The McGuinty government has faced many challenges throughout 2009 but the Liberal MPP for Huron-Bruce says the final result here at home is satisfying.
Carol Mitchell says the local health-care sector showed a number of encouraging signs that things are getting better.
Mitchell says the riding’s six Family Health Teams hired a total of 48 doctors, nine nurse-practitioners and 18 other health-care professionals since May.
Mitchell says the Family Health Teams provide care for 58 thousand Huron-Bruce residents, more than 76-hundred of whom previously did not have a family doctor.
Mitchell says advancement in education was a highlight of the past year.
She says she looks with pride on new schools to be built in Walkerton and North Huron and three new secondary specialty major courses being offered.
Mitchell says the electric course being offered at Saugeen District Secondary School is one of only three such classes in the province.
Mitchell says specialty theatre and masonry courses are also being offered at the secondary level.
Mitchell says an especially satisfying accomplishment for the McGuinty government this year is passage of the Green Energy Act.
Mitchell says the legislation will help create jobs throughout Huron-Bruce in wind and solar power generation and in exploring other avenues of alternative energy.
The Green Energy Act has been criticized by the wind generation industry largely because of setback distances between turbines and the nearest homes.
The solar energy industry also questions the legislation especially on the issue of the number of panels on rural properties allowed to generate residential electricity.
Mitchell says 2009 marked a milestone in co-operation with the Conservative federal government in the area of stimulating infrastructure renewal.
She points to projects funded all over Huron-Bruce from Saugeen Shores to Grand Bend and Exeter as examples of both governments putting people back to work in the midst of economic uncertainty.