chainsaw

Tuesday February 4, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 4, 2020

Ford blames union leaders again as teachers plan week of walkouts

Ontario Premier Doug Ford again dismissed the widespread walkouts planned this week by the province’s three largest teacher unions as a matter of union bosses forcing their beleaguered members to march against their will.

January 18, 2020

“They’re getting frustrated that the heads of their unions are forcing their teachers to walk out,” Premier Ford said in Wiarton on Sunday morning, insisting he has teachers telling him they don’t want to strike. “I have had numerous texts from teachers saying ‘I don’t want to be doing this.’”

Negotiations between Ford’s government and the unions have seen little progress since the summer, as he is asking all unions to accept larger class sizes, a hard one-percent cap on wage increases, and two mandatory e-learning courses for all secondary students.

His argument that union leadership is forcing teachers to engage in strike action flies in the face of strike votes held by all three unions, where between 95 and 98 per cent of members in each union voted in favour of strike action.

“I support the frontline teachers I think the men and women who are serving out there work their backs off, they do a great job,” Ford said. “I don’t support the heads of the unions who are causing all these problems right across the province.”

November 22, 2019

Ford said he takes his tone from what hears from the public, and said that all over Ontario, people keep telling him “don’t buckle” to the teachers, who are asking for wage increases in line with inflation.

For their part, the unions say they are acting in the interests of students and the public is behind them.

Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF) President Harvey Bischof said on Sunday that he is “convinced” his members want to engage in strike action, and if Ford feels they’re being forced, he has things he can do to find out.

“If he believes I am the impediment to a deal, he has the right to put a vote directly to my members, to require them to vote on his offer. So let’s see if his offer of reduced course options, larger classes and mandatory e-learning are things my members are willing to accept.”

The three largest teacher’s unions in the province are planning strikes that will impact some or all of the GTA’s school boards every single day this coming week. (CTV) 

 

Friday November 1, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 1, 2019

Can Doug Ford learn from his mistakes?

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has ended the longest legislative break in a quarter century and his own political exile. He admits his government has made mistakes and vows to find a new “tone” going forward.

May 29, 2019

“Governing is always hard,” says Ford. “We all mature in the role that we’re in and you just try not to make the same mistakes.”

Far be it for this page to disagree with Ford on any of that. Or his stated desire to “learn by your mistakes.”

His government has been a disaster, and the way Ontario voters cast their ballots in last week’s federal election strongly suggests they also know it.

But putting the wrecking ball that has been the hallmark of the Ford government’s first 16 months down to exuberance is far too simplistic.

The early autism cuts and cronyism scandal, for example, were mistakes. But much of the chaos in everything from education to social services is not the result of haste or blundering. It flows from purposeful policy decisions to cut costs.

October 29, 2019

So as Ford seeks to reset his government the real question is what exactly he thinks are his “mistakes.” That his policies proved to be more unpopular with the people of Ontario than expected, or that they were the wrong direction in the first place?

If it’s the former, Ontarians can expect to see a slower pace of change with more effort put into finding support for the government’s cuts. If it’s the latter, and we hope it is, it might mean more than that.

Monday’s Question Period, though, didn’t bode well for the idea that the new and improved Ford government is about substance and not just style.

Ford welcomed back NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and thanked her for her questions. Then he launched into the same half-truths he’s always peddled.

On education, Ford said, the government is investing “more money than any government in the history of Ontario.” But per student funding — the primary means of funding schools — is down; some high school students are struggling to get the classes they need for university; and teachers’ unions, furious about job reductions, are set to take strike votes.

May 14, 2019

On Ford’s appalling taxpayer-funded court battle over the federal carbon pricing plan, he continued to claim people “just can’t afford it.” He ignored, as usual, the fact that most people will get back more than they pay because of the rebates that come with it.

It’s obvious that Ford needs to reset his government’s agenda.

At this point, no one, not even his own Progressive Conservative colleagues, can possibly know even what it is, given all the U-turns and waffles over the last few months.

Ford happily blew up Toronto city council mid-election, supposedly to create better and more efficient municipal government and vowed to extend such thinking to other regions. Then, on Friday, after months of consultation and study the government abandoned that idea; instead, it offered municipalities more money to find efficiencies and improve services.

May 4, 2019

The province has finally moved to enact legislation passed by the former Liberal government to ban the promotion of vaping products in convenience stores but hasn’t done the same thing on labour reforms needed to protect temporary workers. It has reduced its deep cuts to child care, but not for legal aid. On carbon pricing Ford changed his mind two months ago, only to change it back again last week.

How is anyone to know what this government stands for now?

At the top of the Ford government’s list of legislative priorities is “restoring trust and accountability in government.”

After promising efficiencies but delivering devastating cuts that will be a long road.

And if Ford really wants to avoid repeating his mistakes, this legislative session needs to be about more than softer words. (Toronto Star) 

 

Thursday November 15, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday November 15, 2012

Fallen acorns a threat to kids with allergies

A York Region mother is fighting to have oak trees removed near her child’s school, fearing that acorns could pose a deadly threat to students with severe allergies.

Donna Giustizia said the young trees on property owned by the City of Vaughan next to St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School are littering the area with acorns. The school, meanwhile, is nut-free to protect students with potentially life-threatening anaphylactic allergies.

“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says nut-free and there’s nuts all over the place,” said Giustizia, who has two teenage children with anaphylactic food allergies, one of whom attends St. Stephen.

“I’m not a crazy mom, I’m not asking for anything that’s not already there.”

Giustizia appeared before Vaughan’s committee of the whole last week to plead for the removal of the trees.

Several councillors at the meeting questioned the precedent that removing the trees might set. Thornhill/Concord Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco wondered whether removing these trees would mean having to remove oak trees from other public properties where children with allergies might be exposed.

Councillors referred the matter to staff to prepare a report on the issue. City communications manager Ted Hallas said in an email that staff wouldn’t release details of the report before it is presented to councillors. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Thursday May 26, 2011

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday May 26, 2011 Budget will phase out political subsidies The government will table its post-election budget on June 6, a document that will implement the Conservatives' promise to phase out political subsidies. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the announcement Wednesday morning on Parliament Hill. "On Monday, June 6 our government will reintroduce the next phase of Canada's economic action plan, a low tax plan for jobs and growth," Flaherty said. The document will include several updates to reflect election promises, but Flaherty said the budget will be almost identical to the document that was unveiled prior to the election. The original budget died when the election writ was dropped, and never went to a vote in the House of Commons. Among the changes: the budget will make good on a Conservative election promise to end political subsidies. "We will include phasing out the per-vote political party subsidy as according to what was set out in the platform...which was a phasing out," Flaherty said when asked by CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife. The budget will also set aside $2.2 billion to fund an agreement the government hopes to reach with Quebec to create a Harmonized Sales Tax. With the Conservatives' new majority government status, there is little doubt the budget will pass. New Democrat Leader Jack Layton lashed out over the elimination of the political party subsidies, suggesting the move was damaging to democracy (Source: CTV News) http://www.ctvnews.ca/budget-due-june-6-will-phase-out-political-subsidies-1.648866 Canada, Stephen Harper, Elizabeth May, Jack Layton, party, subsidy, political, money, tree, majority, chainsaw

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 26, 2011

Budget will phase out political subsidies

The government will table its post-election budget on June 6, a document that will implement the Conservatives’ promise to phase out political subsidies.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the announcement Wednesday morning on Parliament Hill.

“On Monday, June 6 our government will reintroduce the next phase of Canada’s economic action plan, a low tax plan for jobs and growth,” Flaherty said.

The document will include several updates to reflect election promises, but Flaherty said the budget will be almost identical to the document that was unveiled prior to the election. The original budget died when the election writ was dropped, and never went to a vote in the House of Commons.

Among the changes: the budget will make good on a Conservative election promise to end political subsidies.

“We will include phasing out the per-vote political party subsidy as according to what was set out in the platform…which was a phasing out,” Flaherty said when asked by CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.

The budget will also set aside $2.2 billion to fund an agreement the government hopes to reach with Quebec to create a Harmonized Sales Tax.

With the Conservatives’ new majority government status, there is little doubt the budget will pass.

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton lashed out over the elimination of the political party subsidies, suggesting the move was damaging to democracy (Source: CTV News) http://www.ctvnews.ca/budget-due-june-6-will-phase-out-political-subsidies-1.648866