Hampton slams library service cuts

News Release
Howard Hampton, MPP

Queen’s Park - Howard Hampton, Ontario NDP Leader and Kenora-Rainy River MPP today wrote to the Minister of Culture urging her to stop the McGuinty cuts to library services and reverse the decision to close the Thunder Bay and Kirkland Lake Ontario Library Services-North offices.
The McGuinty government has recently cut $700,000 from Ontario Library Services. Of that amount, $238,000 will be cut from Northern Ontario. The result of these cuts will mean the closure of the Thunder Bay and Kirkland Lake Ontario Library Service-North Offices.
“When the Harris-Eves Conservative government slashed library funding between 1995-2003, the Liberal Caucus was extremely vocal in speaking out against the cuts,” Hampton wrote in his open letter. “Today, however, your government has made more cuts to vital library services and your actions effectively highlight the lack of priority your administration has for libraries in the North.”
Ontario Library Services-North is an agency of the Ministry of Culture. The agency provides a wide range of support services to public libraries throughout Northern Ontario. Its mandate is to increase co-operation and co-ordination among public library boards while providing services and programs, including consulting, training and development services.
Hampton urged the Minister to immediate reverse the McGuinty cuts to library services across the province.