a hit in terms of for 2015, (Iraig concedes. ”is in fact the closure of rural waste transfer tailing for the brakes to be at least portatton Master Plan i‘ R’l M l’; the length of the route. or perhaps only a stop-gap measure that can stations ($308,250). reducing the temporarily put on light rail transit fund until All?) and cut 'l5 regional doing It over a longer time period. not sustain presently planned cuts child care subsidy for 25 spaces spending in order to lessen thr- staflposittons through attrition. whatever it takes, its been put at clothe! needs in future years” l5150.(X)0). reducing the public an llllpatl on taxpayers Hl' would also like to have the forefront as something that As a result. he says it is impera reserve fund contribution by “Quitt- frankly, I'm disappointed regional staff N'Vlt'W and comment can‘t be touched, and I don't agree tive that the budget committee $65.01) and lessening the hospital in the initial outlay of this year‘s on developing a thrt-eryear With that,” (.ratg said in an inter look at all of the region's programs capital reserve fund contribution opening budget because it didn't planned budget tvrlt- starting in Vlt'W and positions in 20”. He also try/$425,”). titltr' into at t otitit the cruise Jillh (ring argues that the SS 5 mil wants the levy Increase lowered (picnics that a number of the pro l-urther, he wants regional staff lion dedicated to the rapid transit from 3 per cent to l 5 pct ('t‘nt . utithfik’sfmm Melton Munro 7‘ {I n' .. ""HT‘hE‘T ’ ' " a ,i ,2» ’3‘ - . , EVERY «my: . . v - . 5‘ . . ' 7 ‘ ‘ 4 GINAS SPA ucsivnaun A. , 1| it - . . . ~ 3 _I 13$ . i t. _ i : ENJOYA$25 c, _ ,3 fig . _,r ‘ ~ W GIFT CARDS www- .. 4 *9 . ‘ ' o ‘ - ! RECEIVEA Z 3" ‘ t ' . ‘ ‘ L w , pERFECT GIFT wrtfilheth‘t‘hl-da - i y is.” ' . 7 i, - . ' ‘ GlNAS GlVE ‘ RECEIVE. , "‘ . r- ‘ i til-IAIIIY'NI“I"I “panacea t , . ,3, - Jpn- , ’ =3 9 ' 3"“ "‘ ' l