Inquiry puts Ontario Premier Wynne on trial
2014Malu Baumgarten 2014-01Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 8 →
The words are the paper's own, from its digital file; the division into articles was made by machine, so a box or caption can end up inside the article next to it.
Scan page 8
Put Food in the Budget (PFIB), “a grassroots Frances Lankin and Munir Sheikh, of the 8 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2014 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne ended 2013 nearly tied in popularity with her main opponent on the left, New Democratic Par ty Leader Andrea Horwath, according to a recent Abacus Data Poll. But 2014 may be the year when the public image of the self-proclaimed “social justice premier” Wynne will be forever changed.
On Feb. 19, an event called A Poor Peo ple’s Inquiry will put the premier of On tario on trial in the court of public opinion. Wynne will be charged with knowingly mis leading the public by saying social justice is her top priority. Details of the Toronto trial location and agenda will be announced early in January.
A Poor People’s Inquiry is an initiative of activist group working to hold the Ontario Government’s feet to the fire on promises made—but not kept—to reduce poverty,” according to its website, www.putfood in thebudget.ca. Starting in September 2013, PFIB held community hearings across On tario and Toronto neighbourhoods. PFIB is known by campaigns like the Do the Math Challenge—inviting people to live on a “food bank diet” for one week, and the Dear Mr. Premier Tour, in which people in 25 communities in Ontario were video-taped telling a life-size mannequin of former Pre mier McGuinty what they thought of his austerity budget.
A Poor People’s Inquiry is very timely. People living on social assistance still have the recommendations of commissioners Review of Social Assistance in Ontario, hanging over their heads. The report, ironi cally called Brighter Prospects, was released in October 2012. Among other changes, it proposed a merger of Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programme, both to be administered by the municipali ties. The ODSP Action Coalition, a Toronto based advocacy group for people with dis abilities commented on the merger: “Combining the programs may mean that the unique needs of people with disabilities would stop being recognized by the pro gram that is supposed to be there to help them; and delivering the programs locally could well result in greater inequity across the province, as local towns and cities get to decide who in their community would be eligible for which supports, and even which supports would be available.”
The Liberal government of Ontario seems to be big on promises, but not so good at keeping them. In 2008 former Liberal Pre mier Dalton McGuinty promised a strategy to reduce poverty in the province. Instead he cut corporate taxes, increasing the size of the provincial deficit; and introduced an “austerity budget” that threatened to reduce spending on social assistance and vital com munity and public services. In 2012 his suc cessor, Kathleen Wynne, acceded to the top job calling herself the “social justice Pre mier.” Since then the Liberal government has effectively cut social assistance, with rate increases lower than inflation. Let’s remember that a worker, even a mid dle-class worker, in times of such uncer tainty may be only a step away from falling into the social assistance system, as many testified at the Inquiry. n