Updated- August 26, 2020
August 26, 2020
Ford's back-to-school scheme leaves parents with no good options for September
On Wednesday morning at Lansdowne-Costain Public School in Brantford, Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath stood with two local parents who are wrestling with the impossible decision left to them by Doug Ford’s reckless back-to-school scheme.
While each parent made a different choice about whether they would send their kids back into classrooms this fall, neither of them felt comfortable or happy with the choice they were forced to make.
“Mr. Ford’s refusal to step up and do the right things has put parents across the province in a situation where there are no good choices,” said Horwath. “On the one hand, folks can send their kids into packed classrooms, where physical distancing will often be impossible, knowing it will put their kids, and older or immuno-compromised loved ones at even more risk.
“Or they can choose to keep their children at home, and continue the superhuman juggling act they’ve been doing for months, knowing continued social isolation could have harmful effects on kids’ mental health and wellbeing.”
Horwath also noted that Ford has left many Ontario parents with no choice at all, because they need to send kids back to school in order to be able to work, pay the bills and provide for their families.
“Mr. Ford’s priorities are clearly backwards,” added Horwath. “He would rather spend money on a PR campaign to sell his bargain basement back-to-school scheme, than invest in ensuring school boards, schools and educators have supports they need for smaller safer classes in the fall.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. If I were premier, I would be hiring more teachers and education workers – including bus drivers custodians, and educational assistants — and securing more spaces for physically distanced classrooms. And I would make sure that in the interim, parents have the child care options and extra income supports they need to stay home, if they need to.”
August 21, 2020
Ford tramples on treaty rights with rushed changes to legislation
All eight Northern NDP MPPs released a letter to Doug Ford calling on him to respond to the concerns of First Nations who have contacted him after he failed to respect treaty rights and rushed changes in Bill 197 that impacts treaty territories without consulting them.
“The government has a legal duty to consult First Nations on any decisions or actions that impact treaty territory,” said Sol Mamakwa, NDP Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic. “Doug Ford failed to respect the constitutional right of Indigenous communities to be consulted when he passed laws affecting First Nations without consultations.”
First Nations from across Northern Ontario have expressed their concerns that they were not consulted before legislation that affects treaty territory was passed by the Ford government in June. Doug Ford quietly brought in an order that includes scrapping consultations with Indigenous peoples in Bill 197, an omnibus piece of legislation that Ford hurriedly passed without consulting all impacted First Nations.
“Doug Ford is setting back the clock by excluding Indigenous communities from consultations,” said Mamakwa. “By trampling over First Nation’s treaty rights to consultation, Ford continues to attack the process of reconciliation that was meant to renew the relationship with Indigenous peoples based on respect and partnership.”
Northern New Democrat MPPs are calling on Ford to respond to First Nations who have contacted him about their concerns.
“Ford must stop bulldozing over the rights of First Nations on treaty territory and their right to be consulted,” said Mamakwa. “He needs to respond without delay to all of the First Nations who have reached out to his office with their concerns.”
August 19, 2020
Ford's risky back-to-school scheme leaves parents feeling anxious and afraid for September
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath stood alongside anxious parents Wednesday at Birch Cliff Public School in Scarborough who are desperately worried about Doug Ford’s dangerous back-to-school scheme that puts the health of their children at risk and fails to offer any child care support if the start of the school year is delayed.
“For months now, parents have been have been doing the superhuman juggling act of looking after their little ones helping school-age kids with remote learning and working from home.”
“We all want kids back in school five days a week, and we want it done safely,” said Horwath.
“Instead Doug Ford is cutting corners provincewide with a bargain-basement scheme, putting the start of school in jeopardy. Ford isn’t supporting school boards as they wrestle with critical health and safety questions– and the window to get children back to school on time and safely is closing rapidly.”
Horwath was joined by MPP Doly Begum (Scarborough Southwest), the NDP’s early learning and child care critic, and two local parents who fear for the safety of their children that are already packed into overcrowded classrooms.
“Far too many schools are in desperate need of repair, at a time when run-down ventilation systems just won’t do. Here at Birch Cliff public school, decades of Liberal and Conservative neglect of repairs means that for every dollar the school is worth, it needs 90 cents in total repairs.”
Horwath says if Doug Ford and his education minister don’t get this right soon, parents are going to need child care options or extra supports to stay home.
“If I were premier right now, I’d be funding smaller, safer classes by hiring more education workers, working around the clock to fix schools and line up temporary classroom spaces, and working with school boards so they have well-resourced plans for kids to physically distance at all times,” said Horwath.
“I wouldn’t just cross my fingers and hope our kids will be safe. I would step up and take action to make sure they are safe.”
August 17, 2020
Doug Ford’s refusal to scrap his risky back-to-school scheme has put the start of the school year in jeopardy, and Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says that’s putting parents, school boards, teachers and education workers in a terrible position, scrambling to sort out a safe September without the resources they need.
Horwath brought a school bus to Queen’s Park Monday to demonstrate how Ford’s penny pinching on the backs of students will leave kids elbow-to-elbow on the bus, in hallways, in washrooms and in overcrowded classrooms.
“Doug Ford is cutting corners all over the place, and that’s putting the start of the school year in jeopardy,” said Horwath. “Parents are anxious about sending their kids right back into crowded classrooms, and worried about their kids being packed onto buses, three to a seat, and spilling out into hallways when the school bell rings. The province isn’t supporting school boards to solve any of these concerns, and the window is closing on kids safely going back to school on time.”
If back-to-school is staggered or delayed, Horwath said parents will need child care options, or support to stay home. Ford has put neither into place.
“If I were premier right now, I’d be funding smaller, safer classes by hiring more education workers including bus drivers, hiring more teachers and more custodial staff and lining up temporary classrooms. I’d be working with school boards to make sure they have a well-resourced plan for students to physically distance at all times. I wouldn’t just cross my fingers and hope kids will be safe – I’d take action to make sure they’re safe.”
August 14, 2020
Ford government making things worse for parents who need child care
Doly Begum, NDP Early Learning and Child Care critic, said the Ford government’s release of it’s operational handbook for child care re-opening during COVID-19 on Thursday night has parents and child care advocates worried about skyrocketing costs, on top of the safety of children.
“Instead of helping parents who have to go back to work, the Ford government is making things even worse for them by allowing child care to get even more expensive,” said Begum.
“Doug Ford is downloading the costs of child care onto struggling parents during COVID-19 because he refuses to provide stabilization funding for child care centres that are struggling to re-open.”
The memo says that, as of Sept. 1, child care centres can again charge families for spaces not being used, and raise prices. The memo included no additional funding or supports for the struggling sector.
“Already, some child care centres are closing at a time when children were on waitlists from birth. And for those child care centres re-opening now, they will face pre-COVID staff-to-children ratios, but without extra support from the Ford government for COVID-19 safety measures like enforcing masking, encouraging physical distancing and extra cleaning. This is not the best we can do to keep little ones, staff and the community around them safe,” said Begum.
“Parents who can least afford it will be left without options, and nowhere to turn. Ford is taking a crisis in childcare created after 15 years of Liberal government, and making it worse.”
August 14, 2020
Staggered start still underfunded
With the window for rescuing the start of the school year about to slam shut, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is urging the Ford government to do much more than just give its permission for school boards to stagger the back-to-school week.
“Staggering arrival days means the Ford government needs to step up with child care and paid-leave options for parents urgently,” said Horwath. “And, ultimately, sending kids back into crowded classes with no way to physically distance is no more acceptable on Friday than it is on Monday.
“Time is quickly running out. If I were premier, I’d be hustling to hire thousands of teachers and education workers and helping school boards and municipalities to line up temporary classrooms so that students can physically distance when they go back-to-school.”
August 13, 2020
Education non-announcement won't save kids from crowded classrooms
Ontario NDP Health critic France Gélinas issued the following statement in response to the announcement made by the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce on Thursday:
“Today’s announcement from Minister Stephen Lecce offers absolutely no comfort at all to parents, school staff and students who are anxious and afraid about sending their children back to crowded classrooms in September.
Lecce’s announcement literally amounts to a reminder that some – not all – school boards have some reserve funds, and they can use them to try to plug some of the massive holes the Ford government has in its bargain basement back-to-school scheme.
As for the pitiful $50 million for HVAC repairs announced today, every dollar is welcome but that amounts to 0.003 per cent of the necessary school repairs that are currently going ignored.
If the NDP were the government today, we’d be hustling to have thousands of teachers and education workers hired, and temporary classrooms lined up, to ensure smaller, safer classes for every student in Ontario.
Time is running out. We simply can’t afford to let Doug Ford gamble with our children’s safety.”
August 12, 2020
The Doug Ford government’s first-quarter fiscal update shows that $0 has been added to the education budget, and that since April, the government spent a mere $218 million more on long-term care — nowhere near enough to buy the iron ring nursing homes needed.
“Parents, teachers, education workers, students and school boards are imploring the government to fund smaller, safer classes — and the cost of failing to do that is unthinkable,” said NDP Finance critic Sandy Shaw. The Ford government previously announced about $300 million – a completely inadequate amount — for their bargain basement back-to-school scheme, but that money doesn’t appear in the update released Wednesday.
“The government is pinching pennies on the backs of our children, and that choice is so risky for our children’s health and wellbeing. We should be spending what it takes to get all kids into smaller, safer classes — to keep them safe, and to protect our progress in the fight against COVID-19.”
Shaw said it’s devastating to learn that not only did Ford underspend his health and long-term care budget by $466 million, but he spent just $218 million in the raging battle against COVID-19 in long-term care homes.
“More than 1,845 seniors and frontline health care workers tragically died in long-term care homes. It’s abundantly, heart-breakingly clear that $218 million was nowhere near enough to fund the iron-ring around nursing homes that was needed,” said NDP finance critic Sandy Shaw.
“Doug Ford spent nearly two years making deep cuts to public health, to schools and to long-term care, and it’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed his priorities,” said Shaw. “If the NDP was in charge of the budget right now, we’d be doing whatever it takes to make classes smaller and safer, and to make sure they have proper ventilation. We’d be sparing no expense in long-term care. We’d be funding public health units. We’re urging Doug Ford to go back to the drawing board, and invest in what really matters to Ontario families.”
August 11, 2020
Many parents can’t risk sending their children back into crowded classrooms, while others simply can’t take the time off work to stay home with their kids. As the back-to-school countdown ticks down, Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is urging Doug Ford to bring in smaller, safer classes for the fall, before parents are forced to make this impossible choice.
“For countless parents, taking months more off work to stay home with the kids just isn’t possible,” said Horwath. “And for many, putting your child into a crowded classroom just isn’t on the table.
“In Kingston, like in communities all over Ontario, many parents are being forced to make this impossible choice this week.”
While Ford continues to defend his risky back-to-school plan, parents and educators continue to speak out about their fears for the fall. Horwath was in Kingston Tuesday, at Saint Martha Catholic School, where she was joined by Steve Garrison. Garrison is worried about inadequate physical distancing in classrooms, and says that the government needs to get this right the first time.
“The days are running out, but it’s not too late for Mr. Ford to do the right thing and start listening to parents and educators like Steve,” said Horwath. “We need smaller, safer class sizes, not a scheme that pinches pennies on the backs of our kids.
“If I were premier, I would be staffing up our schools, preparing temporary classroom spaces, and ensuring every classroom has good ventilation. And I would be working overtime to make sure Kingston’s new high school is ready to open, so that students from KCVI and Queen Elizabeth Collegiate have a school to go to.”
August 7, 2020
Ford should match federal funds for child care
Doly Begum, NDP Child Care critic, released the following statement in response to the provincial government announcing that federal funding, up to $230 million, will go towards restarting child care:
“The federal contribution to re-opening Ontario’s child care centres is simply not enough to support the thousands of centres across Ontario struggling to reopen safely. The Ford government must pitch in and, at a minimum, match the federal funding dollar-for-dollar, to bring that funding up to a level that helps centres hire more ECEs, get additional spaces in place and ensure cohorts are smaller and safer. Centres also need funding to stabilize after many lost significant revenue during the pandemic.
Ford's child care announcement failed to address the sector's desperate need for more space, more staff and smaller cohorts, to ensure children and staff are safe.
At last count, only about 40 per cent of child care centres were operational, and only at reduced capacity. That means parents — especially women — won't be able to go back to work. Families won’t recover, and Ontario will not have an economic recovery, until that problem is solved.”
August 7, 2020
NDP: We need a full-time economic recovery that includes every Ontarian
Official Opposition NDP critic for Economic Growth and Job Creation Catherine Fife (Waterloo) issued a statement in response to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for July:
“Friday’s figures reveal that while Ontario’s job market is slowly recovering, we are not seeing the full-time jobs being created that we need to mount a strong and inclusive economic recovery. Almost all of the jobs created in July were part-time, with just 5600 full-time roles added. Our economic recovery cannot be based on precarious part-time jobs and gig work that will leave families struggling to pay the bills while they try to pay down household debt that’s soared dramatically during this crisis.
The data shows that economic recovery is not being felt equally by all Canadians, with the largest pandemic-related increases in unemployment being experienced by South Asian and Chinese Canadians, while overall, South Asian women and Black women face the highest levels of unemployment.
To get more people back into the workforce full-time, parents - particularly mothers - need to know their kids will be able to safely return to school or child care. So far, Doug Ford and his Education Minister have failed to offer a safe plan, but it's not too late for them to step up to provide the funding needed to keep kids safe and give parents the confidence they need to go back to work full-time.
It is also long overdue for the Ford government to provide more support for Ontario’s small businesses, including direct rent relief and PPE support to help them reopen safely and rehire staff. The Official Opposition’s Save Main Street plan recognizes that small businesses are the backbone of the province’s economy. Our plan also recognizes the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on racialized communities, and includes a designated emergency fund for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have faced historic barriers to accessing traditional capital, as proposed by the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce.”
August 6, 2020
Doug Ford is responsible for the fact that PSWs are overworked and underpaid
On Thursday, Doug Ford acknowledged for the first time that personal support workers (PSWs) in Ontario are overworked and underpaid — a problem that governments have caused, that everyone in Ontario has known about for ages, and that Ford could fix right now.
Despite Ford’s claims that he can’t take action now, he’s the only one that can mandate higher wages and minimum staffing levels in long-term care and home care.
“PSWs don’t need Ford feigning surprise at how hard they work,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “Staff are paid barely above minimum wage and they’re often stuck trying to put together part-time jobs without benefits at several homes just to make ends meet. This problem is particularly bad in for profit homes but we need to do better for all PSWs across the system because it hurts staff and seniors in nursing homes.
“The Conservatives are making things worse by following the lead of previous Liberal governments and turning even more long-term care and home care over to private, for-profit corporations, which cut corners to pocket more profits.
“Sympathy and praise doesn’t give seniors the care they need, and doesn’t help PSWs pay the bills.”
The NDP is calling for thousands of PSWs to be hired, for all PSWs to get an immediate pay hike, for PSW jobs to be full-time, and for a mandate requiring enough staff on every shift to guarantee four hours of hands-on support and care per resident per day. Horwath has also made it clear it’s time to get for-profit corporations out of long-term care.
August 6, 2020
Horwath calls for back-to-school plan to be scrapped, replaced with smaller, safer classes
Standing outside an elementary school slated to hold more than 1,000 students in September, Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called for Doug Ford’s back-to-school scheme to be scrapped, and replaced with a plan for smaller, safer classes.
“It’s clear from Doug Ford’s back-to-school scheme that he is trying to pinch pennies on the backs of our children again,” said Horwath. “Before the pandemic we heard how large and growing class sizes were crowding classrooms. Now, Mr. Ford’s dangerous scheme sends students and staff right back into these over-crowded classrooms, where they can’t possibly practice physical distancing.”
Horwath was joined outside Bellmoore Elementary School in Binbrook — where 19 portables are already tacked on to the overflowing school — by Stacey Davis, who, like so many parents, wants to see her children back in school five days a week in September, but in smaller, safer classes.
“Time is running out, but it’s not too late,” said Horwath. “If I were premier right now, I would be capping class sizes for all students, and hustling to get temporary classroom spaces, teachers and education workers lined up for all those classes. I’d be making sure every classroom has proper ventilation – which means doing the repairs that governments have ignored for years. And I’d be welcoming all students back to school five days a week – but in smaller, safer classes.
“It’s an investment in the health and safety of children. It’s an investment in parents getting back to work. And it’s an investment in getting our economy moving again.”
August 5, 2020
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, released the following statement in response to Premier Doug Ford’s news conference Wednesday, in which he defended his decision to send kids back to school with regular, large class sizes for all primary school students and many high school students.
“Like many parents, teachers, educators and health experts, I was horrified today to hear Doug Ford dig in his heels and refuse to reconsider his plan to send kids back into jam-packed classes in September.
Thirty or more kids crammed into one small classroom wasn’t ok before the pandemic when Mr. Ford was cutting teachers and education workers and hiking class sizes. Now, it’s downright dangerous.
I’m asking Mr. Ford to listen to the parents who are worried. Listen to the experts that say small class sizes are necessary to keep our kids safe.
Time is running out, but it’s not too late. We need smaller, safer classes in September.”
July 31, 2020
Child care centres don't just need permission to reopen, they need funding to open safely
NDP Early Learning and Childcare critic Doly Begum responded to the Ford government announcement that child care centres are permitted to open at full capacity as of Sept. 1:
"Doug Ford has quietly put out a notice that child care centres can fully re-open on Sept. 1, but child care centres don't just need permission from the government; they desperately need help.
What operators have been saying for months is that they need additional funding to hire more staff and procure PPE, to ensure that new health restrictions are met, and that children are kept safe and healthy.
I have heard from operators, parents and early childhood educators around the province that the Ford government continues to fail to consult with the sector on what they need to open their doors safely. Many operators and parents remain unclear about what before and after-school child care will look like when school reopens.
While Ford has been making stuff up, claiming 91 per cent of child care centres have opened, journalists and experts have confirmed it's actually 40 per cent, and that those open are running at reduced capacity. We won't get to 100 per cent of centres open - and opened safely - until this government starts actually helping child care centres."
July 31, 2020
Doug Ford has created a perfect storm for thousands of evictions to begin this weekend, and NDP Tenant Rights critic Suze Morrison is calling on him to reverse course today, before people end up on the streets during a pandemic.
"Millions of people have lost jobs and wages as a result of COVID-19, and for so many, the struggle is far from over," Morrison said. "Yet the Ford government has orchestrated this perfect storm – a way for landlords to easily toss people onto the street, despite the ongoing pandemic."
The Ford government ended the state of emergency on July 24, allowing evictions to begin as of Saturday, Aug. 1. And earlier this month, Ford rammed through Bill 184, legislation that makes it easier for landlords to evict tenants. The new law allows landlords to bully tenants into bad payment plans, and allows them to evict people without a hearing for falling behind on that plan – even in the tenant is short on rent because of the pandemic.
"Ford let tenants down by refusing to provide rent relief during the pandemic, putting so many families into desperately tight situations," Morrison said. "Now, he's helping landlords push them out of their homes.
“The NDP is urging Ford to extend the ban on evictions immediately. And, ultimately, to repeal the easy-evictions law. It’s the eleventh-hour for people who have already been hit hard by the pandemic. What Ford is doing to them is wrong, and he needs to step in today to stop it — or the evictions start tomorrow.”
July 30, 2020
Ford's low-budget school scheme increases risk to save money
The Ford government’s back-to-school scheme stacks kids in overcrowded classrooms, while forcing many high school students to do half their education alone at home with little to no help — putting students’ health and academic success at risk so that Ford can save money on the backs of students, again.
NDP Education critic Marit Stiles said the right solution is hiring thousands of teachers, education workers and custodians so that all kids can return to school in the fall full time, but in smaller, safer classes. Instead, the scheme released by Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce on Thursday includes just $16,000 per school for additional staff — far less than one new staff person per school.
“Classrooms were already overcrowded, and the Ford government is sending kids right back into those packed classrooms. These kids should be in smaller class sizes so they can physically distance, and reduce the chances of spreading an outbreak,” said Stiles. “Funding a pathetic $16,000 per school for more staff means schools can’t break up kids into smaller, safer groups.”
Stiles said the plan to have high school students in designated school boards forced to stay home 50 per cent of the time, learning online instead of at school, puts academic futures at risk for thousands – especially, since no teachers will be added to support that. According to the government’s guidelines, for half of the time, students “would be assigned curriculum-linked independent work on remote learning days and, where possible, would participate in synchronous learning with their teacher and classmates for a period of each school day.”
“Online learning didn’t work for most high school students," said Stiles. "Now the Ford government is forcing them to do half their classes alone at home, with no guarantee they’ll get instruction, let alone help or one-on-one support. This could hurt graduation rates, attendance rates, and even ruin some kids’ plans for college or university."
“My heart goes out to all the parents, teachers and education workers who are going to be crestfallen about this announcement. We should be sparing no expense to give children both safety, and the best education we can. Instead, Ford has put together a low-budget scheme to save money on the backs of children, and the price of that is a higher risk to their health and safety, and risk to their academic success.
“It’s not too late. We are urging the Ford government to add funding, and get to work getting thousands of teachers, education workers, custodians and classroom spaces lined up so that all students can join a small, safer classroom in September.”
July 29, 2020
Ford government fails to provide funding or plan to transform child welfare in Ontario
Monique Taylor, NDP critic for Children and Youth Services, and Sol Mamakwa, NDP critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation released the following statement in response to the Ford government’s announcement on children services on Wednesday.
“We share the desire of Indigenous communities, families and child welfare providers for real transformation of the child welfare system that centres the welfare and rights of the children and youth in care, and that looks to keep these children in their communities cared for by those they know.
Unfortunately, we don't see any details of this transformation in the Ford government’s announcement today. There was no new funding, and no details of how the government will actually start to transform the child welfare system.
Dozens of children and youth have died while in child services since the pandemic began. Eleven of those children were Indigenous. To date this has been met with silence by the Ford government.
Without details, real resources or money, no timelines, and no commitment to transform the laws that govern child welfare, the Ford government is not dealing with these critical issues when Indigenous communities and children and youth in care desperately need a plan.”
July 29, 2020
NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West) is urging the Ford government to finally produce a plan for the safe return to school. While Doug Ford and his Education Minister sit on their hands, parents, students and educators in Windsor continue to be left waiting without any clarity on what to expect in September.
“When in-school education was paused in the spring due to the pandemic, educators, students and parents were forced to adapt to remote learning, and it was an incredibly difficult and stressful time,” said Gretzky. “Yet with only five weeks until the start of the school year, Doug Ford and his government have failed to provide the plan and funding needed to ensure kids can return to schools and in a safe and supportive way.”
Earlier this month the Official Opposition NDP has set out a detailed emergency action plan to get kids back to class including steps like hiring more educators to allow for smaller class sizes, and funding for extra supports for students who are struggling or have special needs and for school upgrades that will help with infection control.
Gretzky was joined at a press conference Wednesday by Mario Spagnuolo, President of Greater Essex ETFO and Erin Roy, President of OSSTF District 9, to outline the supports that Windsor’s schools needs from the provincial government in order to safely get students back in class five days a week.
“We’ve heard a lot of talk from Premier Ford and Minister Lecce about re-opening schools, but families and educators need more than talk without details, they need a solid plan with proper funding to keep everyone safe in September” said Gretzky.
Measures outlined in the NDP’s emergency action plan include:
- Putting enough teachers, education workers and alternative classrooms in place for all students to return to school five days a week, with smaller class sizes, in safe classrooms;
- Paid sick leave and parental leave in any modified return;
- Immediate funding to stabilize the child care sector to prevent fee increases and layoffs;
- Increased funding for teacher hiring, bussing, school repairs and cleaning;
- Addressing the needs of students from Black, Indigenous and racialized communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19;
- Real collaboration with frontline education workers, students, parents and school boards through a COVID-19 recovery school advisory group.
“Parents, students, and educators deserve to know if the province will provide emergency funding right now to school boards right now, to put that in place so they can be ready for September. Enough is enough, the community here in Windsor cannot afford to wait any longer after weeks of uncertainty and delays,” added Gretzky.
July 29, 2020
Premier's commission doesn't offer immediate action or long-term change for long-term care
Gurratan Singh, the NDP critic for the Attorney General, said Premier Doug Ford is not only failing to take immediate action in long-term care, but by establishing a backroom premier’s commission that fails to do what a public inquiry must, he’s allowing long-standing problems to continue indefinitely.
“Over 1,840 people have died in long-term care during this pandemic. Those are our parents, our grandparents and the builders of this province. The first thing the Ford government must do is immediately fix the things we already know are wrong to give those in care better quality of life, and better protection,” said Singh.
“We need to hire thousands of PSWs, make their jobs full time, and pay them better. We need to have a legislated minimum standard staffing level of four hours of hands on care per day per resident. We need more staff training, and the end of the use of temp agencies to staff care homes.”
Singh said that beyond that, it’s clearer than ever before that families need a full public inquiry, and not a premier’s commission, to look into the problems in long-term care that have been growing for many years.
According to the terms of reference released Wednesday, much of the commission can be conducted behind closed doors, in back rooms and without the families of those who died. The NDP’s specific concerns include:
- The scope is too narrow. The commission can only examine COVID-19 and not the many years of problems that came before it; and the commission isn’t mandated to examine the role of profit-making corporations running nursing facilities, as opposed to public and not-for-profit homes.
- Ford is allowing commission meetings and hearings to be private, behind closed doors.
- Ford is giving confidentiality rights to some documents that come before the commission.
- Ford’s terms of reference don’t appear to give families standing — the right to stand up and to be heard. Instead, the commissioner will pick and choose who to hear from.
- It’s non-binding and Ford wouldn’t commit to implement any of its recommendations.
July 29, 2020
NDP calls for overhaul of small business rent relief scheme
Catherine Fife MPP (Waterloo), Official Opposition NDP critic for Economic Growth and Job Creation, is echoing the calls of small businesses, pointing to the failure of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program and calling on Doug Ford to provide direct rent relief to small businesses that desperately need it.
“Doug Ford’s plan for small business hasn't worked,” said Fife. “Instead of providing direct support to small businesses that desperately need relief, the Ford government rolled out a program that forces small businesses to rely on their landlords to apply. And when they do apply it is complicated, bureaucratic and almost impossible.”
Ford has known for months that his plan wasn't working and yet he refused to listen, leaving small businesses on their own without any support and facing eviction. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has called on governments to create a new plan, noting that less than 10 percent of the funding set aside for CECRA has been allocated.
Fife reiterated the need for direct support as set out in the NDP’s Save Main Street Plan – including a 75 per cent commercial rent subsidy up to $10,000 a month and a ban on commercial evictions.
“Ontario's economic recovery depends on small businesses surviving, rent support is an investment in our recovery. Doug Ford needs to listen to the voices of small business calling for real relief,” said Fife.
July 28, 2020
Doug Ford doubles down on cuts to Anti-Racism, Reconciliation
The Official Opposition NDP’s critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Sol Mamakwa, and critic for Anti-Racism, Laura Mae Lindo, issued a joint statement following the Ford government’s announcement of $800,000 a year for two years to support anti-racism initiatives:
“Last year, Doug Ford took away virtually all anti-racism funding by budgeting an absolutely insulting $1,000 for all anti-racism work in the province. Now he thinks he can fool people by putting back just $800,000 a year. Ontarians aren’t buying it. They know this is just Mr. Ford doubling down on his ongoing agenda of deep cuts to critical reconciliation and anti-racism work.
One of Mr. Ford’s first actions as premier was to cut mandatory Indigenous education in Ontario classrooms. Months of public pressure forced him to restore Indigenous education to the curriculum, but only as electives. And just yesterday, the Ford government shamefully voted down funding requests for both the Indigenous Culture Fund and Indigenous community curriculum writing sessions, demonstrating that the systemic racism and colonialism that generations of Indigenous children in Ontario have faced is alive and well.
Asking Black, Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim and all other racialized communities in Ontario combined to make do with less than one tenth of one percent of this Ministry’s budget is offensive.
Indigenous, Black and racialized communities don’t need more community consultations – they have told successive Liberal and Conservative governments what they need to fight racism and colonialism through dozens of reports, commissions, task forces and consultations going back decades.
Ontarians deserve so much better than this. As New Democrats, we will keeping pushing this government to take reconciliation and anti-racism seriously, and actually do the work.”
July 28, 2020
A new report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) shows that after a deep-cutting 2019-20 budget, the Ford government took even more away from long-term care and public health — making Ontario even less able to respond to COVID-19.
“We knew Doug Ford’s budget was full of callous cuts. What the FAO revealed today is that, throughout the year, Ford twisted the knife even deeper, stripping even more out of health care and seniors care,” said Official Opposition Finance critic Sandy Shaw.
“He cut public heath’s budget, then took away another $49 million off during the course of the year. He shortchanged long-term care homes and hospitals, then took away another $65 million. Even as a pandemic approached, Ford was stripping millions upon millions out of the budgets for critical health services.”
In total, the Ford government spent $466 million less than it promised to for health care, including public health and long-term care. Shaw said a post-pandemic judicial inquiry into the province’s response should include the impact of cuts and underfunding throughout health and long-term care.
July 27, 2020
Municipalities need a long-term commitment from the province to avoid service cuts
NDP Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) and NDP Transit critic Jessica Bell (University—Rosedale) are calling on the Ford government to commit to supporting municipalities over the long-term, after the government said Monday it would distribute “up to” $4 billion in one-time funding.
For two years before the pandemic, Doug Ford made deep cuts to municipalities, including cuts to public health, ambulance services, and child care. Ford also took away municipalities’ promised share of the existing gas tax transfer.
“Our municipal partners continue to do much of the heavy lifting, including funding public health, child care, municipal long-term care facilities and more. While the funding announced Monday might give some breathing room to municipalities hurting from pandemic costs, it still falls far short of what will be needed to protect jobs and public services over the long-term,” said Burch.
“Doug Ford’s cuts were deep. Without a long-term commitment to stable funding, Ontario’s municipalities could be forced to impose steep property tax hikes, lay off more staff and make deep cuts to services people count on. That’s no way to recover.”
Bell says that the funding crisis in public transit was created by the Ford government when they took away municipalities’ promised share of the existing gas tax transfer, which has only gotten worse due to the significantly reduced ridership during the pandemic.
“The provincial government used to fund 50 per cent of the operating costs of transit. If this government is truly committed to helping Ontario recover — which includes helping commuters get on less crowded, more frequent busses and trains and going back to work — it needs to reverse its cuts and permanently fund some transit operating costs,” said Bell.
Bell and Burch said the NDP would be closely monitoring the one-time funding rollout. Unanswered questions remain about how municipalities will apply for the money and how it will be divided; as well as what the total amount will be, since Monday’s funding announcement included only a maximum, not a final tally.
July 24, 2020
Horwath calls for more staff, more classrooms to make five-day school safe for all
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Doug Ford shouldn’t just hope it’ll be safe for students to attend school five days a week in the fall — he should make it safe.
The Official Opposition leader was in Brampton Friday, where she acknowledged the pressure parents are coping with, and the solution she believes the premier should be putting in place immediately.
“During this pandemic, parents have been doing the superhuman work of juggling parenting, working from home and supporting kids with at-home learning,” said Horwath. “Knowing how incredibly difficult that’s been, I’m shocked that Doug Ford appears not to be taking any action at all to get enough safe, small classrooms ready so every child can go back to school in the fall.”
“If I were premier, I’d be hiring teachers and education workers, sourcing temporary classrooms, and getting extra supports lined up for students with special needs. There’s no time to waste if we’re going to be ready for fall.”
Instead, with five weeks left to go before school is supposed to start, Ford has panicked parents by pitching an unworkable hybrid model, which will leave families to hunt for child care, or stop working to stay home multiple days a week. Horwath said there’s no reason to consider the hybrid model except to save the costs associated with temporarily smaller class sizes.
“Mr. Ford is trying to save money on the backs of our children again,” said Horwath. “Giving all students a class to go to every day, instead of just half of them, is an investment not only in kids and their education, but also it’s also an investment in their parents, and in getting our economy moving again.”
Ford has been making deep cuts to education, including a plan to slash thousands of teachers and education workers and hike class sizes. By cutting funding for school building and repairs, he’s allowed the backlog of necessary repairs grow to $16.3 billion.
July 23, 2020
NDP MPPs Catherine Fife (Waterloo) and Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre) issued the following statement after the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) chair wrote to Doug Ford requesting help for the upcoming school year due to the lack of extra resources coming from the provincial government. The WRDSB estimates it will face $7.9 million in unbudgeted COVID-19 costs, and without support will have to cut budgets for schools across the Region.
“Parents in Waterloo Region need clarity about the next school year. They’ve had their hands full during the pandemic juggling parenting and making sure school-age kids keep up with remote learning, all while managing their own workloads. They deserve a provincial government that will step up with a plan for September and the funding schools need to protect children and their teachers from COVID-19.
Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce have failed to provide a plan or funding that are needed to ensure kids can return to schools and child care centres in a safe and supportive way. It’s simply not good enough to leave this to school boards, including here in Waterloo Region, without any additional resources or funding from the province. We’ve heard a lot of talk from the Ford government about re-opening schools, but what parents need is real action and proper funding to make that possible.
The Official Opposition NDP put forward an emergency action plan to help get kids safely back to class five days a week in the fall, including:
- Putting enough teachers, education workers and alternative classrooms in place for all students to return to school five days a week, in small, safe classrooms;
- Paid sick leave and parental leave in any modified return;
- Immediate funding to stabilize the child care sector to prevent fee increases and layoffs;
- Increased funding for teacher hiring, bussing, school repairs and cleaning;
- Real collaboration with frontline education workers, students, parents and school boards through a COVID-19 recovery school advisory group.
Parents, students, and educators deserve to know if the province will provide emergency funding right now to school boards to put that in place so they can be ready for September."
July 23, 2020
FACT CHECK: Doug Ford is spending less and less on schools
Despite Doug Ford’s claims, the Conservatives have been spending less and less on education infrastructure.
“It’s insulting for Doug Ford and his education minister to claim they’re doing anything to fix our crumbling classrooms and jam-packed schools when they’re actually cutting the budget, year after year,” said Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic. “Students and parents and educators are pleading for a plan to get kids back to class safely in the fall, five days a week, and what they’re getting instead is a government that congratulates itself with a photo op and a totally disingenuous announcement.”
- In 2018-19, planned education infrastructure spending was about $3 billion.[1] Ford cut that to $2.5 billion.[2]
- In 2019-20, Ford cut education infrastructure spending further, to $2.4 billion.[3]
- In 2020-21, in the budget that came in response to COVID-19, Ford lowered it again — to $2.2 billion.[4]
- On top of badly needed new schools, the government is ignoring more than $16.3 billion[5] in necessary repairs to existing schools.
“Parents want to know what this government is doing to get all our kids safely into smaller classrooms in September,” said Stiles. “What they got today translates to no immediate help, and far less long-term investment than all kids need and deserve.”
July 23, 2020
Monique Taylor, NDP critic for Children and Youth Services, and Sol Mamakwa, NDP critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, issued the following statement following an APTN report that revealed the number of children who have died while connected to the province’s child welfare system since the pandemic began on March 11.
“We mourn the lives of each child who died in this province when they most needed our help. No child should die in Ontario for lack of care and support. These children should have been protected, and cared for.
We need answers from the Ford government on how it failed to protect these children.
The treatment of Indigenous children, who make up a disproportionate number of children in care, and in child welfare agencies, is inexcusable. Many years ago, colonialism in Canada set out to kill the Indian in the child. Today systemic racism is killing the child. What is happening here represents the destructive impact of colonialism and systemic racism on generations of Indigenous children.
As Ontarians, we are accountable for every child and youth who is vulnerable, who needs our help and is dependent on our provincial institutions to provide safety and care.
Doug Ford’s recent actions have made life more dangerous for children dependent on government oversight. He removed the provincial child advocate, who provided a voice for Ontario’s children, and loosened oversight of foster homes. Now we can see the disastrous results.
New Democrats call on the Ombudsman to conduct an emergency investigation into each of these deaths, and the child welfare system during the state of emergency. We also call on the government to re-instate the independent advocate for children and youth. Not one more child should die due to provincial neglect.
The Ombudsman must conduct in-person investigations and act immediately, with the full unimpeded cooperation of the ministry, and using the precautionary principle, if they have any doubt that children in care are not protected.
The coroner must expedite inquests for each of these deaths.
During this time of crisis, children in care need more support and resources. Doug Ford must act now to provide it.”
July 22, 2020
FACT CHECK: Doug Ford's tales don't match the reality
NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson released the following statement after watching Doug Ford and Paul Calandra tell tales in their press conference:
“It was painful today watching Doug Ford and Paul Calandra tell tall tales in their press conference. Here are some of the things they lied about:
- Ford claims he needs unlimited power to make orders behind closed doors because it takes “three weeks” to recall the house. Only 24 hours is required to recall the legislature.
- Ford claimed there were bipartisan efforts. The government ended multi-party House meetings months ago and passed sweeping legislation this week without any opportunity for public comment – a move that was opposed by every Opposition MPP.
- Calandra claimed that the Auditor General was incorrect when she claimed that the government violated the Environmental Bill of Rights when they passed Bill 197 without consultation. The Auditor was clear: they did.
- Calandra claimed members on both sides of the house made it clear we had to get back to our ridings. He’s making stuff up. We prefer to continue our legislative work in order to fight for laws that could give people some direct support. We were not consulted about the end of the session.
- Ford claimed that he “gets along great” with former PC MPP Belinda Karahalios but he just unilaterally kicked her out of the PC Caucus – breaking his own commitment to let MPPs vote their conscience on non-Budget matters.
Doug Ford is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts.”
July 22, 2020
Doug Ford once again breaks Ontario's environmental law
Ontario’s Auditor General has confirmed that Doug Ford ignored her warnings and broke Ontario’s environmental laws yet again, this time by ramming through major environmental changes without public consultation on its omnibus Bill 197.
After concerns raised by NDP Environment critic Ian Arthur, and in an interview with the National Observer, Bonnie Lysyk, Ontario’s Auditor General, confirmed that the government not only broke the law, but that she had warned the government about a week ago that the bill violated environmental law. Knowing it was illegal, Doug Ford’s Conservatives rammed the bill through the process and made it a law on Tuesday, anyway.
“Once again, Doug Ford has been caught breaking the law and undermining critical protections to our environment,” said Arthur. "And this certainly isn't the first time Ford has been caught breaking Ontario’s environmental laws. Last year a court ruled that Ford violated the Environmental Bill of Rights when he dismantled Ontario’s pollution pricing regime without any consultation.
“Again, Doug Ford has been caught helping developer insiders at the expense of protecting our environment.”
Under Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, governments are required to consult the public for 30 days on measures that impact the environment. Ford's Bill 197 makes dangerous changes to Ontario's environmental assessment process, yet his government failed to hold public consultations on the legislation, and rammed it into law with minimal debate.
July 22, 2020
Ford's refusal to address LTC staff shortages is abandoning seniors before possible second wave
The Ontario NDP's Long-term Care critic, Teresa Armstrong, released the following statement in response to an Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) survey that shows 95 per cent of long-term care staff report seniors' basic needs continue to go unmet due to staffing shortages:
"Thousands of families are grieving the loss of a loved one in long-term care, and countless more are wracked with worry over a relative who continues to live in long-term care during COVID-19. The OHC's finding that these facilities are more short-staff than ever is, sadly, not surprising.
The military and hospital teams have left long-term care, and staffing levels in many homes are lower than ever. Yet, as Ontario braces for a potential second wave of COVID-19, Doug Ford is parading on a vanity campaign tour.
Ford needs to mandate that enough staff be on each shift to offer at least four hours of hands-on care to each residents each day, and make PSW jobs full-time and better paid.
Ford's refusal to address critical staff shortages and protect our seniors is terrifying to the many Ontarians whose loved ones live in long-term care."
July 22, 2020
Ford must step up with more support for children with special needs during COVID-19
NDP MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain) tabled a motion in the Ontario legislature Tuesday urging the Ford government to implement a plan to meet the needs of children with special needs and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For months, families have been struggling to support their children with special needs and parents are feeling isolated and burnt out.” said Taylor. “I have heard from many parents who fear that their children are regressing without access to therapy and mental health supports. We need a plan to resume these services, with COVID-19 precautions, to provide these children and their families the support they need.”
Taylor’s motion requests that the Ford government immediately implement a COVID-19 plan to meet the needs of children with special needs and their families with a sector wide strategy for reopening, including:
- Emergency respite services for families, with equitable access for Northern and rural communities
- Increased funding and shortened wait times for Special Services at Home (SSAH) reimbursements
- Fast-tracked development of the needs-based Ontario Autism Program
- Proactive and regular communication with families by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, which has been mostly silent throughout the pandemic
- Resources for schools and additional education assistant support this fall
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) for support workers
“So far, throughout this pandemic, Ford has failed to support children with special needs,” said Taylor. "We need this government finally stand up for these families and provide a real plan for providing services safely as Ontario reopens."
July 21, 2020
Session was a missed opportunity to support schools, LTC, small businesses, says Horwath
After the Doug Ford government abruptly shut down the Ontario legislature Tuesday, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the entire sitting was a lost opportunity to help people make it through COVID-19.
“We could have used this session to make seniors safer in long-term care, including adding more workers for every shift, and making their jobs full-time and better paid,” said Horwath.
“The legislature should have put a plan in place to get kids back to school and child care safely.
“We also could have used this time to put financial help in place for small local businesses that are struggling under the weight of rent and safe re-opening costs, like personal protective equipment and plexiglass barriers. And I had hoped to launch a preparedness review to make sure we’re ready to cope with a second wave of COVID-19 – from mask stockpiles, to a plan to maintain scheduled surgeries.”
Horwath said, instead, Ford chose to help out some of his friends and insiders at the expense of everyday people.
- Ford helped landlords by making it easier to evict people (Bill 184)
- Ford helped big developers by allowing them to skirt environmental protections – literally breaking the law by violating the Environmental Bill of Rights in order to do that (Bill 197)
- Ford helped himself by handing himself unprecedented and undemocratic powers to make rules in secret behind closed doors (Bill 195)
“It’s a terrible shame that we’ve had weeks together here in the legislature to get things done, and everyday families got nothing out of it,” said Horwath. “This government just doesn’t believe it’s their job to help people.”
Before shutting down the session to leave on his vanity campaign tour, Ford’s last act of the session was to throw Belinda Karahalios (Cambridge) out of the PC Caucus because she had a moment of principle, daring to contradict him. Karahalios voted no on Ford’s move to give himself unchecked power to make new orders behind closed doors.
July 21, 2020
NDP: Ford rams through laws that do nothing to help Ontarians when they need it most
NDP Official Opposition House Leader Gilles Bisson (Timmins) has issued the following statement:
“Doug Ford has abruptly shut down the Ontario legislature for the summer after ramming through legislation that will do nothing to help Ontarians dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 health and economic crisis people across the province are still dealing with. Andrea Horwath and the NDP wanted to use this session to give families and businesses the support they desperately need to stay afloat and get families, schools, child care centres and municipalities back on their feet. Instead, today the government passed three bills that give Ford more power, and help his well-connected insiders at the expense of everyday people.
With Bill 195, Ford hands himself unprecedented and undemocratic powers to make rules in secret behind closed doors. Ford’s own PC MPP Belinda Karahalios (Cambridge) voted against Bill 195, calling it ‘an unnecessary overreach on our parliamentary democracy.’ The official opposition congratulates Ms. Karahalios on her principled stand – for which Doug Ford has punished her by kicking her out of his caucus. It’s clear that Ford is still on a mission to attack anyone who disagrees with him.
Bill 184 makes it easier for landlords to evict tenants, which is the last thing Ontarians need as the pandemic continues and we face a potential second wave of the virus.
And his sweeping omnibus legislation, Bill 197, rolls back environmental protections, lines the pockets of big developers, and even allows boards to appoint directors of education with no teaching qualifications.
The NDP is incredibly disappointed that this session of the legislature has ended without the government giving people the help they need to recover from this pandemic.”
July 21, 2020
NDP MPPs call on Ford government to set up with provincial support for homelessness crisis in Kenora
Rima Berns-McGown, Ontario NDP critic for Poverty and Homelessness, and Sol Mamakwa, MPP for Kiiwetinoong, are calling on the Ford government to take immediate steps to alleviate the homelessness crisis in the North.
The NDP MPPs’ call comes after the City of Kenora voted down an anti-loitering bylaw that would have seen fines handed out to people struggling with homelessness.
“The provincial government never should have let the homelessness crisis in Ontario get to this point, and turned their back on municipalities that need help,” said Berns-McGown. “Solving this crisis of homelessness requires support from all levels of government, but the province has been cutting instead of investing in solutions.
“That means properly funding social services and shelters, as well as transitional, supportive, and rent-geared-to-income housing for people in need across Northern Ontario.”
“Municipalities like Kenora and Sioux Lookout require support from higher levels of government to work on not only the issue of the emergency of people without homes but the deeper systemic change needed to help the vulnerable members of our communities,” added Mamakwa. “Implementing municipal anti-loitering by-laws is racism and will not solve the homelessness crisis in the North.
“Real collaboration is needed to address the issues of colonialism and racism in our communities, as well as increased housing and social supports. Northwestern Ontario needs all of its leaders to deal proactively with these emergencies, especially those that adversely affect our disproportionately marginalized community members.”
July 21, 2020
NDP backs thousands fighting Ford's scheme to replace educators with fiscal managers
Laura Mae Lindo, Ontario NDP Anti-Racism critic, and Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic, said it’s wrong for Doug Ford to plow ahead with plans to pass a bill as soon as today which allows directors of education positions to be filled by people who are not accredited teachers. Thousands of Ontarians are now calling on Ford to scrap that bill, for fear that education professionals will be replaced by fiscal managers at the head of school boards.
The Urban Alliance on Race Relations says this will pave the way for money-driven decision-making that stands to hurt marginalized students most.
“This is consistent with the current government’s desire to privatize public education,” said Nigel Barriffe, President of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. “We have only to look at the U.S. to see what will happen to us. This doesn’t make a case for diversity; instead, it will pave the way for further political and corporate interference in our children’s education.”
School principal Alison Gaymes San Vicente, Vidya Shah, Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership at York University, and a group of educators have launched a petition in protest of the change that has amassed more than 28,000 signatures in just over a day.
“The Ontario NDP shares the concerns of the thousands of parents, teachers and community leaders who are worried that replacing educators with fiscal managers will take us backwards in the fight for equity in education,” said Lindo. “We should be seizing on this moment to push for meaningful progress in tackling anti-Black racism in classrooms, not putting even more barriers in front of students who continue to face systemic barriers to academic success.
“It’s shameful for Doug Ford to open the door even wider to putting cost-cutting ahead of kids’ needs. Ignoring kids’ needs will disproportionately impact marginalized students, including Black, Indigenous and racialized students as well as students with special needs.”
This isn’t the first time Doug Ford has pursued a cost-cutting agenda in Ontario’s education system. Ford spent months fighting students, parents and educators in an effort to hike class sizes, slash course options and take away teachers — cuts he’s still pushing ahead with.
“Students in Ontario deserve so much better than a government that treats their education as nothing more than an expense,” said Stiles. “It’s an investment, and it’s worth every dime.
“Directors of education should have experience in classrooms as teachers, because that’s who is going to fight to ensure kids get the best education and opportunities possible.”
July 20, 2020
FACT CHECK: CNN report not quite what Ford claims
In question period, Doug Ford bragged that American cable news network CNN praised Ontario’s COVID-19 response. But he was making stuff up again.
CNN did broadcast a story on Canada’s response to COVID-19 but did not single out Ontario for any praise. Ford also failed to note the following section (at 2:47):
“More than 8.500 people have died. The vast majority linked to crowded and poorly staffed senior’s homes.”
The news segment also features a nurse at Pinecrest Nursing Home, a long-term care facility in Bobcaygeon where 29 residents died of COVID-19. She says:
“I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff happen and I don’t remember anything with this level of sadness.”
“We’d like an honest evaluation of how Ontario did in the first wave of COVID-19 so that we can better prepare for the second wave,” said NDP Ethics and Accountability critic Taras Natyshak. “Doug Ford is, once again, making stuff up. This time, he’s doing it to avoid having to do the work to fill the gaps in the COVID-19 response. It’s people’s health and financial wellbeing at risk here – not the time for self-aggrandizing game-playing.”
July 20, 2020
NDP calls for independent Preparedness Review as preparation for second wave
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on the government to conduct an independent Preparedness Review of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ontario’s readiness for a potential second wave.
“People and small businesses are doing their part to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19, but is the government doing everything it can to shield us against the health and economic impacts of a second wave?” Horwath asked. “Doug Ford’s claims that we’re ready for the second wave echo his claims from February that we were ready for the first wave. We weren’t. Not in long-term care, not when it came to our PPE stockpile, not when it came to planning for scheduled surgeries and cancer care, not in testing and contact tracing, and not when it came to migrant workers.
“Instead of Doug Ford’s eight-week campaign photo op tour, I’m calling on him to get an assessment of our readiness for the second wave, and address gaps and shortfalls quickly, to save Ontarians from any more devastation.”
Alberta has a similar review already underway, examining things like staffing levels in long-term care and health care, reviewing the decision-making process and ensuring N95 masks are stockpiled.
Horwath says Ontario’s independent Preparedness Review should be complete by fall, and should examine data and contact tracing, personal protective equipment stocks, the resources needed in long-term care, schools and throughout the health sector, and more.
July 20, 2020
Doug Ford has only built 34 new long-term care beds
Doug Ford and his Conservative government have built a paltry 34 long-term care beds.
According to the government’s own long-term care systems report, the number of beds increased to just 78,800 in January 2020, up from 78,766 in July 2018. Ford and his ministers travelled the province over the last two years to hold press conferences to announce bed allocations – but they were re-announcements of beds allocated by the previous Liberal government, and never built by either.
“A senior can’t live in a press conference. They won’t be cared for by an announcement,” said NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath. “We’ve had government after government shovel money over to private for-profit long-term care corporations, at the expense of making any progress on building beds, and at the expense of people’s quality of living and quality of care.”
As of January 2020, the wait list for people waiting to get into a long-term care home had 37,612 names on it.
Last week, the government admitted it would not keep its promise of building 15,000 beds – which, itself, is a fraction of what’s needed.
July 20, 2020
NDP MPP Gretzky tables motion, urges Ford to create COVID-19 Essential Caregiver Strategy
NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West) will table a motion in the Legislature on Monday, urging the Ford government to immediately implement a COVID-19 Essential Caregiver Strategy that recognizes essential caregivers as more than just visitors, and gives residents in long-term care, groups homes and all congregate care settings the right to fully access their essential caregivers and support persons while giving congregate settings the resources they need to safely implement this.
“The stories I have heard from families during this pandemic are heartbreaking. They’ve told me that the limited access to their loved ones through phone calls or window visits has been painful, and for some, simply not feasible. It’s been four months, and some haven’t been able to see their loved ones at all,” said Gretzky. “We need action today.”
Gretzky’s motion also states that any future policies regarding essential caregivers must be made in consultation with residents, patients, families, experts, and workers.
Advocacy groups and experts including the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, and the National Institute on Ageing, have all released detailed plans in recent weeks, urging the safe return of essential caregivers and support persons back into congregate care settings.
“Essential caregivers are family members and support persons who perform a crucial role as partners in care and support. Yet the Ford government has created ‘visitation’ policies that exclude them, and are confusing, inconsistent and, in reality, difficult to roll out. This is clearly because residents, patients, families, experts, and staff are not at the table to share their vital insight and feedback.”
Gretzky was joined at a press conference today by family caregiving researcher and expert Dr. Vivian Stamatopoulos, and two essential caregivers, Pamela Libralesso and Susan Mills, who have been denied meaningful, appropriate access to their family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Libralesso has not seen her 14 year old son who lives in a group home for children with disabilities in over four months, and Mills has not been able to provide care and support for her elderly mother, a resident of a long-term care home.
“As the pandemic continues, and as we prepare for a potential second wave, Premier Doug Ford can no longer ignore or overlook the health and happiness of residents in congregate care settings, and their rights to have access to their essential caregivers. The time to act is now. I am urging the Ford government to support this motion and respect the rights of individuals and their essential caregivers that have been denied for far too long.”
July 16, 2020
NDP calls on Ford to support child care so parents can get back to work
Doly Begum, Ontario NDP Early Learning and Child Care critic, is calling on the Ford government to step up with support for the child care sector before centres are forced to close permanently or hike fees, and before working parents have to quit their jobs to stay home with their kids. In the absence of provincial funding, many child care centres face enormous barriers to welcoming kids back under the new rules for re-opening. Begum was joined for a virtual press conference Thursday by parents who are struggling without child care.
“Parents are hanging on by a thread after months of looking after their little ones full time from home, all while trying to keep up with the rest of their commitments, like work,” said Begum. “Many of them, including many women, won’t be able to return to work without child care or without a full, safe re-opening of schools in the fall.”
“Instead of prioritizing child care, the Ford government is dictating re-opening rules to operators and refusing to provide the funding needed to meet them. This is only taking things from bad to worse in the middle of a pandemic — child care was already too expensive and too scarce.”
The NDP continues to call on the government to:
- Create a plan to maintain access to child care by boosting capacity under the re-opening rules.
- Provide immediate funding to stabilize the child care sector to prevent fee increases and layoffs.
- Consult with municipalities to find ways to use available public infrastructure so that school and child care centres can resume in-person for as many children as possible in a safe and healthy way.
- Engage child care advocates, RECEs and child care operators in re-opening planning.
- Guarantee that no essential workers currently receiving emergency child care will lose child care provision when the emergency child care program ends.
- Guarantee that parents will be able to access paid, job-protected leave until school and child care fully resumes.
- Ensure the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy remains available to child care operators by working with the federal government.
“Working parents with little ones deserve so much better than a government that ignores their child care needs,” said Begum. “We should be doing more to guarantee access to affordable, quality, public child care, not putting existing spaces — and the province’s economic recovery — at risk.”
July 15, 2020
Alarming that Ford will allow residential evictions to resume in midst of pandemic
NDP Tenant Rights critic Suze Morrison said it is alarming that Doug Ford is allowing the sheriff to enforce tenant evictions again come Aug. 1, in the midst of a pandemic.
"The financial struggle that countless people are dealing with due to COVID-19 is far from over — so many have lost jobs and wages — yet the Ford government is preparing to allow tenants to be thrown out of their homes starting in a few weeks," Morrison said.
On July 6, the Superior Court of Justice order that had suspended residential evictions was amended so that the suspension ends at the end of month in which the state of emergency is terminated.
The Ford government has said that the state of emergency is to end July 24, meaning evictions can begin starting Aug. 1.
"For the vast majority of tenants, it’s through no fault of their own if they’re behind on rent," Morrison said. "Ford must extend the ban on evictions, and actually enforce it. Otherwise, he's allowing people to be thrown into the street while we’re still in a pandemic.”
July 15, 2020
LTC announcement shows Ford's renewed commitment to private LTC
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response to Doug Ford’s long-term care announcement, in which he commits to altering the funding formula for long-term care construction:
“Today’s announcement by Premier Doug Ford means the for-profit corporations that have failed seniors for years could get even more public money.
Today feels like a re-run of years of Liberal re-announcements on long-term care – where beds were announced, but never built. In its final two terms, the Liberals only built 600 beds. In its first year, the Ford government built just 21 beds.
I was hoping today’s announcement would mean better care. If we want to improve conditions, we should be committing to hiring enough staff to deliver four hours of hands on care per resident per day; raising PSW wages and offering them full-time jobs; and getting the profits out of long-term care. Instead, we see no new money, and a renewed commitment to shovel cash into the private sector, where they can cut corners and pocket the difference.”
July 14, 2020
NDP presents emergency action plan for full, safe return to school in September
As the Ford government sits on its hands instead of taking action to ensure a full return to schools in September, the Ontario NDP is putting forward an emergency action plan that would help get kids safely back to class five days a week in the fall and work for parents and teachers. That plan, captured in a motion tabled today by NDP Education critic Marit Stiles, includes steps like hiring more educators to allow for smaller class sizes and funding for extra supports for students who are struggling or have special needs and for school upgrades that will help with infection control.
“Parents have been juggling looking after their little ones, helping school-age kids keep up with remote learning and working from home since the province went into shutdown, and they’re worried about what’s going to happen at the start of the school year,” said Stiles. “If the government doesn’t get into gear and put Ontario on a path to a full, healthy and safe return to classes for students in September, some parents may have to drop out of the workforce.
“Doug Ford and his education minister should be moving mountains to get kids safely back school five days a week in the fall. Instead of taking action, they’re taking a wait-and-see approach, wiping their hands of the enormous problems parents are facing.”
In addition to hiring more staff and funding extra support for students and school upgrades, the NDP’s emergency action plan to get kids back to class includes:
- Maintaining job-protected leave and benefits for parents until school and child care are fully up and running again
- Funding to help keep the child care sector afloat
- Funding for more school buses to ensure physical distancing
- Making use of public infrastructure to support the re-opening of schools and daycares
- Ensuring ongoing access to emergency child care for essential workers
- Bringing together students, parents, education workers, unions and schools board in an advisory group to help guide COVID-19 recovery in schools
- Addressing the needs of students from Black, Indigenous and racialized communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19
- Ensuring all workers have access to paid sick leave
“It’s not too late for the government to do its homework and get these things done,” said Stiles. “The NDP has a plan to ensure a full, safe return to classes in the fall, and we are ready and willing to help make it happen.”
July 13, 2020
Ford must stop excluding Northern schools from reopening
Northern NDP MPPs are demanding that Doug Ford stop leaving out northern schools and provide the resources they need for a safe reopening in September.
NDP Deputy Leader John Vanthof and MPP Sol Mamakwa, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic, supported NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and her call for more resources for schools during question period on Monday.
“Northern schools need additional funding and resources to manage COVID-19,” said Vanthof. “The Ford government needs to act now to ensure students and staff are safe on their return to school while this pandemic persists.”
“Far North, remote and Indigenous communities, whose schools and homes don’t have access to broadband, are being left out,” said Mamakwa. “Their remote locations mean students cannot access broadband anywhere else. Students in fly-in northern communities won’t be able to complete mandatory online courses to finish their studies.
“Our students deserve equitable access to technology and education, whether they attend a provincial or a First Nations school.”
Vanthof, who has been calling for expanded broadband — which the NDP believes is an essential service — said that lack of high-speed internet also makes it especially difficult for school boards to organize across vast northern distances. Vanthof said that Ford’s cuts to education and child care is making things much worse for schools and parents.
“In order to reopen, northern schools need more teachers, staff, and bus transportation while parents need more child care. Unfortunately the Ford government’s pursuit of cuts to education will result in less teachers and staff for students, fewer child care spaces, and lack of bus transportation when they are needed more than ever,” said Vanthof.
The NDP’s vision for a safe return to schools in September includes:
- Hiring more teachers
- Hiring more education workers, including educational assistants, custodians to keep classrooms safe and disinfected, and hiring more early childhood educators to operate child care spaces
- Sourcing more classroom spaces, including closed classrooms, libraries and unused provincial and municipal spaces, like recreation centres
- Extra funding to support students who are struggling and students with special needs
- A plan to address the needs of Black, Indigenous and racialized students whose communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19
Vanthof and Mamakwa are calling on Ford to support NDP Education critic Marit Stiles’ motion on Tuesday urging the government to implement these measures, and more, as part of an emergency action plan.
July 13, 2020
Stage 3 plans must not take Ontario one step forward, two steps back
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said safely moving into Stage 3 should come with help and support from the government.
“Ontarians have worked hard to flatten the curve. It’s because of the collective effort and sacrifice of individuals and businesses that we’ve seen a steady decline in new COVID-19 infections,” said Horwath.
“There is no question that many business owners are desperate to safely re-open. People eager to get back to work, and return to local restaurants and activities. But as we prepare to move into a new stage of our economic re-opening, we must remember that small businesses across the province are struggling because Doug Ford didn’t provide the kind of direct support needed to keep Main Street healthy and vibrant. Now, they need more than an announcement at a press conference. They need support.”
In addition to more resources for Public Health units to do contact tracing, the NDP says its Save Main Street plan would include a fund to support set-up costs for remote work, physical distancing and a safe re-opening. Things that fund should cover things like PPE, plexiglass barriers and changes to ensure physical distancing.
"The last thing this province needs is to take one step forward and two steps back," Horwath said. "It’s the government’s job to prevent that.”
July 13, 2020
Ford needs to line up more teachers, more staff, more classrooms for September
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath pushed again in question period Monday for Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce to create smaller, safer classes in September by getting more teachers, more education workers and more classrooms on board and ready to go for five-day school weeks in the fall.
“The hybrid model will force countless parents out of the workforce — and we all know it’s women who bear the brunt of that,” said Horwath. “It doesn’t have to be this way. If we split students into smaller classes, we can keep them safer and keep them in school five days a week.”
The NDP’s vision for a safe return to schools in September includes:
- Hiring more teachers
- Hiring more education workers, including educational assistants, custodians to keep classrooms safe and disinfected, and hiring more early childhood educators to operate child care spaces
- Sourcing more classroom spaces, including closed classrooms, libraries and unused provincial and municipal spaces, like recreation centres
- Extra funding to support students who are struggling and students with special needs
- A plan to address the needs of Black, Indigenous and racialized students whose communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19
Ontario NDP Education critic Marit Stiles will table a motion tomorrow urging the government to implement these measures, and more, as part of an emergency action plan.
“The Ford government needs to start working with its education partners on solutions that will allow kids to return to safer, smaller classrooms full time in September,” said Ontario NDP Education critic Marit Stiles. “Doug Ford and his education minister have been working on cutting thousands of teaching jobs, and hiking average class sizes with no caps. That’s completely contrary to what kids and parents need to get back to school and work in September.”
July 10, 2020
Sol Mamakwa, NDP Official Opposition critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, sent the following open letter to Ontario’s education minister requesting urgent support for Matawa First Nations COVID-19 Emergency Education Response Plan.
The Ford government has still not provided First Nations schools the funding required to safely manage COVID-19 to ensure the safe return of students in September.
The Hon. Stephen Lecce
Ministry of Education
5th Flr, 438 University Ave.
Toronto, ON M7A 2A
via email: [email protected]
RE: Support for the Matawa Emergency Education Response Plan
July 8, 2020
Dear Minister Lecce,
This is an urgent request calling for your commitment to support and fund the Matawa First Nations COVID-19 Emergency Education Response Plan.
First Nations schools continue to not have the funding required to safely manage COVID-19.
The Matawa Chiefs Council is therefore requesting emergency funding to support ongoing costs and new measures that must be in place for the safe return of students in September. Matawa First Nations require additional funding to support expanded broadband, additional PPE supplies, the upgrading of facilities and curriculum modifications.
The options you have provided Ontario public schools between returning to full time in-class instruction, and/or online-only learning, leaves out students in fly-in First Nations communities across Ontario’s far North.
Families and schools in remote communities often have too few devices and poor to insufficient broadband. Without access to broadband in their communities and nowhere else to go, students are unable to access the mandatory programs they need to complete their education. Indigenous students are being excluded from the provincial education system.
This exclusion of First Nations students from your government’s education plans is part of the systemic racism that Indigenous young people are forced to cope with.
That systemic racism must end.
Our learners deserve access to the same level of technology and educational supports whether they attend a provincial or a First Nations school.
Communities across the Kiiwetinoong that are planning for the safe delivery of education programs and services during COVID-19 in the upcoming school year
need your support.
First Nation communities across the far North, the learners and the staff need to be safe if quality education programs and services are to be delivered in the upcoming year.
The expense of providing education in a safe and healthy environment will require additional funding from your ministry.
While First Nations and their educational support organizations strive to provide a quality education that meets student needs, they now have to look at altering their methods of delivery, and hiring additional staff such as teachers and support staff with experience in remote learning.
There is also a heightened need for investment in mental health systems development and mental health supports for learners to ensure services are available to meet the increased demand during this time of crisis.
This is the perfect opportunity to show your commitment to education in the North. I ask you to transcend jurisdictional ambiguity and support this necessary emergency funding.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
(Original signed)
Sol Mamakwa
MPP, Kiiwetinoong
cc: Matawa Chiefs Council
Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald, Chiefs of Ontario
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, Nishnawbe Aski Nation
Marit Stiles, MPP Davenport, Opposition Critic for Education
July 10, 2020
Ford's COVID-19 bill grants authority for Ontario to seize land without hearings
NDP critic for Transit Jessica Bell says Doug Ford is giving himself the unprecedented power to take land without so much as a hearing.
“Ford is giving himself unprecedented authority to expropriate, sell, and build on land, running roughshod over municipal planning laws, and a landowners’ right to have their day in court before their home is knocked down,” Bell said.
The new Transit-Oriented-Communities Act, which is embedded in Ford’s so-called COVID-19 recovery omnibus bill — but has nothing to do with COVID-19 — grants Ford the power to strip the hearing of necessity from the expropriations process for any land they classify as “transit-oriented community land.”
Ford’s bill also changes to the Planning Act, giving the minister new powers to impose new zoning requirements on land, adding to the power Ontario already has to exempt land from municipal zoning laws.
“You don’t get transit built with a controversial, privatized, slash-and-burn approach,” said Bell. “We know what gets the job done: a solid public sector model that works with community.”
Bell and the NDP have also been urging Ford to build homes people can afford above and around transit stations.
July 9, 2020
The NDP is calling on the Ford government to prioritize childcare and schools in their economic recovery plans, lining up more teachers, more education workers and more classroom spaces so all students can go back to school full-time as soon as possible in September.
“The health and safety of students and staff is the top priority, and no one should be back in school until we can be sure we’re not putting kids and staff at risk,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “But going back to school with the government’s disastrous hybrid model will only make learning, teaching, and parents’ return-to-work plans a nightmare.
“Instead of putting all the responsibility on parents to stay home with kids indefinitely, this government needs to get more teachers, more education workers, and more classroom spaces lined up and ready to go, so that if we continue to see infection rates drop over the summer, we can get all kids back in school full-time in September.”
NDP Education critic Marit Stiles says parents are anxious about the nightmarish model laid out by the government in a memo this week, obtained by the Globe and Mail. It directs boards to create a model in which students go to school two days one week and three days the next, and spend the rest of the time learning from home.
“It looks like the government is bending over backwards to prevent having to hire more teachers, more custodians and unlock more classroom space. And parents and kids are going to pay the price for that,” said Stiles.
“Most parents – especially moms – won’t be able to go back to work under this convoluted model. And this government seriously can’t expect teachers to teach in the classroom at the same time as trying to teach the half of the class that’s at home.”
Prior to the pandemic, the Doug Ford government was pursuing bigger class sizes by raising the average number of students per class, and lifting the caps so classes could balloon to huge numbers. Ford planned to cut thousands of teachers and education worker positions over the course of four years.
July 8, 2020
COVID-19 recovery bill doesn't include anything for COVID recovery
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response to a Ford government omnibus bill tabled Wednesday:
“The omnibus bill the Ford Conservatives introduced today does nothing at all to help families, devastated long-term care homes, small businesses, schools and day cares, First Nations, or municipalities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This bill doesn’t include a single change to safeguard long-term care residents, improve the quality of care, or increase the staff wages. This bill does not include a single dime for small and medium-sized businesses still struggling. It doesn’t add even one more child care space, or increase the number of classrooms, teachers or education workers so all students can return to school safely. It doesn’t include a single cent for municipalities, which are facing billions of dollars in deficits and cuts. Nor does it include anything at all to support First Nations communities, which are still struggling to keep the virus at bay and don’t even have clean water, let alone equitable access to health care. And it doesn’t provide the much-needed paid sick days all workers need.
Small businesses have told us what they need to recover, and it’s rent money. Parents have told us what they need to recover, and it’s child care and a workable plan for schools. Municipalities have told us what they need to recover, and it’s emergency funding.
I’m worried Doug Ford is using COVID-19 recovery as cover to plow ahead with changes that have nothing at all to do with recovering from this pandemic. We’ll be taking time to closely comb through this massive bill to evaluate the damage it may do, but off the bat, we can see that this does nothing at all to help everyday families and small businesses in Ontario.”
July 8, 2020
Ford government must stop treating students with disabilities as an afterthought
Ottawa Centre MPP and NDP critic for Accessibility and Persons with Disabilities Joel Harden called on Doug Ford to release a concrete plan to ensure that the learning needs of students with disabilities are supported when school reopens this fall.
“COVID-19 has hit people with disabilities particularly hard in many ways, including the move to distance learning, as online platforms aren’t always accessible,” Harden said in question period Wednesday. “Without new supports, there’s a real risk that students who have already been struggling will fall even further behind when schools reopen.”
The Ford government has failed to come up with a plan to address the unique needs of students with disabilities and their families in the transition to schools' reopening.
Harden urged Premier Doug Ford to take up the recommendations put forth by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance on supporting the learning needs of students with disabilities. The recommendations are supported by 10 disability rights groups and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), and include ideas to ensure all course content is accessible, as well as planning for students unable to consistently socially distance.
"There's no need to reinvent the wheel," Harden said. "Grassroots disability rights leaders and experts have already done the work."
Harden said the Ford government must stop treating the 300,000 students with disabilities in Ontario as an afterthought, and release a plan to support them.
July 6, 2020
NDP demands back-to-school help for parents and schools
NDP Education critic Marit Stiles and NDP Child Care critic Doly Begum say the Ford government’s vague instructions for school re-opening is leaving parents and educators with no certainty they’ll have support to make it work. They’re calling for a number of specific commitments from Ford, including everything from more teachers and school busses to ensure physical distancing, to paid leave for parents who have kids learning from home.
“Working parents are anxious about how to manage when work resumes but full-time school doesn’t,” said Stiles. “If kids can’t get back to school, working parents can’t get back to work. It’s that simple.”
“Child care is critical to reopening the economy and ensuring that parents, especially women, can re-enter the workforce,” Begum said. “The government has been treating this as an afterthought when it should be a top priority.”
New Democrats called on the government to implement an immediate action plan including:
- Guarantee that parents will be able to access paid, job-protected leave until school and child care fully resumes.
- Immediate funding to stabilize the child care sector to prevent fee increases and layoffs.
- Hire more teachers and other education workers to allow for more, smaller classes.
- Immediate funding for urgent school repairs and upgrades, including infection control (eg: touch-free sinks and soap dispensers).
- Funding for more school busses to allow for physical distancing.
- Additional support for students with special needs or who are struggling online.
- Strike a COVID-19 recovery school advisory group that includes frontline education workers, parents and students, school boards and parents.
- Consult with municipalities to find ways to use available public infrastructure so that school and child care centres can resume in-person for as many children as possible in a safe and healthy way.
- Guarantee that no essential workers currently receiving emergency child care will lose child care provision when the emergency child care program ends
School boards across the province are in the process of developing plans for September based on general, vague instructions the government issued on June 19. They mandate starting with a hybrid model that would keep kids learning at home at least half the time.
July 6, 2020
NDP MPPs introduce bill to address health impacts of climate crisis
Peter Tabuns, Ontario NDP Climate Crisis critic, and Bhutila Karpoche, Ontario NDP critic for Mental Health and Addictions, will table a bill today requiring the government to ensure Ontario is prepared to address ongoing and future health impacts of the climate crisis.
If passed, the Climate Crisis Health Action Plan Act would require the government to ensure Ontario’s health care and public health systems are equipped to handle climate crisis related health impacts. These range from threats due to flooding, wildfires, and other extreme weather events, to the increase of new diseases, to mental distress caused by climate-related displacement. The bill would also establish both a Climate Crisis and Health Secretariat to develop and implement an action plan, and a science advisory board to provide expert guidance.
“Families are already experiencing devastating property damage and losses as the climate crisis causes more flooding, tornadoes and wildfires in Ontario,” said Tabuns. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Marginalized communities will suffer the most, as the climate crisis creates more instability in housing, food, employment and quality of life,” added Karpoche.
Instead of taking critical steps to address the climate crisis, Doug Ford has axed a program to plant 50 million trees, scrapped cap and trade, and fought to tear up green energy contracts, so he can tear down windmills. The Ford government has similarly made cuts to health care, public health and mental health.
“We have seen the horrifying costs of failing to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Karpoche. “We can’t afford to make the same mistake by refusing to recognize how the climate crisis will harm our health.”
“Although COVID-19 has not been linked to the climate crisis, experts say pandemics like it will be increasingly common as temperatures continue rising,” noted Tabuns. “The government must act now to ensure Ontario is ready to respond to the climate crisis. If they don’t, we will have more devastating public health crises on our hands in the years to come.”
July 3, 2020
NDP's Burch urges Ford to provide emergency operating relief funding for municipalities
NDP Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch MPP (Niagara Centre) has written an open letter to Doug Ford urging him to respond to the dire financial situation facing municipal governments across this province. Burch says this cannot wait any longer, and the province must find a solution with the federal government that will provide emergency operating relief funding for municipalities.
“Local governments are at the forefront of this pandemic, including enforcing by-laws and provincial orders, overseeing municipal long-term care homes, and funding local public health units which are leading the charge to test and trace cases and to contain local outbreaks. Municipalities have risen to the challenge but without immediate final support these critical local services, which are saving lives every day, are in jeopardy.” said Burch in his letter to Ford.
“Time is running out, money is running out,” he added.
Burch says that without emergency operating funding, taxpayers will be looking at deep service cuts and property tax hikes. Toronto alone is predicting that without assistance, they would have to increase property taxes by 56 per cent.
“The provincial government must act quickly to prevent widespread financial ruin in Ontario’s municipalities. Ontario has the responsibility and capacity to act to ensure the governments closest to the people in this province are protected immediately,” said Burch.
June 24, 2020
Ford must urgently address systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in the Ontario government
Laura Mae Lindo MPP (Kitchener Centre), the NDP’s critic for Anti-Racism and chair of the Ontario NDP Black Caucus, has asked Doug Ford to outline concrete steps he is taking to address systemic racism in his government’s ministries.
A CBC News report Tuesday revealed that 45 lawyers working in the Ministry of the Attorney General wrote a letter on June 12 to the secretary of cabinet Steven Davidson describing “countless instances” of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.
“The letter paints a disturbing picture of the experiences of racialized professionals working in this government. They describe degrading comments from colleagues, including being told they were not as qualified to do their job as their white peers,” said Lindo during question period Wednesday in the Ontario legislature. “The minister has stated that he takes this seriously, but people need more than pledges of support. They need action. Will the premier outline the steps that we being taken to address systemic racism in his ministries?,” asked Lindo.
Lindo told the legislature that systemic racism was a problem under the Liberals and has not gotten any better under the Ford government. In 2017 reports of similar experiences from Ministry of the Attorney General employees was also released and dating as far back as 2007, Ontario public service (OPS) employees raised issues of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in the government.
“At that time they were promised action would be taken at lightning speed to change the culture. It was only in 2017 that an anti-Racism policy for the OPS was developed, and OPS employees were promised anti-Racism programs with measurable targets and indicators,” said Lindo.
“Unfortunately there’s no record of actual concrete change from this government”.
Lindo urged Ford and his attorney general to make public not only the work but also the impact of all they claim to be doing to address systemic racism in the Ontario public service so that OPS workers, no matter who they are, or what colour they are, or what their ethnic background is, will finally feel safe and valued working in government in Ontario.
June 24, 2020
Ford must force big grocery stores to reinstate pandemic pay for workers
NDP MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) has urged Doug Ford to intervene after major grocery store operators like Loblaws and Walmart scrapped the $2 wage increase for workers before the pandemic is over. Gates condemned this decision and called on Ford use his powers to get these billion dollar companies to immediately reinstate pandemic pay for the workers.
“When this pandemic began, billion dollar companies like Loblaws and Walmart couldn’t wait to call their workers heroes. Yet, just three months later, now that it’s not in the news – the billionaire families that own these companies have clawed back the $2 pandemic pay they gave their workers," said Gates in the Ontario legislature.
"The Walton family of Walmart is worth over $190 billion. The Weston family, who are Canadians and own Loblaws are worth almost $9 billion. These greedy families are raking in record profits during this pandemic, while their workers are still working at their own risk on the frontlines to keep our communities safe and put food on our shelves.”
Gates pointed out that many local grocers, including one in Niagara Falls, are still doing the right thing by paying their workers extra as the pandemic continues, while Walmart and Loblaws had suddenly clawed back the benefit despite making record profits during this crisis. Loblaw’s profits for example soared by almost 21 per cent in the first three months of 2020, compared to this time last year.
"In Niagara Falls, it’s actually the small independent, locally owned grocery stores that are paying for the pandemic pay out of their own pockets. Will your Government, commit here today, to stand up for these frontline heroes whose raises have been taken away by the billionaire families like those that own Walmart and Loblaws. Will you commit to using the powers of this Government to get their raises back?,” Gates said to the premier.
June 23, 2020
Ford walks out as Mamakwa calls for action to stop Indigenous deaths at Thunder Bay Jail
Doug Ford walked out during question period Tuesday as Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa called on him to take action to stop any further deaths of young Indigenous people at the Thunder Bay District Jail, after Mamakwa’s nephew recently died at the facility.
“The correctional system across Ontario is a factory that produces broken Indigenous people and dehumanizes our young men and women,” said Mamakwa, the NDP Official Opposition’s critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. “This includes my nephew Kevin. He died in June while he was in custody at the Thunder Bay District Jail.”
Mamakwa said nine people have died at the jail since 2002. Seven were Indigenous men.
“Like Kevin these young people are our sons, fathers, and nephews,” said Mamakwa. “How many more Indigenous people need to die at the Thunder Bay jail before the government takes action to solve this crisis?”
Ford walked out as Mamakwa stood to ask him the second part of his question: “What does the premier plan to do so that no more families will see their child’s body flown away from home for another autopsy?”
Mamakwa and his family had a viewing of Kevin’s body before it was flown to Toronto for the required coroner’s investigation.
The Ontario Human Rights Commissioner, Coroner’s Inquests, the Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and Mamakwa’s brother have all called for the jail to close. Mamakwa said that young Indigenous people do not belong in jails. They need support and they need their basic needs to be met.
“They’ve suffered years and even generations of trauma and extreme poverty,” said Mamakwa. “They need access to proper education, access to their cultural teachings, access to clean running water, houses fit to live in, health care and mental health supports when they need it.
“The system must change. It needs to address the underlying issues of colonialism that ripped children away from our families, and have brought us to where we are today.”
Video clip: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pc8vcv1rtphb2te/SolMamakwa06232020.mov?dl=0
June 22, 2020
The Ontario NDP has laid out its commitments for overhauling policing and police oversight, tackling systemic racism, and making mental health crisis response safer, especially for Black, Indigenous and racialized people.
“Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Rodney Levi, Chantel Moore, Stewart Kevin Andrews, Jason Collins, Eishia Hudson, Caleb Tubila Njoko, D’Andre Campbell and Ejaz Choudry. These people were loved, and should be here today,” said NDP Anti-Racism critic Laura Mae Lindo.
“These folks were all Black, Indigenous or people of colour, and most of them lived with mental health challenges and were in crisis when police arrived. Calling for help or experiencing a mental health crisis should not be a death sentence. Being Black, Indigenous or racialized should not make you more likely to die during an interaction with police. But we’re not going to change that reality until we have the political will to seize this moment, and tackle systemic racism in policing.”
End Police Violence. Invest in Black, Indigenous and Racialized People’s Lives: An Ontario NDP Commitment to Action includes a plan to:
- Overhaul police oversight, including compelling police to participate in investigations into police actions, and allowing unpaid suspensions
- Demilitarize police forces by diverting spending on military-grade hardware, including tear gas and assault rifles, into community services. Tear gas has been banned in war zones by the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997.
- End carding and destroy data collected through this unconstitutional practice
- Transfer responsibility to, and investing in, alternative first responders to respond to mental health, addictions, homelessness and school discipline issues
- Give elected representatives the support and power to determine how policing budgets are spent
- Invest heavily in programs and supports that address the social and economic factors that influence people’s health
Link to policy paper: https://www.ontariondp.ca/end-police-violence
June 19, 2020
Ford's per-student funding doesn't come close to making up for cuts, missed months
Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic, said the Ford government’s per-student funding for the 2020-21 school year falls well short of the investment needed to address the challenges students and staff are facing after Doug Ford’s course cuts, class-size hikes and months of missed school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, the Ford government cut per-student funding, started massive class-size hikes and cut course options. Now, after students have spent weeks outside of classrooms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ford government is restraining funding to a pitiful $250 more per student.
“Students, parents and education workers spent the better part of last year fighting Doug Ford’s classroom cuts,” said Stiles. “Chipping in another measly $250 per student won’t make up for the class-size hikes and course cuts, let alone make the investments needed to catch kids up. With the additional costs boards will be bearing in acquiring PPE, adapting school environments, and needing additional staff to support students, this comes up disappointingly short.
“Students, parents and education workers have been doing their best to continue learning from home over the last several weeks, but kids are going to need a lot of extra support after months of missed in-class instruction. Instead of making the major investment that is needed, the Ford government is following up its cuts last year with what amounts to peanuts. Not to mention, the government’s announcement fails to answer calls from families and communities to address the inequities in our education system emphasized by the pandemic.”
Stiles said the hard work of millions of Ontarians who fought back against Ford’s cuts to education have had a positive impact.
“Any investments in education we’re seeing are thanks to the hard work of education workers who teamed up with students and parents to fight Ford’s education cuts. But we still have a long way to go. Now that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, we need to undo all that damage from Ford’s cuts, and invest so much more in our classrooms this fall.”
June 18, 2020
First Nations communities facing life-threatening COVID-19 crisis need Ford’s help now
First Nations communities in Ontario’s Far North facing the COVID-19 pandemic need additional support and action from the Ford government to contain the virus, said Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa, as more communities continue to report positive cases.
“Indigenous communities in Ontario struggling to contain the pandemic need the urgent support of the Ford government now,” said Mamakwa, the NDP’s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic.
“Generations of inequity in this province have left Indigenous communities with over-crowded housing no access to clean drinking water, and a lack of public health infrastructure. The communities of Mishkeegogamang, Eabametoong and Wabaaseemoong are doing everything they can to prevent the virus from spreading, but they cannot and should not be doing this alone.
“The Ford government must provide these communities with the resources they need to stop COVID-19 and any further spread throughout the North.
“We commend the efforts of Nishnawbe Aski Nation for the pandemic teams they are coordinating, but the province should always have health teams in place.
“There is no more time to waste. Lives are at risk, and the Ford government must take action now to ensure that there are doctors and nurses in the communities, medical stations, and structures needed for isolation.
“Every moment that passes without government support or action means the contagion will continue to spread throughout Indigenous communities.
“Doug Ford must take action now to support communities struggling for the lives of their people during this pandemic.”
June 17, 2020
The NDP believes no businesses should face eviction during the pandemic, but the Ford government has worked with the Greens and Liberals to pass a bill that excludes hundreds of thousands of businesses, leaving them vulnerable to eviction.
“Supporting small business is supporting Ontario. I’m shocked and disappointed that the Liberals, Greens and Conservatives have cut a deal to exclude so many businesses who need help from Queen’s Park,” said Catherine Fife, NDP critic for Economic Growth and Job Creation.
The Ford government’s commercial eviction ban, which passed Wednesday evening, only covers businesses which qualify for the deeply flawed, very narrow Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA).
“After dragging his feet for months, Ford also refuses to extend these protections back to the beginning of the pandemic, which excludes even more businesses, and may just encourage bad actors to backdate eviction notices,” said Fife.
“The NDP worked until the final moments to secure amendments to include all Ontario’s small- and medium-sized businesses — and we’re going to keep fighting to make sure that every small business owner gets the help they need during this crisis. Small businesses are the engines of our local economies, and they’re job creators that keep food on the tables for millions of Ontarians. They need more than a thank you — they need support.”
June 16, 2020
Statement on Ontario reinstating Environmental Bill of Rights provisions
NDP Environment critic Ian Arthur issued the following statement in response to the Ford government reinstating key provisions to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) it had quietly revoked in April, allowing the government to make environmental decisions without informing the public:
"The Ford government's suspension of vital provisions of Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights was troubling, particularly in light of this government's ongoing attempts to claw back the environmental standards and procedures that keep our water, land and wildlife safe.
While it's a relief to see these key provisions reinstated, the NDP will be watching closely to make sure the Ford government does not attempt further attacks on the province's environmental protections."
June 16, 2020
NDP urges Ford to extend pandemic pay to all front-line workers immediately
NDP MPP Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre) has published an open letter to the Premier and the Health Minister urging them to include every frontline worker in the pandemic pay premium, and to make this retroactive to March 11, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.
Lindo is also demanding that Doug Ford explain why essential workers, who were told they would receive this wage top-up, have still not received an extra dollar from the province.
“Each day my office is flooded with calls from workers on the frontline of the pandemic, who are continuing to risk their own health to care for our loved ones and keep essential services running during this crisis,” said Lindo.
Lindo is calling on the Ford government to review the list of front-line workers that are eligible for pandemic pay, and expand their list to include all workers on the front-lines of the pandemic. “Every frontline worker should be included without exception. Doug Ford can’t just pick and choose who deserves it. There are so many residents of Kitchener, including midwives, laboratory workers and physician assistants, who have been left out without any explanation”.
Lindo notes in her letter to Ford and Elliott that workers who were included have still not received the pandemic pay they were promised by Doug Ford back in April.
“It is unforgivable that workers who were promised a pay increase, but yet to see anything extra in their pay packets. There is simply no excuse for this delay. Once again Ford has been all talk, no action during this crisis. These workers have done their part, and more, and deserve to get the pay they were promised months ago,” said Lindo.
“All frontline workers should receive their pandemic pay immediately, retroactive to the very beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.”
June 16, 2020
FACT CHECK: COVID-19 infection rates
Today in the Legislature, Doug Ford claimed that Ontario has the lowest rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents of any large state or province. In fact, Ontario has an infection rate four times higher, per capita, than British Columbia and nearly double that of Alberta.
Today in the Legislature, Doug Ford responded to Andrea Horwath’s question about British Columbia’s effective strategy to contain COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care by noting: “what the leader of the opposition is missing is that they’re one third our size.”
In British Columbia, 168 seniors have died of COVID-19 in long-term-care homes. Nearly 1,800 have died in Ontario’s long-term-care homes. Nearly fifteen times as many deaths.
“Making stuff up doesn’t help anyone,” said MPP Teresa Armstrong (London—Fanshawe), NDP critic for Home Care and Long Term Care. “The toll COVID-19 has taken in Ontario has been massive, and we don’t need a premier who covers that up with bogus claims, we need a premier that acknowledges the problems, and changes course to stop outbreaks from flaring up again.”
June 16, 2020
Ford must provide Northerners with equitable access to education by investing in broadband
The Ford government must begin providing thousands of students in Northern Ontario with reliable internet at home so they can complete their studies, said MPP Guy Bourgouin, after Education Minister Stephen Lecce praised government online resources without acknowledging the lack of broadband in northern and rural communities.
“The minister of education spoke of virtual resources ‘to keep students engaged’, yet Northern Ontario students and teachers don’t have access to the technology to make that happen,” said Bourgouin, NDP MPP for Mushkegowuk-James Bay.
Over 120,000 Northern Ontarians lack access to reliable broadband, of which 70 per cent reside in Northeastern Ontario, said Bourgouin.
“While the minister of education speaks of ‘equitable access to education’, students in the remote James Bay coast have to carefully use the limited internet that is shared with health clinics, public services and households,” said Bourgouin.
“For this government to showcase virtual resources when thousands of students in Northern Ontario lack the technology to make use of them is contradictory at best.
“Can the premier explain to students in Northern Ontario that do not have reliable internet at home what ‘equitable access to education’ means?”
June 16, 2020
Ford ignored families' pleas for help in long-term care for weeks
With more and more families coming forward to share their stories, Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath renewed the NDP’s call for the government to take over all struggling long-term care homes, saying it’s clear people were sounding the alarm well before the government finally stepped in at a handful of facilities.
Alongside families, the NDP has been calling on the Ford government since April 20 to take over long-term homes that weren’t protecting residents well enough, when the death toll in long-term care homes was about 350. Since then, more than 1,400 more people lost their lives to COVID-19 in long-term care, bringing the tragic death toll to near 1,800.
“Hundreds of families have been left to not only grieve the loss of their loved one, but to be haunted by the question: Would my mom or dad or grandparent still be here if the government had stepped in sooner?” said Horwath. “Families have been desperately pleading for help for weeks and weeks, only to be ignored by a government that has claimed to be doing everything in its power to protect seniors while doing far too little, far too late.”
Maureen McDermott is one of those family members who had been sounding the alarm before the government finally took over River Glen Haven, the long-term care home where her mom, Elsie, lives. McDermott didn’t find out her mom had contracted COVID-19 until Mother’s Day, when she went for a window visit and learned her mom had been moved into a group of symptomatic residents because she had a runny nose.
There were many things that raised red flags for McDermott: getting hung up on six times when she called to check up on her mom; lack of proper personal protective equipment; and woefully inadequate staff-to-resident ratios. Her mom has now recovered, but many other residents of River Glen Haven haven’t been so fortunate. By the time the government stepped in at the home, no fewer than 20 people had died.
“A handful of facilities have entered or re-entered outbreak status in the past few days,” said Horwath. “We can’t just assume the worst is over, and allow the Ford government make the same mistakes again, leaving the residents of long-term care homes vulnerable.
“Listen to Maureen. Listen to everyone like Maureen who has been raising alarm bells, and calling for action and change.”
The NDP has been pushing for a full, independent, public judicial inquiry that is needed to get to the bottom of all the problems in long-term care, but Horwath said immediate, obviously urgent changes — like increasing staffing levels — shouldn’t wait.
June 15, 2020
NDP to amend bill to prevent all commercial evictions during COVID-19
Official Opposition House Leader Gilles Bisson says far too many businesses are still at risk of unfair evictions if the Conservatives’ new legislation is passed as written. On Monday, the NDP sent the government two critical amendments it insists must be included.
The bill, as written, only protects businesses who qualify for the federal CECRA, but whose landlords refuse to apply for it – meaning they must have a whopping 70 per cent reduction in income. The bill is also retroactive to just June 3, leaving out all the commercial tenants whose eviction notices arrived between March and June 3.
“Small businesses owners are the engine of our local economies, and we have to save those businesses and those jobs. Right now, they’re being abandoned by Doug Ford and the Conservative government,” said Bisson. “Instead of banning commercial evictions three months ago, and providing direct support to small business, Ford worked to exclude thousands of businesses from relief and protection.
“If the Ford government doesn’t accept our amendments, he will be choosing to let many local businesses fail, through no fault of their own, at a time when the province desperately needs them to succeed to create jobs and rebuild the economy.”
The NDP’s amendments, proposed by letter on Monday, would include all businesses in a legislated moratorium on commercial evictions during the pandemic; and would make that protection retroactive to mid-March.
If the government is willing to make these changes, New Democrats are ready to expedite passage of the legislation as early as Tuesday.
If the government moves ahead with the legislation without changes, New Democrats will insist on an opportunity for the House to consider amending the legislation and address these serious shortcomings, including offering evening and extended debate throughout the week.
“New Democrats won’t stand by and let Doug Ford and the Conservatives get away with hanging thousands of valuable Ontario businesses out to dry. Small businesses are too important to the economic health of our communities, and to the families they employ,” said Bisson. “We’ll do whatever it takes, including sitting around the clock, to convince Doug Ford to do the right thing, and spare businesses hurt by COVID-19 from eviction.”
June 15, 2020
Ontarians deserve to know if government will help rebuild their economy and keep local jobs
Ontarians have a right to know what the provincial government plans to do to help rebuild their local economy and restore local jobs, said Gilles Bisson, NDP Official Opposition House Leader, denouncing the Ford government’s attempt to move some of the finance committee recovery work behind closed doors.
“Workers, small business owners and communities that depend on important sectors of Ontario’s economy deserve, and need, to know what the government is planning to do to help them deal with the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Bisson.
“By moving decision-making on which economic sectors will get government attention, and which will not, into secret meetings, the Ford government is leaving Ontarians, their families, and their communities in the dark during a time of great uncertainty.”
The standing committee on finance and economic affairs has been expanded and given a special mandate to work on the post-pandemic economic recovery plan. The Conservative members of the committee are using their majority to move critical decisions of that committee into secret, closed door meetings, requiring all participants to conceal what was discussed there. Those decisions include which sectors will be reviewed by the committee and the members’ reasons for their choices.
Bisson said the Ford government’s attempt to push the province’s standing committee on finance and economic affairs into closed-door sessions fits a pattern of secrecy.
“The membership of the COVID-19 command table is being kept secret by Doug Ford” said Bisson. “The list of high-risk red long-term care homes is being kept secret by Doug Ford. Now the list of people, organizations and sectors that will have any standing at all in the recovery plan is being dragged behind closed doors. This kind of secrecy is wrong, and it’s got to stop.”
June 13, 2020
Mamakwa calls on Ford to support Kiiwetinoong First Nations to contain COVID-19
Doug Ford’s government must help Kiiwetinoong First Nations to contain COVID-19, said Sol Mamakwa, NDP Official Opposition Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic.
The community of Eabametoong is working urgently to contain the virus after a second case of COVID-19 was found. The Wabaseemoong Independent Nation is also trying to control the spread of the virus, after a positive case was found on the First Nation this week.
“The province must immediately support the communities of Eabametoong and Wabaasemoong in their efforts to contain COVID-19,” said Mamakwa.
"We commend the culturally appropriate work of Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, and call on the Ford government to provide the resources they need to do their urgent work."
“First Nations communities are especially vulnerable to the virus, as many do not have access to safe clean drinking water, and live in over-crowded housing conditions. These issues become compounded when communities are grappling with the deaths of community members, not related to COVID-19 due to substandard health care and mental health services.”
June 12, 2020
Government must provide answers - and proper PPE - to paramedics after non-medical masks issued
The Ford government must provide proper personal protective equipment to paramedics, as well as immediate answers on the supply of masks after paramedics discovered that masks they were issued were “not for medical use”, said France Gélinas, the NDP’s Health critic.
“It’s disturbing to hear reports of frontline health care workers being given non-medical masks when they are risking their lives to keep Ontarians safe,” Gélinas said. “Based on the precautionary principle, health care workers have a right to proper personal protective equipment, including N95 masks. This falls so far short of that, it’s dangerous and insulting to these hard-working medical professionals.”
In the county of Renfrew, surgical masks labelled "not for medical use” were in circulation among paramedics between May 28 and June 5, and now the roughly 150 members that make up the service are being tested for COVID-19 this week. The NDP is joining calls from CUPE – which represents thousands of paramedics – for the Ford government to audit the supply, sorting out how these unacceptable masks made it into paramedics’ hands.
“Time and again, Health Minister Christine Elliott and Premier Doug Ford say one thing from the podium, when the reality on the ground is very different,” said Gélinas.
“They dismiss reports of frontline workers not getting proper PPE, including N95 masks. Instead of dismissing those troubling reports — which are obviously true — they need to get to work acquiring the personal protective equipment needed to keep Ontario front line health care workers safe.”
June 12, 2020
The Ontario NDP critic for Early Learning and Childcare, MPP Doly Begum, says the Ford government‘s failure to support child care operators in safely reopening means centres will be forced to raise their fees.
NDP MPPs across the province have gotten letters from constituents saying their local child care operator has informed them of a plan to hike parent fees, in some cases up to four times the current amount.
“Child care in Ontario was already in crisis, with parents paying the highest child care costs in Canada,” Begum said. “Now we see Doug Ford telling child care centres they’re on their own to bear the necessary costs of ensuring children’s safety in a pandemic: limiting enrolment, increasing staff, securing PPE and adding screening, cleaning and disinfecting measures. The Ford government’s failure to help fund these necessary costs means child care fees in Ontario are about to get even less affordable.”
York South-Weston constituent *Viviana Villani Moniz contacted her local NDP MPP Faisal Hassan after she was told by her child’s day care, York Humber Child Care Centre, that, without additional funding from the government, it will have to increase fees by three to four times due to costs necessary to ensure children’s safety.
“I was already paying a full fee before the pandemic started – $1,200-1,400 per month – and that was almost unbearable as it was,” Viviana said. “I would like to ask how our government plans to support these centres and parents with added expenses to already unaffordable child care?”
Donna Spreitzer, a registered ECE and the executive director of Jackman Community Daycare in Toronto, said the Ford government’s announcement Tuesday to reopen child care centres as early as Friday presents “an impossible timeline, one that is setting child care centres up for failure.” She noted funding is needed to help centres pay for necessities including PPE, enhanced cleaning supplies and additional cleaning staff.
"Child care centres are critical to ensuring Ontario’s economic recovery, and critical to supporting Ontario's workforce, especially women," said MPP Begum. "Doug Ford must give child care centres the financial support they need to ensure a safe reopening for children and staff without hiking fees for parents.”
June 11, 2020
Ford must reverse dangerous changes impacting foster children
The Official Opposition NDP is calling on Doug Ford to take immediate action to protect Ontario’s most vulnerable children and youth, following an APTN report that revealed that the Ford government quietly loosened safety rules that protect kids in care, and put them in harm’s way during this pandemic.
Monique Taylor, NDP critic for Children and Youth Services, and Sol Mamakwa, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic, say it’s wrong to have more kids in each home, end criminal record checks for people caring for the children, and stop home visits meant to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children in care.
“During this pandemic when children and youth in care need more protection than ever before, the Ford government has made it more dangerous for them by loosening the rules meant to keep them safe,” said Taylor. “It's the responsibility of the government to ensure that inspections of care settings can be done safely, rather than cutting regulations meant to keep children out of harm’s way. Further, increasing the number of children in each foster home, while simultaneously reducing oversight, only makes these children more vulnerable.
“Instead of informing everyone involved of changes to the rules to protect children and youth in care, the Ford government is keeping changes to the law quiet.”
Ford’s changes are supposedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but among them are only loosening of regulations, and no protections for the kids from COVID-19 itself. Ten children in care have already contracted the virus.
“Children and youth in care are among our most vulnerable people and they deserve more protections during this time,” said Mamakwa. “Indigenous and Black children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and the government should be moving towards more accountability and transparency in care, not less.
“Ford must act now to prevent any more children from contracting COVID-19, and provide the protection children and youth in care, need.”
Background
Many of the changes were made in Regulation 208/20, found here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r20208?search=foster
June 10, 2020
Ford government announcement leaves Ontario colleges and universities struggling with uncertainty
Chris Glover, Ontario NDP Colleges and Universities critic, released the following statement in response to the Ford government’s announcement about a limited return to classrooms this summer for post-secondary students who need to do to so to complete their degree:
“While this is a relief for some students who will now be able to complete their degrees, Minister Ross Romano’s post-secondary update failed to address the many problems faced by Ontario college and university students, faculty and staff, leaving students and institutions with too many unanswered questions.
Students and institutions that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic need financial support, and the province has so far refused to help. Students still need this government to exempt the Canadian Emergency Student Benefit from OSAP calculations, otherwise students will receive less OSAP funding for their Fall term. In other words, the province is using the federal student benefit to reduce their own responsibility to provide student assistance while Ontario students were already struggling because of the Ford Government’s $700 million cut to OSAP.
For the past two years, the provincial government has attacked and micromanaged our public colleges and universities, threatening stable funding agreements with institutions, and attacking student unions. But now, with schools potentially facing mass layoffs in September, Minister Romano has washed his hands of responsibility, refusing to provide support and saying colleges and universities are ‘autonomous institutions’.”
June 9, 2020
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement:
"Ontarians deserve to know exactly how Premier Doug Ford is justifying his decisions about Ontario's response to COVID-19. That includes basic information like who is sitting at the ‘command table’ and which scientists and medical doctors are giving him advice on things like the testing strategy, and the re-opening strategy.
Ontarians deserve to know that the command table includes medical experts who are on the ground, working with patients and front-line health care workers, bringing first-hand knowledge back to Queen’s Park.
At his podium Mr. Ford has said Ontarians deserve to know what he knows, but on the ground we see an ongoing lack of transparency. From the secret list of ‘high-risk red’ homes the government won’t release, to the membership of the decision-making command table, Mr. Ford is not being up-front with people.
Ontarians have worked hard and sacrificed in the battle against COVID-19 – they deserve all the facts."
June 8, 2020
Economic restart plans must include paid sick days for workers
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition NDP, issued the following statement:
“Moving the province into stage two of the re-opening must not mean opening the door to a second wave of COVID-19. Any successful plan for the gradual re-opening of businesses in Ontario must include paid sick days, so that people aren’t faced with the choice of going to work sick or earning enough to put food on the table. Ontarians have worked too hard to flatten the curve to watch all the progress we’ve made together squandered by a premier who refuses to protect workers.”
June 5, 2020
Broadband re-announcement shows Ford's failure to invest in rural and northern Ontario
Northerners and rural Ontarians deserve more than Doug Ford’s year old re-announcements on broadband that shows a lack of investment in their communities just when they need it most, said MPP Michael Mantha, NDP Northern Development critic.
“This week, Ford pretended to announce Broadband funding. But his announcement was actually made in 2019, and since then the provincial government has only spent a fraction of what they told Ontarians they would invest,” said Mantha.
“The re-announcement shows Ford is failing to invest in broadband during the pandemic when families need it most.”
New Democrats have called for $1 billion to be invested in broadband, and are renewing their call for the Ford government to get to work to deliver high speed internet to communities that need it now, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Families without broadband are struggling to work and have their kids finish the school year,” said Mantha. “Businesses whose clients depend on rural customers are hurting. They are all waiting for this government to take action, and they need that help now.”
According to the Infrastructure Estimates, the Ford government budgeted $31.8 million towards the broadband program in 2019-20, but only spent $13.1 million.
“Doug Ford has no excuse for not releasing the funds allocated to broadband,” said Mantha. “Families need it now more than ever, and the Ford government needs to act immediately to get workers, school kids and businesses online.”
June 5, 2020
Ford's refusal to back paid sick days is callous and puts Ontarians at risk
NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath has issued a statement after Doug Ford once again refused to support paid sick days that are critical to protect workers and keep Ontarians safe during the COVID-19 pandemic:
“Workers always deserved paid sick days, and Ford’s attempt to deny this simple public health and human decency measure is horrible. He’s forcing people to make the choice between going in to work when they’re unwell and symptomatic, or being short on the rent or mortgage. That’s not only callous, but could spread COVID-19 and contribute to the second wave of the virus in Ontario.”
June 5, 2020
NDP calls on Ford government to take over direct management of Sienna homes
Following reports of disturbing, telling remarks from a senior executive, and data showing Sienna’s long-term care homes have had some of Ontario’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care, the Official Opposition New Democrats are calling on the Ford government to take over direct management of Sienna’s facilities.
Sienna is a large for-profit corporation that owns and runs 37 long-term care homes in Ontario. Ultimately, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and the Official Opposition say long-term care needs to be overhauled to be put into the public and non-profit sectors, not left to privatized for-profit interests.
Media reports indicate that after a virtual town hall ended Wednesday, Sienna’s executive vice-president of operations was caught on audio mocking family members who had raised concerns. Rather than being sympathetic to concerns like inadequate personal protective equipment, the executive’s reported comments include, “here comes another blood-sucking lawsuit.”
“These comments are cold-hearted and shocking,” said Horwath. “Families who have loved ones in long-term care homes were already worried sick. After hearing the attitude at the most senior levels of this corporation, how could people possibly trust that Sienna is doing everything possible to keep their parents or their grandparents safe? How could the government say that? Sienna obviously has a culture at the senior levels that doesn’t value its residents, their families and their workers.”
According to a report from Queen’s Park Briefing, as well as figures compiled by the NDP, Sienna owns five of Ontario’s 30 deadliest long-term care homes still in an active COVID-19 outbreak, the 30 of which account for more than 1,000 deaths alone. That’s more deadly homes than any other operator on the list. To date, only two Sienna homes have been taken over by the Ford government, but 13 of its 37 homes in Ontario are currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak.
“Doug Ford can’t keeping waiting for things to get worse,” said Horwath.
Sienna homes have also been subject to allegations of abuse of its residents. Those allegations have been referred to the Peel Police.
June 4, 2020
Ford government announced "support" a slap in the face to Black communities
Doug Ford’s announcement of a paltry $1.5 million in funding, when Black communities in Ontario are calling for systemic change to address anti-Black racism, is a slap in the face to Black communities, said Laura Mae Lindo, Chair of the Official Opposition NDP’s Black Caucus and Official Opposition Critic for Anti-Racism.
“Black communities in Ontario, and worldwide are highlighting systemic brutality and anti-Black racism – they are coming forward and demanding justice that has been deferred for far too long,” said Lindo. “Just this week, Doug Ford denied systemic racism even existed in Canada. This announcement is even more evidence that Mr. Ford doesn’t take addressing the cancer of systemic racism seriously.”
Since taking office, the Ford government has:
- Cut over $2 million in funding from the Anti-Racism Directorate and only earmarked $1,000 for anti-racism initiatives
- Took away $14 million in funding from a cultural community hub in Lawrence Heights
- Cut $25 million in education funding that was dedicated programs earmarked to provide tutors and extra supports for Black, Indigenous and racialized students
- Cancelled police oversight measures
- Cut the Priority Schools Initiative, leading to a 300 per cent spike in the cost of school gym rentals by community groups
- Cut $335 million in mental health funding
- Called the collection of race-based data of health data “not particularly relevant”
“Ford gutted and shut down the Anti-Racism Directorate, and cut down the Anti-Racism Initiatives budget line to a ludicrous $1,000,” added Lindo. “Black Ontarians, along with Indigenous and racialized Ontarians, have suffered two years of cuts, damage and disturbing denials about the existence of systemic racism, and the experiences they face.
“Communities that are hurting from years of systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism don’t need a watered down committee. We don’t need ‘advice’ on how to overcome barriers. We need change in the system to tear down those barriers, and stamp out systemic racism. We need a government that will actually fund that critical work, instead of cutting it to the bone, and then throwing us some loose change.”
June 3, 2020
NDP MPPs Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre), who is the Official Opposition Municipal Affairs critic, and NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson (Timmins), have urged Doug Ford to commit to providing emergency operating funding right away for municipalities so they can continue to run day cares, transit systems, public health units, water treatment facilities and so much more, after the pandemic has left municipal budgets on the brink.
“Cities and towns across this province are passing motions, sending letters and pleading for emergency operating funding to help them weather this storm,” said Burch on Wednesday at the Ontario legislature during question period.
“From Niagara to Sudbury to Toronto, local governments are bleeding cash and facing shortfalls in the millions yet this government refuses to act – and it’s cities, towns and everyday Ontarians who will pay the price with tax increases and cuts to services. Will the Premier commit to supporting municipalities by providing emergency operating funding now?,” asked Burch.
Burch and Bisson reminded the Premier that municipalities are at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, with growing pressure on services such as public health, ambulance and bylaw enforcement.
“The Premier and Minister Clark should be doing something, not just talking to the federal government. That’s the long and the short of the story,” said Bisson. “Will you please help our municipalities? They can’t afford it.”
June 3, 2020
Horwath calls for emergency order on immediate collection of race-based data
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on Doug Ford to issue an emergency order to begin the immediate collection of race-based data when it comes to health care delivery in Ontario.
Horwath called on Ford to listen to Dorothy Rodriques, the widow of Leonard Rodriques, a Black personal support worker who died from COVID-19 after not getting proper personal protective equipment at work, and after being sent home from the hospital despite debilitating COVID-19 symptoms.
“Leonard was a dedicated and beloved husband, father and colleague. But when Leonard got sick, the family experienced barrier after barrier in accessing appropriate care, and after his death, the trauma only continued,” said Horwath. “Dorothy said, ‘We are not able to tell if this, the neglect from our healthcare system, is a pattern or a one off because there is no data to support it’.”
In a letter to NDP MPP Faisal Hassan (York South—Weston) asking for help, Dorothy has called for the immediate collection of race-based data by the Ford government.
“Will the premier listen to Dorothy?” Horwath asked in question period Wednesday, after reading portions of the gut-wrenching letter, in which Rodriques wrote: ‘‘Canada has gone too long covering their eyes to racial discriminations by refusing to collect data that challenges Canada's racial bias… we need a plan of action.”
Leonard Rodriques spent 30 years of his life caring for vulnerable Ontarians as a PSW. “His death sent a ripple effect through his home, his community, and our province,” said Horwath. “His spouse is pleading with the government to act. And she is not alone.”
Horwath echoes and supports calls from health experts from across the province for anti-Black racism to be declared a public health crisis, and called on Doug Ford to agree that systemic racism exists, and issue an emergency order for the collection of race-based health data in Ontario.
June 2, 2020
Declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis
Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition New Democrats, released the following statement calling on the Ford government to listen to Black health leaders and declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis:
“Black communities in Ontario, Canada and across the globe are raising their voices to highlight systemic brutality and injustice, and demand the change they deserve.
For far too long, governments have paid lip service to the pain of Black communities, while refusing to take the decisive action necessary to address and tear down anti-Black racism in our institutions. Black communities and leaders have been identifying what is needed for decades, and it is high time that we listen.
Today I echo and support the call from Black health leaders – including the AllianceON Black Health Committee, Black Health Alliance, and the Network for Advancement of Black Communities – for the Ford government to declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis.
This call includes enhancing accountability infrastructure to address police violence, systemic bias and harm to Black communities, funding the Anti-Racism Directorate and empower it with a clear, targeted strategy to address anti-Black racism in all sectors, and funding organizations that are already doing this important work in communities across Ontario, by dedicating funds for the provision of culturally appropriate health and wellbeing supports within Black communities.
Today, and every day, New Democrats stand in solidarity with Black communities across the province, who are demanding that government listen, step up and actually do the work of rooting out anti-Black racism in all of our institutions. The government can start by following the lead of Black communities, and taking these actions.”
June 1, 2020
Ontario families can't afford higher hydro bills
As the Conservative government hikes hydro rates in the middle of a pandemic, Ontario NDP Energy critic Peter Tabuns said Premier Doug Ford’s failure to fix the electricity system is costing families.
Thanks to Ford’s hydro rate hike, Ontario families will pay 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour starting today, up from 10.1 cents per kilowatt hour.
“Ford promised a 12 per cent drop in electricity bills, and instead he’s only hiked them higher and higher,” said Tabuns. “Everyday families are paying for his failure to fix the broken, privatized system. The government should be doing more to lower electricity bills, not making them more expensive in the middle of a pandemic.”
So far, hydro rates have gone up almost two per cent on Ford’s watch, after Ford campaigned on lowering electricity bills by 12 per cent. That promise was made in the wake of years of skyrocketing bills under the former Liberal government, which sold off Hydro One.
June 1, 2020
Horwath responds to Ombudsman investigation into ministries' handling of COVID-19
Statement from Andrea Horwath in response to the announcement by Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé that his office will invoke their authority to investigate the oversight and actions of the Ministries of Health and Long Term Care in the long-term care sector:
“I welcome the unprecedented news that Ontario’s Ombudsman is taking the initiative, on his own authority, to investigate the work of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long Term Care in Ontario’s long-term care homes.
The heartbreaking, infuriating report from Canada’s Armed Forces revealed how thousands of seniors have been neglected and put in grave danger during this pandemic, even though the risks at the outset were obvious to many in Ontario’s threadbare and rarely-inspected homes. Any work to shine a light on how we got here and how we can ensure it never happens again is welcome.
While we’re hopeful this report can provide some answers and accountability, the Official Opposition believes a comprehensive, find-and-fix judicial public inquiry is necessary to evaluate the very foundations of the long-term care system in Ontario. We believe that’s the only way we’ll spark the overhaul that’s needed — which we believe should include getting for-profit corporations out of long-term care. Everyone in Ontario who needs long-term care deserves a high-quality, dignified home that delivers excellent care and a better quality of life.”
June 1, 2020
NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath says federal support for municipal infrastructure is welcome, but still leaves many municipalities without the operating funding they desperately need. Horwath is calling on Premier Doug Ford to step up and fill that gap, ensuring municipalities have the emergency funding they need to run day cares, transit systems, public health units and water treatment facilities and so much more after the pandemic has wreaked havoc on municipal finances.
“Families count on their local governments to provide essential services like child care, public transit and public health. All those services are now at risk as municipalities sink into the red, and Doug Ford needs to stop pretending that it’s Ottawa’s responsibility alone to throw them a lifeline,” said Horwath. “Ford has not given them the support they desperately need to make it through the pandemic and to rebuild the local economies that have been left shattered by this crisis — but he can change that today by committing to fund the gap and keep services intact.”
The City of Toronto alone says it has a $1.5 billion shortfall as a result of COVID-19, which it warns will result in transit cuts, firefighting cuts, child care cuts, long-term care cuts and more, if the upper levels of government don’t step in with emergency financial support. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has estimated the hole in operating budgets across all cities at between $10 billion and $15 billion over the next six months.
“The federal government’s move to transfer infrastructure money a bit faster is a welcome first step — but it will barely scratch the surface of what’s needed,” said NDP Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch, who tabled a motion last week in the Ontario legislature that would give emergency financial support to municipalities that have been deeply impacted by COVID-19.
“Cities and towns throughout the province are on the verge of devastating cuts if Ford does not step up and provide funding right away,” said Burch. “And those cuts will stop the economic recovery Ontario needs. Not only are municipal jobs on the line, but the loss of services like child care and transit would hamper everyone’s return to work — especially women, and there cannot be a recovery without a she-covery.
“It’s time for the provincial government to step up and create some relief and certainty for municipalities and families who count on them.”
May 29, 2020
Testing strategy needs firm timelines and transparent benchmarks for re-opening
QUEEN’S PARK – Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has released a statement following the Ford government’s announcement Friday of a long-overdue testing strategy for the province:
“Testing in Ontario has been woefully inadequate from the beginning of this pandemic. It should never have taken this long to get a coherent community testing strategy on the table. With people’s lives and our economic recovery on the line, the NDP and health experts have been urging Doug Ford to dramatically ramp-up COVID-19 testing immediately with systematic testing for essential workers and people returning to work, all congregate care settings, plus mobile testing centres to start random community testing.
We not only need this strategy to test in more and different settings, we need more tests, period. Doug Ford has no excuses. While British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec have been leading the way on testing, Ontario has been lagging far behind – never once hitting the 20,000-test mark in any 24-hour period. For too long we’ve heard bluster and empty promises from Doug Ford, while his record on testing numbers has been abysmal.
Ontarians also deserve more clarity about how and when this new strategy will be rolled out. We need firm timelines with dates and benchmarks for testing workers, congregate settings and vulnerable communities.
Today we’ve seen more commitments, but what Ontarians need is action, concrete timelines and much higher testing numbers.”
May 28, 2020
Horwath calls on Doug Ford o adopt medical officers map forward
QUEEN’S PARK – Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath issued the following statement following a Toronto Star report that local Medical Officers of Health have coordinated to create a detailed metric to plan the path forwards, including important benchmarks, for re-opening:
“Communities, families and businesses across Ontario deserve to have clarity on how decisions will be made to safely re-open the economy.
The province’s local Medical Officers of Health have done an outstanding job to protect their communities during this pandemic. We fully support the local Medical Officers of Health as they lay out concrete benchmarks and provide the leadership the public expects as we gradually move ahead with safely re-opening the province.
We urge Doug Ford and the provincial government to work with the local Medical Officers of Health to adopt this set of clear metrics.”
May 27, 2020
Ford attempts to quietly sneak through bill to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants
Suze Morrison, Ontario NDP Tenant Rights critic, said it’s simply wrong for Doug Ford to capitalize on a pandemic to quietly ram through legislation that will make it easier for landlords to evict tenants.
Bill 184, Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, which passed second reading today, does the opposite of what its name suggests. The bill prevents tenants from bringing up issues like their landlord failing to make repairs to their unit during hearings for non-payment of rent, and skips straight from repayment agreement for back rent to eviction order without any hearing for the tenant if they miss a payment.
“It was always wrong for the Ford government to attempt to make evictions easier, and it’s even worse to use the pandemic as a cover to sneak through changes that will hurt tenants,” said Morrison. “Tenants are frantically treading water to stay afloat during the pandemic, because the Ford government has refused to provide rent relief.
“That has left so many tenants to watch thousands of dollars of back rent pile up, which their landlords will no doubt come calling for when the temporary pause on evictions ends. If this bill passes, landlords are going to find it even easier to push tenants out.”
Along with a ban on disconnections and lockouts and a freeze on rent increases, the Ontario NDP has called for a rent subsidy of 80 per cent for up to $2,500 for four months for tenants who have lost income due to the pandemic. During the pandemic, tenants have continued to receive notices of eviction and rent increases.
“Tenants deserve so much better than to be abandoned in their time of need, and then be put on the fast-track to eviction,” said Morrison. “We should be doing more to help tenants keep a roof over their heads — now and after the pandemic has passed — not less.”
May 26, 2020
Response from NDP Leader on Canadian Armed Forces report on Ontario LTC homes
“The conditions and treatment of seniors revealed in this report are outrageous, horrifying and saddening. The horror seniors in these homes are being forced to live is inhumane. It breaks my heart to think about what these people are living through even today, and how scared and outraged their families must be feeling right now. I can only imagine their anguish.
We cannot allow Doug Ford to waste another second. We need inspections, takeovers of all homes that are not safe, and we need to launch a full, transparent public inquiry.
Beyond that, it’s shocking that the Canadian Armed Forces needed to lift the veil, when Doug Ford and Merrilee Fullerton ought to have known about these horrific conditions, and did nothing to take the homes over. The premier cannot pass the buck, finger-point, and express outrage about what his own government is doing on his watch. He has no choice to immediately require the resignation of Minister of Long Term Care Merillee Fullerton.
But the buck stops with Mr. Ford. For him to waste another second before having public health or a hospital take over these homes — and many others — would be unconscionable. For him to say the government will hold an internal investigation is disturbingly inadequate.
I want to thank the members of the Canadian Armed Forces who have blown the whistle in order to protect these precious lives. Families and our entire province owe them a great debt.”
May 26, 2020
Ford government must take over all unsafe long-term care facilities, Horwath says
Doug Ford and his government need to act immediately and take over the many long-term care facilities across the province that are failing to ensure the health and safety of seniors and staff, said Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in a press conference with family members of seniors in long-term care.
“It wasn’t good enough for Mr. Ford and his government to sit on their hands for weeks while the COVID-19 pandemic tore through long-term care homes,” said Horwath. “Just like it’s not good enough now for them to pick just two homes while leaving thousands of seniors and staff in many other facilities across the province still in danger.”
For many weeks, the NDP has been calling for the province and its public health authority to take over direct management of what staff and families believe to be unsafe long-term care homes. Despite calls from the NDP, the pleas from seniors in care, their families and health care workers, and the examples of other provinces assuming control of unsafe facilities, the Ford government refused for weeks to step in, before finally agreeing to take over just two care homes, many weeks late.
Horwath joined family members for a press conference Tuesday to urge the government to immediately intervene at all the other homes where the situation is getting more dire by the day. Audrey Da Cruz saw her mom, Theresa, for the last time on Mother’s Day, through a window. It wasn’t until Theresa developed symptoms on May 7 that the family was informed of the COVID-19 outbreak at Extendicare Guildwood, and she passed away less than a week later. Peter Priest is urgently trying to get his mom, Betty, discharged from Extendicare Guildwood because his family is worried for her well-being as the outbreak has grown and she has received limited attention to a new health issue due to the absence of physicians on-site.
“There are far too many homes like Extendicare Guildwood – facilities that have utterly failed the seniors in their care,” said Horwath. “They can’t be allowed to continue putting Ontarians at risk. The Ford government must step in now and ensure that every unsafe facility – not just two – comes under the direct management of the province. Every day this government drags their feet, they risk more seniors in care getting sick and dying.”
May 25, 2020
Promised pandemic pay needs to flow now
Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath issued the following statement in response to a letter from 11 health care CEOs to Premier Doug Ford asking for the province to release the pandemic pay bump it promised a month ago:
"Workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle are putting their lives on the line every day, yet many of these workers — the PSWs, paramedics and many others who are seeing us through the pandemic — may be struggling to make ends meet thanks to low pay.
NDP MPP offices have been flooded with calls and e-mails from essential workers who deserve a pandemic pay top-up, yet have failed to see that money flow, whether because the Ford government neglected to include them on its list or because they are on the list, but have not seen a single dollar of the wages they were promised.
It is unacceptable for Doug Ford to call frontline workers heroes, then fail to give them the small raise he promised a month ago. Frontline workers should receive their pandemic pay immediately, retroactive to the very beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.
The workers on the front lines deserve so much better from the government."
May 25, 2020
NDP to force vote on emergency funding for municipalities
NDP Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch will table a motion this week that would give emergency financial support to municipalities that have been deeply impacted by COVID-19.
“Cities and towns throughout the province are on the verge of devastating cuts if the Ford Government does not step up and provide funding,” said Burch.
Municipalities are not able to run deficits, by law. So without emergency provincial funding, the financial burden of COVID-19 will force them to make deep cuts to the services people count on — like public health, transit, child care, policing, social service agencies, and city infrastructure. People shouldn’t have to suffer those cuts, nor hikes to fees like day care or transit prices, said Burch.
“Whether it’s the working parent who relies on childcare, or workers who use transit to get to work, people desperately need the services municipal government provides. Municipalities have been clear that they need support, and it’s time for the provincial government to step up and create some relief and certainty for everyone.”
Burch’s motion mirrors the proposal put forward by a coalition of Ontario’s municipal leaders and frontline municipal workers that would ensure vital services are funded, and municipalities keep their heads above water.
May 22, 2020
The NDP’s Andrea Horwath is calling for a dramatically ramped-up COVID-19 testing regime to start immediately, including systematic testing for essential workers and people returning to work, all congregate care settings, plus mobile testing centres to start random community testing.
“Low testing numbers put people’s health at risk, and put Ontario’s economic re-opening at risk,” said Horwath. “For weeks, people were being turned away from the assessment centres because of Ford’s restrictive testing policy. Now, the government blames abysmally low testing numbers on people not showing up to assessment centres.
“With tests never getting up to decent levels in Ontario, Ford’s been all bluster and blame, and no action to institute a strong COVID-19 testing regime. Let’s make today the day Ontario starts that.”
Horwath and the Official Opposition are proposing a systematic surveillance testing regime, including:
- Systematic testing aiming for 100 per cent coverage in group homes, shelters, retirement homes and other congregate settings.
- Systematic workplace testing of essential workers, and re-opening workplaces, partnering with large employers in areas such as food supply, construction, manufacturing and automotive industries.
- Random sample testing in community, using new mobile assessment centres, which would travel to areas where community members are congregating — such as grocery store and pharmacy parking lots.
All three of these new endeavors would test asymptomatic people. Individuals with symptoms should continue to attend an assessment centre, as per the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
As of May 12, the province’s testing goal is 20,000 tests every 24 hours. On Friday, Ontario completed 11,276 tests and the average for the past week is 8,826 daily tests.
“When Health Minister Christine Elliott falsely claims Ontario leads the country in testing, it’s clear the Ford government doesn’t see the urgency of ramping up Ontario’s testing,” said Horwath. “But it is urgent. It’s people’s lives and our economic recovery on the line. Ontario needs to test, test, test and keep testing.”
May 19, 2020
'Unconscionable': Horwath on Ford blocking long-term care inquiry
Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement after the Ford government voted down an NDP motion calling for a full, independent public inquiry into Ontario’s long-term care system:
“It’s unconscionable for the Ford government to refuse to launch a full, independent public inquiry into how badly Ontario’s long-term care system has failed vulnerable seniors, and how to fix it. Voting no to a public inquiry is salt in the wound of families grieving the loss of loved ones to COVID-19 in long-term care, and for health care heroes who are run off their feet and still pleading for personal protective equipment. It is a cause for us all to worry that the painful, dangerous, decades-in-the-making problems in long-term care are not going to change.
To fix the system, we need to give a voice to seniors, workers, experts, and families who’ve lost loved ones. We need to closely examine the role of private, for-profit corporations in long-term care.
The NDP wants this public inquiry to be find-and-fix — which means we can urgently address the problems in long-term care as soon as they’re identified. In fact, we could start that today with a permanent $4 raise for personal support workers, by creating minimum care hours for each resident, and with regular mandatory comprehensive inspections.
For the government to review the government with a behind-closed-doors government-controlled commission is not good enough. People deserve better.”
May 19, 2020
More support needed as Ontario extends school closures
Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic, released the following statement in response to the government announcement that schools will remain closed through the end of June:
“Schools should remain closed until it’s absolutely safe for kids to return, so we support the move to keep kids at home for the rest of the school year. But parents are now being called back to work while schools and child care centres remain closed. That’s a major gap that will leave households all over the province with no options for child care, and the government needs to step up with a plan and tangible supports for those parents.
We also recognize that parents, students and educators are doing their best to keep up learning from home, but the government hasn’t provided additional supports to help them get through this. From learn-at-home supplies to supports for students with special needs, the government can do better to help students, teachers and families through this.
The plan for an eventual return to classrooms must be based on the advice of public health officials and developed in partnership with frontline education workers, school boards, parents and students. And the plan must come with a commitment to fund additional resources, including support staff, caretakers and other education workers to support teachers, students and parents.”
May 19, 2020
Ford must consult with First Nations before reopening the North
The Ford government must consult with First Nations before reopening the North in order to ensure the safety of communities vulnerable to a resurgence of Covid-19, said Sol Mamakwa, the NDP’s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic during question period on Tuesday.
“First Nations across Kiiwetinoong have been doing everything possible to keep COVID-19 out of our communities,” said Mamakwa. “They have gone to great lengths to keep communities safe such as implementing strict lockdowns and travel restrictions.
“But this government needs to do more to remedy the issues that make First Nations people more vulnerable to COVID-19 in the first place- such as overcrowded housing and the lack of hospitals.
“How has this government been working with First Nations on dealing with this pandemic?”
Mamakwa said the current situation poses a risk to the health of First Nations communities that is higher than the risks faced by most people in Ontario. He said the Ford government must listen to First Nations to be prepared for a second wave of the virus that could infect northern communities.
“Agencies and leadership in the North have a great deal of advice that this government needs to listen to, on how and when the North should be reopened,” said Mamakwa. “Once the North is opened up again, a second wave of coronavirus could spread to First Nations across the North.
“What is your government doing to listen to and support communities in planning for that possibility?”
May 19, 2020
Doug Ford’s sympathy won’t help Ontario drivers pay their bills, said the Official Opposition NDP’s Auto Insurance critic Tom Rakocevic and Brampton North NDP MPP Kevin Yarde during Question Period today.
“Every day Ontarians are grappling with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and struggling to pay the bills,” said Rakocevic. “Major auto insurers have admitted that driving and accidents are down – in Toronto alone accidents are down by 74 percent. But rather than mandate an across the board rate reduction for all drivers during COVID-19, the Ford government is leaving drivers to go it alone and haggle with their insurers.”
“The government regulator is a month late in approving quarterly auto insurance rates,” Yarde noted. “Some have suggested that the government is delaying, because they plan to announce another auto insurance rate increase, even though accidents and claims are way down during COVID-19. In fact, we have already heard from some drivers that their rates are going up.”
Doug Ford and his government have expressed sympathy to drivers, saying they hoped insurers would lower premiums. But, the Ford government has the power to act on behalf of Ontarians and mandate lower rates. Instead, they have continued to sign off on auto insurance rate hikes, despite a considerable drop in auto accidents across the province.
“Drivers don’t need the Premier’s sympathy, “added Rakocevic. “They need action. Will the government finally take action and cut rates for all drivers during this crisis?”
The Ford government did not commit to taking any action at all.
May 19, 2020
QUEEN’S PARK – On Tuesday afternoon, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario will vote on whether to hold a thorough, non-partisan, independent public inquiry — under The Public Inquiries Act — sparked by a motion by NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath.
Since the pandemic began, more than 4,400 residents and staff at Ontario long term care homes have contracted COVID-19, with over 1,400 deaths to date, and more infections and deaths expected.
“The Ford government is digging in their heels by insisting they’ll hold a government-controlled commission instead of a public inquiry,” said Horwath. “A government-controlled commission is just a review —a back-room process that won’t give long-term care residents and their families, seniors entering care, and loved ones of COVID-19 victims the voice they deserve, the respect they deserve, or the major overhaul to long-term care that all long-term care residents need and deserve.”
May 15, 2020
Ford and Rickford should take action now to stop gas price gouging in Northern Ontario
Doug Ford and Energy Minister Greg Rickford should use the tools they have to take action on the price of gasoline in Northern Ontario, said Timmins NDP MPP Gilles Bisson, as gas prices continue to climb during the COVID-19 crisis.
The NDP’s bill, Fairness in Petroleum Products Pricing Act, 2018, would allow the Ontario Energy Board to regulate the retail price and wholesale mark-up of petroleum products in Ontario. That means that gas prices in Ontario will not fluctuate and could only change once a week. The NDP bill will stop the spikes in gas prices at the pump, and provide relief and stability to drivers in Northern Ontario and right across the province.
May 14, 2020
Horwath says re-opening must come with more testing and tracing
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, says that re-opening some businesses and recreation would be safer if Ontario stepped up its COVID-19 testing and tracing.
Over the past 30 days, Ontario has averaged just 12,600 tests per day, and not all positive cases are thoroughly contact-traced.
“Everyone is eager to start easing restrictions, but Doug Ford needs to dramatically ramp up testing and contact tracing to make it safer for everyone when we do that,” said Horwath. “No one wants to see Ontario take one step forward and two steps back. We don’t want to see more people getting sick, and freshly re-opened businesses having to close again, because of outbreaks — and the solution to that is to test, test, test, and have the capacity to trace every positive case.”
Horwath said the government also needs to ensure businesses have access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and that they are regularly inspected. Physical distancing and infection control rules should be mandatory – not suggested guidelines, according to the NDP.
May 14, 2020
Ford government must do more to help farmers and workers now
While farmers and employees need more protection to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, the Ford Conservatives must do more to reverse their damage to the agriculture sector said John Vanthof, NDP Deputy Leader and Agriculture critic.
Vanthof responded to an announcement by the Ontario government on provincial abattoirs and access to protective equipment for workers.
“New Democrats support any help for farmers and workers who need it today during the Covid-19 crisis,” said Vanthof, “However, today’s announcement is not nearly close enough to reverse the damage done by the Ford government to the agriculture sector and to stabilize Ontario’s food sector during this crisis.”
The Ford Conservatives broke their promise to increase the Risk Management cap for farmers and cut millions from programs meant to help farmers grow crops and livestock. Ford cut planned spending on Risk Management Programs by $160 million and it cut $2.3 million from Agricorp.
May 14, 2020
Over the last 30 days, Ontario’s COVID-19 testing count has averaged just 12,600 tests per day – far too low to give people the safety they deserve during the economy’s re-opening, says the NDP.
“Over the past 30 days, Ontario has only averaged 12,600 tests a day. That’s far behind what we need to re-open the economy with certainty,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “People deserve the safety that will come with an intense program of broad testing within the community, as things like parks and retail business start to open.”
Ontario’s testing numbers are substantially behind Nunavut, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec.
Ontario is also testing fewer people than American states, including Delaware, Washington, Vermont, Illinois, West Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Alaska, Tennessee, Utah, New Mexico, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New York and Rhode Island.
And Ontario is far behind a large number of developed countries around the world, including Israel, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the UK.
May 9, 2020
Response to Education Minister Lecce's memo
NDP Education critic Marit Stiles released the following statement in response to a memo from Education Minister Stephen Lecce regarding “synchronous learning,” or video conferencing.
“I was incredibly disappointed to read Minister Stephen Lecce’s memo criticizing the ‘inconsistent uptake’ of video conference classes. Parents, teachers and kids are doing an exceptional job keeping the learning going at home. Teachers are coming up with innovative ways to support kids’ learning, and the difficult social impacts of isolation. Parents are managing the incredibly difficult challenge of parenting, supporting learning and working from home, all at the same time, often while dealing with additional anxiety and other pressures.
The Ford government and Stephen Lecce have not provided devices or funding, nor has he listened to front line educators, students and parents. Lecce should know that many families don’t have devices at home, or are sharing a device with working parents and siblings. Many still don’t have adequate access to broadband. He should also know that for many kids with learning challenges video conferencing is not going to work, and that there are families with legitimate privacy and security concerns.
I’d urge Lecce to stop scolding parents, teachers and kids, and instead recognize and celebrate the incredible things they’re already accomplishing in these challenging times.”
May 8, 2020
Statement from Andrea Horwath on N95 access directive
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, released the following statement in response to reports that the provincial government is seeking to change a directive, removing access to N95 masks, because it believes the masks aren't necessary, possibly driven by low supplies:
“It’s dangerous and wrong for the Ford government to consider taking away the right that health care workers have to access personal protective equipment, including N95 masks based on the precautionary principle.
The government’s job is to get enough N95 masks — not to rewrite the rules to withhold them from workers.
Workers in long-term care homes and other frontline jobs are putting themselves in harm’s way daily to save and care for others, and precious lives have been lost. Praise for them rings hollow if this government is not moving heaven and earth to safeguard their lives.
The right to have and to wear an N95 has been settled by the courts, thanks to a court case launched by the Ontario Nurses Association.”
May 8, 2020
Long-term care public inquiry must include evaluation of the continuing role of for profit homes
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says that Ontario deserves a broad and thorough public inquiry into long-term care, including why the system was in crisis before the pandemic hit; how the pandemic response left seniors homes so vulnerable; and an examination of the future of for-profit homes in Ontario.
“It’s heartbreaking to think of seniors left in understaffed, under-resourced nursing homes, with virtually no regulations in place to protect them, while COVID-19 swept through home after home. The staff who care for our most vulnerable have been run off their feet, and have been putting their lives at risk in facilities that don’t have enough personal protective equipment, and that may not have had proper isolation or infection control procedures in place.” Horwath said. “Tragically, residents and staff have lost their lives. We owe it to them, to their families and loved ones, to make major changes to this system, to protect every life from here on.”
Horwath said slow-to-arrive half-measures, loopholes and mixed messaging from the Ford government need to be examined by an independent public inquiry, as does the state of the system before the pandemic hit. She also wants different types of ownership in long-term care scrutinized, comparing outcomes for non-profit homes versus for-profit homes versus public, municipally-owned homes.
“I oppose profits being made by corporations in long-term care. Let’s lay all the facts on the table in a thorough and independent public inquiry,” said Horwath.
Data released Tuesday by the Ontario Health Coalition shows a significantly higher death rate due to COVID-19 in long-term care homes that are owned by for-profit corporations, compared to non-profit homes and public, municipal homes. The analysis showed that the rate of death was 9 per cent in for-profit homes, 5.25 per cent in non-profit homes and 3.62 per cent in publicly-owned, municipal homes.
“I envision a community-based non-profit and public seniors care system – one that doesn’t siphon away frontline funding to pad the pockets of multi-national corporations, but instead uses every penny to deliver the best care,” said Horwath. “This inquiry could be the start of putting Ontario on a new, better, safer and more dignified path.”
Privatization of long-term care increased dramatically in the 1990s under Premier Mike Harris. Harris is now the chair of the board for a massive long-term care for-profit corporation.
May 6, 2020
FACT CHECK: Ontario needs to ramp up testing before re-opening businesses
The Ford government missed its own, lowered testing targets again Wednesday.
- Ford’s initial target for May 6: 18,900 tests per day
- Ford’s downgraded target for May 6: 16,000 tests per day
- Tests completed May 6: 12,961
- Cumulatively short of initial target: 155,207
“A massive increase in COVID-19 testing within the community is necessary to re-open businesses, parks and services. The fewer tests Ontario does, the greater the risk is for people out there. Doug Ford’s job is to fix this problem, not to complain about it,” said Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats.
May 5, 2020
FACT CHECK: COVID testing falling behind
The NDP Official Opposition says today’s shocking drop in COVID-19 testing shows the Ford government is failing to ramp up testing to meet its own new, lowered target for tomorrow, even while using testing data as a justification for re-opening parts of the Ontario economy.
- Ford’s initial target: 18,900 tests per day
- Ford’s downgraded target for this week: 16,000 tests per day by May 6
- Tests completed May 4: 14,555
- Tests completed May 5: 10,654
On Monday, the national average was 24,460 tested per million people, but Ontario was only testing at 22,715 per million. Alberta, by comparison, is testing 34,800 per million, or 42 per cent more tests.
Since March, the government has consistently missed its own testing targets.
May 5, 2020
NDP statement on Education Week
Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic, released the following statement to mark Education Week:
“This year, we mark Education Week at a time when students, parents, teachers and education workers are facing extraordinary circumstances.
As Education Critic for the Official Opposition, I want to thank students and parents across the province for your flexibility and hard work to keep learning going in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also want to acknowledge the uncertainty and anxiety students are facing right now.
I also want to salute the work of our incredible teachers who are finding creative ways to deliver curriculum and connect with their students; education workers who are maintaining our schools, supporting the distribution of technology and handling administrative issues; and school boards, trustees, superintendents and principals who are working hard to get needed equipment into the hands of our students.
As we adapt to our current learning and working circumstances, I am inspired by the determination and compassion all Ontarians have shown.
It’s a strange time, but an important one. And everything you are doing is helping save lives and keep our young people connected and supported.
Happy Education Week!”
May 4, 2020
NDP pitches agriculture plan including lifting Risk Management cap, livestock security funding
The NDP is calling for a suite of safeguards to ensure agribusinesses and rural economies can weather the COVID-19 storm — particularly since the provincial government has left the farming industry and rural communities to fend for themselves, weakening the food supply chain.
“Imagine finding out that the animals that your family worked hard to raise have lost their value. Imagine being told that the crop you have stored has lost its worth and has to be disposed of. Those animals and crops were going to pay your mortgage, feed your family, and cover input costs for next year's crop. This is the nightmare that Ontario's farmers are facing,” said Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats. “The provincial government hasn’t stepped up, and it’s really time they do – to support farms, and to keep the food supply chain from faltering.”
The government broke its promise to increase the Risk Management Program cap by $50 million in 2020-21, actually cutting planned spending on demand-driven risk management programs by $160 million.
To safeguard the food supply chain and protect agricultural and rural economies, the NDP is urging the Ford government, in partnership with agri-food stakeholders and other levels of government, to immediately:
- Completely remove the cap on the Risk Management Program to ensure as much stability as possible in Ontario’s food system during the crisis
- Direct Agricorp to expand risk coverage for agriculture insurance
- Provide funding so farmers can hold livestock humanely until processing space opens up, avoiding wasteful slaughter
- Guarantee access to PPE and all necessary equipment, supplies, training and physical distancing measures for the agri-food sector
- Take urgent action to save the restaurant and hospitality sector, key customers for Ontario’s food producers, including the 75 per cent commercial rent subsidy up to $10,000 a month for three months and banning commercial evictions during the crisis
- Treat rural broadband internet as an essential service, working with carriers to lower costs and remove data caps on the limited broadband services currently available to rural Ontarians, and providing additional funding and leadership to greatly accelerate the delivery of permanent broadband and cellular infrastructure to rural Ontario
- Encouraging the expansion of local food supply chains to fill gaps in imports/exports that have been fragmented due to the pandemic, with additional support for food banks and local food businesses
- Providing enhanced funding to rural municipalities so they can keep workers on the payroll and continue providing essential services safely during the pandemic
- Establishing procedures to identify and respond quickly to new threats to food security during and after the immediate crisis
May 1, 2020
Ford government must stop ignoring people with disabilities during COVID-19
The Official Opposition is reiterating its call for Doug Ford to take urgent actions to support people with disabilities through this pandemic — including a plan to conduct in-home COVID-19 testing for people with disabilities.
The NDP is calling for the plan to include, but not be limited to:
- Adopting a clinical triage protocol that respects the human rights of people with disabilities
- Ensuring that attendant care workers who help people with disabilities in their own homes have access to personal protective equipment
- Resources and clear guidelines to support 330,000 special education students with e-learning
- Provide remote and distance supports to assist the families of people with developmental or intellectual disabilities living with them, to provide respite for family members during mandatory periods of isolation at home
- Declaring the Assistive Devices Program an essential service so that no one is deprived of critical mobility or medical aides
May 1, 2020
McNaughton must address health and safety enforcement problems before reopening economy
The NDP is calling on the Ford Government’s Labour Minister to strengthen protections for workers to refuse unsafe work, especially while they consider the steps necessary to re-open the economy.
The Toronto Star has reported that 213 workers have exercised their legislated right to refuse unsafe work and demand an inspection from the Ministry of Labour. In every case, the Ministry of Labour has overruled their concerns, often without an on-site inspection of the workplace.
The NDP has joined workers in calling for clarity for how workplace inspections and investigations are happening in the absence of physical site inspections. It is all employers’ responsibility, in law, to provide safe workplaces, and the government’s role to enforce and investigate when they do not.
“No one should ever have to choose between keeping their job and coming home safe and healthy. People need to know the government will protect every worker’s right under Ontario law to refuse unsafe work, and the premier and minister must make sure that all workers, including those who are showing up to work in the health care, retail, construction and other essential services still in operation right now know it,” said Andrea Horwath, NDP Leader of the Opposition.
As of April 24, the WSIB had received 1,069 COVID-19 workplace exposure incident reports.
May 1, 2020
Today, as Ontarians join communities across the globe in celebrating International Workers’ Day, it is more important than ever to show our thanks and solidarity to working folks.
During these incredibly difficult times, we are all especially thankful for the public health staff, health care workers, grocery store staff, pharmacy workers, transit drivers, truckers, supply chain workers, manufacturing teams, essential construction workers, first responders, and so many more of our everyday heroes. That’s why here in Ontario, we are also celebrating First Responders Day today
All Ontarians are so thankful to these crucial workers for all that they do to keep people safe and healthy, get food and medicine into people’s homes, and keep our province running. In communities across the province and the globe, people have finally come to realize how critical these working folks really are. But, sadly – and shamefully – many of these heroes are among the lowest paid workers in our society. Some have to work three jobs to make ends meet. Some haven’t had proper health and safety protections. Many don’t have pensions and health benefits.
While there is no doubt that the risks have been greater and the pressure more intense these last few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t make these workers more valuable – it showed the world how incredibly valuable they have always been.
Let’s make sure they get the wages and working conditions they’ve always deserved. And let’s make sure they’re never taken for granted again.
April 30, 2020
Making Safety Optional will Put Lives at Risk
Opening restaurants and other workplaces with health and safety “guidelines” instead of enforceable rules will put people’s health at risk, said the NDP.
“Some employers will work hard to keep people as safe as they can when they re-open following the COVID-19 peak. And some absolutely will not,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “Allowing individual employers to decide if their employees, customers and suppliers get to be adequately protected is a bad idea that will put people at risk, and hurt us all if it leads to a resurgence of COVID-19.”
The Ford government announced Thursday that it will put roughly 60 health and safety guidelines up online to guide business re-opening, and produce posters.
“Having guidelines rather than rules and inspections contributed to the deadly disaster in long-term care,” said Wayne Gates, the NDP’s Labour critic for Workplace Health and Safety. “Before Doug Ford moves ahead with re-opening businesses, he needs to set and clearly communicate rules, and ensure that inspections will take place to enforce those rules.”
Horwath has previously called for Ford to put in place a robust testing plan, make PPE available, and increase the number of proactive site inspections as a part of the plan to re-open segments of the economy.
April 30, 2020
Fact Check: Ontario falls 100,000 COVID-19 tests behind initial target
On Wednesday Doug Ford claimed that Ontario was hitting its COVID-19 testing targets. But Ford has moved the goalposts to make those targets lower, and they’re still not being met.
Ford lowered the target from 18,900 tests per day by April 17 to 12,500 tests per day by April 22. Then started counting each swab, rather than each patient, since multiple swabs can be taken from each patient.
The government still hasn’t consistently met their own lower target, and as of Wednesday, the province has tested 100,000 fewer people by failing to meet its original target.
April 28, 2020
NDP urges province to fully cover take-home cancer drugs while hospital treatments are on hold
NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath is urging the province to cover 100 per cent of the cost of take-home cancer drugs some patients are struggling to afford after the COVID-19 pandemic put their in-hospital treatments on hold. The NDP has long called for the province to make all take-home cancer drugs free, and this has only taken on increased urgency amid the pandemic.
Bhutila Karpoche, NDP MPP, said her office has been supporting patients who can’t afford the expensive medications they are being prescribed as COVID-19 forces their doctor to alter their treatment plan. Take-home cancer drugs are a modern option that may replace chemotherapy for some patients and can keep patients stabilized until hospitals are again able to perform surgeries. But they can cost more than $2,000 a month, and Karpoche says constituents in need haven’t qualified for any provincial drug plan help.
“Getting a cancer diagnosis and going through treatment is hard enough as it is,” said Karpoche. “Having to change treatment due to COVID-19, and not knowing what that will mean for your prospects of recovery, is devastating.
“There are families across the province facing these situations, and the last thing anyone should have to worry about right now is whether they’ll be able to afford to pay for critical medications while hospital treatments are on hold.”
The Ontario NDP remains committed to pharmacare: a prescription drug plan that covers everyone.
“Cancer patients deserve to be able to focus on getting better as they adjust to new treatment plans under COVID-19 protocols,” said Karpoche. “I am urging the province to immediately commit to covering the full cost of all take-home cancer drugs.”
April 28, 2020
NDP Leader marks the Day of Mourning:
Today, I stand in Solidarity with workers across Ontario and Canada in marking and especially solemn and painful National Day of Mourning.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have essential workers in our hearts, including health care workers and public health staff, first responders, pharmacy and grocery store staff, farmers, truckers and supply chain workers. We are filled with sorrow for people who have been infected at work, and we mourn the loss of workers who have died from this terrible virus.
On this Day of Mourning, I’m launching the fight to ensure that all workers during this pandemic have presumptive WSIB coverage for COVID-19. Both for the virus itself, and for the trauma, PTSD and mental health challenges that may come after it. Thanks to the hard work of the NDP Labour critic for Workplace Health and Safety, Wayne Gates, the NDP will table a private member’s bill to accomplish that, because no essential worker should have to fight to prove this illness was contracted at work.
Even during this extremely challenging time, we know that every workplace infection, injury or death is a preventable one.
On behalf of the Official Opposition, I want to congratulate the Ontario Nurses Association on their legal victory, fighting for the right to have access to and to wear personal protective equipment, including N95 masks.
Every worker has the right to protection and safety at work, including personal protective equipment like N95 masks.
More than ever, on the National Day of Mourning we remember the dead, and fight for the living.
April 27, 2020
Successfully re-opening the economy will take action, not just words and passive monitoring, says Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath.
“The government needs to dramatically ramp up inspections and testing. They need to get personal protective equipment into the hands of workers in workplaces that are re-opening. And they need a plan to stop the outbreaks still raging in long-term care,” said Horwath. “The government can and must do more if we are to safely move forward. There is an active role only the government can play in making the re-opening successful and safe.”
The government’s framework for re-opening was rightfully committed to following the advice of public health, and re-opening cautiously and in phases — the NDP supports that approach. But the NDP also wants to see the government’s role include:
Proactive and on-site inspections of re-opened workplaces to ensure physical distancing and infection control. Even with the current limited number of businesses operating, workers report that they cannot get on-site inspections of their work conditions.
Dramatically ramping up testing of people in the community, including asymptomatic people. Ontario continues to have the lowest testing rate in the country and experts say we need much more testing before businesses re-open.
Expanding the availability and use of personal protective equipment in workplaces that are re-opening.
Dramatically ramping up containment efforts in long-term care and other congregate care settings to save lives, and stop the wildfire from spreading back into the community — including a plan for workers that come and go from homes where deadly outbreaks continue to rage, and are still growing.
“We have to learn from SARS. We have to learn from countries experiencing a second COVID-19 wave. If the province doesn’t put a robust plan in place to dramatically expand testing, inspections and infection control, we could see a resurgence of this deadly virus.”
Horwath said the government’s framework is disappointingly vague, leaving people and businesses without information on what each phase will look like, which could lead to misinformation.
April 25, 2020
Ontario's pandemic payment should be retroactive to beginning of state of emergency
“Our frontline workers, whether in long-term care facilities or hospital kitchens, have done extraordinary work since the beginning of this state of emergency. It’s wrong that it took so long for this small wage top up to arrive, and I’m asking Doug Ford to make this additional pay retroactive to the day the State of Emergency was declared, so that people‘s sacrifice and hard work to keep us all safe is recognized.”
April 24, 2020
Misleading government announcement leaves kids, teachers and parents disappointed and without iPads
Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce gave teachers, students and families the impression that at least 21,000 new iPads were on the way to give families in need access to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The truth is that school boards won’t get a single extra device.
“We’ve heard from boards all over the province that are inundated with calls from parents looking for the iPad they believed the government was sending their child,” said NDP Education critic Marit Stiles. “But the sad truth is that Mr. Ford and Mr. Lecce were just taking credit for devices already owned and distributed by school boards.
“Mr. Ford’s words don’t match his actions, and as a result, thousands of kids — especially kids from lower-income households — are being let down. This really adds to the inequity. We need solutions for kids in communities with less resources, and those in remote and rural areas.”
On April 17, a government press release announced “iPad devices are being purchased and distributed by Ontario school boards, pre-equipped with free Rogers LTE wireless data.” The carefully-worded announcement added that “over 21,000 will be sent to the homes of families in need.”
This week, the Toronto and District School Board was forced to distribute a statement to its trustees, which the NDP has obtained. It reads:
“Last week’s announcement by the Minister was highlighting, from a provincial level, what school boards are doing with regard to distribution of devices at the local level. At this point in time, there are no additional iPads (or additional money for iPads) being provided by the Province.”
April 23, 2020
NDP calls for nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks to be publicly posted
The Official Opposition wants a list of long-term care facilities and other congregate care settings experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19 to be posted publicly online.
The NDP’s call comes after at least 31 deaths were confirmed at a Pickering long-term care facility that was reporting only four deaths just days ago.
Ontario’s iPHIS data reporting system has been consistently wrong, underreporting the number of deaths in long-term care by about 100 people, at last count. Both the former Liberal and current Conservative governments have been warned that iPHIS is inaccurate, but have ignored the warnings for years.
April 22, 2020
Government must make in-home testing available for people with disabilities
The Official Opposition is calling for the Ford government to make COVID-19 testing available at home for people with disabilities who face barriers trying to travel to testing sites.
"There are 2.6 million Ontarians living with disabilities, yet Doug Ford has not announced any plans to support them during the pandemic — despite the fact that many people with disabilities are among the most susceptible to COVID-19, and often face barriers in accessing testing and treatment," said Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition.
Horwath and Harden wrote to Doug Ford calling for his government to adopt a plan in consultation with experts and grassroots disability community leaders. The plan should include, but not be limited to:
- Adopting a clinical triage protocol that respects the human rights of people with disabilities
- Ensuring that attendant care workers who help people with disabilities in their own homes have access to personal protective equipment
- Resources and clear guidelines to support 330,000 special education students with e-learning
- Provide remote and distance supports to assist the families of people with developmental or intellectual disabilities living with them, to provide respite for family members during mandatory periods of isolation at home
- Declaring the Assistive Devices Program an essential service so that no one is deprived of critical mobility or medical aides
April 16, 2020
Race-based data critical in Ontario's fight against COVID-19
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, is calling on the Ford government to listen to experts and collect race and socio-demographic data on COVID-19. Horwath said this is critical to preventing worse health outcomes for racialized Ontarians during the pandemic.
In the United Sates, data collected from many urban centres have shown an alarming trend of disproportionate COVID-19 deaths and infection rates amongst Black populations. It’s unclear whether this could be the case in Ontario, because the province isn’t collecting race-based health data.
“Black, Indigenous and racialized Ontarians were already suffering from poorer health outcomes and barriers to access before the province was thrust into a pandemic,” said Horwath. “Now we’re seeing troubling signs in other places that these inequities — and the worse health outcomes that come with them —are continuing unchecked with the spread of COVID-19.”
Health experts have long advocated for the government to include race and socio-demographic information when it collects health data in order to fight inequity in health care. The Toronto Central LHIN has been collecting race and socio-demographic data since 2010.
“It’s time for the province to start collecting data on how racialized Ontarians are experiencing COVID-19,” said Horwath. “Without a complete picture of how we’re doing, we can’t make decisions that ensure the best possible health outcomes for everyone so we can get through this pandemic together.”
April 16, 2020
After weeks of COVID-19 sweeping through vulnerable group living facilities, the Ford government is choosing to build dangerous gaps into its new protective orders, leaving seniors and adults with disabilities at greater risk. Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, wants those problems fixed today — alongside a plan to take over management of facilities where residents aren’t protected.
- Retirement homes, supportive housing and assisted living residences — including homes like Participation House — are excluded
- Temp agency staff, who frequently work in long-term care homes, are exempt from a new rule banning workers from working in multiple homes
- The rules don’t come into effect for a full week, despite the wildfire of infections potentially at a peak this week
“The government has done too little, far too late to protect seniors in care and adults with disabilities in group living situations. It’s beyond time for the government to step up with a plan to take direct management of homes where residents aren’t protected enough.”
Horwath has been calling for an overhaul of long-term care in Ontario for years, and now says once the COVID-19 crisis has passed, it will be up to Queen’s Park to ensure Ontario never goes back to the patchwork of privatized, underfunded and poorly-regulated seniors care.
April 15, 2020
Horwath opposes Time of Use hydro bill hike
“Just last month Doug Ford promised he would ‘take the burden off families’ during the COVID-19 pandemic — but his actions don’t match his words. I’m shocked that the government is preparing to hike the hydro bills of families and small businesses already struggling, by tacking Time of Use pricing back onto their bills.
Millions of Ontarians are doing their part by staying at home to protect the most vulnerable in our province. Hiking their bills for daytime electricity use punishes them for doing that.
With so many families struggling with rent, mortgage payments and bills they can’t afford right now — through no fault of their own — this hydro bill hike is cruel, and tone-deaf. The government should cancel Time of Use pricing until after the end of the pandemic, and work on making electricity bills more affordable, not more expensive.”
April 15, 2020
NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath said the government needs to fix its own guidelines, which instruct health care workers with COVID-19 to return to work in hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health care settings.
“The government’s decision to allow health care workers who have the COVID-19 virus to return to work with the most vulnerable Ontarians is deeply worrying and flies in the face of what we all know about the virus — that it spreads whether you have symptoms or not,” said Horwath.
“As hospitals and long-term care facilities across the province are facing serious outbreaks of COVID-19, we should be assuring patients, residents and their loved ones that we’re doing everything we can to keep COVID-19 away from them, not inviting it to their bedside. And we should be assuring our health care heroes that we’re doing everything possible to ensure they won’t contract the virus from someone they work alongside and share a staff lounge with.”
April 14, 2020
Government must stem outbreaks by stopping staff from working at multiple care homes
Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath said it’s wrong that the government has continued with a system in which people work at multiple seniors facilities, which has helped the deadly COVID-19 virus sweep through one care home after another. Despite dozens of outbreaks in long-term care and other living facilities for frail and vulnerable people, large care home owners are still telling staff to work at multiple homes.
April 14, 2020
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, wants Ontario to catch people who fall through the cracks with a $2,000 monthly benefit, plus help for students, and top-up payments for low-wage essential workers and those struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Horwath said new measures should have been in the government’s emergency bill, including:
Emergency Income
- Supplementary Emergency Benefit of up to $2,000 per month for those who fall through the cracks of Employment Insurance (EI) and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
- Top-up social assistance payments of $300 per month, plus eliminating any clawback triggered by federal emergency benefits.
- Top-up payments for those with reduced income or for whom federal benefits fall short of basic needs, including essential workers with reduced income or earnings of less than $2,000 per month
Income for students
- Supplementary Student Grants for students who are unable to find summer jobs.
- Eliminating assumed student earnings and parental contributions for any student affected by income loss in their households for the purpose of calculating OSAP.
Drug Coverage
- Full drug coverage through Trillium or the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan for anyone receiving emergency benefits.
Horwath and the NDP have also proposed a $2,500 a month rent supplement and other supports for people with reduced income, as well as a number of supports for small businesses — which may be able to access a wage support package form the federal government, but have no help with rent or other overhead costs they still need to cover during the pandemic.
Background
The NDP has been calling for direct supports to help people and businesses. To date, those constructive proposals have included:
Help with income
- Establish the Ontario Emergency Income program to provide households experiencing unemployment or lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic with $2,000, plus $250 per dependent child, to bridge the gap while waiting for federal supports to arrive.
- Order all utilities to provide interest-free bill deferrals of up to six months to anyone who cites financial need, with penalty-free repayment plans.
- Immediately cancel Time of Use hydro billing.
- Cancel prescription co-payments for seniors.
- Institute an immediate discount of 50 per cent on auto insurance premiums and order the Financial Services Regulatory Authority to institute an auto-insurance grace period to allow for interest-free bill deferrals for all who need it.
Help people keep their home
- Offer a provincially-funded rent subsidy of 80 per cent of a household’s rent, up to $2,500 a month, for each of the next four months, for anyone qualifying for the federal emergency benefit. The money would be paid to the tenant.
- Order a six-month freeze on rent increases.
- Write into law that there can be no evictions, lockouts or disconnections for any reason during the pandemic, nor punished in any way for missing a rent payment, and ban threats of the same.
- Push for a federal moratorium on mortgage foreclosures.
Help vulnerable people
- Create a new stabilization fund for the non-profit sector to provide financial support for non-profits like food banks.
- Designate additional emergency funding for the shelter system, outreach and harm reduction.
- Automatically renew transfer payments to agencies, organizations and programs currently being funded.
- Waive the requirement for Ontario Works recipients to be actively looking for work.
Help small and medium-sized businesses, non-profits and charities
- Provide a 75 per cent rent subsidy, up to $10,000 a month for three months for businesses that have substantially lower income as a result of COVID-19.
- Work with other levels of government to immediately halt the collection of all payroll, property, sales, and income taxes from small and medium-sized business.
- Institute a utility payment freeze.
- Postpone tourism and marketing fees for businesses in the very hard-hit hospitality sector, as requested by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
- Dedicate additional resources to ensure the food supply chain is maintained and responsive to shortages, including direct support to growers and animal agriculture.
- Create a remote-work set up fund for small-businesses — which could help them with things like setting up an online retail operation, or buying laptops and software for their workforce.
- Institute an auto-insurance grace period for taxis and car-sharing drivers.
- Create a designated emergency fund for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have faced historic barriers to accessing traditional capital, as proposed by the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce.
Partner with municipalities
- For municipalities that institute property tax deferrals, ensure the flexibility to defer their remittance of property taxes to the province.
- Provide 100 per cent provincial funding to public health units, so that they are not relying on municipalities for 30 per cent of their funding, especially while municipalities have paused revenue tools like property tax payments.
April 14, 2020
Ontario needs to help people where federal supports fall short
Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats, wants Ontario to catch people who fall through the cracks with a $2,000 monthly benefit, plus help for students, and top-up payments for low-wage essential workers and those struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic including:
Emergency Income
- Supplementary Emergency Benefit of up to $2,000 per month for those who fall through the cracks of Employment Insurance (EI) and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
- Top-up social assistance payments of $300 per month, plus eliminating any clawback triggered by federal emergency benefits.
- Top-up payments for those with reduced income or for whom federal benefits fall short of basic needs, including essential workers with reduced income or earnings of less than $2,000 per month
Income for students
- Supplementary Student Grants for students who are unable to find summer jobs.
- Eliminating assumed student earnings and parental contributions for any student affected by income loss in their households for the purpose of calculating OSAP.
Drug Coverage
- Full drug coverage through Trillium or the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan for anyone receiving emergency benefits.
Horwath said the NDP will vote in favour of Tuesday’s emergency bill, and allow it to pass immediately, but believes people were hoping the legislation would rescue them from sleepless nights and payments they can’t afford — and it doesn’t.
Horwath and the NDP have also proposed a $2,500 a month rent supplement and other supports for people with reduced income, as well as a number of supports for small businesses — which may be able to access a wage support package form the federal government, but have no help with rent or other overhead costs they still need to cover during the pandemic.
April 9, 2020
NDP response to Economic Recovery Committee
Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said today’s announcement that the Ontario government has tasked the majority of its cabinet to look at jobs and economic recovery is disappointing for those who were desperately hoping for an announcement that would help them financially, right now.
“We need action, now, to save families and businesses from economic hardship, not just a plan to pull together cabinet ministers for yet another committee.”
The NDP’s proposal so far have included:
- An 80 per cent rent subsidy for people up to $2,500 per month
- A utility payment freeze
- A $2,000 payment to bridge the gap while people wait for federal financial support
- A 50 per cent discount on auto insurance
- A 75 per cent commercial rent subsidy up to $10,000 per month for three months
- A remote-work set up fund, which could help them with things like setting up an online retail operation, or buying laptops and software for staff
- An auto insurance grace period for taxis and car-sharing drivers
- A designated emergency fund for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have faced historic barriers to accessing traditional capital, as proposed by the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce.
April 9, 2020
Ontario must support businesses as COVID-19 spikes job losses
Statistics Canada figures released today offer a first glimpse of the economic damage caused by the crisis, with Ontario leading the country in job losses. More than 400,000 people in Ontario were handed pink slips in March, pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.6 per cent.
“COVID-19 has left hundreds of thousands of people out of work, worrying about how they’ll keep up with their bills, and has left small and medium-sized businesses counting down the days they can keep going,” said Fife, NDP critic for Economic Growth and Jobs Creation. “We can insulate people and families and small and medium-sized businesses from financial crisis better than we’re doing right now.”
The Statistics Canada figures also show how widespread an impact COVID-19 is having, with jobs down in almost every sector and region in Ontario, including in the health sector.
Anything that happened after the labour force survey, March 15 to 21, won’t show up in the numbers until next month’s release.
April 9, 2020
The NDP Official Opposition is calling for the government to stop Ontario’s clawback rules for social assistance recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This clawback policy risks leaving many families who qualify for and receive the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) even worse off, as their family could see their existing ODSP support wiped out.
In Ontario, any supports like EI coming into the household are deducted dollar-for-dollar from ODSP payments, but earned income from work triggers a clawback at 50-cents on the dollar. If someone from a household that counts on ODSP loses their job, and applies for CERB, the benefit could be completely wiped out, leaving the family even further behind for the month.
“Families are feeling anxious during this unprecedented crisis as they worry about their health, their jobs and paying the bills,” said MPP Lisa Gretzky, the NDP’s Community and Social Services critic. "Ontario's policies punish working families, and adds insult to injury given already abysmally-low social assistance rates.
“For adults with disabilities and their families, the pandemic has made life even more expensive – and forcing them to try to get by with even less is wrong, and it has to stop. Ontario needs to act immediately to cancel the clawback for people that are eligible for CERB. A clawback that will wipe out the financial help the federal government is offering.”
April 9, 2020
Province should cover accommodation costs for front-line workers who shouldn't go home
Some frontline health care workers are desperate for a place to stay during the pandemic, because home is where immuno-compromised, elderly or infant loved ones are.
“We’re hearing from health care workers who are devastated at the very thought of going home after their shift because someone they love there is vulnerable,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “If a health care worker or first responder has higher-risk people in their household, we need to help them keep their family safe,”
Some hospitals or unions have negotiated discounted hotel rates for some health care workers, but all health care workers should have a cost-free option, organized and paid for by the province, according to the NDP.
April 8, 2020
NDP calling for half-price auto insurance during pandemic
The NDP Official Opposition is calling on the Ford government to give all Ontario drivers a 50 per cent break on auto insurance payments for three months, and let people who have lost a job or income defer payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 8, 2020
Provincial plan needed to support and protect seniors during COVID-19 pandemic
The NDP’s recommendations to protect and support seniors during COVID-19 include:
- Suspend medication dispensing fees and co-pays for Ontarians 65 and older
- Ban fee hikes or new fees in long-term care, retirement homes and other settings supporting senior care
- Crack down on scams looking to defraud seniors
- Provide $5 million in matching funding to support screening, testing and resources for all senior care settings
- Provide $20 million to community organizations addressing senior isolation
- Developing a clear province-wide plan for family visitation at long-term care homes, retirement homes and hospitals that includes best practices in preventing COVID-19 transmission
- Actively screen and regularly test all seniors in long-term care, retirement homes, supportive housing and assisted living
- Create a $5 million fund for more staff, supplies, equipment and infection control for seniors living in supportive and assistive living facilities in Ontario
April 7, 2020
Changes needed in long-term care and home-care
“Our parents and grandparents need us. We have a responsibility to protect them.” The Official Opposition NDP is calling for major changes and investments, including:
- Aggressively recruiting home care and long-term care staff
- Mandate that more staff be scheduled on each shift in each long-term care home
- Immediately increase salaries for staff to a minimum of $22/hr in order to retain and attract workers, including Personal Support Workers (PSWs) and Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs)
- Assign each staff member to one facility only, and ensure they have full-time hours, to eliminate the potential for staff to transmit COVID-19 to other facilities, ending all exceptions
- Standardize visitor policies province-wide to prevent COVID-19 transmission from visitors and volunteers, seeking Public Health determination on the safest policy
- Mandate that home care workers wear personal protective equipment — including gloves and a surgical mask — for every home visit, to avoid transmission from one vulnerable client to another, and mandate long-term care staff wear PPE any time they’re with residents
- Create a caregiver fund to support families that choose to care for their loved one at home
April 6, 2020
Cancel prescription co-payments for seniors in Ontario
The Ontario NDP are calling on the Ford government to cancel and cover the drug co-payments seniors in Ontario are required to pay every time they fill a prescription, as COVID-19 measures force seniors to fill their prescriptions more often.
The provincial government has asked pharmacists to dispense no more than one month’s worth of medication at a time in order to prevent drug shortages. Seniors pay up to $6.11 every time they fill a prescription, regardless of how many months’ supply they take home.
“No senior in Ontario should have to skip their pills or skimp on food as a result of the pandemic,” said Horwath. “But if seniors have to pay for each prescription each month, some of them will be forced to make difficult choices.
April 5, 2020
Provincial investments needed to keep Main Street afloat
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s said small and medium-sized businesses, charities and community-based non-profits should get help from the province, including:
- A 75 per cent commercial rent subsidy up to $10,000 a month for three months
- A utility payment freeze
- A remote-work set up fund, which could help them with things like setting up an online retail operation, or buying laptops and software for staff
- An auto insurance grace period for taxis and car-sharing drivers, established in partnership with the insurance industry and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority
- A designated emergency fund for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have faced historic barriers to accessing traditional capital, as proposed by the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce.
The cost of the Save Main Street plan is estimated to range from $850 million to $1.15 billion.
April 2, 2020
Issues with Carding: Distrust in communities during COVID-19 Pandemic
Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement regarding the Ford government’s decision to give provincial offences officers the ability to card Ontarians during the COVID-19 pandemic:
“I join Black, Indigenous and racialized communities across Ontario in expressing concern at the province’s decision to give provincial offences officers the ability to card Ontarians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, the government has to proactively build trust with communities, so we can all work together to stop the spread of COVID-19. There is never a right time to take a step backward in the fight against racism. Legalized carding is a giant step backward and must end. This regulation should never have been introduced.
I’m calling on the government to explain how it intends to guard against abuse of these additional powers, and what recourse Black, Indigenous and racialized Ontarians will have if they are unfairly and disproportionately targeted. Black, Indigenous and racialized Ontarians deserve to feel safe during a crisis just like everyone else. End carding for good, now."
April 1, 2020
Government needs to support health care workers
The NDP is calling for the government to take a number of steps to support health care workers:
- Issue an emergency order to ensure workers can have personal protective equipment
• Legally protect the right for health care workers to determine – based on their professional and clinical judgement – when they require access to personal protective equipment like masks. - Issue an emergency order to require all organizations to donate personal protective equipment they’re not using
- Hike Personal Support Worker (PSW) pay to $22
• Aggressively ramp up recruitment efforts to get more staff into seniors care homes. Many trained PSWs are not working in home care or long-term care because of underpaying and understaffing. More staff gives workers in long-term care and home care time to care for people, and take necessary precautions with virus containment protocols
• Create a retention fund for PSWs - Give health care workers mental health supports
• Invest $5 million to provide round-the-clock, emergency mental health supports for health care workers
• Provide Presumptive WSIB coverage for frontline health care workers whose mental or physical health is affected by COVID-19 - Scale up free child care centres for health care workers now
• Ramp-up opening child care centres
• Locate child care centres located near hospitals, long-term care homes, COVID-19 assessment centres and other health care facilities
• Set required standards for cleaning and disinfecting the temporary child care centres - Cancel all parking fees at hospitals and other health care facilities
March 31, 2020
Students, Parents and Teachers Need Direction
Families need to see a concrete plan for students that assumes kids can’t return to class in the near future.
At this time of uncertainty the province must provide clarity. The minister must issue clear directions, including the government’s position on the following:
- Final grades — Grade 12 students need answers about how their final grade will be determined and what impact that will have on their post-secondary plans.
- Special needs supports — Parents need extra supports to get special needs students through the next few weeks at home.
- Access to internet-connected devices — The government must work hand-in-hand with school boards to provide access to computers at home especially to those families facing economic challenges, and explain what will be done for students who don’t have access to a decent internet connection at home.
March 31, 2020
COVID-19 Contingency Plans for Colleges and Universities
Today the Ontario government announced emergency financial support for Ontario’s colleges and universities and a grace period on paying back student loans amid the COVID-19.
The Ontario NDP say that these are "good first steps in addressing the impact of COVID-19 in our post-secondary institutions. But more needs to be done for Ontario’s post-secondary students and the colleges and universities where they study.
As post-secondary institutions turn to online learning as a stopgap measure, the government needs to ensure that there is equitable access, including for students with low incomes and those who live in remote parts of Ontario. Many students do not have access to computers and Wi-Fi, or cannot afford data plans.
As our post-secondary institutions contribute to the efforts to fight COVID-19 — by producing personal protective equipment and by potentially contributing to lab testing soon — we need to make sure that they and their students are fully supported in their time of need too.”
March 30, 2020
People need a rent subsidy to get through COVID-19: Statement from NDP Leader Horwath
NDP Leader lays out plan for 80% rent support, eviction ban, six-month rent freeze.
“For many people in our province, the rent is due this week and they have no way to pay it,” said Horwath. “This public health crisis is also an economic crisis, and renters who usually don’t have much wiggle room at the end of the month are vulnerable. The province needs to have the backs of folks who have lost their jobs or lost income as a result of the pandemic.”
The facts:
- NDP is proposing an 80% subsidy of the household's monthly rent (up to $2,500 per home, per month, for up to four months)
- Horwath believes there should be a legal ban on evictions, lockouts and disconnections for four months
- Rent prices should stay put for six months (along with a provincial freeze and federal ban on mortgage foreclosures)
- The cost to the province is estimated to be between $2.4 billion and $3 billion
March 25, 2020
NDP Leader's Response to Financial Statement: "Leaves Out Help for People"
NDP says direct support is needed to help people and small businesses make it through COVID-19
On March 25, 2020, the provincial government released a financial update for Ontario audit the COVID-19 crisis. Though the NDP voted in favour of the financial bill and it passed immediately, the NDP are concerned that it lacks the direct financial assistance many Ontarians and small and medium-sized local businesses will need to get by during the COVID-19 crisis.
March 23, 2020
NDP calls for $2,000 Emergency Income to Help Ontarians Pay the Bills and Get By
Andrea Horwath and the NDP called for the provincial government to send $2,000 Ontario Emergency Income cheques to households experiencing unemployment or lost income during the COVID-19 crisis.
The direct payments would bridge the weeks-long wait for federal support payments, and help top-up the Employment Insurance and Emergency Care Benefit payments. These payments would be available immediately and automatically to those enrolled in Ontario Works, the Ontario Disability Support Program, Employment Insurance, and the federal Emergency Care Benefit, and distributed to everyone who needs them by April 1.
In planning for the fiscal update, The Official Opposition has provided the government with the Ontario Emergency Income proposal, along with a number of other emergency measures it is urging the government to include in Wednesday’s fiscal plan:
- A $250 per child emergency child benefit for households experiencing unemployment or reduced income
- A minimum $1 billion in surge funding for hospitals
- 100 per cent provincial funding for Public Health Units
- A fund to provide child care for health care, public health and essential workers
- A Personal Support Worker (PSW) retention fund
- Interest-free utility bill deferrals and the end of Time of Use hydro billing
- A stabilization fund for the non-profit sector – like food banks
- A wage-fund boost and remote-work set up fund to support small and medium-sized businesses, which face much greater challenges now than large businesses
- A program for ongoing income support for Ontarians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
March 19, 2020
NDP Call for Strong, Legislated Eviction Protections During COVID-19 Pandemic
Helping people
- Order all utilities to provide interest-free bill deferrals of up to six months to anyone who cites financial need, with penalty-free repayment plans.
- Immediately cancel Time Of Use hydro billing.
- Write into law that no one can be evicted for any reason during the pandemic, nor punished in any way for missing a rent payment.
- Waive the requirement for Ontario Works recipients to be actively looking for work.
- Bring in a program for ongoing income support for Ontarians throughout the pandemic.
Bolstering small and medium-sized businesses
- The federal government has offered a 10 per cent wage subsidy program for small businesses. The province needs to institute a substantial top-up, so employers can afford to maintain staff on the payroll while business is hampered.
- Working with other levels of government, immediately halt the collection of all payroll, property, sales, and income taxes from small and medium-sized business; including ceasing issuing penalties and fines on taxes owed, and limit audits..
- Institute a utility payment freeze for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Postpone tourism and marketing fees for businesses in the very hard-hit hospitality sector, as requested by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
- Create a remote-work set up fund for small-businesses — which could help them with things like setting up an online retail operation, or buying laptops and software for their workforce.
- Institute an auto-insurance grace period for taxis and car-sharing drivers.
Partnering with municipalities
- For municipalities that institute property tax deferrals, ensure the flexibility to defer their remittance of property taxes to the province.
- Provide 100 per cent provincial funding to public health units, so that they are not relying on municipalities for 30 per cent of their funding, especially while municipalities have paused revenue tools like property tax payments.
March 18, 2020
NDP Welcome Federal Funds, Urge Ontario to Step Up with Direct Funding
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The NDP supports the job protection provision, and the ban on required doctor’s notes. We will vote in favour of the bills, and we will provide the consent needed to pass them in one day. But they fall well short of what is needed.
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The NDP has been pushing for leave from work to be paid, not unpaid, along with other measures. The government refused to accept the NDP’s suggestions or amendments to this legislation — things we’ve long been calling for — but we won’t give up on getting people the help they need.
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Today’s announcement by the federal government of an $82-billion support package for Canadians is welcome relief. But it took too long to arrive, is too slow to flow, and it’s simply not enough money. It’s time for the Ontario government to step up and do its part by providing direct funding to protect families from missing meals or rent and mortgage payments, protect the most vulnerable people and organizations that support them, and prevent small businesses from going under.
March 17, 2020
On March 17th the provincial government announced a State of Emergency.
As a result of this declaration and its associated orders, the following establishments ae legally required to close:
• All facilities providing indoor recreational programs;
• All public libraries;
• All private schools as defined in the Education Act;
• All licensed child care centres;
• All bars and restaurants, except to the extent that such facilities provide takeout food and delivery;
• All theatres including those offering live performances of music, dance, and other art forms, as well as cinemas that show movies; and
• Concert venues.
• Further, all organized public events of over fifty people are also prohibited, including parades and events and communal services within places of worship.
On March 24th the provincial government announced the closure of all at-risk workplaces. You can find a full list of essential workplaces that are permitted to be open here. If you have questions about what is permitted to be open call the Stop the Spread Business Information Line at 1-888-444-3659.
March 16, 2020
Emergency Legislation Passed at Queen's Park
The Legislative Assembly passed two bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Changes to Employment Standards Act to allow for employees in isolation, quarantine, or are caring for sick family due to COVID-19 to have job-protected leave. The changes also eliminate the requirement for sick notes to be provided to employers.
- A new Municipal Emergency Act that will permit overnight delivery to grocery stores and pharmacies and allows municipal councils to meet virtually.
The NDP voted in favour of these measures, but they are only small steps. Ontarians deserve more financial protection in the face of the scale of this unprecedented threat.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her top unaddressed concerns include:
- Protecting people from losing a paycheque, or being expected to get by on inadequate Employment Insurance or Ontario Works payments alone, as a result of taking COVID-19 precautions or because of the illness
- Guaranteeing that no one can be punished in any way for missing a rent or mortgage payment
- Financial support for Ontarians not covered by Employment Insurance — especially those working in the gig economy
- Immediate financial support for small and medium-sized businesses so they can continue to pay employees without becoming insolvent
- Specific supports for vulnerable people, including seniors and those receiving OW and ODSP support, so they can access the groceries and medications they need to self-isolate if need be