... what the Ford government is either too arrogant or too stupid to get:
H/t Brittlestar
I imagine only those who favour government by a cadre of contemptible clowns are content right now.
UPDATE: Here's another expression of disdain for our diminished-capacity politicos:
"I'm angry."
@sid_seixeiro shares his thoughts as thousands of CUPE education workers prepare to walk off the job today.
That, presumably, would be bad for business.
True, Ontario's medical officer of health, Kieran Moore, has made some mewling sounds about mask-wearing and booster shots, chiding us for the low rate of -fourth-booster uptake among those 70 and up (a mere 16% , which he deemed "not acceptable"). Yet he seems strangely reluctant to really address the issue:
While a return to mandatory masking is not yet being recommended, Moore called on people to consider [italics mine] wearing masks indoors as cases rise and said he would not hesitate to recommend a stronger measure if necessary.
“If there is any significant impact on our health system where we can’t care for Ontarians appropriately, I will absolutely have the conversation with government (around) whether we have to mandate masking for a set period of time,” Moore told Global News.
Huh? Hasn't he heard about the current crises of overcapacity and staff burnout in our hospitals?
Perhaps his pusillanimous response is the inevitable outcome of working for the Ford government. The message seems to be: normalcy no matter what the cost.
And the cost could be substantial. New immunity-evading variants are of growing concern.
The increasing concern around these emerging variants has earned them unofficial Twitter hashtags that spare users from constantly typing awkward combinations of letters and numbers. BQ.1.1 is known as #Cerberus; its parent BQ.1 is known as #Typhon; BA.2.75.2 is being called #Chiron; and XBB has earned the moniker #Gryphon.
Whether or not these new immune-evading variants will lead to worse health outcomes than previous variants is the key question.
Dr. Peter Juni, former head of the Ontario Science Table, says thanks to vaccines and previous infection, the new kids on the block may not be as deadly as previous iterations. However, he admits of the possibility
that a variant that is both very good at evading the immune system — and also more virulent than existing strains — could one day arise.
Of course, the chances of new and deadlier variants increase with each new infection. Undeniably, vaccines are of tremendous importance in preventing serious illness and death, but so is masking. While neither confers absolute protection, statistics show significant reductions in infections and thus significant reductions in the chance for endless mutations to arise when both are embraced.
So why the increasing stigma and public repudiation of masking? I suppose some see the mask as a very visible constraint on what they regard as their freedom, binary thinking being very popular amongst the simple-minded. And, of course, as alluded to earlier, government sees it as a reminder that the pandemic isn't over, and that is surely viewed as an impediment to the economic imperatives that drive government.
It has been said that we get the government we deserve. Perhaps that observation needs to be updated to include the diseases that can decimate us.
Here in Ontario, things are moving at a fast pace - if you happen to be a senior in a hospital but have been deemed medically fit for discharge.
This is thanks to the undebated passage of Bill 7, called the More Beds and Better Care Act. As with so much else that pertains to the Ford government, there is far less here than meets the eye.
While the bill's ostensible purpose is to free up beds in our overburdened hospitals, its abject indifference to the lives of affected seniors is egregious. As it now stands, those awaiting placement in one of their five preferred long-term care homes can now be sent anywhere within certain certain geographic limits: 70 kms in larger urban areas, and 150 or more kms if residing in the north. The logistical challenges for elderly caregivers should be obvious. And if patients refuse to go, a levy of $400 per day can be applied by the hospitals.
As someone who has navigated the health-care system on behalf of my brother, a Parkinsons Disease sufferer, I know well the perils that exist in some long-term-care facilities, but I won't bore you with the details. All I will say is that the rosy picture being painted by the government is wholly inaccurate, including the claim that many currently '"blocking hospital beds" can go home with the proper supports, as if arranging for home care were a simple and expeditious process. Experience with my brother showed that to be a myth.
Like a carnival barker inviting everyone to step up and take in the world of cruel illusion on offer, Doug Ford and his fellow travellers are hoping you will not scrutinize the situation and realize the hoax they are perpetrating.
- They are giving the illusion of making progress on our quickly-unravelling health-care system
- They are doing this in a way that costs the taxpayers 'nothing'.
The reality is somewhat different, in that Bill 7 does almost nothing to help solve our problems, the majority of which are caused by overworked doctors, nurses and technicians, many of who are either off sick, burnt out or leaving their respective professions. Add to that the fact that the province is villainizing a sizable part of an older demographic by suggesting they are the real problem.
Closely related to the above is the effect of Bill 124, which severely limits pay increases (to about 1%) in the public sector, including much-needed nurses, many of whom have reached their limits and are leaving in large numbers:
Morgan Hoffarth, the president of the RNAO, cited statistics that said nursing vacancies in Ontario have more than quadrupled over the last five years, adding there was a 56-per-cent increase in vacancies during the first half of 2021.
So for those who stayed home in the last provincial election or voted for Mr. Ford and his crew, as the old saying goes, "How's that working out for you?"
You'll find out, sooner or later.
UPDATE: Despite the rush to get oldsters into LTC homes that may be dangerous to their health, Press Progress reports that proactive, unannounced Resident Quality Inspections to determine their quality, will not yet resume:
While, in Summer 2020, Premier Ford promised “We are going to do surprise inspections right across the province, so my message to all long term care homes is to get your act together” that did not materialize.
Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director Natalie Mehra noted ... “Going into the homes and asking residents if they feel safe is how you find out about abuse,...It’s how you can tell if the resident is declining, or losing weight or have bruises or that they’re staring up at the ceiling because no one has positioned them to even watch TV. If inspectors don’t go into the home, they don’t see that.”
‘Just a code word for privatization,’ Aug. 18
The unconscionable and heartless directive by the Ford government to free up hospital beds by having “elderly” patients transferred to long-term care (LTC) facilities far removed from their families and communities, follows the same scheme the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals hatched, which brought the same outrage that families and others are expressing now.
The Conservatives have blatantly put ageism forward by discriminating against people of a certain age as “elderly.”
Where do those other adults waiting for nursing home placement fit into the government’s solution of clearing hospital beds?
To label those of any age waiting in hospital for accommodation in a long-term facility as “bed-blockers” shows a disturbing indifference to them.
The chaos in hospitals is not the fault of Ontario seniors, but government has shamefully placed the blame on some of our most vulnerable people.
Privatization does not work, Aug. 12
Remember how former Premier Mike Harris “created a crisis” in education with the goal of privatizing?
Well, today Premier Ford has created a crisis in health care and, surprise, surprise, he is talking about privatization, which has already wreaked havoc in long-term-care (LTC) homes.
Ask yourself if education is any better for Mike Harris’s heavy-handed disruption tactic?
I submit that things are much worse.
If anyone thinks privatizing healthcare will make things better, look to the past, then think again!
As George Santayana once wrote, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Jonathan O’Mara, Whitby, Ont.
Privatization does not work, Aug. 12
While I am not schooled in the intricacies of economics, it does seem to me that any model of privatization means profit, by which the provider must charge more, through extra billing, not covered by OHIP, or reduce costs, such as offering staff less money and benefits, and/or reducing the number of staff, and thereby lower the quality of service.
It only makes sense that privatization results in greater costs to the tax-payer and consumers, and less quality to those unable to pay for enhanced services.
While privatization advocates claim that fewer people will be waiting in the public system, they fail to state that a private tier would syphon off professionals (already in short supply) from the public system, contributing further to the strain on our public system.
We must maintain the integrity of our universal heath care system.
Sylvia Jones warns ‘status quo’ in Ontario health care is not sustainable, Aug. 17
It apparently was not bad enough the Ford government opted for mass institutionalization of our seniors in long-term care facilities in defiance of their stated wishes to age in place.
Now to fill empty LTC beds in the white elephants his government has funded to the tune of over $6 billion of taxpayer’s money? They plan to ship our seniors, like cattle, from one community to another so they don’t “block beds” in hospitals. Remove them from all that is familiar at the most vulnerable time in their lives to a place they don’t know, to be cared for by strangers, where it is difficult for family to visit?
In other words, abandon them after a lifetime of helping to build this province.
Could this government possibly have a more contemptuous view of older adults? Is this really what Ontario voted for?
Patricia Spindel, Ajax, Ont.
UPDATE: Let's give the final word to Brittlestar:
To those 57% who couldn't rouse themselves to vote in the last Ontario election, please do not make sounds of outrage over the likelihood that Doug Ford will introduce more privatization into our healthcare system. You didn't participate, so I really have little regard for your thoughts on the matter. Electoral silence, in my view, gives consent.
Sylvia Jones, our new Minister of Health, is starting to use the word innovation a great deal, which many see as code for privatization. Indeed, one can well-imagine that one of her early innovations will benefit the many private operators of long-term care facilities including, of course, the Chair of Chartwell Homes, the infamous Mike Harris.
Here is one of the brilliant ideas Ms. Jones is sharing:
Jones and Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra will outline a spate of “operational” reforms Thursday morning at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
One move, first reported by CityNews and confirmed by the Star, is to make permanent a pandemic emergency measure that allows the moving of patients in hospitals awaiting a long-term care bed to nursing homes in other communities.
Progressive Conservative sources said the decision to transport elderly people to an available bed elsewhere would be left up to doctors and could free up some 250 hospital beds by year’s end.
A bloodless solution, eh, unless you happen to be an essential caregiver to the relocated senior, likely a senior yourself.
I won't bore you with the details of how, despite the mantra that private enterprise always does things more efficiently, the private model is more a shell game than a solution; you probably already understand it is merely rearranging those deck chairs on the Titanic and ultimately confining many to the steerage section to await their doom.
I'll let the always entertaining and infinitely more witty Brittlestar speak for me.
Here in Ontario, the newly re-elected Conservatives under Doug Ford are making oblique sounds about private health care as a way to help solve our hospital crises. While we do have private clinics, etc. in this province, it would seem that they are suggesting much more than that.
One needn't be a particularly deep thinker to see some of the flaws in that logic, the most egregious being that private entities exist to make profits, and that anyone working for a private healthcare entity is bled off from the public system.
The following is Brittlestar offering a clear explanation to those who react ideologically instead of thinking critically. I also include a couple of comments from his followers:
Geez..you nailed this! My sister has a doc who runs a private clinic in TO. She pays $5,000 a year to see her doctor. When she had a heart attack this doc actually said she couldn't treat her as her annual fee was due. She suggested my sister find an OHIP doc. Private Healthcare!
.................
My daughter was in the hospital for 4 months due 2 complications from brain surgery. Nine years ago i had cancer. I could not imagine having 2 pick & choose what healthcare 2 get based on our income. My daughter & i are still alive thanks to universal Healthcare.
In the days of my youth, the above was an anthem of resistance, shouted in defiance of the American draft sending young men to fight and to die in Vietnam. As a Canadian, I watched from the sidelines but nonetheless admired them for their conviction and willingness to go to jail for their beliefs.
Unfortunately, applied in a different context, that declaration is a badge of dishonour.
Those who have read some of my recent blog entries will know that I feel nothing but contempt for the majority of citizens in Ontario who refused to go to the polls in our recent election, one that saw a minority responsible for a second Doug Ford majority government. And while many insist that our first-past-the post system is responsible for such a victory, I lay the blame entirely upon those who could not rouse themselves from their couch torpor to exercise a foundational element of democracy.
The emerging narrative is that the Tories somehow won a tainted election, diminished by a dreadful electoral turnout. It goes something like this:
Doug Ford’s Tories won 83 seats? True, but it’s not a true majority, the critics counter.
They imply that Progressive Conservative victory came thanks to a record low turnout — 43.5 per cent of Ontario’s 10.7 million eligible voters cast ballots in this election. As if this low percentage is the top-line number that matters most.
As if people staying at home — in their armchairs — exercise a veto from a distance that somehow invalidates, disenfranchises or delegitimizes those of us who bothered to cast ballots in a free and fair election. As if abstention trumps participation.
Rewriting recent history to favour one's ideological leanings doesn't work, according to Regg Cohn.
The unspoken implication is that not voting must be counted as a vote of non-confidence in the winning party, losing parties, or the electoral system. That is a remarkably presumptuous attempt to read the minds of all eligible voters.
Do we dare assume that people who are entirely apathetic have a hidden preference, as opposed to simply being uninterested? Do we have grounds to presume that a significant proportion of non-voters would vote if only we changed the electoral system by bringing in proportional representation, as its advocates claim?
A 2007 Ontario referendum put paid to the notion that PR is the panacea; it was rejected, a result that many of its supporters refuse to accept ... on the grounds that there was a low turnout.
One can clearly see the problem here.
Ultimately, in my view and in my personal philosophy, it is time for people to grow up and accept the bitter truth of their own apathy instead of the sweet lie that they abstained from voting out of some kind of principled position. In other words, they need to take a good look in the mirror and see what it really reflects.
And the true results of that dereliction of duty are just starting to emerge. Noor Javed writes:
It was supposed to be the most significant investment in Port Hope’s history.
But a land deal — two years in the making — between the municipality and the Ontario Power Generation to acquire 540 hectares of unused Crown land along Lake Ontario was abruptly terminated by the province, which said the land would instead be assessed by its newest program: the Centre of Realty Excellence (CORE).
The province’s last-minute intervention stunned local politicians and residents who said the local MPP, who is also Doug Ford’s environment minister, supported the $18.6-million deal, which would have seen underutilized lands used for employment, housing and the preservation of environmentally sensitive lands.
Given that the erstwhile deal included housing development, but also the preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, it is perhaps instructive to look at what the government's CORE website has to say: distilled to its essence, it is all about facilitating rapid development of housing through the reduction of red tape, along with stern penalties for municipalities and their taxpayers that don't get with the program:
Applicants who do not receive approval of their site plan application within the legislated timeframe would have their application fees refunded through a phased approach. Fees would be refunded at the following percentages based on the amount of time that has passed since the municipality received the complete application and fee, starting January 1, 2023:
- 50% of the fee within 60 days
- 25% of the fee within 90 days (for a total refund of 75%)
- 25% of the fee within 120 days (for a total refund of 100%)
Considering Doug Ford's well-known ties with developers, the defunct deal with Port Hope should alarm those who understand how important and increasingly urgent it is to preserve environmentally sensitive lands. Says Jennifer Jackman, who is part of a group that represents local environmental groups Willow Beach Field Naturalists and the Northumberland Land Trust:
“This area is unique naturally, it’s not one type of ecosystem … it’s a forested area with ravines running through it that connects to a wetlands. That functioning ecosystem is unusual, particularly south of the 401”.
Jackman said it’s too early to say if the environment will play a role in CORE.
“We haven’t found much about what CORE will be like — what its priorities will be. It doesn’t mention conservation or ecology as one of its priorities, it’s more about getting value for their lands. So we are a little nervous about this,” she said.
Ms. Jackman is right to be nervous. And if things run to their predictable outcome, she will have not only the Doug Ford government to blame, but the millions of Ontarians who could not muster the intestinal fortitude to stop a second Progressive Conservative majority by exercising their franchise.
I can't remember a time when I have been less inspired about an election. Here in Ontario, where we go to the polls on June 2, we have Conservative Doug Ford leading in the polls, counting on a credulous and forgetful electorate. Then we have the seatless Liberal leader, Lex Luther lookalike David Del Duca, promising a buck-a-ride, inexplicably unembarrassed by how it recalls Doug's preposterous buck-a-beer promise in the last election. Such policy vacuity, he assumes, will go unnoticed by the electorate. Then there is Andrea Horwath, so heedless as to how her NDP leadership hubris has hobbled the party for too long now.
I refuse to lump Green leader Mike Shriner into this morass; his policies may be sound, but his party has no chance of making a difference.
One anticipates a post-election reckoning by those who care about their parties' futures.
Meanwhile, since I have nothing but my contempt to offer, I am posting some editorial cartoons that bespeak the sad state of affairs in this province.
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I'm feeling too burnt out these days to put thoughts to words, my ever-constant cynicism about people and politics reaching new levels. Therefore, allow me to post some editorial cartoons that help to capture the absurdity of what we call politics and life.
H/t Michael de Adder
People in Ontario will recognize this as one of Doug Ford's election bribes and an acknowledgement of his good friends, the developers.
If you have been reading my blog lately, you will see that I have posted a few times about the ongoing bribery by Doug Ford in his efforts to secure a second majority come this June's election. Indeed, for the student of politics, Ford's government is a master class in political sleaze.
Whether or not he finds success in buying people's votes, it is at least a bit comforting to know that others are not so easily swayed by his all-too-transparent efforts. The following letters attest to that fact:
Doug Ford’s obvious desperation for victory is troubling | The Star
With the volume of economic announcements being made by the Doug Ford provincial government, one gets the impression Premier Ford is desperate to win the next election.
The incumbent leaders can wield a lot of persuasive power to grease the rails for a victory. But winning at all costs is not in the democratic handbook.
We all know Donald Trump wanted to win too badly and was prepared to do so at all costs, such as doing so illegally and trashing his own reputation in the process. But here in Ontario, I have never seen a government in power deliver so many pre-election perks. For instance, the most foolish of all was the refund for past years’ licence sticker payments. Waiving future fees would have been enough.
The question is: does Doug Ford want to win the election too much? And why? He hasn’t shown any natural ability for the job of premier.
Ontario vehicle owners will get rebates for licence plate renewal fees, Doug Ford says, Feb. 22
I can’t tell you how disgusted I was when I opened my letter from Service Ontario and it was a cheque for my licence rebate.
I’m sure there are people in Ontario who could use that money. But is this what we have been reduced to? Like a sheriff walking into a saloon and buying drinks for anyone who will vote for him. (Oh, that was last time with buck-a-beer.)
I hope Ontario voters are smarter than that. Vote for someone who will really help those who need it.
About a month after the province announced masking was no longer mandatory, Omicron is everywhere. With testing limited and hobbled, wastewater data shows there is more COVID in circulation than there was at the peak of the January Omicron wave. According to Dr. Peter Jüni, the scientific director of the province’s independent volunteer science table, Ontario is seeing an estimated 100,000 COVID infections per day right now, give or take. That number will continue to grow.
As Arthur points out, the ending of the mandates was in essence a message to the public that they could relax their guard, that the government can handle anything untoward arising thanks to fictitious hospital and ICU space. If you have been to grocery stores or pharmacies of late (the only two public places I go to these days outside of the library), you will know by the number of maskless you encounter that Ford's message has been lustily received by many.
Linda McQuaig has little but contempt for this tactic.
... the throng of anti-vaxxers, white supremacists and other assorted hate-mongers who held Ottawa hostage for three weeks are a key part of Doug Ford’s base, and he’s managed to quietly deliver them a victory while seemingly just lifting constraints because the COVID situation has improved.
Except that it hasn’t. And it’s absurd that the premier is trying to pass things off as fine when they’re not. Estimated infection levels are now almost equal to the Omicron peak in early January and hospitalizations across the province are up 40 per cent this week.
Ford insists that the province can “ramp up” to 3,000 ICU beds if needed. But all those beds won’t help without nurses to staff them, and the province has the lowest number of nurses per capita of any province in Canada.
None of these facts, however, are of any consequence to the base; all of us, however, will potentially pay the price for this pandering. For example, this morning we got a call from my brother-in-law who, despite being triple-vaxxed and religiously mask-wearing, has contracted Covid. Right now, it sounds like he has a very bad cold, but even if it does not progress beyond that, who is to say what his chances are of having to live with long Covid?
As I have written before, this entire pandemic has been been a sobering revelation of what we, as a species, are made of. While many have made great sacrifices, both personal and for the collective good, others in substantial numbers have shown themselves to be reactive rather than reflective, railing against any restrictions on their personal freedom, as if the latter were an absolute.
We are all the poorer for the Ford government's abandonment of its responsibilities to its citizens. Clearly, in an election year, politics trumps the public good.
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Yesterday, retrieving the day's delivery from our mailbox, I really was not surprised to find an envelope from the Ontario government. It contained my licence sticker rebate for the past two years, plus another $100, the latter of which I do not understand. But it doesn't matter; I'm not keeping it.
With the Ford government's largesse now in full bloom (in May, child-care rebates will be issued now that a deal has been struck with Ottawa), it would seem that its beneficence will be unquestioned by millions of Ontarians on June 2, our provincial election date. I will be very surprised if the Ford government is not re-elected with a resounding majority. Even the workers of Ontario may line up with them, given Monte McNaughton's recent efforts at labour reform.
All will now seem right with Ontario-world until, of course, it isn't. Once the election is over and the provincial Liberals and NDP continue to carp impotently from the sidelines, the hammer will come down, all in the name of 'fiscal prudence.' Where the big cuts in spending will be made, I do not know, but given the annual revenue loss of at least $1 billion from eliminating the licence-renewal fee alone, only a naif would place his/her trust in 'Our Ford' to behave with justice and compassion. And people, both individually and collectively, will suffer as a result.
Which is why I am not keeping my renewal rebate. Before I proceed, let me assure you that I am not claiming any particular virtue here. My life is comfortable; the bills are always paid; I have a good pension. The modest way we have always lived has served us in good stead. Our financial future is secure.
Obviously, many people are not in my position, but if you comfortable, you may want to consider redirecting Mr. Ford's bribes rebates to causes you deem worthy. My personal choices are the following:
Indspire, a national Indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Metis individuals, providing them with the tools to live successful lives. I previously posted about the organization, and you can check out its website here.
Because so many are precariously housed or entirely homeless, I also lend support to an organization called Indwell, a registered non-profit whose mission is to build supportive housing. With vulnerable populations likely to suffer even more when the cutbacks come, this seems like a logical, legitimate choice for a charitable donation, and they are definitely making a difference.
Given the rampant nature of food insecurity and poverty, my final choice today is Food4Kids, which serves a large number of communities, both in Ontario and in the U.S. Its mission statement:
To provide healthy food for kids from at-risk, low-income or disadvantaged homes with limited or no food during weekend periods or during the summer months.
So there you have it. Not all who may read this are in any position to give. That I understand. But there are other things you can do, not the least of which is to turn out to vote on June 2, ideally for a party that you feel best represents your values and your hopes and aspirations for this province.
As a follow-up to yesterday's post about the many bribes Doug Ford is offering voters to win their support in June, here are two letters that offer interesting perspectives:
Ontario drivers to save $120 per year through Premier Doug Ford’s cancelling of licence renewal fees — but it will cost Ontarians about $1 billion worth of services. Tolls are to be eliminated on Highways 412 and 418 — offering savings to drivers in Durham Region.
Now, nurses are being offered $5,000 as a “retention” bonus — but still face wage caps under Bill 124.
As a senior I am asking you, Premier Ford, what pre-election goodies are you offering to buy my vote this June?
Ford offers nurses ‘retention’ bonus, Mar. 8
Once again, Doug Ford continues his method of governing: too much too late. I am neither an economist, nor a financial expert. I retired from a medical business, where I employed 20 folks, who, at the time I left, had worked with us for eight and a half years, an astounding rate of employee retention for our field.
In part, this was due to higher-than-average wages for our industry, along with generous vacation periods, and automatic sick pay.
With the nurses, wouldn’t it be much more prudent to increase their wages, rather than throwing money at the situation, after which the nurses might leave, in any case?
The question remaining to be answered is how many voters will Ford have been able to corrupt by June 2, our election day?
In the run-up to this June's provincial election, the premier is sparing no expense (while at the same time eliminating huge amounts of revenue) to buy at least enough votes to ensure a return of his government.
Democracy, for all of its vaunted benefits, can be ugly.
As I noted in a post last month, Mr. Ford is already spending over $1 billion in forgone revenue in his avid pursuit of our support. He assumes that the surrendering of these funds by eliminating licence plate sticker renewals and toll road fees will be pleasing to many; of course, no one has explained how that treasury gap will be filled, but my guess is, post-election, through 'fiscal discipline,' i.e., cuts.
But the blandishments don't end there. Through Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, the Ford government has become the friend of the worker. Many of the measures announced thus far have been long overdue, such as the January minimum wage raise to $15 dollars an hour, a previous Liberal government measure Ford scrapped after coming to office in 2018. Another is the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act which, on the surface, looks progressive. The Act says it
will guarantee a regular minimum wage for individuals employed by app-based services, such as ride-share drivers and couriers, which they will receive on top of their tips. It also makes it mandatory for workers to receive a recurring pay period and pay day while prohibiting tips from being withheld by platform operators.
“Every worker in the province deserves to earn at least minimum wage, and these companies have a responsibility—and they're going to be forced by law—to clearly tell workers on digital platforms how and when they're going to be paid.”
But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and Armine Yalnizyan smells sulphur, concluding it
is actually anti-worker legislation. It denies basic worker protections to gig workers by creating a second tier of labour rights for the people whose employer says they are independent contractors, regardless of what employees say. That ensures these workers are unlikely to be paid minimum wage, get overtime, vacation or severance pay, be covered by occupational health and safety rules, or be able to organize for better.
The reason this legislation is actually regressive and will hurt gig workers lies in the fact that a decision recently handed down stated that
an Uber Eats driver is already an “employee” under the Ontario Employment Standards Act.
Law professor David Dorey says that
the finding of “employee” status led to an order for Uber to pay the courier close to $1000 for various violations of the ESA, including a failure to pay the minimum wage for all hours that the courier was “waiting or holding himself ready to work”.As I understand the proposed new Ontario law, only “engaged” time is counted as working, meaning the time that a driver is actively completing an order. As a result, an Uber Eats driver … would be entitled to less wages under the government’s new law than they are already entitled to under the existing ESA.
Lest health-care providers feel left out of this 'largesse', Mr. Ford has something for them as well, not an increase in salary, but $5000 retention bonuses for nurses. An obvious bribe, it will be paid in two installments, one before and one after the election.
As well, and no doubt important for all those who "love freedom," is the pending elimination of all Covid-19 restrictions in Ontario. But at least our chief Medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, is asking people to be kind to those who still want to wear masks.
And I suspect that the final tier on the 'inducement' cake Ford is baking for his voters will come soon: the announcement of a deal with the federal government for $10-a-day daycare funding. Up to this point, the province has insisted it needs more than the $10.2 billion on offer, but I rather think that will not be an obstacle for too much longer, given the proximity of our election.
As always, a healthy democracy depends upon an informed electorate and viable choices; Ford is likely (and probably rightly) counting on a high level of ignorance, something that is increasingly becoming the norm. And given the unpalatable and largely unprincipled nature of the two main opposition parties in our province, we are effectively offered little to whet either our imaginations or our enthusiasms.
