Essex Town Councillor Kim Verbeek wonders why it's so hard to get the province to do the right thing on Bill 173.
That's the bill introduced in April by Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky's bill to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario.
Over 100 municipalities have declared it an epidemic in their communities, but Verbeek believes Essex is the first community to make the demand explicitly.
The legislation passed a second reading but stalled at the Justice Policy Committee.
Tired of waiting, Essex Town Councillors voted to send Queen's Park a letter demanding it simply pass the bill.
"You can't properly address what you refuse to acknowledge," said Verbeek. "We just need them to make the declaration that it is indeed an epidemic, and it has been for a very, very long time."
Not only would the bill make the declaration, something Verbeek believes is an obvious decision, but it would free up funding for support services for victims and inform policy moving forward.
Verbeek said she and Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy plan to bring it up to any provincial minister who will listen at next week's Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference in Ottawa next week.
She said time could be running short for the bill as talk of a provincial election call gets more persistent.
"The wheels are spinning on this," a frustrated Verbeek said. "They're going to be taking the pulse at AMO. They're talking about pulling the plug and doing an election, and all the bills sitting at second reading will fall. They'll fall on the floor, and they'll just be swept away."
Verbeek mentioned the bill has become personal for her.
Intimate partner violence once again came to the forefront recently after the deaths of 41-year-old Carly Walsh and her two children, Madison and Hunter, in Harrow in June. The Ontario Provincial Police confirmed the three were shot by Walsh's husband, Steven Walsh.
