From: THE COUNTY GUIDE ,December 17, 1999, Page 1

County fares well in Quality of Life Index

Corinne Gervais
The County Guide

Premier Mike Harris has called the Campaign 2000 report on child poverty "hogwash", claiming the statistics are false and inaccurate. Not according to the Quality of Life Index, conducted locally, which uncovered startling evidence that shows area residents standard of life is unsatisfactory, therefore leading to increased cases of child poverty.

The Quality of Life Index (QLI) attempts to measure the living and working conditions of residents in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, in cooperationwith the Ontario Social Development Council and the Social Planning Network.

"The purpose of the QLI is that it measures changes that have happened over the past several years," explained Scott Henderson, social planner for the C.D.C. "We collected data from as far back as 1990, and compared our statistics to a base rate of 10,000 people in 1997 to come up with these satisfactory results."

Through the QLI, local statistics reveal that two of three economic, health, and social indicators have a negative impact on community well-being. "Most startling," says CDC Quinte executive director, Roni Summers Wickens, "Is the very clear relationship between the economic and social well being of community that has been demonstrated through the analysis of local data." "Clearly, not all residents of Hastings and Prince Edward Counties are enjoying a high standard of living in the region, despite media reports indicating that Ontario is in an economic boom." Scott Henderson said, "we know there are more children living in poverty today than ever before. One way to eliminate child poverty is to make sure there are jobs and support systems for parents."

These alarming results could be attributed to the considerable changes the Conservative government made a number of years ago, like hospital closures and social assistance cuts. In a media release accompanying the latest Ontario Social Development Council report, Quality of Life in Ontario, the fifth in a series. Malcolm Shookner, the report's author wrote, "We see growing evidence that persistent social problems will undermine the economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in the long-term. Increasing poverty and inequality will lead to a lower quality of life for all of us." Locally, environmental scores faired well, with all three indicators having been deemed to have a positive impact on the Quality of Life in Quinte. "Our recycling program is the best in all of Ontario," enthused Henderson. "Unfortunately our great recycling program skews our overall score, making it appear that the Quinte area's quality of life is better than it truly is."

According to Henderson, Quinte scored 107.2, in the Quality of Life Index, anything below 100, signifies a lower quality of life for that community, a score above 100 reflects a community that is enjoying a good quality of life. The Index includes twelve indicators comparing the years 1997 and 1998, to data recorded in the base year 1990. These indicators show an alarming increase in social assistance beneficiaries, admissions to C.A.S. (with a slight decline in 1998 due to the newly introduced Child Protection Act), unemployment, bankruptcies, cancer cases and increasing low birth weights are all indicators that have a negative impact on community quality of life. "The Premier's response is extremely upsetting," explained Summers-Wickens. "Denial does not create healthy sustainable communities now and for the long-term and is a way of whitewashing the importance of trends analysis across the nation." The Community Well-Being Index will be available this Spring.