There is generally little focus in mainstream media on social assistance rates. Last week, Carol Goar took on the issues in an editorial entitled "Queen's Park offers crumbs to Ontario's poor". The article brought attention to the issue of social assistance rates, but it misses some major points on the fight to raise welfare and disability rates in Ontario. As Marian Kramer of the National Welfare Rights Organization in the U.S would say, "the media covers the plight but not the fight of the poor." So let us fill in the blanks.

Assistance rates 55 per cent lower than in 1994

The Ontario Government's pre-budget consultations are under way at Queen's Park. The Federal budget is set to be released at the beginning of March (unless Stephen Harper decides for another spontaneous vacation), with the Ontario Budget set to be released in weeks that follow.

The last few months have seen a global surge in support for the movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid. Important solidarity actions have occurred across the globe, including: a wave of student occupations across the UK; union resolutions in Europe, New Zealand and Australia; and, most recently, the historic action of South African dockworkers refusing to unload Israeli ships.

These actions register important steps forward in building solidarity with the Palestinian people and show that popular opinion is beginning to shift towards an understanding of Israel as an apartheid state that must be isolated in the manner of the struggle that was waged against South African Apartheid.