Not For A Few Dollars More

Sunday sees the start of the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Comprised of 444 municipalities, the conference offers the opportunity to discuss and make recommendations on a wide ranges of issues affecting cities and regions throughout the province.

Without doubt, high on their list will be the high costs of dealing with the massive opioid and homelessness crises Ontario  is experiencing, costs that are being increasingly borne by property tax payers thanks to the downloading that started under Mike Harris and continues to this day. It is an unsustainable model, one that the Doug Ford government is loathe to acknowledge.

Cities and towns across Ontario saw at least 1,400 homeless encampments in their communities last year, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), which is asking the province for guidance on how to handle them, as well as more help to house and support people.

"While municipalities did not create the homelessness crisis, they are being forced to manage it without the resources or tools to sufficiently respond," the association wrote.

And the problem is only growing. 

The big city mayors have launched a public campaign to put pressure on higher levels of government to provide increased and consistent funding to municipalities for supportive housing, harm reduction programs, crisis centres and mental health supports.

"Both levels of government have answered the call with some funding for programs over the last year. But it's not consistent or enough, it's piecemeal. Taking on the homelessness crisis takes a whole-of-government approach that spans multiple ministries and multiple levels of government," Meed Ward said.

Peter Bethlenthalvy, Ontario's finance minister, has offered some relief to Toronto and Ottawa, but seems reluctant to do much more than spend the $28 million he has allotted to fight the problems. Big city mayors say that is not nearly enough, given that there is an estimated 240,000 homeless people.

To put pressure on the government, the big-city mayors have launched a Solve the Crisis campaign, which I encourage you to visit and offer your perspective to your federal, provincial and municipal representatives.

The crisis being faced by Ontarians will not be solved by a few dollars more. Nothing less than a total re-uploading of social housing, infrastructure costs, etc. downloaded to municipalizes by Mike Harris will do.

And here's a final thought: for people like Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie, who talk a good opposition game, where is your policy on all of this?

Editorial Cartoon Of The Day

If you are one of the many who realize that whatever it may be, Doug Ford's government is not "for the people," you will likely enjoy this cartoon.

And here's the second best of the day, which follows Ford's lame and rather cruel attempt at humour the other day. Attending the opening of  a large vet clinic near Toronto, he insensitively suggested, "by the looks of it we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs and CAT scans and everything else."

But perhaps that is what Ontario has become in its healthcare. Like animals, we can expect only scraps from the table of our master while he cultivates and services his masters.

Blatant Racism

I don't have anything especially interesting to about write today, so I thought I would put up this video that exemplifies the unapologetic racism of Don Trump and his adherents. 

This is not a dog whistle. It is a loud, piercing, desperate scream of fear that he will lose the presidential race to Kamala Harris

The Erosion Of Local Democracy

The dog days of summer often offer opportunities for unscrupulous governments to slip something by the people. With the focus more on partying than politics, unpopular measures can be enacted with minimal consequences, at least that was likely the thought of Doug Ford and his cronies here in Ontario.

After his retreat from the Greenbelt incursions he had promised to his developer friends, the premier has to find ways to atone for his betrayal. One part of his penance is to remove impediments to their schemes.

A provincial law change that curtailed third-party groups’ ability to appeal development decisions has left environmental and ratepayer groups saying they’ve been silenced in a move that puts developer interests ahead of citizen concerns.

Ontario residents can no longer appeal development decisions at the Ontario Land Tribunal — a quasi-judicial body designed to adjudicate planning and other land disputes — after the Doug Ford government introduced legislation that removes the ability of third-parties such as ratepayer groups or environmental groups to do so.

The province says the changes to the third-party appeal rights in the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act (Bill 185), which passed in June, will “help communities get quicker planning approvals for housing projects.”

But this arrack on citizens' rights, contrary to the plan, has not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by these letters from concerned residents of this province. 

With my community, I was part of an Ontario Joint Board hearing (now known as the Ontario Land Tribunal) that successfully protected source water and endangered species from a gravel mining proposal on Mount Nemo in Burlington, Ont. We hired independent experts to make our case, and the evidence we presented was instrumental in the board’s decision to deny the quarry. As citizens, we had real stake in the outcome. Our well water, air quality and surrounding environment were at risk. Removing a community’s right to participate threatens to remove decision maker’s access to the on-the-ground knowledge and concerns of locals. Developers have the right to appeal local government decisions to the OLT. Taking away citizen’s equal rights encourages poorer planning and riskier development. The Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act (Bill 185) bolsters corporate dominance, and renders the democratic voice of the people mute.

Sarah Harmer, Burlington

Reporter Noor Javed’s excellent article about new rules barring OLT third party appeals illustrates how our democratic rights are being trampled. The anger is growing daily in this region about Premier Doug Ford’s hypocritical statements about “governing for the people” as precious farmland and natural spaces are being squandered and lost. Our community of Ball’s Bridge and Little Lakes Road in southwestern Ontario has invested years of time and thousands of dollars to try to protect a natural area well loved by the public. We have been abandoned by our local council and have now been abandoned by the provincial government.

Rebecca Garrett, Goderich, Ont.

Bill 185 denies citizens groups from speaking up to protect our precious places. Is this this fair? Is this democratic? Absolutely not. We must fight for our right to be heard!

Wendy Hoernig, Goderich, Ont.

Since the enactment of Bill 185, the right of citizen groups to influence, challenge or contest planning decisions pushed by developers has been stripped away. This egregious action continues to erode our civil society and our democratic process. This seems to be the unspoken Tory agenda. We are “Open for Business” but only for those who are developers. This is hardly “a government for the people.” The worst kind of hypocrisy is to claim citizens are holding up development through appeals when the data shows that many of the appeals recorded over the past decade are by the developers themselves. Shame on the Ontario Conservatives for the their attack on democracy. Shame on MPP Jill Dunlop for supporting this. Bill 185 must be repealed.

David Jeffery, Tiny, Ont.

A somnolent citizenry is something that governments who are "for the people" in name only count on. One hopes that those who refuse to sleep are able to get some much needed traction here.

 

The Optics Of Optimism

While I realize that the U.S. is not our country, I am nothing less than rivetted by its current politics. Obviously, whatever happens in that country has an outsized effect on the rest of the world. It is therefore so refreshing and hopeful that the Democrats seem to have found a winning combination in Kamala Harrris and Tim Walz. 

While it would be unforgivably naive to  place an unconditional bet on their unqualified virtue, they at least have the advantage of being a new combination, one that stands in sharp contrast to the mad meanderings of Don Trump and the viciousness of J.D. Vance. And the latest polling seems to suggest that there is a huge appetite both for change and optimism.

Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald J. Trump in three crucial battleground states, according to new surveys by The New York Times and Siena College, the latest indication of a dramatic reversal in standing for Democrats after President Biden’s departure from the presidential race remade it.

Ms. Harris is ahead of Mr. Trump by four percentage points in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, 50 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in each state. The surveys were conducted from Aug. 5 to 9.

The polls, some of the first high-quality surveys in those states since Mr. Biden announced he would no longer run for re-election, come after nearly a year of surveys that showed either a tied contest or a slight lead for Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden.

While policy is an important, even vital, component of any platform, there is something else at work here as well: presentation. In her speech to UAW members, Harris clearly delineates, with a quiet passion, the stark differences between her orientation and that of the increasingly desperate and deranged Trump. I. would suggest that you start at about the 2:18 mark to get a flavour of her message.

A message of unity, hope and concern for the collective well-being of people is much needed in the fractured America that exists today. Let's hope its citizens heed that message.

Which Angel Will It Be?

I awoke from a dream this morning in which it seemed I was being registered in a concentration camp, filled with forms and regulations that had to be filled out and followed. As unpleasant as it was, the dream was mercifully short.

With the dream in mind, I began thinking about how easy it is to debase and dehumanize people. History and contemporary events readily bear that out. But what about the opposite? How difficult is it to ennoble people, raise their hopes for a better day, and, in general, appeal to the better angels of their nature?

At times it seems easy. I recall a day in 2015 where I felt inspiration and hope after the long dark night of Stephen Harper's rule. It was the day that Trudeau and his team walked to Rideau Hall to be sworn in with the promise of different and better things ahead.. But subsequent events, beginning with the Prime Minister breaking his vow on electoral reform and the reappearance of traditional Liberal arrogance, frayed those strands of hope over subsequent years.

Americans, it seems to me, are now at a similar juncture. After years of relentless denigration, debasement and violent incitements engineered by Don Trump, they now have an opportunity to embrace a new path which, one hopes, will prove less illusionary than the Trudeau one. That path is the one being laid out by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

And judging by reports, there is a real hunger for their message.

Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour with rallies in rural Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, that the campaign said brought out more than 10,000 people each.

 In Eau Claire, a north-western Wisconsin city less than two hours from Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota, the rally drew attendees from both states – and 12,000 people in total, the campaign said. The Detroit rally on Wednesday night drew 15,000 supporters in another crucial swing state, the Harris campaign told reporters. Walz called it “the largest rally of the campaign” so far.

The big Detroit crowd repeatedly chanted: “We’re not going back,” Democrats’ counter to Trump’s anti-abortion politics and “make America great again” slogan.

 Attendees in Wisconsin said they were enthusiastic about seeing a Harris and Walz ticket. “I’m elated,” said Lori Schlecht, a teacher from Minnesota who said she was excited about Walz given his background in public education – Walz was a public school teacher before he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2006. “Minnesota is blessed to have him, and I’m glad to see him at the national level. He is authentic and real – he’ll get shit done.”

When given the opportunity, I think people crave authenticity, not the faux kind peddled by Trump and his people who rely, not on inspiring people, but provoking the worst angels of their nature. And judging by letters to the editor, Canadians are feeling the same hope:

In a plot twist worthy of a political thriller, Americans have just been given a chance to save themselves by choosing to do what’s right and no longer defaulting to the lesser evil. For the first time in a long time, American democracy appears to be working. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a previous social studies teacher, as her Democratic running mate. Consider the symbolism: a woman of colour and a teacher teaming up to challenge the re-election of Donald Trump, the reigning champion of insurrectionist chaos.

Walz brings to the table an educated notion that co-operation, not competition, is humanity’s evolutionary secret. This represents the clash of real humanistic values versus the phoney, weird MAGA values of Trumpist populists. This isn’t just a choice between red and blue. It’s a choice between reality and reality TV.  Let the “first Walz” for re-establishing credibility and decency in American democracy begin.

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto 

... In Walz, Harris has found a real mensch, a man who is as easy to work with as Donald Trump is the opposite. Walz can out-folksy the populism types, and he’s the real deal when it comes to wanting to make life better for working-class and poor families. 

Ron Charach, Toronto

We all await with bated breath which version of human nature the American people will choose. 

Just Keep Talking - Part Two

As I said in a previous post,  all the Republicans need to do is keep on talking to ensure that Democrats have the greatest chance to retain the White House. Below is a prime example of what I am taking about:

@RonFilipkowski

Jon Voight says Obama is committing a “war crime” by controlling “cackling hyena” Harris, the Left wants to steal your children & make them all trans, Trump is the messiah, & everyone who votes for Harris will commit the worst crime in human history and God will punish us. Weird.

As the saying goes, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.