Join protest against Budget cuts and take demand for tax fairness to the heart of Canada’s financial district
The April 21 Day of Action Against Cuts is only one week away and thousands are already planning to attend, but your help is needed to build on the momentum and take our demand for corporate tax fairness directly to Queen’s Park … and Canada’s Financial District.
To date, [b]over 80 labour unions and community organizations have endorsed the action and nearly 90 buses are expected to travel to Toronto from every corner of the province.[/b] Under the banner, “WE ARE ONTARIO,” the rally at the Ontario Legislature will be followed by a march to the heart of Canada’s financial district. [b]The mass protest will draw public and private sector unions together with thousands of community members representing the diversity of Ontario to serve as a reminder to Premier McGuinty that he should put people before profits.[/b]
The Day of Action will take aim at budget cuts that will hurt every family by:
· Freezing Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments, resulting in a real dollar cut to the poorest Ontarians;
· Postponing of Child Benefit increases that will deprive struggling families of $100 per year;
· Denying a lifeline to Ontario’s child care centres, resulting in closures, longer waiting lists and layoffs;
· Cutting hospital budgets across the board by six percent cancelling inflationary funding increases;
· Delivering $500 in cuts to public education over three years, despite promises to protect the sector;
· Slashing jobs and imposing wage freezes on public sector workers.
The budget also follows Stephen Harper’s attack on labour rights by threatening to impose contracts on public sector workers when the collective bargaining process takes more than 12 months. With measures like these, it is no wonder that 58 percent of Ontarians support taking the issue of fair taxation to a provincial election.
Scheduled for only days before the final budget vote will be taken, the rally will put pressure on the government to reverse billions in corporate tax cuts and add a new income tax surcharge of two percent on the richest Ontarians.
DATE: Sat., April. 21, at 3 p.m. at Queen’s Park, Toronto
ENDORSE THE ACTION: Duncan Mac Donald, [email protected]
BOOK BUSES: Carrol Anne Sceviour, 416-443-7670, [email protected]
FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/A21NoCuts
TWITTER: #A21NoCuts
INFO: http://www.OFL.ca
For a sneak preview of the Radio Ads promoting the rally:
Listen to Radio Ad #1: http://youtu.be/oyyvpyETF-o
Listen to Radio Ad #2: http://youtu.be/Xt_fUEjetWY
Flyers can be downloaded from the OFL website in English, French Spanish and Simplified Chinese. Other languages will follow. Be sure to distribute them in your neighbourhood.
We are counting on your help in mobilizing your workplaces and your communities to shut these budget cuts down.
In solidarity,
Sid Ryan, OFL President