Meanwhile, In The Land Of Corrupt Backroom Deals

 

H/t Patrick Corrigan

I'm sure that Premier Ford hopes no one is monitoring his ongoing corruption and his destruction of much-needed Greenbelt land. Star readers puncture that illusion.

Ford on defensive over probe

Doug Ford criticizes auditor general over Greenbelt investigation, July 13

Dear Doug Ford, please don’t mistake the electorate’s lack of attention for stupidity. As you very well know, many people are apathetic and do not pay attention to politics. However, we Ontarians are not stupid when confronted with the facts concerning your developer friends benefitting from your decision to open up the Greenbelt. People are well aware that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and, in this case, smells like a duck, it most certainly is a duck. All your “friends and folks” rhetoric changes nothing and only reinforces the mistrust that we have for you and your buddies.

Dave Ottenbrite, Cambridge

 As Ontario’s auditor general continues her “value-for-money” audit into the Progressive Conservative government’s decision to open up 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt, let’s remember: Premier Doug Ford’s developer buddies benefited from the Greenbelt land swap. Now, Michael Rice and Silvio De Gasperis are going to court separately in the hope of not having to testify under oath and providing the additional records the auditor general wants. If everything is so squeaky clean, why are Ford’s buddies going to court? This is only the tip of the iceberg. The full story must be allowed to come out.

 

 Al Yolles, Toronto

 Ford says he hopes to collaborate with mayor, July 13

So, Premier Doug Ford expects Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to collaborate with him. With whom did Ford collaborate when he reduced the size of Toronto’s council? With whom did Ford collaborate when he changed the Greenbelt boundaries? With whom did Ford collaborate regarding Highway 413? With whom did Ford collaborate when he decided to move the science centre? With whom did Ford collaborate when he awarded the spa contract on Ontario Place grounds? With whom did Ford collaborate with when . . . Ford wants others to collaborate with him but when it is time for him to collaborate with others, there appears to be a barrier.

Ed Saliwonchyk, Owen Sound

Doug Ford's legacy of selling out Ontarians will never be forgotten. 

 

A Cautionary Tale

                                                                What, Me Worry?      

The 'braintrust' in the Doug Ford government has decided that the way out of our healthcare crisis is to offer more opportunities for privatized operations.

As the Ford government strategized ways to cut down on the COVID-19 surgical backlog, provincial health officials set aside a small pot of public funding for private hospitals and independent heath facilities, according to documents obtained by Global News.

A Ministry of Health presentation on the province’s surgical and diagnostic recovery reveals that the Ford government planned to increase the role of two private hospitals as part [of a] journey back to pre-pandemic levels.

The document said the two private hospitals — Don Mills Surgical Unit and Clearpoint Surgical Toronto — had been given $8 million over the past two years “to achieve over 3,300 additional surgeries.”

Another $5 million in public funds has been earmarked for 2,100 procedures at the private hospitals in the 2022-23 year, the slide said.

According to the Premier, there is really nothing to see here:

“I don’t even like the word private because it’s really not — I can assure you; no Ontarian will ever have to pay with a credit card, they will pay with their OHIP card,” the premier said, noting that independent health facilities would be called upon to take “the burden” off hospitals.

All of which ignores the fact that the pool of personnel for these private entities is the same as for public hospitals and clinics. Increase the former and you deplete the latter.

Not so, says Mr. Ford. But there is that pesky problem of his credibility. In light of the premier's betrayal of his 'solemn' promise not to open up the Greenbelt to development, what are we to make of this?

There will be “safeguards” to prevent an exodus of doctors and nurses from hospitals when Premier Doug Ford unveils a plan for them to do more surgeries at independent clinics in “their spare time,” a senior government official says.

And then there is this, er, testimony, culled from all of the people who allegedly whisper in Ford's ear but never share in the public arena:

“I’ll never forget I talked to a surgeon … and he said, ‘Doug, you know, my problem is I don’t have operating-room time.’ And he said his boss told him, ‘Just go golfing,’ instead of … finding another avenue, another operating room,’” the premier told reporters.

“And he says ‘I want to help people. I also want to earn more income.’” 

Privatization is the Ford government's ideology of choice. There is little, so the myth goes, that can't be solved with the right entrepreneurial spirit and pursuit of profit. Perhaps, however, the following, a sad story from the United States where privatized medicine is worshipped, can serve as a cautionary tale for those capable of sober reflection:

 

 

Time For Some Truth

 

In Doug Ford's Ontario, the answer is, "Plenty of people." 

Yesterday I attended a rally to protest the provincial government's plans to override local democracy and extend urban boundaries into the valuable Greenbelt and farmlands (a.k.a The Doug Ford Discharging His Debt To Developers Act). By the robust turnout, it was clear that the premier is fooling few with his claim that such is needed to create affordable housing. Indeed, affordable housing today is something of an oxymoron, isn't it?

While much more needs to be said, an unanticipated visit to the dentist this morning forces me to keep this post brief. Just who are these developers? Clicking on this CBC link affords some answers, as will this one to the Hamilton Spectator. Draw your own conclusions.

As well, these letters from readers show that Ford's veneer of concern and rectitude is quite thin:

Ontario backtracks on Greenbelt pledge with plan to allow housing on 7,400 acres, Nov. 4

It’s no wonder people don’t vote. Why bother, when too often it seems that promises made aren’t promises kept.

Why pay attention to a politician’s platform when we suspect it is nothing but lies in order to get votes? Premier Doug Ford said he wouldn’t touch Ontario’s Greenbelt, and many believed him. I would wager there isn’t a single person in this province who doesn’t believe that his housing plan is simply a way to appease his developer buddies. We all know, there is no need to carve portions out of the Greenbelt for the building of homes. In his usual way, Ford acts without thinking things through, ignoring the experts and public opinion.

Bob Coupland, Oakville

Greenbelt is for nature, not housing, Nov. 9

After reading the above editorial and realizing Ontario’s own housing affordability task force found there was no need to intrude on our Greenbelt for new housing, I now understand what Premier Doug Ford is up to.

The only reason he wants the Greenbelt properties is to appease his developer buddies who have bought up lands in anticipation of Ford’s takeover of huge sections for them to build on. This would destroy precious watersheds, wetlands, farmlands and animal habitats which should be preserved in perpetuity. Discussions are going on right now to determine the fate of the Greenbelt, and the answer to its destruction should be an emphatic NO.

Jane White, Scarborough 

It has been said that sunlight is one of the best disinfectants. Clearly, there is the need for some heavy-duty sanitization of the Doug Ford regime.

The Arboreal Record

This, from Michael de Adder:

The Big Gamble

 

Let me make it clear that I am not opposed to gambling. For those who can afford it, it apparently provides a measure of pleasure and a flush of excitement. It is not a world I relate to, but that is of no consequence.

What is of consequence is the number of people gambling who can neither afford it nor easily stop. Although the percentage of such people is small, it is nonetheless alarming that the opportunity to overindulge is becoming much easier. No longer does one have to make the trek to a casino. In essence, the casino is brought to you. Temptation is amplified. 

Of course, governments have long been involved in imposing what is often described as a tax on idiots. Think of the array of lotteries available for purchase at your nearest convenience store or Shoppers Drug Mart. (Oh, how many times have I waited in increasingly long queues at the checkout while some old parties ditheringly deliberate about what ticket(s) to purchase after winning $10 - the announcement "Winner! Gagnon! strikes fear and loathing in me.)

But I digress.

On April 4, what is euphemistically called iGaming Market went live. Now, those who are so inclined can gamble away their savings knowing they are protected from shady operators:

To play with confidence knowing their money and information is subject to robust consumer protection measures, players in Ontario just need to look for the iGO logo on an operator’s site.

Operators who have successfully been registered by the AGCO and have executed an Operating Agreement with iGO have met rigorous standards of game integrity, fairness, player protections, and social responsibility [?], enabling players to play with confidence.  

The apparent benevolence of Doug Ford's government in promoting this is undoubtedly welcome news to many. It is now easy to place a plethora of wagers on sports, play the slots, baccarat. etc. However, checking one site, BetMGM, I could find nothing that suggested the social responsibility cited above by iGO, and everything to induce you to become a member, including free credits!

Interesting, BetMGM is the entity being widely promoted by the 'great one', Wayne Gretzsky. 

Full disclosure: Gretzsky has been dead to me since his shameful, full-throated endorsement of Stephen Harper in 2015, despite the fact that the retired hockey player does not live in Canada and is not eligible to vote here. Indeed, it left many wondering about the number of concussions he had sustained during his career.

I can think of no other reason that he would stoop to shilling for the online betting group other than money. But doesn't he already have enough of that? 

I doubt that Walter Gretzsky, his late father, would approve of his son's promotion of such a dubious activity. Surely Wayne could find something worthwhile to trumpet rather than prostituting his name and reputation in this manner.

But, of course, this is all just my opinion, one of the advantages of operating a blog. Feel free to chime in with your own views anytime.

For Your Consideration

We need undeveloped, pristine land now more than ever to help offset rapidly escalating climate change. Please consider signing this petition.

If You Follow Ontario Politics

... this requires no explanation:


H/t Patrick Corrigan

If you need a bit of a primer, however, allow me to introduce the chief sheep:

We think it’s only fair that Ontarians can buy beer or wine at local stores like this one here in York-Simcoe and across Ontario. pic.twitter.com/Zt8IwCyNtq

— Caroline Mulroney (@C_Mulroney) June 3, 2019

We are giving the people of Newmarket—Aurora choice and convenience when buying beer and wine to enjoy responsibly. Ontarians should be able to support local businesses by buying beer and wine from convenience stores like Andrew’s Convenience. pic.twitter.com/LMSBwqcVk1

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) June 1, 2019

(Parentetically, Ms. Elliott was promoting a store that was convicted of selling an e-cigarette to an underage customer.)

If you're picking up some chips and dip at Anthony's store on Highway 17 East of North Bay, wouldn't it be nice to grab some beer or a bottle of wine too? We hear you! pic.twitter.com/raiUhBbx37

— Victor Fedeli (@VictorFedeli) June 1, 2019

Those who have sold their souls to Dear Leader may very well be experiencing considerable psychic and moral pain; one hopes, however, that Ms. Mulroney, Ms. Elliott, Mr. Fedelli and all others in the sheep brigade seek professional help for their alcoholic preoccupations.

This Is The Mentality We Are Dealing With In Ontario

They must have taught Grade 10 history a little differently at Toby Barrett's high school. #onpoli #BillionABeer pic.twitter.com/g9aNkfHZ79

— Nathan Sager (@n8sager) June 5, 2019

UPDATED: You're A Mean One, Mr. Ford

In a move that will surely swell the tiny hearts beating within the breast of Ford Nation, the Ontario government is eliminating a benefit that helps children of the poor, especially those claiming refugee status:

The cut, buried in April’s provincial budget, will end the Transition Child Benefit which provides up to $230 per month, per child in families on welfare who are not receiving the Ontario and Canada child benefits, such as refugee claimants.

The move, scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, will affect an average of 16,000 children a month province-wide, according to the government.

Those who favour tighter refugee and welfare rules will likely be exuberant over the deprivations they cuts will wreak. Others, with their humanitarian instincts intact, are horrified:

“To me, this is the nastiest cut,” said Toronto Councillor Shelley Carroll, a member of the city’s economic and community development committee, responsible for the local welfare system.

It is part of an estimated $177 million in provincial budget cuts to the city that threaten child care subsidies, school nutrition programs and free dental care for low-income children, among others services.

In Toronto, the loss of the Transition Child Benefit will mostly hurt kids in families making refugee claims, said City Manager Chris Murray in a memo to councillors earlier this month.

One such victim will be Eritrean refugee claimant Samu Abdel, 37,

who has three young sons, including one with spina bifida, the benefit has been critical to her ability to support her children.

“I don’t know what I would do without it,” says the single mother who fled her war-torn homeland in 2017. “I have a disabled son. I can’t work. I need this money to buy food and diapers.”

But such concerns seem to matter not to those wielding ever-sharper hatchets as they seek to cut the deficit, insisting that they are actually improving the system:

“We are replacing parts of the social assistance system that provide complicated and unequal support to those in need, with simpler rate structures for everyone,” said Derek Rowland [spokesperson for the provincial ministry of children].

“The government believes that all Ontarians should have equal access to children’s benefits, regardless of whether they are or are not receiving social assistance.”

Increasingly, Ontarians are seeing through the facade that the Ford regime has tried to erect. The question that remains, however, is whether, this early in their mandate, anyone in the Ford government is paying attention.

UPDATE: Hmm, it appears someone in the Ford administration has been listening.

The Kindest Cut Of All?

Given the butcher's blade Doug Ford and his trained seals are taking to crucial services and programs in Ontario, perhaps the following best reflects the widespread disenchantment people are expressing with the government they helped elect.

UPDATED: A Masterful Revision

An antidote to the Ford regime's propaganda, thanks to Braeson Holland:

Fixed a few things in @FordNation's climate change attack ad 👇🌎👇#cdnpoli #onpoli pic.twitter.com/Lzwjkdr3AH

— Braeson Holland (@braesonholland) May 15, 2019

UPDATE: Meanwhile, another redoubtable Star letter-writer offers this assessment of Doug the Thug's duplicity and mendacity:

Cartoon about Doug Ford’s missing facts was right on the money

Missing facts cartoon, Moudakis, May 15

Your editorial cartoon decrying Premier Doug Ford’s missing facts is right on the money. The only way to fight lies and half truths is with facts.

This is exactly the reason that bullies and truth benders such as Donald Ford (should be his new name) depict the media as the enemy: it provides contrary opinions and perspective using facts instead of rhetoric.

And the media has the ability to be a conduit of information, our only means of educating the masses. Unless they don’t read. And it is costly to buy commercial time on television unless one uses our own tax money to spread lies and half truths. Evil genius. Our wonderful province is in crisis and clearly in the hands of the wrong people.

David Ottenbrite, Cambridge

Pay To Slay

That's what critics are calling Bill 108, the “More Homes, More Choice Act,” introduced stealthily, as the cowardly are wont to do, by the Ford regime in Ontario. Buried in an omnibus bill, the favoured vehicle of the dishonest, (including both Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper), the bill promises to open up to developers sensitive aeas that will greatly endanger Ontario's at-risk animals and plants.

On the day a UN study reports that more than a million species worldwide are at risk of extinction, we should all be standing up taking distressed notice.

Bill 108, the “More Homes, More Choice Act,” would weaken classification criteria, allow the environment minister to delay protections for up to three years, and provide developers, industry and others who impact the habitat of endangered species with a suite of options to continue their activities, including a fee-in-lieu fund derided by critics as “pay to slay.”

Of course, the Ford regime, led by a man who has never met a developer he didn't like, is cloaking it as a means of addressing housing shortages. Hence the bill's simplistic title: the “More Homes, More Choice Act.” It is a subterfuge his willing, amoral acolytes and MPPs are happy to propagate, insisting the bill will actually enhance protections:

Lindsay Davidson, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, said Ontario is committed to ensuring “best-in-class” protections for endangered and threatened species.

“The proposed changes … will enhance government oversight and enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the act and improve transparent notification of new species’ listings,” Davidson said in an email.

Cold reality is perhaps best expressed by experts in the field of biodiversity:

“It really is very deferential to exactly those threats that are affecting species at risk today,” said Justina Ray, president and senior scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. “I’m very concerned that at the end of the day, we kind of have an empty shell of an act.”

Or, to put it more bluntly,

“It really is a doomsday scenario for endangered species in this province,” said Kelsey Scarfone, program manager at Environmental Defence Canada.

“It’s basically been whittled down to nothing. They might as well have just cancelled it,” she said.

Every day brings forth more bad news. It is the fate of the newspaper reader to absorb this news, and to be as well-informed as possible about the depredations that envelop us. But it doesn't end there. Until each of us realizes that the well-being of nature (and I do urge you, in the strongest terms possible, to read about the UN report) and our very survival are inextricably linked, the destruction and rapidly increasing extinctions will only continue.

Bad, greedy people know no bounds.

Now, A Word From Premier Doug Orwell

The Ministry of Truth has released the following message from Our Glorious Leader. Widespread distribution is strongly encouraged.

My Friends, Citizens of Ontarioland:

It has come to My attention that the media, the Official Enemy Of The State, has been spreading lies in order to undermine confidence in, and devotion to, Me. In our fair and democratic society, such sedition cannot be overlooked, and you can rest assured that the offenders will soon be offered placement in many of our fine Reeducation Camps strategically located across our fine realm.

In the interim, however, it behooves Me to set the record straight (historical records will be amended as well, at a later date):

Enemy Number One is a perfidious scribe named Edward Keenan. Fortunately, his scurrilous misinformation is not online, but only in the printed edition of his propaganda organ, The Toronto Star, which nobody reads anyway.

Calling me an axe-wielding agent of chaos, he offers the following treasonous lies:

Here was city [of Toronto] manager Chris Murray, in the letter to councillors about the cuts to child care: “The city was not consulted or provided with any advance warning about these changes.”

Sound familiar? The first clause of that sentence read, “As with recent changes to the provincial/municipal costsharing arrangements for public health,” referencing another set of cuts that arrived as a surprise and occupied the city’s attention these past couple of weeks. But it could have said, “As with the sudden cutting of the size of city council in half in the middle of an election campaign,” or, “As with the changes to the city’s transit plan using new routes and new technology,” or, “As with the decision to shortchange the city for hundreds of millions of dollars in gas tax revenue Premier Ford had directly promised to deliver.”

In each case — and in others affecting those across the province using library services, caring for children with autism, or attending and working for the school system, to cite just a few more examples — the people directly affected by these multimillion-dollar decisions were taken by surprise by the drastic, immediate changes to the services they rely on or deliver. No notice, no advance consultation or negotiation and, apparently, very little consideration of any effect beyond the one on the bottom line.

Such defamation flies in the face of the fact that I am famous for consulting the people. I talked to thousands upon thousands in Ontarioland who told me they want new efficiencies that will make elected officials acknowledge the bloat found in every publicly-funded institution, be it health care, education, child care, library services or council size. And they are demanding lower taxes. As a humble instrument of the people, I do as demanded.

Happily, there are many efforts underway to set the record straight:

“In an attempt to protect child-care funding for future generations, our government is looking at ways to better deliver services and reduce administrative costs,” Education Minister Lisa Thompson’s office said.

Thompson’s office says, “we are challenging municipalities to reduce their administrative spending.”

My ever-loyal and doting Minister went further to explain the kindness we are bestowing with our budget 'adjustments:

“In an attempt to protect childcare funding for future generations, our government is looking at ways to better deliver services and reduce administrative costs,” said an aide to Education Minister Lisa Thompson.

“To be crystal clear, these reductions are primarily at the administrative level. We are challenging municipalities to reduce their administrative spending on child care delivery by 5 per cent and refocus that funding on things like subsidies for low-income families,” said Kayla Iafelice.

“The city of Toronto should be looking at ways to make their operations more efficient instead of passing on these costs to parents,” said Iafelice

“There is no need for a single child care space to be lost as a result of a 5 per cent administrative change. Any reductions in childcare spaces would be the result of the city of Toronto’s own decision-making.”

I realize holding up a mirror to the profligate spenders and socialists amongst us is an unpleasant experience for them, but The Truth must be known.

Spirited discussion is to be encouraged in a democracy as glorious and healthy as ours. However, when that discussion moves into the realm of lies and seditious commentary, your government will always act in the best interests of the people, and deal with dispatch and resolve in stopping such attempts to foment discontent.

Remember, I am always For The People.

Speaking of Doug Ford And His Ilk ....

H/t Patrick Corrigan

Paul Rapoport of Ancaster, Ontario, has some advice well worth the consideration of Canada's Conservative premiers:

Keep your Enemies List current. Cut their funding. If you want to remove 50 per cent, make it 100 per cent. In three years, give back 10 per cent and you’ll be ahead and hailed as a hero.

Meanwhile, when you’ve created crises in those enemy sectors, blame them for the bad results.

Go after environmental groups, to keep the big polluters’ donations flowing. Fire anyone who uses the words “climate change.”

Take away women’s rights, because women are smarter than you and must be controlled.

Remember to cut education, because well-educated people tend not to vote for you, and others will more likely believe your spin.

Doctors and nurses are well educated, so cut health care.

What you can’t cut, privatize for your richest cronies. They need more money and power.

If your capital city has called you incompetent, with years of evidence, take over or ruin it.

That’s good for business and “for the people.”

And, given that it is Sunday and you may be in the mood for a parable, letter writer Maurice Sacco of Toronto offers this lesson:

Have we created a new nursery rhyme character complete with a story and moral?

The story of a young man, the Sign Maker’s son, who grew up in a life of unchallenged privilege. He dreamt of one day becoming a king who would ride the subway anywhere in his kingdom and his people stood and applauded him each time he opened his mouth to speak.

He would shower them in beer and they would truly love him. The boy grew to inherit the sign-maker’s business and sold it for a chance to be king.

The people rejoiced at his coronation and sung his praise as cheap beer was now made available throughout the kingdom at every shop at every corner at every hour.

Once crowned, he decided the kingdom’s treasury of health care, education and environmental protection was of little value and traded them for more cheap beer, subways and vanity plates for all in the kingdom to enjoy.

With time, the subways became too expensive to maintain and fell into disrepair, the cheap beer lost its flavour and caused many to become sick and weak and the vanity plates no longer drew attention from anyone.

People became sick and the kingdom was devastated by storms and famine.

Without education the people didn’t know how to change things back to the way they were before. The kingdom fell to ruins.

The king became disappointed with his sick and weak-minded people and eventually abandoned them to return to his sign-making business.

The moral of the story – you get what you vote for.

Well, Well, Well

For someone who is 'for the people," Doug Ford has a strange way of showing his fealty to them. Buried in last week's budget bill is a nugget that will further disenfranchise a large number of people.

Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives are moving to make it harder to sue the Ontario government.

The PCs plan to repeal and replace the long-standing Ontario Proceedings Against the Crown Act — legislation that, among other things, outlines government liability in cases of misfeasance and negligence.

The new law would increase the legal threshold necessary to proceed with civil litigation, including class action lawsuits, against the government. Further, it would considerably limit the instances in which the government could be on the hook for financial compensation to plaintiffs.

A spokesperson for Attorney General and chief Ford cheerleader Caroline Mulroney says there is nothing to worry about, asserting

the legislation will update "outdated procedures and codifies the common law to clarify and simplify the process for lawsuits brought by or against the government."

Others are not so sanguine about the legislation's implications:

"What the government is trying to do is place itself beyond the reach of the courts and make it difficult, and in many cases impossible, to sue the government — even when it acts in bad faith or breaches the duties of office," said Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

Perhaps the most significant element of the new legislation, according to Toronto human rights and refugee lawyer Kevin Wiener, is that it eliminates any potential financial liability in most cases where someone is harmed by government policy or regulatory decisions made in "good faith."

"What it means is that the people who exercise power over you can exercise that power negligently and cause you damage and no one will have to pay," said Wiener.

Similarly, the province will not be liable for instances in which a person says there were harmed by the government exercising its authority.

Making this legislation even more dastardly is the fact that it will be applied retroactively, meaning that existing cases, such as the $200-million class-action lawsuit against the government launched by Lindsay Ontario residents over the early cancellation of the basic income project (one that Ford vowed to protect before gaining office) could very well be derailed.

"This a way to wipe the decks clean. And even if the government did something wrong, even if people have sued it already, they're going to shut those lawsuits down," Attaran said.

It is said that we get the government we deserve. Try as I may, I cannot discern the karma that has yielded the worst provincial government I have seen in my lifetime.

Henhouse Alert

Welcome to Ontario, A Place To Grow and Open For Business. Depending upon whether you are a private driver or a commercial operator, you will soon be sporting one of the two new mottoes on your licence plates. A small thing, you might conclude, if you are willing to overlook that the new plates will be sporting a Tory-blue colour, all part of the Ford government's branding and messaging.

However, peering beyond the obvious, these changes convey something that is not altogether benign: Come to Ontario, almighty business, and (cue the wink and the nudge) we will take good care of you.

How? Perhaps a clue is to be found in a detail released in yesterday's provincial budget:

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour will “modernize and streamline” its enforcement efforts by helping employers to “educate themselves” on their workplace obligations, according to Thursday’s provincial budget.

The move to encourage employers to be more “self-reliant” coincides with an $11 million cut to the ministry’s budget from $317 million in 2017/18 to $306.1 million this year.

Apparently, such a move is a good thing:

The ministry will develop “automated digital tools” to help employers educate themselves on employment standards so the ministry can “focus on high-risk, high-impact investigations,” the budget says.

However, Finance Minister Vic Fedelli is so proud of this change that he couldn't help but crow about what this really means:

“Ontario is once again open for business and open for jobs,” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said Thursday.

In March, the Ministry of Labour announced a new online self-audit tool for employers to replace “cumbersome paper audits” and give “job creators a simple, easy and convenient way to demonstrate they follow the rules.”

Others are not so cheery about the change:

Labour advocates have consistently argued that self-regulation does not work and that proactive workplace inspections are the best way to ensure compliance with the law.

Deena Ladd of the Toronto-based Workers’ Action Centre said that without robust enforcement, workers’ rights are “just words on paper.”

“This is basically saying to employers, we’re not going to monitor you. Employers who routinely violate the law will see this as open season.”

Anyone who thinks industry self-regulation is a good thing is clearly forgetting disasters such as happened at Lac-Mégantic, which occurred under a regulatory approach that leaves responsibility for ensuring safe operations to railroads themselves.

The U.S. has led the way in self-regulation, with catastrophic results. One need look no further than the recent crashes of two Boeing 737 Max aircraft for proof:

The tragic crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airplanes have, once again, reminded the public of the dangers of regulatory capture and industry “self-regulation.” While many were shocked to learn that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), our government’s primary airline safety regulator, essentially handed over its responsibility to certify that airplanes are safe to the manufacturers of those planes, the reality is that this model of industry self-regulation is the norm, not the exception.

The Boeing crashes are a symptom of a much broader problem plaguing our country’s regulatory agencies, which have been entrusted to protect our health and safety. These agencies have been under systemic assault by conservatives and industries that have opposed almost any new regulations for decades. They have pushed an ideology of deregulation and self-regulation that undermines our government’s ability to protect the public – all to boost private profits.

In Canada, we would be foolish indeed to think of this as a problem confined to other countries. Ineed, the new Ford budget shows that the era of the fox in the henhouse has clearly arrived in Ontario.

An All-Out Attack

On the surface, the ructions in education occurring in Ontario may hold little interest to those living in other jurisdictions. However, those residing elsewhere would be well-advised to keep an eye on this province, watching us carefully to see whether the Ford government succeeds in dealing a lethal blow to public education here. If he does, you can be sure such methodology will find its way into other provinces looking for 'new efficiencies.'

Two items in today's Star are worth noting as warnings to all who realize that a healthy, well-supported public education is essential to the present and future of functional, growing societies

Kristin Rushowy reports of distress in the Halton Board:

The Halton public school board is warning that classes could balloon to 46 students as the Ford government cuts the number of high school teachers over the next four years.

A letter sent to Education Minister Lisa Thompson says

... to go from the current average of 22 up to the planned 28, “specialized courses with lower enrolment or smaller classes with students who have high needs that have a 10-to-20-student class size will mean that other courses have very high class sizes of 36 to 46 students.”

... actual class sizes will end up much higher — and 36 to 46, while extreme, is “not out of the realm of possibility,” said Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association.

Halton District School Board chair Andréa Grebenc said the bigger classes will likely be core credits such as math, English, history and geography — “all those required courses that don’t need machinery or anything like that.

Those kinds of numbers would be extraordinarily difficult to work with, both in the allocation of individual time with students and the sheer volume of assignments that would have to marked. In my former life as an English teacher, I had to spend a fair amount of time on each essay I was evaluating. To see numbers go as high as 46 would require substantial cutbacks in the number of assignments given.

Halton is not the only very worried jurisdiction:

Other boards have already written to the province with their concerns over the changes, including recent correspondence from the Durham District School Board that says course option will “diminish drastically — especially in the area of the arts, trades and specialty subjects.”

I will close this post with a very thoughtful letter from a concerned parent who attended the rally for education that I wrote about the other day.

Thousands join rally at Queen’s Park over schools, April 7

My family and I were at Saturday’s rally at Queen’s Park — not because we are puppets of union organizers as suggested by the Minister of Education, Lisa Thompson, and the premier. We were there because we care deeply about education.

Our children are growing up in extremely complex times, facing technological, economic, political and environmental challenges that are unprecedented — challenges that our generation has failed to manage competently — and the Ontario government is cutting education. Our children will be forced to either help solve complex global problems or suffer the consequences of failing to meet the challenges. The government is pulling the rug out from underneath their feet.

What is at stake? Investing in education is about building strong communities and a successful nation, one that can manage change with competence and integrity.

Look at what happens in countries that lack strong social supports like public education — look at Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Sudan, to name just a few. Poverty and violence goes hand in hand with a population that is uneducated.

Couldn’t happen here? Try talking to a family of residential school survivors or Indigenous students today who face violence when they have to leave home to go to high school in Thunder Bay. Come talk to the families in my downtown Toronto community who are refugees, whose children are absent from school for half the year. Talk to the families of children with special needs, children who are frustrated to the point of acting out because they lack adequate support in school.

Too often the choice is to quit school because support for a positive education experience is lacking. The cycle of poverty continues.

When the government cuts education resources, real people in Ontario suffer real poverty and violence. Meanwhile, we make very little progress in tackling other important and challenging issues.

I am there in my kids' school regularly, and it is plain to see that teachers and students need more, not less. That is why I was at Saturday’s rally and I will continue to support teachers as they fight for our children and our future.

Erika Westman, Toronto

I am long-retired from the classroom; however, that does not mean I am retired from the issues that can make or break a society. It is time we understand that this battle to resist the virtual dismantling of public education is everyone's fight. Whether or not we realize it, we all have skin in this game.

More About Bread And Circuses

I expressed concerns in yesterday's post about the cheap, diversionary tactics being employed by Doug Ford to distract the masses as he goes about systematically gutting the programs that make life livable and functional in Ontario.

I see I am not the only one with such concerns. In today's Star, letter-writers offer their views:

Ontario set to allow sports tailgate parties, April 9

Just as Trump encourages racism and white supremacism, Ford is encouraging alcohol consumption. Rather than listen to his (cabinet), he should base his legislation on the years of scientific, evidence-based studies that show lowering the price of alcohol (buck-a-beer), increasing availability (wine in corner stores and longer hours at liquor stores) and public consumption (tailgate parties), that the social and physical harms of alcohol consumption will undoubtedly increase across the province.

James Wigmore, Toronto

Premier Ford makes it known he abstains from any alcoholic beverages, but notice he pushes for others to use alcohol sales anywhere and everywhere and now tailgating booze parties. Isn’t Ford like drug dealers who would never shoot up illicit drugs, but as pushers make their living by selling and exploiting users?

Dorothy Low, Richmond Hill

Tories back ‘high-priced’ beer, wine consultant, April 5

Really with cuts in education, health and minimum wage, the Premier is focused on spending taxpayer money to make booze more available?

I already have two LCBOs and a supermarket that sells alcohol in easy walking distance and now accessible until 11:00 pm.

Granted, I live in Toronto, but I have driven through many small towns that have an LCBO outlet but no supermarket or pharmacy! Does the PC government have a strange policy priority on getting people too drunk to care about everything else they are doing?

GW Byron, Toronto

Clearly, the vox populi is one heard by the Ford government only when it matches their dissolute, diversionary agenda.

Toga Party, Anyone?

The Romans were well-known for their embrace of bread and circuses. Indeed, an excerpt from Wikipedia sums it all up rather nicely:

In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace[1] — by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).

Juvenal, [a Roman poet of the late first and early second century AD ] who originated the phrase, used it to decry the selfishness of common people and their neglect of wider concerns.... The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.

Without question, the age of bread and circuses has come to Ontario as the Ford government fiendishly slashes funding for the kinds of programs that make for a healthy and sane society (more to come after the release of the budget later this week). Education, health care, living wages - all are under attack in the name of 'fiscal responsibility', aka making life harder for the average person and compromising the province's future.

But to distract Ontarians from the true source of their troubles, Doug Ford is about to unveil the answer to all of our problems: tailgate parties at which participants are permitted to bring their own alcohol (could there be anything finer?).

With Ontario government officials confirming Thursday’s budget from Finance Minister Vic Fedeli will pave the way for fans to bring their own beer to party in the parking lot, opposition parties branded the measure a “distraction” from Premier Doug Ford’s political woes over increasing class sizes in schools and changes in funding for children with autism.

“I have no trouble with people enjoying tailgating,” said Green Leader Mike Schreiner. “What I’m more worried about is what this may say about what’s going to be in the budget on Thursday.

“It seems like whenever this government is ready to deliver bad news, they liberate something around alcohol.”

Premier Ford says he wants to treat people like adults when it comes to drinking and tailgating parties. If you start the following clip at about the 45-second mark, I think you will get the full-flavour of 'adult' behaviour at such gatherings:


I cannot help but think that once this kind of activity is legalized and has the effect of cementing Mr. Ford's reputation as 'for the people,' more diversionary tactics will come along. For example, as the Ontario legislature becomes more raucous and fractious, will the solution be found in having Toga Party days at Queens Park?



Ontario - yours to discover, at least for the time being.

Roadmap To Ruin

Heading up Toronto's Bay Street yesterday en route to the massive gathering at Queen's Park to protest the savage surgery the Ford regime is conducting on public education was something of a revelation. Within a half-mile radius of the GO Station, I encountered six people in their sleeping bags, clearly living on the street. It was a jolting scene, one I do not encounter where I live (although I have also seen it extensively in London, Liverpool and even Canterbury). It seemed to me that this major urban artery and its environs constitute a roadmap of our society's descent into indifference, disenfranchisement, even cruelty.

That reality was on my mind as I made my way on a sunny April day to the legislature; I decided to attend the protest for a number of reasons: I am a retired teacher; I wanted to stand in solidarity with my former colleagues; and most importantly, I went because I have long understood that if the poverty and disenfranchisement bedeviling our society is ever to be contained and even reduced, nothing other than education can offer a realistic lifeline.

Which is not to say that path is an easy one, either for the teacher or the student. The effectiveness of classroom instruction is dependent, not just upon the skill, knowledge and dedication of teachers, but also the relationship they are able to foster with the students. Under optimum conditions, the relationship is one that requires daily, hard work. And the primary ingredient of those optimum conditions is reasonable class size.

Doug Ford's cost-cutting regimen, i.e., the slashing of teaching jobs, means class sizes will increase substantially; in high school. it will rise to an average of 28, which in actual practice could mean classes as high as 40. (Remember, non-classroom teachers are part of that average, which includes guidance, resource, and library.) Tell me how the aforementioned relationships can continue to flourish in such fraught and constrained conditions.

As well, many optional courses (no doubt considered frills by the under-educated ilk populating Ford's government) will be jettisoned, the very courses that can give so many students their raisons d'etre: examples range from drama to music to art to shop, classes where passions and purpose are often ignited, thereby providing a solid direction for a life beyond high school. Take away those opportunities and you not only have a more sterile school experience, but, for some, also less reason to stay in school.

Another massive mistake the government is making is the new requirement for students to take four e-learning courses. While such a stipulation must hold massive appeal to the bean-counters ("Think of how many classroom positions we can eliminate!"), it will be disastrous for those whose families can't afford a computer or Internet access, have caps on their Internet usage, are not self-directed learners, or who need the kind of help only a classroom teacher can provide.

The graduation rate will fall; more kids will drop out; as conditions in our public schools deteriorate, there will be a clamoring for charter schools, as one speaker yesterday suggested. Without an ounce of hyperbole, I believe this government has set out to systematically compromise, and ultimately destroy public education, the only real leveller we have in society.

Something wicked has come to Queens Park. It is incumbent upon everyone who cares about their fellow citizens' present and future quality of life to resist and, ultimately, eradicate it.