Ontario

Friday July 17, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 17, 2020

Heavy lifting for long-term care awaits Doug Ford

In the 100-kilometre journey to deliver a decent long-term-care system for Ontario, Doug Ford took a baby step forward this week.

June 17, 2020

By offering a 10 per cent subsidy hike to private-sector nursing home operators who open new beds, the premier should rid the province of at least some of those disgusting, overcrowded, four-person wards that became death-traps in the COVID-19 pandemic. 

That change alone represents welcome, if overdue, progress. Indeed, the Ontario Long Term Care Association, which represents 70 per cent of the province’s 630 long-term-care facilities, applauded the changes Ford’s making.

But there’s less in the government’s new funding formula than meets the eye. If the goal is rebuilding an entire long-term-care edifice, Ontario’s stuck at the stage of digging the new foundation.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the serious, even shameful, deficiencies in a vital part of Ontario’s public health-care system. The province’s nursing homes have witnessed the deaths of 1,730 elderly residents and eight workers since the outbreak began in March. That’s almost two-thirds of Ontario’s officially reported COVID-19 fatalities.

May 27, 2020

The fact that the Canadian military had to be ordered in to save seven nursing homes that were overrun by the disease proved beyond any doubt that this province had turned a blind eye to grave systemic failings. The abuse, neglect, bug infestations, bleeding infections and the residents crying for help for hours that the army discovered should have no place in this affluent, supposedly caring country. 

Correcting that, along with improving homes that if not as bad are beneath basic, acceptable standards, is a monumental challenge. What Ford did this week was simply provide new details about a previously announced $1.75-billion infusion into long-term-care facilities. 

When that money was first committed, the government promised 15,000 new beds and renovations of 15,000 existing beds over the next decade. It’s unclear if that bold commitment still stands.

April 9, 2020

Ford did say this week that his new funding changes mean 8,000 new beds and 12,000 redeveloped beds are in the works. Air conditioning and improved ventilation is on the way for many nursing homes. Safer, more comfortable facilities will benefit nursing home residents and staff alike.

Left unanswered is how Ford plans to provide the 30,000 beds he originally pledged for the coming years. That’s a nagging question that will not go away. There are 36,000 seniors on the waiting-list for long-term care in Ontario. Ford needs to show us all his road map for moving forward.

COVID-19 Cartoons

He needs to say if his nursing home system overhaul will include providing more hands-on, daily care for residents. It should. And what about the personal support workers who provide such essential services? They receive miserable wages for a demanding job that offers minimal security. Ford needs to increase staffing levels but also the pay and working conditions for that workforce.

In addition, the Ontario government needs a detailed plan for improving the oversight of the province’s nursing homes. If Ford is content with allowing the long-term-care system to rely so heavily on private providers, he must ensure proper transparency and accountability. That could come from the independent commission Ford wants to investigate the system. But he has yet to say when that commission will begin its job.

Not every long-term-care facility does a bad job. Too many do. Ford has signalled that transforming the system is one of his highest priorities. But what he announced this week will raise red flags that suggest he’s content with superficial fixes. We need him to completely re-invent how we care for our elderly. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Wednesday July 8, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 8, 2020

Ontario plans to stop Grade 9 students from streaming into applied or academic tracks

Series: Young Doug Ford

The Ontario government plans to stop its Grade 9 “applied” and “academic” track streaming, a spokesperson for the ministry of education confirmed Monday.

High school students in Ontario typically have to choose between more practical, hands-on applied courses or more theoretical academic courses in core subjects.

“Students, families and staff deserve an education system that is inclusive, accountable, and transparent, and one that by design, is set up to fully and equally empower all children to achieve their potential,” Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

December 5, 2019

“This government will move quickly and decisively to combat systemic racism so that every child – irrespective of colour of skin, heritage, faith or ability – can have a fighting chance at success.”

The streaming process was developed in the late 1990s as a way to cater to students with different learning styles, but experts say that streaming has disproportionately impacted racialized and low-income students, affecting graduation rates and test scores.

Advocacy group People for Education has long been calling for an end to the streaming process. They argue that it ends up dividing students rather than providing them with more options.

January 25, 2019

“There as a high disproportionate amount of kids in the applied stream who were Black, who were Indigenous, who came from low-income families,” Annie Kidder from People for Education said. “All of the research, every single year when it was looked at on who goes to applied found a disproportionate portion of kids from certain backgrounds.”

Kidder said that while eliminating the practice is the right thing to do, she wants to know more about how students with different learning styles will be supported during the transition as well as teachers.

“You can’t just flip a switch,” she said. “You have to be willing to do the other part of the work.”

Five years ago People for Education called on the Liberal government to merge the two levels of Grade 9 math classes after a survey found that students in the applied version of the course were less successful on EQAO tests, less likely to graduate and less likely to go on to post-secondary education. (CTV) 

 



 

Friday June 12, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 12, 2020

Migrant workers in Canada face unsafe working, living conditions: report

Migrant workers in Canada are facing unsafe living and working conditions amid a series of COVID-19 outbreaks on Ontario farms, according to an advocacy group.

May 7, 2020

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) on Monday released a report summarizing complaints made to its tip line between March 15 and May 15 by workers from Mexico and the Caribbean about racism, threats, surveillance, poor access to food, and dirty cramped bunkhouses, with 40 people in a dorm reportedly sharing one shower in one case.

“We are in the midst of a human rights catastrophe,” MWAC executive director Syed Hussan said on Monday.

The report comes after a series of recent outbreaks on Ontario farms that have seen hundreds of migrant workers reportedly test positive for COVID-19. Two migrant workers, identified as Bonifacio Eugenio Romero and Rogelio Muñoz Santos, both from Mexico, have died from the virus. At least two other migrant workers are in intensive care, MWAC said.

May 9, 2019

“The employer was not interested in our well-being, only in the work we do for him,” a farm worker from Mexico, identified as Edgar, said through a translator at an MWAC video news conference on Tuesday.

Employment and Workforce Development Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office on Monday said in a statement that there is “more to do” to protect migrant workers in Canada.

“The reported cases of inappropriate behaviours and unsafe working conditions are completely unacceptable,” the statement said, noting the government has already pledged $50 million to farmers to help with the costs of housing and paying workers for 30 hours a week during the mandatory two-week quarantine upon their arrival in the country.

But MWAC said it has received complaints from workers who reported not receiving their full quarantine pay. Others reported not receiving enough food during that two-week period.

“Sixteen workers reported receiving only one loaf of bread and a carton of eggs to feed them all for two days,” MWAC said. “One group of nine workers called us about being placed in a house where dogs had been living, that smelled of dog urine and had not been cleaned prior to the workers’ arrival. (Financial Post) 



 

Tuesday June 9, 2020

June 9, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 9, 2020

“Thousands more” Ontario frontline healthcare workers need pandemic pay: union

An Ontario union is calling on the federal government to extend pandemic pay for frontline healthcare workers, who are “risking their lives ad the lives of their families,” tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

May 29, 2020

“Many frontline health workers risking their lives — and the lives of their families — are not getting pandemic pay,” Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said in a statement. 

He is calling on the federal government to “step up.”

“Pandemic pay is vital recognition of the sacrifices these workers are making to get us through this pandemic, but there’s a void,” said Thomas. “Why isn’t it being offered to all of the healthcare workers in our hospitals, and other congregate settings?”

According to the union president, the provincial government has indicated that it has run out of funding after offering pandemic pay to 375,000 workers.

On April 29, Premier Doug Ford expanded pandemic pay to more frontline workers which included, staff working in long-term care homes, retirement homes, emergency shelters, supportive housing, social services congregate care settings, corrections institutions, and youth justice facilities, as well as those providing home and community care and some staff in hospitals.

However, Thomas says there are “thousands more who are facing exactly the same kinds of risks and hardships.”

Adding, that Ford has said he would “love to extend it to all workers” if only the province had the money.

Which is in Thomas’ opinion, where the federal government needs to come in.

According to the union president, with outbreaks still happening in long-term care homes, manufacturing and meat-processing plants, and amongst migrant workers the burden on health care workers is only becoming greater.

“It’s imperative for the federal government to show its support for all of Ontario’sfrontline health heroes and come to the table with more support,” Thomas said. “The sooner the engine of the national economy emerges from the pandemic, the sooner Canada will be able to recover. Prime minister, Ontario needs your help.”

On May 7, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government had reached a $4 billion deal with the provinces and territories to top up wages for essential workers.

Who received the wage top up was up to the premiers and provinces, according to the prime minister. (Daily Hive News) 

 

Saturday June 6, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 6, 2020

Toronto hairstylist launches petition, calls for Ontario to reopen salons, barber shops

April 25, 2020

A long-time Toronto hairstylist has launched an online petition calling on the Ontario government to reopen hair salons and barber shops, months after closing amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

Norm Wright, who has spent most of his three-decade career at Taz Hair Co. in the Yorkville neighbourhood, opened a petition on Change.org this week to voice his frustration about remaining shut down.

As of Thursday night, it had nearly 10,000 signatures.

Ontario is the last remaining province without an announced opening date for the industry, Wright said. With new health and safety measures already in place at his salon and others in the hair industry, he insists they are ready to reopen now, “We are taking steps that businesses that have been allowed to be open have not [taken] and we don’t feel that we are being taken seriously,” he said.

“If these family-owned businesses aren’t being taken seriously for much longer, they’re going to close.”

Donna Dolphy, who owns a salon in Toronto, told Global News she is worried that if shops like hers remain closed much longer, customers will turn to the underground market.

Life in a Pandemic

“Where are they going to go? Nobody wants to look like a sheep dog for very long,” she said.

“They’re going to want to have service done. And if this continues we may not have clients come back in our chair.”

New measures at many barber shops and hair salons include taking clients’ temperature at the door, fewer work stations, no blow-drying and removing items like magazines, Wright explained.

“If this continues on the velocity it’s continuing on while other businesses that aren’t taking the same precautions are allowed to reopen, hair and beauty in Ontario will be decimated,” he said. (Global News)