Ontario Budget
Victory! Hard work by Workers Action Centre pays off – Employment Standards funding not cut in the budget!
Congrats WAC!
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b32b33961fd1e65272919d8a6&id=7f440dac26&e=51059eb750
Sid Ryan’s speech at the April 21 Day of Action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmBUFkbNbvA
** Note his remarks about social assistance and labour (and the reaction from the crowd) – it’s right at the end of his speech at about minute 5:00: “And I want to say this to our friends in the NDP. I want to be clear about where labour stands on the right to strike, on free collective bargaining, and where we stand on corporate taxes. But I want you to make no mistake where we stand on social assistance. We stand with the people on social assistance and no political party worth its salt can walk away from the table and not see an increase in social assistance. It is absolutely shameful that we’d be saying to people on social assistance that you have to pony up and corporations who are making money hand over fist get away scot free. That is not on in this province, that is not on with this labour movement and I hope to God when this final deal is done on Tuesday [i.e., between the NDP and the Liberals on the budget] that we can at least hold our heads high and say that folks on social assistance to share were not called upon to share the unfair burden that the corporations should be taking on.”
Other Ontario Issues
Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups on Elizabeth Witmer’s appointment as head of WSIB:
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2012/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=386&Cookies=yes
(note: the ONIWG website is at: www.injuredworkersonline.org)
Around the Province
Webinar: How to lobby your MPP
Ontario Campaign 2000 and the Alliance for a Poverty Free Toronto (APT) are hosting this webinar on May 9 from 11:30am to 12:30pm. The webinar will provide information and answer questions on their MPP lobby kit, available at http://www.campaign2000.ca/Ontario/resources.html.
Register for the webinar at https://cc.readytalk.com/r/kuz709g3bnca by May 8, 2012.
Across the Country
Guest column in BC’s Province newspaper makes the case for poverty reduction:
http://www.theprovince.com/business/Guest+column+needs+provincewide+plan+poverty/6545599/story.html
Blog post on BC’s current poverty reduction pilot projects:
http://bullsheet.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/bc-poverty-reduction-pilot-projects-just-more-downloading-of-responsibility/
Federal Issues
How the federal budget will impact women:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/05/02/the-federal-budget-and-women/
Veterans win court case against government disability clawbacks:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1171285–stop-clawing-back-disability-benefits-from-vets-court-rules
Angry emails sent to Harper about OAS:
http://metronews.ca/news/canada/126548/flood-of-angry-emails-to-harper-made-public/
NDP MP tables petition in the House of Commons on poverty elimination bill:
http://lindaduncanmp.ca/may-1-2012-petition-tabled-in-support-of-bill-c-233/
A 2009 Op Ed from Ed Broadbent linking ending poverty to taxing the rich:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/how-to-end-child-poverty-tax-the-rich/article1374806/
International
Heather Mallick asks “when did leaving half of Spain’s young people with nothing to do but cultivate rage become something economists thought was healthy?”
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1171354–tears-and-fears-as-eu-austerity-takes-spanish-unemployment-to-25#.T6EqT67TL0U.facebook
A new book makes the case that the “self-made man” is a myth:
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/30/self_made_men_debunked_salpart/
Jeffrey Sachs on the “amazing ride for the rich”:
http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2012/04/jeffrey-sachs-globalization-and-corporate-governance-has-fueled-growing-inequality-between-rich-and-poor/