Ontario

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) 

 

Saturday February 1, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 1, 2020

Hamilton transit task force secrecy is an embarrassment

Hamilton LRT Gallery

Whichever side of the Light Rail Transit debate you stand on, you should not be happy or satisfied by the Ford government’s decision to have its transit task force operate behind closed doors. In secret. With no transparency, and no opportunity for the public (or its proxy, the media) to observe the task force at work.

This task force was thrown together by Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney after the province abruptly cancelled Hamilton’s long-planned LRT line, right in the middle of construction bidding.

The purpose of the task force appears to be to lend the optics of objectivity to the process. It’s widely recognized that the math used by the province to justify the decision is fake, and any real cost overruns wouldn’t be out of line with overruns on other similar transit projects that are going ahead, while Hamilton’s got summarily cancelled.

It’s more than a bit odd to have a hand-picked group of non-elected citizens put in place to make decisions on the best future options for public transit in the city. Isn’t that what we have a local government for? That government had a position, which was LRT. So what the province is doing now is putting the opinions of its task force above the stated position of the local government. But never mind. Fair enough. If the task force does a credible job, it will be a worthwhile endeavour.

January 12, 2012

But how will anyone know if it does a credible job given that it is operating in secret? This is absolutely no reflection on the members of the task force. They seem earnest and no doubt trying to do the thing in the public interest. The lack of transparency isn’t their fault, but it’s fair to say their work will be judged differently than if it was taking place in relative sunlight.

Part of what rankles here is the justification for the secrecy. To be fair, this is a government that typically wouldn’t offer any justification for its arbitrary decisions, but in this case, at least a civil servant agreed to address the question of why the task force meetings — there have already been two — must be behind closed doors.

The meetings must remain secret, according to the province, to protect ” commercially sensitive” information like cost estimates, procurement matters or past budgets. Also, the province says, the secrecy will give task force members the freedom to have “open discussion” about prospective options so there is not “a public debate on every single project they may be looking at.”

October 7, 2016

Respectfully, that is an absolutely terrible rationale for shutting out the public and media. City councils and committees regularly go in camera to discuss issues that are legally or financially sensitive. There are provisions for that. To suggest that all the deliberations of the task force should be secret for that reason is — sorry to be blunt — silly.

And to allow task force members to speak freely? They can’t do that in a public forum, like city council does? Like the Ontario legislature does? Is the government really saying that only secrecy can allow for forthright discussion and debate? And does consciously setting out to limit “public debate” a good thing? Is that the sort of democracy the Ford government wants for Ontario?

But don’t worry. The agendas for task force meetings will be made public. After the fact. And the things discussed will eventually be summarized for public consumption.

So calm down and don’t fret. The government knows what’s best for you. Just sit back and relax. All will be known in the fullness of time. You can trust Doug Ford and friends, right? (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Friday January 31, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 31, 2020

Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce’s sad state of affairs

January 18, 2020

It was largely inevitable that there would be a conflict between Doug Ford’s Ontario government and the province’s teachers. It happened under former Tory Premier Mike Harris, and it’s happened with various right-wing administrations in other provinces. Put simply, teachers are not popular with conservatives, and their unions have been used as scapegoats by conservative governments for decades.

Teachers are considered liberal, and condemned for having long vacations and leaving work at 4 p.m.. The truth, of course, is profoundly different. Because they receive payment for the summer, teachers are paid less for the rest of the year; and their working days certainly do not begin when students arrive at school or end when they leave. Even so, the optics are perfect for the political right, and nobody plays optics and sound bites with such relish as Doug Ford.

Young Doug Ford: The Series

Public education is terribly under-funded, the Ford government appears to be far from committed to its long-term health, and this dispute is more about the future of schools than the salaries of teachers. As such, it’s particularly irksome that the government rejects the unions’ demand for more money to be invested into public education, but is willing to pay up to $48 million a day to compensate parents! That is money that could be invested directly into the education system.

The government wants to increase class sizes, wants children to take more online courses, and wants to introduce aspects of the private sector into that online teaching. And it is now willing to spend millions of dollars not to help parents but to try to defeat unions. That’s a deeply sad state of affairs.

The last place teachers wants to be in the middle of an Ontario winter, or any other time for that matter, is demonstrating outside of schools. It’s unlikely that this latest Doug Ford gimmick will be successful, but it goes to the heart of the problem, and no bribe can change that inescapable conclusion. Hey, Premier, leave those parents alone. (Michael Coren, Maclean’s) 



 

Tuesday January 21, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 21, 2020

GO Transit expansion turning out to be a bumpy ride

It is too early to say GO Transit’s planned expansion might be coming off the rails. But it’s not too early to worry about whether the timing and the scope of the expansion could be in doubt.

December 21, 2019

The GO Expansion plan is intended to transform what is essentially a commuter railway into an all-day, two-way transit network with service as frequent as every 15 minutes in core areas. When fully rolled out the expansion could boost ridership from current levels of about 70 million to 200 million by 2055. It also involves electrification of core parts of the transit network.

According to documents obtained by our sister paper, The Toronto Star, provincial transit agency Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (the agency responsible for delivering major public infrastructure projects) are being compelled to reconsider how the procurement process for the expansion is working. Companies in charge of executing the expansion are raising concerns about how the province is contracting out the work, and the amount of risk private sector bidders are being asked to assume through the public-private partnership model being employed.

September 25, 2008

The leaked documents also warn that changing procurement procedures at this point could delay the final phase of the expansion which is supposed to be complete by 2025.

Obviously, this is a big deal for the GTA which is still the heartland of GO Transit, but the threat of delays should also concern more peripheral areas such as Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo Region and Peterborough, all targets for commuters fleeing GTA prices and congestion.

What, if any, impact will the procurement concerns have on the scope and timing of the project? We don’t know, because GO and Infrastructure Ontario aren’t saying, but it is telling that Infrastructure Ontario would not confirm whether the final phase will be completed as planned and on time. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday January 18, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 18, 2020

$60 payout ‘putting money back in parents’ pockets’, education minister says

May 4, 2019

The minister of education is offering parents money for childcare costs incurred during rotating teachers’ strikes.

Stephen Lecce says parents can apply for amounts from $25 to $60 per day for children under twelve.

Lecce says if all unions were to walk out, subsidies for childcare would amount to $48 million a day.    

“Just for clarity, every day that all unions withdraw services, that full withdraw saves the government $60 million dollars in salaries,” Lecce said. “So the concept here is we know that’s not our money, it’s our tax dollars, we’re using it. It’s the savings from their withdrawal of service.”

November 22, 2019

Parents of pre-schoolers at school-based child-care centres affected by the strikes will get the most money. Those with children in grades 1 through 7 will get less and parents of high school students will get nothing.

Lecce said the government’s motivation for the payout was to put money “back in the pockets of working people in Ontario.”

“At the end of the day the greatest constituency that bears the costs of this are parents and middle and low-income families who have to find childcare on short order,” he said.

As for criticisms that the payout was a bribe to parents, Lecce said he wasn’t surprised it was being spun by teachers’ unions as such.

August 29, 2019

“I think union leaders, respectfully, must accept the premise that there’s a cost when a child is staying home,” he said. “We have examples, real human examples, of individuals and low-income families and single parent families where they have to take vacation days.”

“Those will eventually add up,” Lecce said. “So it is absolutely in the interests of the taxpayer to return that money to them to make their life a little bit better and a little less difficult during this time of turmoil.”

“And it underscores our commitment to standing with families against this escalation.” (CBC)