Ontarians need jobs not welfare: Hampton

85 posts / 0 new

Sun, 2009-02-08 17:42

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2277][color=darkorange][b]Ontarians need jobs not welfare:[/b] Hampton[/color][/url]

Quote:
Queen's Park

date: February 6, 2009 - 4:00pm body:
NDP Leader Howard Hampton denounced Dalton McGuinty’s failure to address the jobs crisis after Statistics Canada's released its latest Labour Force Survey showing the province lost 71,000 jobs in January.

“For the Premier to suggest that instead of stopping the hemorrhaging of jobs more people should go on welfare, is a complete absence of leadership and an admission of his failure to respond to the jobs crisis. We shouldn’t be getting more people on welfare, we should be getting people back to work,” said Hampton.

Statistics Canada reported today that in January, Ontario lost 71,000 jobs, with Ontario accounting for more than half of Canada’s job losses. Manufacturing was the worst hit, with 36,000 jobs lost in the sector. Ontario’s unemployment rate rose to 8%, the worse since 1997.

“Workers and their families are worried, said Hampton. “Now is the time they need government the most, to quickly implement a jobs strategy to relieve some of the pain many are feeling.”

In December, New Democrats proposed a bold, aggressive, fiscal stimulus package to prevent continued job losses:

· Aid to the auto sector – tied to job and product guarantees – to make sure Ontario keeps good auto jobs
· Accelerating transit, housing, and other infrastructure projects, including a MUCH sector energy retrofit program, translating into 11,000 new jobs.
· Expanding a “Buy Ontario” program to ensure that transit, municipal infrastructure, MUSH sector procurement, and green energy are built in Ontario, sustaining value-added manufacturing jobs.
· Implementing an industrial hydro rate and a refundable manufacturing investment tax credit to reward job creation and sustain jobs in at-risk sectors like forestry
· An immediate increase the minimum wage to put money in the hands of those who will spend it.

“Today’s devastating numbers suggest that McGuinty’s 5-point plan is a 5-point failure. This is McGuinty’s admission of failure and the people of Ontario are going to pay the price for it,” said Hampton.

McGuilty's Liberals were fresh out of ideas in 2003.

Regions:

Wed, 2009-02-18 20:46

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2289][color=darkorange][b]McGuinty abdicating responsibility on Ontario economy[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:

NDP MPP Gilles Bisson says Dalton McGuinty is abdicating his responsibility by allowing decisions about the future of Ontario’s battered economy, including the crucial auto sector, to be made elsewhere.

Bisson was reacting to news that at least 50,000 jobs will be cut worldwide at General Motors and Chrysler as part of the restructuring plans they submitted to the American government. Both companies have significant Ontario operations.

“As an economic tsunami is flattening community after community, the McGuinty government is allowing decisions about Ontario’s economic future to be made in Washington, Detroit and Ottawa. This is a complete abdication of responsibility and a lack of leadership, plain and simple. Where is the plan to save Ontario’s auto sector, which is critical to our overall economy?” Bisson asked.

Bisson noted that the McGuinty government had plenty of warning about the economic storm that was about to hit Ontario. The government could have – and should have – had a detailed jobs plan in place long before now.

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2287][color=darkorange][b]McGuinty letting Buchanan Forest Products off the hook[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:
Queen's Park

date: February 12, 2009 - 5:00pm body:
A thousand laid-off workers at Thunder Bay’s Buchanan Forest Products would be guaranteed their severance pay if the McGuinty government had passed Bill 6, says NDP MPP Paul Miller (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek), who proposed the legislation in late 2007.

Miller’s bill, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000, passed second reading debate in December 2007, but has since been held up in committee by the McGuinty government. The bill would create an Employee Wage Security Program to compensate laid-off workers might otherwise not receive severance, vacation pay and back wages. . .

Loss of farm jobs falls below the radar

Quote:

There's a number that didn't generate any headlines when the most recent Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey was released Feb. 6.

While this was the worst number in a sorry recitation of rising unemployment, shrinking participation rate and month over month employment figures that are terrible, it was largely ignored.

The number is a 9.6 per cent drop in agricultural employment year over year. No other sector of the economy lost even close to that percentage. In total almost 35,000 agriculture jobs disappeared, leaving only 300,000 jobs in the sector.

Here in agricultural Ontario that is a major blow. Agriculture is the bedrock for much of the rest of the economy. It supports a large farm supply industry, a significant trucking industry and a host of affiliated industries.

Sat, 2009-02-21 16:29

Fidel

[url=http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/576637][color=red][b][u]A jobs program that fails[/b][/u][/color][/url]

Why does it cost more to retrain this injured worker to stock shelves than it would to send him to university for four years?

Quote:

After Carlos Avilés maimed his hand fixing a machine for his boss, the provincial agency responsible for his rehabilitation came up with a bizarre scheme.

The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board decided Avilés would need months of costly but basic math and language training, even though he already had an Ontario high school diploma.

At a private learning centre where tuition costs as much per year as Canada's top law school, Avilés would prepare for life as a clerk earning near minimum wage.

"It was a waste of time," he said. "So much money wasted. It's all garbage. The training was inadequate. This is not real school. It's for kids. (But) I have to go there."

Pinocchio McGuinty's Ontario, it's broken

Mon, 2009-03-09 15:40

Fidel

[url=http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/598661][color=mediumblue][b]New NDP leader unfazed by economic woes[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:

HAMILTON – On Andrea Horwath's first full day on the job as provincial New Democratic leader she vowed to bring universal child care, affordable housing and 300,000 Ontario jobs if she becomes premier.

But paying for those promises in an era when Ontario faces a combined $18 billion deficit over the next two years does "not necessarily" mean raising taxes, Horwath told reporters yesterday.

"There are ways we can ensure the wealth generated in our economy pays for these kinds of programs," she said. For instance, regaining 300,000 lost manufacturing jobs need not be a dream – a "Buy Ontario" plan could get everyone working again, she said.

"Together, we can get steel mills running again," she said in reference to the devastating layoffs of more than 1,500 people last week at U.S. Steel in Hamilton and at the Nanticoke plant near Lake Erie.

When will Tory and Liberal supporters in Ontario learn that both of the two stale old line parties are clueless as to how to run a mixed market capitalist economy?

Fri, 2009-03-13 11:52

genstrike

The Manitoba NDP also believes in jobs, not welfare. That must be why they let welfare rates stagnate until it got so bad that the Chamber of Commerce had to call for an increase.

Fri, 2009-03-13 13:21

Fidel

[url=http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090313/ont_jobs_090313/.... NDP call jobless figures [b]'frightening'[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:
TORONTO — The New Democrats say there are even tougher times ahead for Ontario as the province continues to take the brunt of job losses in Canada.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the new unemployment figures are frightening and accuses the Liberal government of sitting on its hands as more jobs disappear.

Statistics Canada reports that another 82,600 jobs were lost in February, with the biggest decline in Ontario.

The province shed 35,300 jobs last month, mostly in construction and finance, insurance, real estate and leasing.

That pushed the province's unemployment rate to 8.7 per cent, one per cent higher than the national average and the highest Ontario has seen in 12 years. . .

Since October, over half of the country's job losses were in Ontario, even though it only has 39 per cent of the country's total working-age population, Statistics Canada noted.

Fri, 2009-03-13 13:26

Unionist

I love this thread title.

Here's another along the same lines:

"Canadians need good health, not medicare!"

Fri, 2009-03-13 18:20

Fidel

Unionist wrote:
I love this thread title. Here's another along the same lines: "Canadians need good health, not medicare!"

Except that the NDP is the only party fighting against more private funding of health care and to preserve the CCF's vision for public medicare.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

Fri, 2009-03-13 20:22

genstrike

I just don't like it when lefties contribute to the stigmatization of welfare recipients by using language like "jobs not welfare" and "corporate welfare bums". Especially when they represent a party whose welfare policies are to the right of the Chamber of Commerce.

Welfare programs are there for a reason, and I think the NDP shouldn't be speaking of it in such a negative light.

Unionist had the right idea, you wouldn't want a party which claims to be on the left to say "We need good (X), not (Y social program to address X)". It should be "we need good X AND Y"

Fri, 2009-03-13 21:29

#10

Le T

Hey genstrike, people don't like to be on welfare they prefer to have jobs or get the ODSP that they are being denied. I think what Hampton was getting at was that being on welfare sucks. It also requires that you liquidate most of your assets.

I get your point Unionist, but welfare is far from medicare despite all of medicare's short commings. It would be like if you went to the doctor with a broken arm and then s/he broke both of your legs, kicked you in the crotch, and then gave you shitting casts and half the pain medication that you needed.

Fri, 2009-03-13 21:48

#11

Fidel

genstrike wrote:

I just don't like it when lefties contribute to the stigmatization of welfare recipients by using language like "jobs not welfare" and "corporate welfare bums". Especially when they represent a party whose welfare policies are to the right of the Chamber of Commerce.

stand-in central thread scrutinizer here:

The thread topic is not NDP Manitoba, one of the few provinces where the [url=http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/manitoba/2009/03/13/8737531.html][color=... rate has actually risen[/u][/color][/url] through this neoliberal federal-prov. policy induced recession.

And the thread topic is not even about the UN having chided successive federal governments in Ottawa for maintaining high rates of child poverty in this country compared to 30 other capitalist nations, or that poverty threatens women and children's rights across Canada.

Mon, 2009-03-16 21:48

#12

Fidel

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090316.wontbudget16...'s corporate tax revenues plummet[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:

Ontario is no longer an economic force to be reckoned with, said Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Don Drummond. . .

Ontario's economy began to rapidly deteriorate last October, following the onset of the global financial crisis, leaving the McGuinty government facing plunging revenues and huge deficits.The following statistics reveal the toll the global crisis has taken on Ontario since October:

$3-billion The amount corporate tax revenues plunged between December, 2008 and February, 2009, down 25 per cent from the government's forecast last October that corporate tax revenues would total $11.5-billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.

$18-billion The size of the provincial deficit for the two fiscal years ending March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2010. In October, the government was forecasting a deficit of $500-million for fiscal 2009.

8.7 per cent: Ontario's unemployment rate in February, according to Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey

Pinocchio is done in Toronto. He's kindling. Liberals have given up. Fresh out of ideas since 2003.

Tue, 2009-03-17 17:44

#13

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2329][color=orange][b]New payday regulations fail lower-income Ontarians[/b][/color][/url]

Quote:
Ontario’s new payday loan regulations that cap charges at $21 per $100 borrowed is a gift to the payday loan industry, says NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo.

“These restrictions will only affect fringe payday lenders, and won’t change the unfair, usurious interest rates regularly charged by mainstream payday lenders to low-income Ontario workers,” said DiNovo.

“It’s no wonder the payday loan industry applauds the move and calls the new regulations ‘balanced’.”

The new rate pales in comparison to Manitoba’s cap of $17 per $100, which declines to $15 and then $6 as the size of the loan rises.

The McGuinty government’s regulations come despite earlier claims that they would go farther than Manitoba in terms of consumer protection: “I really am optimistic, as an honourable member, to do better than that,” former Minister Ted McMeekin said on June 9, 2008.

“This is a case of the interests of Liberal lobbyists trumping the real concerns of low-income Ontarians in an increasingly difficult time. For the Minister to promise one thing and then do another shows complete disrespect for public integrity and accountability,” said DiNovo.

Pinocchio should be taken out to the shed and made kindling of for the homeless and making himself useful for something other than nothing

Tue, 2009-03-17 17:46

#14

Unionist

Gee, this didn't last long, did it:

Fidel wrote:
The thread topic is not NDP Manitoba,...

Tue, 2009-03-17 18:29

#15

Fidel

That's right, it's about PAYDAYS in Ontario and a lack of them. I think youre wanted back at the anti-Catholic jihad in Ontario thread launched from the neosecular staging province of Quebecistan, General Zia ul-Hack? Solidarnosc!

Tue, 2009-03-17 18:30

#16

Unionist

Wasn't that slightly excessive - even for you?

Tue, 2009-03-17 18:51

#17

Fidel

Oh come on, lighten up. I think the Zia reference was used in a heat-seeking pun aimed at me in a babble thread somewheres else. I always laugh out loud whenever youz guyz fire off zingers like it intended to bring me down in a hurry. I apologize if it wasnt you who made with the jest. Ahhem!

Meanwhile, back at las rancho

Tue, 2009-03-17 18:53

#18

Unionist

It wasn't I who made the jest, but now that you mention it:

Down with Pope Benedict!

Long live Mullah Omar!

Down with Ontario!

Long live Québec!

There, all your stereotypes about U. are back in place.

Now, back to praising the ONDP for its idle promises while in opposition...

Tue, 2009-03-17 19:26

#19

Fidel

Please, this thread is not about baggage from all those other jihadi threads.

It's about the exodus of jobs and prosperity from Puerto Ontariariario under this 22% Liberal dictatorship.

As general zed ul-zingermeister and phony-baloney central scrutinizer of this here non-religious thread, I must insist.

Tue, 2009-03-17 19:52

#20

Unionist

You started the drift. It is your right and privilege to end it.

Tue, 2009-03-17 20:04

#21

Fidel

If you dont have anything to add concerning our liberally neoliberalized Liberal incompetents in Nuevo Ontario, then could you please refrain from cluttering this thread with your random thoughts, por favor?

Tue, 2009-03-17 20:09

#22

Unionist

What have they said about anti-scab legislation, and successor rights on conversion of enterprises from federal to provincial jurisdiction? (Among other rights repealed by Herr Harris.)

Tue, 2009-03-17 20:34

#23

Fidel

No idea, really. Perhaps you will enlighten us regarding this spacific policy direction in upper southern Canandaharhar.

[url=https://ontariondp.com/hampton-mcguinty-when-will-scabs-be-banned][color... to McGuinty: When will scabs be banned?[/b][/color][/url]

Wed, 2009-03-18 07:25

#24

triciamarie

Anyway, just because I can't help myself -- from Fidel's WSIB story link, above:

Quote:

"Someone has to stop this stupid thing," said Canelas, who quit her program in frustration and is now unemployed. "Money, money, money for nothing."

This makes me crazy. Ms. Canelas needed to APPEAL the Board's decision about the retraining which they proposed would render her competitively employable as a correspondence clerk.

Unfortunately that decision carried a 30-day statutory time limit, and all workers are under immense pressure to sign whatever plan they're given or their benefits are usually cut off. Ideally workers would cooperate with the Board and also object -- in writing -- at the same time. Failing that, an experienced advocate can sometimes find other creative ways around that particular time limit, or they may help to identify subsequent decisions that can be appealed. I hope that Ms. Canelas and others in her position will take the trouble to find a good representative to help them fight the Board. They also need to be actively looking for work every day and keeping all their job search records. This will help their case and it may also entitle them to full benefits for that period retroactively on appeal.

Another worker in the same article went on to develop psychological problems which he attributes to his work injury and his dealings with the Board. That condition may be compensable. If a new secondary condition is recognized by the Board, this brings the legal opportunity to have his vocational goal (ie the fictional earnings that will be deducted from his benefits) reassessed, possibly under the current more favourable language.

Of course, none of this replaces a healthy job market.

Sat, 2009-03-21 21:29

#25

Fidel

Thanks triciamarie. I agree, Canada's is an old world economy. David Dodge, and he was one of the faces of neoliberal policies in Canada for years, says Stephen Harper doesnt understand that significant changes to economies are needed around the world, including our own.

This is for the lefties upthread who suggest that provinces should simply raise corporate income taxes in order to replace the tens of billions of federal dollars scaled back from Ottawa since 1991. They will sometimes tell us that other countries, and not realizing that they are using "countries" in the federal and nationalist sense of the word, have levied "higher taxes" than Canada in general. They tend to avoid comparing corporate tax rates and overall taxation as a percentage of GDP though.

[url=http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1410203][color=b... in decline:[/b] From Canada's economic engine to clunker[/color][/url]

Quote:

Ontario's dramatic decline comes as no accident. It was decades in the making, based on a combination of mismanaged public finances and the ascent of emerging economies at the expense of high-cost manufacturing. Upon taking office in 2003, Mr. McGuinty moved to pour tens of billions of dollars into improving government services -- health care, education and social programs targeting the downtrodden -- while neglecting the changing economic landscape. To help finance this agenda, he raised corporate taxes and slapped a health-care levy on households. These moves, analysts say, helped cement Ontario as one of the least attractive places for companies to invest.

Our prov. Liberals not only dont understand how to run a mixed market capitalist economy, theyre not doing so well with the neoliberalized version of things either.

Sat, 2009-03-21 22:05

#26

Farmpunk

Sorry to drift slightly... but did anyone hear\see the ads that Manitoba is running in Ontario that were basically - There are jobs in Manitoba.

Wed, 2009-03-25 17:29

#27

madmax

Yes there are jobs in Manitoba. And Sask. too. Fact is they even have a growing manufacturing sector, particularly when the NDP were running Sask.

They actually have policies to help companies and policies that not only handover money, but ..... get this....... expect something in return.

Yes, that is where McGuinty has his head up his ass, and still does.

Sun, 2009-05-31 16:13

#28

Fidel

[url=http://www.torontosun.com/comment/editorial/2009/05/31/9628151-sun.html]... raise taxes for everyone but the richest in Ontariariario[/url]

Quote:

Few policies are guaranteed to prolong Ontario's recession more than the cap-and-trade scheme for greenhouse gas emissions introduced by Premier Dalton McGuinty last week, combined with his plan to harmonize the provincial and federal sales taxes next year.

In a province that is already losing hundreds of thousands of jobs, hitting consumers with a broader sales tax, followed by a new charge for all forms of energy produced by fossil fuels -- essentially a new tax on almost everything -- makes absolutely no sense. . .

Here's just a sampling of things Ontarians will start paying the 8% PST on for the first time on July 1, 2010: Gasoline; natural gas and oil used in home heating; electricity; home renovations; landscaping; the purchase of any new home valued over $500,000, with a partial additional tax increase for new homes valued between $400,000 and $500,000; domestic air and rail travel; taxis; Internet access fees; newspapers and magazines; postage stamps; courier fees; cigarettes and other tobacco purchases; nicotine replacement therapy; footwear costing $30 or less; prepared foods sold for $4 or less; audio books purchased by people who are legally blind; personal services such as a hair stylist; professional services such as legal advice; rental of commercial property; real estate commissions; gym and athletic membership fees; most tickets for live theatre; green fees for golf; vitamins.

Audio tapes for the blind? Quit smoking aids? These Herbert Hooverite Liberals have sunk to new lows.

Thu, 2009-06-04 14:11

#29

Fidel

I received a SMART METER flyer in the mail telling me theyve installed a smart meter on the electric service, and that my power meter is about to become smarter. And there in bolded letters on the flyer it says,

FOR NOW, NOTHING WILL CHANGE

And I was thinking to myself, this could be the McGuinty government's slogan for what theyve achieved over the last several years in political power.

Sat, 2009-06-06 06:05

#30

Fidel

[url=http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/646541]Unemployment hits 15-year high in Liberal Ontario[/url]

Quote:

Overall, Ontario was walloped by a net loss of 60,000 positions, bringing the province's running tally of employment losses to 234,000 since the labour market peaked last October. Last month's devastating losses thrust the province's jobless rate up 0.7 of a percentage point from April to 9.4 per cent - a whopping 15-year high.
The sheer number of Ontarians who are out of work has reached 670,700 - the highest level ever, noted Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworkers.
The previous record, 640,400, was set in September 1992.

Tue, 2009-06-09 07:55

#31

Fidel

[url=http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/2009/06/09/9733211-sun.html... Liberals entitled to their entitlements[/url]

Opposition blames health minister for spending scandal at eHealth Ontario

Quote:

TORONTO -- There are no plans by the Dalton McGuinty government to shuffle Health Minister David Caplan out of his portfolio despite demands from opposition leaders he resign in the wake of the eHealth Ontario spending scandal.

"Caplan continues to have the premier's confidence to help the organization get by this and build on the progress they've made this far," a government source said.

Since president and CEO Sarah Kramer's departure from the agency Sunday with a $317,000 package, the opposition has turned its sights on Caplan. . .

NDP MPP France Gelinas said the decision by Kramer to give out more than $5 million in untendered contracts should have been a reason for Caplan to let her go without severance. "This culture of entitlement is not acceptable," she said.

Oink-oink

Fri, 2009-06-12 21:28

#32

skarredmunkey

Yeah the jobs-'not'-welfare headline is a little off-putting. But I still think it gets at the right sentiment and I wish the federal NDP was pursuing a similar strategy instead of planning to prop up the Tories as long as Harper tweaks EI and CPP/QPP.

I think jobs-jobs-jobs is what the ONDP should be stressing. In hard times, provincial premiers have a knack for coming up with great little schemes to either get people on the welfare roles (which is much cheaper than expanding the public service or investing in the economy and generally creating jobs), or even better for them, getting them on EI using make-work projects ... which is great because it puts workers on the federal government's dime instead of the province's.

Dalton McGuinty's response to the economic crisis is even more pathetic than Harper's.

Sun, 2009-06-14 17:32

#33

Fidel

We need good jobs for all that pay a humane wage for eight hours a day all day. Meanwhile our self-serving Liberal government in Toronto say what Ontarians need are more [url=http://www.financialpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=1607245]payday loan sharks[/url]

Quote:
From Barack Obama to Congress to state legislatures, there seems to be a groundswell of support to regulate the payday loan industry in the United States and lower fees charged to customers

There are 15 states that already effectively prohibit payday loans through caps on interest rates for small loans. Others are considering similar legislation.

Not so in Canada. Nearly two years after the federal government turned over regulation of the industry to the provinces, some of the highest fees in North America have been approved, all in the name of consumer protection

The new payday loan landscape has been greeted warmly by U. S. companies, which are looking at trying to expand their share of the $2-billion annual market in Canada

Four provinces so far have decided on fee caps that will take effect later this year. Ontario and British Columbia are permitting total fees of well over $60 for a typical $300 loan to be repaid in 14 days, at a time when interest rates are at historic lows. The fees are nearly 15 times what a credit card company would charge for a cash advance over the same time period. . .

An independent board in Manitoba imposed fees of $17 per $100, the lowest in the country, after a full regulatory hearing.

It's payday for US-based loan sharks in Liberal Ontario, BC and more provinces. This is what we get for having weak central governments under the neoliberal setup.

Sun, 2009-06-14 19:01

#34

remind

Funny in the BC thread some are trying to slam James for focusing on jobs and not heavily on income assistance, but yet it apparently is ok if a man from the NDP, says the same thing.

Sun, 2009-06-14 19:30

#35

Fidel

remind wrote:

Funny in the BC thread some are trying to slam James for focusing on jobs and not heavily on income assistance, but yet it apparently is ok if a man from the NDP, says the same thing.

Real deal social democrats say we have to focus on both. In other words, I dont think governments can afford to focus on any one method for alleviating poverty. Poverty is said to cost Ontario somewhere around $10 to $13 billion a year in terms of bad health and lost productivity etc. Here in Ontario, our Liberal government is focussed on funelling billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of a handful few nuclear power contractors rather than diversified investments in green economy and infrastructure. Ontario will pay for bad decisions of our two old line party governments for a long time.

Fri, 2009-08-14 04:36

#36

Fidel

[url=http://www.ndp.ca/press/construction-job-losses-show-stimulus-money-not-... job losses show stimulus money not flowing[/url]

Summer building season lost because of Conservative dithering, says Layton

Quote:

"The Harper Conservatives are failing when it comes to getting stimulus money out the door and today's new job numbers prove that," said New Democrat Leader Jack Layton.

According to a Statistics Canada report issued Friday, after three months of little change, construction employment decreased by 18,000 in July, bringing total construction job losses since October to 120,000, a contraction of 9.6 percent.

HarperIggys dither while the economy goes to seed.

Fri, 2009-08-14 23:29

#37

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2452]Thousands blast McGuilty's Herby Hooverite tax grab on Ontarians during a recession[/url]

Quote:

Ontario's NDP new leader Andrea Horwath said her province-wide campaign against Dalton McGuinty's "unfair tax grab" is gaining momentum.

"In a few short months, over 50,000 people have signed the NDP's petition to stop the McGuinty's unfair tax grab on everyday essentials," said Horwath. "I'm a working mom. I know what it's like to raise a family. Dalton McGuinty's new tax will hurt the finances of families across the province when they can least afford it."

Horwath has been traveling across the province this summer on her "Stop the Unfair Tax Grab" campaign. She said the NDPs campaign has been gaining momentum through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, NDP's online petition and meeting Ontarians.

Dalton McGuilty and Hooverian Liberals dont have the courage to tax those most able to pay

Sun, 2009-08-30 00:42

#38

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2472]Has Dalton "Pinocchio" McGuinty offered to scrap "Buy Ontario" plans?[/url]

Quote:

NDP Economic Development and Trade critic Howard Hampton wants to know what Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have offered to the US in an attempt to bypass "Buy American" restrictions and whether Ontario's own procurement policies are now on the chopping block.

"Buy Ontario policies have helped create good green jobs building public transit and green technology. If Dalton McGuinty's offering to scrap those plans he can't do it in secret," Hampton said. "Ontarians have a legal right to determine how their public tax dollars are being spent - and we shouldn't give that away without a debate."

Hampton was referring to a Harper government proposal backed by the McGuinty government to effectively bind Canadian provinces and municipalities to the public purchasing rules as established under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in return for possible Canadian exemptions from U.S. 'Buy American' policies.

Obama's plan is buy American, and so it is for Canada's US-friendly stooges in Ottawa and Toronto.

Tue, 2009-10-13 21:48

#39

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2510]First Nations children "abandoned by government"[/url]

Quote:
October 7, 2009 - 10:00am body:

Ontario's NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the McGuinty government's $4.2-million in funding cuts to First Nations child welfare agencies must be reversed.

Today at the Ontario Legislature, Horwath called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to place a moratorium on any further cuts. Ontario's native leaders have expressed alarm say the cuts are creating a crisis in the ability of agencies to serve the influx of children in their care.

"While squandering a billion health dollars, the McGuinty government has cut $4.2-million in funding from First Nations child welfare agencies. There is a real crisis facing Ontario's Native children and youth, but this government is shamefully reducing the resources that serve these vulnerable and disadvantaged young people," Horwath told the Premier during Question Period....

When the going gets tough, Pinocchio's Liberals steal from disadvantaged children. It's everyone for themselves in Liberal Ontario. God help us.

Thu, 2009-10-15 10:04

#40

KeyStone

This thread is really quite laughable.
Obviously, keeping and creating jobs is the end goal, but this is a global crisis, and jobs will be lost. I hardly expect Mcguinty to single handedly reverse the global recession or make Ontario exempt from it. Welfare is a temporary measure to ensure that all Canadians have enough to get by, at least until things turn around. Sadly, the social assistance rates in Ontario are appalling, and the Liberal government deserves every bit of criticism it gets for that.

Aid to the auto sector – tied to job and product guarantees – to make sure Ontario keeps good auto jobs
To the auto sector? Or do you mean to Ford, GM and Chrysler? We've already given billions to the auto sector with various conditions attached. Despite this, they continue to lose money and will likely be back at the trough next year.

· Accelerating transit, housing, and other infrastructure projects - this can be done and it isn't a bad idea to boost the economy. The issue is that the province is attempting to get some help from the Federal government, as Ontario has some debt issues. The question is who is going to pay for all the infrastructure projects. If Ontario simply opens the chequebook, they pretty much signal to the Feds not to give us money.

· Expanding a “Buy Ontario” program - you do realize that all of the premiers are working hard to exempt Canada from the Buy America clause? Do you think it's especially prudent to start a Buy Ontario program when there are much bigger dollars to be gained by Ontario companies, if the Buy America program, allows US buyers to obtain from Ontario? Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical for us to enact protectionist legislation while telling the US that they can't. Incidentally, the US consul general (Toronto) is well aware of this.

· Implementing an industrial hydro rate and a refundable manufacturing investment tax credit to reward job creation and sustain jobs in at-risk sectors like forestry

While I think that the hydro rate is a good idea (although it's a lot like reducing corporate tax), I don't really think we need to encourage manufacturing. Ontario isn't well equipped for manufacturing in a global economy. Without throwing up protectionist barriers, labour can be obtained elsewhere for much cheaper. Ontario should be focusing on other sectors - particularly high-tech sectors, rather than on manual labour. It's probably not a great idea for Ontario to focus on becoming more dependent on the manufacturing industry, as it obviously is not our strong suit.

An immediate increase the minimum wage to put money in the hands of those who will spend it.
Yes, because we all know that increasing minimum wage increases the willingness of employers to hire more staff. There is a right time and a wrong time to increease minimum wage. Generally, the prevaling thought is that during a global recession with unemployment nearing 10% - that is the wrong time. Again, raising social assistance makes more sense here. The idea here is to help those without jobs, asopposed to giving a boost to those with jobs

Thu, 2009-10-15 20:32

#41

Fidel

So, if we compare Liberal Ontario's economy with those of NDP Manitoba and post-NDP Saskatchewan, two provinces where unemployment rates are somewhere around half of what it is in Ontario, a province enjoying the highest commercial electricity rates in the country, what's happening? Why is Ontario experiencing a net out-migration of its citizens and hemorhaging good-paying jobs while the prairie provinces have bustling economies and lowest power prices in the country in NDP Manitoba? What is it about NDP provincial governments balancing budgets and being generally all around more fiscally responsible than the two old line parties governing provinces where they appear to be unable to run a lemonade stand without things falling apart?

Tue, 2009-10-20 23:54

#42

Fidel

[url=http://ontariondp.com/node/2516]Hampton fumes as Liberals shut job action centres[/url]

Quote:
October 19, 2009:

Kenora-Rainy River NDP MPP Howard Hampton says the McGuinty Liberals' decision to shut down job action centres across Northern Ontario are the latest example of a government that is completely out of touch with what is happening in the region.

"With record unemployment levels, thousands of good jobs destroyed, and employment insurance claims soaring across Northern Ontario, how can the McGuinty Liberals explain why they have cut off the funding of local job action centres in communities like White River, Nipigon and Terrace Bay?" fumed Hampton during today's Question Period.

His question was met with a head-scratching response from John Milloy, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. Milloy said the centres are being shut because they're no longer needed.

"The McGuinty Liberals want people across Northern Ontario to believe these job action centres are no longer needed?" said an incredulous Hampton.

"In some of these communities, the unemployment rate is greater than 50 per cent. Things like suicide happen because workers have been laid off and have no opportunity . . . people have nowhere to go. Why are the McGuinty Liberals cutting the funding for these kinds of strategies at the very time when people need them the most?"

Hey!, Ho!, Pinocchio and his Liberals have got to go! [edited because I can't spell Liberal. Can you imagine that? ]

Wed, 2009-10-21 05:10

#43

Rexdale_Punjabi Rexdale_Punjabi's picture

50% thing very true esp for "real" numbers. I remember 05 ppl were happy because they had brought the unemployment down to "only" 18% in the area. Think about what it is now and also when u factor in gainful employment instead of just a shift here or there shit drops even further.

Everybody wants to work at UPS here because they have stable shifts and you can take a bunch. When manz are dreaming of a minimum wage job it says a lot.

Wed, 2009-10-21 22:12

#44

Fidel

We've had a lot of Northern Ontarians voting NDP since 1990, R_P. And these phony-majority Liberals along with their Tory precedessors have been quite vindictive about punishing Northerners ever since the NDP dared to spend a bit of money on clean drinking water projects here and saving steel and lumber towns from collapse during the very ideologically driven neoliberal 1990's.

Wed, 2010-01-06 14:21

#45

Fidel

[url=http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/744723--no-u-turns-on-... rate will jump to 10% in 2010 as welfare rolls soar in McGuinty's Ontario[/url]

Wed, 2010-01-06 14:38

#46

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

But Harpie's saying we're going to have a labour shortage. He didn't mention it's just a "cheap" labour shortage. Happy New Year Fidel, all the best.

Tue, 2010-01-26 00:35

#47

Fidel

[url=http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2276012]Smart Meters?[/url] a comment from Northern Ontario

Quote:
These so-called smart meters don't tell the residential customer when the rates are lowest or highest. The customer gets a little book with a chart that shows the times for the various peaks in summer and winter.

What the smart meter does is tell the electricity producer exactly what power is been used and at what times, so he can collect a lot more revenue for his electricity. And even though, the electricity producer reaps the benefit, the cost of the smart meter and its installation has been passed on to residents.

This hype about the residential consumer being empowered to control his electrical use and reap real savings comes at a time when reducing kilowatt hours has hardly any effect on your final electrical bill.

Since the deregulation of the electrical market, the Ontario Energy Board has, at the direction of our government, kept the rate to 5.6 cents per kilowatt hour, but allowed the electricity producers to substantially increase all other charges. The delivery charges, the regulatory charges, and monthly service charges have all increased to the point that reducing kilowatt hours usage has little effect on your total bill.

My household has reduced consumption by 35 per cent, but the cost of electricity and water to my household has doubled since 2003, a 100 per cent increase before Smart meter increases....

Smart meters are dumb. And yes, I suspect McGuinty's Liberals will be dethroned in the next election and leaving massive budget deficits and soaring unemployment in their wake. The only worst thing that could happen is that the 22 percent of voters select another Harrisite clone party to carry on with wrecking the economy in Ontario,

[url=http://www.northernnews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2262307]Demand for electricity dropping[/url]

Quote:
Demand for electricity is dropping in Ontario because people are getting the message that conservation works -and not just because the bottom dropped out of the economy, the World Wildlife Fund says.

Critics, though, say that's just wishful thinking on the WWF's part and that the real story is economic devastation in power-sucking industries such as pulp and paper and manufacturing. ...

Howard Hampton, New Democrat MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, said it's just not true that conservation is having a big impact on demand in Ontario.

"That's bullshit," Hampton said bluntly. "I don't know what planet the World Wildlife Fund is on but that's just media spin."

If anything, people are buying more and larger consumer electronics than ever before and increasing their power consumption, he said. Meanwhile, pulp mills and factories have been closing across the province since 2004.

It really is bullshit. Just we wait until our light bills read 9+cents/kW-H. "Public benefit" my eye. It's total bs.

Thu, 2010-02-11 12:49

#48

Fidel

[url=http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Ontario+leader+Andrea+Horwath+Windso... Ontarians could have pensions, says Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath[/url]

Quote:
The party's Ontario Retirement Plan would see Ontarians and their employers each pay a little into a public pension fund each month. That fund would be transferrable from one job to the next.

She said individuals could opt out of the plan, but companies could not do so unilaterally.

A similar plan, she said, is used widely in New Zealand, with the United Kingdom considering their own version.

Retired GM worker Andy Schmidt, who runs the seven-member National Pension Reform Committee, said Horwath's plan was a step in the right direction. But he said pensions should be handled federally and called for a royal commission on pension reform.

[url=http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/02/08/12797776.html]More Ontarians on welfare[/url]

Thu, 2010-02-11 12:53

#49

j.m.

Le T wrote:

Hey genstrike, people don't like to be on welfare they prefer to have jobs or get the ODSP that they are being denied. I think what Hampton was getting at was that being on welfare sucks. It also requires that you liquidate most of your assets.

The point that OW has become increasingly punitive and selective as welfare payments have decreased was also missed. The experience of being on welfare sucks because of these things, and the logic for such reforms to OW is that people will work because welfare doesn't work for them.

Hampton overlooks the problems of welfare reform in his rhetoric, and it is something overlooked here, too. I am suspicious of Hampton advocating such a position when we clearly know that casual, low-paid employment is the norm. Like genstrike, it is an issue of improving both welfare programs and job opportunities, and he should have stated it that way if he wanted to be sensitive to the issues of OW (something suspect in this rhetoric).

Thu, 2010-02-11 13:11

#50

Fidel

Oh the ONDP have advocated for living wages for the million plus slave-labour workforce in Ontario for a long time in addition to creating public pensions for the 65 percent of Ontarians who are without at-work pension plans. Liberal Ontario is the only province to experience a net out-migration of young people over the last several years due to the bad neoliberalised economy.

Thu, 2010-03-11 15:07

#51

Fidel

[url=http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2482012]NDP take on throne speech: Long on promises, short on solutions for families[/url]

Quote:
QUEEN'S PARK – The McGuinty government's Throne Speech offers no relief to Ontarians worried about their jobs, their health care, and the growing cost of living, says NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"Ontario families worried about their jobs, their health care, and the growing cost of living got a Throne Speech that offers lots of talk, but little action," said Horwath.

Horwath said Dalton McGuinty's Throne Speech shows he's out of touch with the needs of Ontario families looking for pragmatic, workable solutions to getting the province back on track.

The NDP Leader said instead of putting Ontario up for sale, McGuinty should be focusing on implementing sound strategies that work. ...

"Ontario has lost 132,000 full-time jobs since the last election, and across our province surgeries are being cancelled and hospital beds are being cut," Horwath said. "Ontarians deserve more than lofty talk that ignores their needs."

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canadas-greece-ontario...'s Greece? Ontario better get its act together[/url] March

McGuinty Liberals budget gap worst in Canada

Ontarians need jobs not welfare: Hampton

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