LIBERAL GOVERNMENT FAILING
ONTARIO CITIZENS
TORONTO - The Liberal government
is failing thousands of Ontario citizens who
require birth certificates to obtain vital documents
or take already booked vacations, according
to Bob Runciman, Leeds-Grenville MPP and House
Leader of the Official Opposition.
MPPs’ constituency offices across the
province are being inundated with calls from
frustrated Ontario citizens whose lives have
been put on hold because the Ontario government
has been unable to cope with the demand for
birth certificates.
Runciman said the problem has exploded since
the Liberal government took office but so far
Jim Watson, the Minister of Consumer and Business
Services, has only promised to take action.
In the meantime the backlog continues to grow.
Watson admitted Monday the current backlog
sits at 71,000 applications with 1,150 new applications
being added daily. The Registrar General's office
is only able to process about 200 applications
daily.
"I think the government has to bring in
more people and process applications 24 hours
a day, seven days a week until the backlog is
cleared," said Runciman, the opposition
critic for the Ministry of Consumer and Business
Services. "The Registrar General's staff
has done a tremendous job trying to maintain
services but they have neither sufficient staff
nor the technical resources to meet the growing
demand.
"This problem isn't going to go away,"
said Runciman. "The government only has
to consult with its staff to find out what needs
to be done. This isn't a complex problem. Providing
birth certificates in a timely fashion is a
responsibility of this government and it is
failing Ontario citizens miserably."
Runciman says he is pleased that Watson admits
people are "stressed, angry and frustrated".
"But admitting the problem is one thing,
getting it fixed is another. This government
must act and it must act now."
Ontario citizens require birth certificates
for passports, health cards and Social Insurance
Numbers and a host of other documents.
"We have people in Ontario who can't get
hired because they don't have a SIN number and
they can't get a SIN number without a birth
certificate," said Runciman. “And
we’re also getting calls from people who
booked vacations last Fall and now could lose
thousands of dollars because they can’t
travel without a birth certificate.”
Runciman said part of the problem stems from
a news article published last December that
claimed the Ontario government was issuing birth
certificates without requiring people to establish
their identities.
"The claims in the story were ridiculous
but instead of correcting the misconceptions
the Liberal Government took them as an opportunity
to try to embarrass the previous government,
and announced a crackdown that, in effect, only
slowed down the delivery service," continued
Runciman.
The approval process has not changed - only
the time it takes to process these applications.
The McGuinty government agreed with published
claims that a "terrorist or even a garden-variety
criminal" could easily obtain a birth certificate.
"I am convinced the reporters involved
in the stories or the Liberal government didn’t
even bother to look at the application required
to obtain a birth certificate," said Runciman.
The applicant for a birth certificate must
enter the names, birth dates and birth places
of their parents, the mother's maiden name,
her status at the time of the applicant's birth
and other information such as the number of
siblings, the weight at birth and the name of
the physician. That's in addition to having
the person's identity supported by a qualified
guarantor.
"I don't believe this information is easily
obtainable by someone trying to get a bogus
birth certificate," said Runciman.
"It's time for this government to stop
playing politics with people's lives and start
doing the job they were elected to do."
Media Contact:
Bob Runciman
(416) 325-1522
