April 29, 2008 - No. 67
Toronto
Down with Back-To-Work Legislation
Against TTC Workers!
No to Criminalization of Workers and Their Demands!
- Statement of the Communist Party of
Canada (Marxist-Leninist) -
April 28, 2008
Toronto
• Down with Back-To-Work Legislation Against
TTC Workers! No to Criminalization of Workers and Their Demands!
• Oppose the Anti-Worker Hysteria in Toronto
• Essential Service?: McGuinty's Anti-Worker
Anti-Social Attack on TTC Workers - Steve Rutchinski
• Toronto Transit Commission
and Its Workers Are Not a
Cost to the City or Province - K.C. Adams
British Columbia
• Campbell Government Moves to Further
Privatize Health Care - Barbara Biley
Hamilton
• Stop the Spray - Julie Gordon,
Hamilton Resident
Toronto
Down with Back-To-Work Legislation
Against TTC Workers!
No to Criminalization of Workers and Their Demands!
- Statement of the Communist Party of
Canada (Marxist-Leninist) -
April 28, 2008
The Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) vehemently denounces the back-to-work legislation
passed by the Ontario government to crush the strike of the
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers. All three parties represented
in the Legislature must be condemned for their
anti-labour and anti-social stand in the name of high ideals. The
position of the NDP is particularly heinous given its claim to
represent "working families" and its members' vocal denunciation of the
CAW's anti-strike deal with Magna International. Their role in
expediting the passage of this anti-labour
and anti-social legislation and voting in its favour cannot be excused.
 This was the first time in Ontario history
that the
legislature was recalled on a Sunday and the whole procedure was
concluded in barely half an hour. As "proof" that the legislation is
"responsible, fair and balanced" this unholy alliance of the three
parties cemented the deal to expedite
the legislation with a proviso in the bill that any
arbitrated settlement would have to take into account the ability of
the City and the Province to pay, in exchange for which the union would
have a say in the nomination of the arbitrator! This nonsense about
being "responsible, fair and
balanced" is a favourite theme of the anti-social offensive in Ontario.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton even took the opportunity to point out that
this crushing of labour's right to negotiate its working
conditions and to fight for them is "reasonable" and "fair" if the
workers have a say in how it
is done. What is "fair" about a process which is severed from the aim
of providing the rights of all with a guarantee? What is democratic
about a process which squashes the workers point of view and dictates
that the aim of the employers is fair and must be provided with a
guarantee?
Toronto Mayor David Miller has been generating hysteria
to isolate the TTC workers. From the get-go, Miller struck the refrain
that the TTC workers decision to strike was "irresponsible" and he
called on the McGuinty government to force the TTC workers back to
work. According
to Miller, once the workers' rejected the tentative agreement reached
between the TTC and the union negotiating committee, it showed that no
negotiated settlement was possible because the union leaders were not
able to "deliver their membership." The fact is that the city and the
Ontario government
never had any intention to uphold the right of the workers to "free
collective bargaining." For weeks it has been known that the
legislation was written and ready to be passed should the workers walk
out. Nonetheless, Miller fuelled the fraud that the back-to-work
legislation was passed because the
TTC workers did not give 48-hours' notice to the public before going on
strike.
Right from the start, public opinion was prepared by
the media, the City of Toronto and the Ontario Premier that
back-to-work legislation was ready to fall on the workers. For weeks
McGuinty has used the conflict to push the decision that public transit
be declared an essential service.
Nowhere has concern been expressed for the working conditions of
transit workers, the cutbacks or increased rates. Instead of
guaranteeing the well-being and safety of the workers and the service,
Toronto City Council is actually voting this week on a motion declaring
public transit an essential service.
This anti-labour plot is such that from the very beginning the cards
have been stacked against the workers and now they are the ones blamed
for "letting down" the people of Toronto. The airwaves are filled with
horror stories blaming the workers for inconvenienced people and
tragedies in the making.
 The hysteria against the TTC workers is used
to cover
up the reality of what is happening right now in Toronto. Not only are
the workers being criminalized for presenting demands on job security
and benefits for those who get injured, but the people of Toronto are
being saddled with
fee hikes of all kinds and cutbacks in services. Where is the media
outrage? Where is the legislation against these attacks? Where is the
demand that the Ontario government adequately finance public transit so
that the needs of the service and transit workers can be met?
CPC(M-L) calls on all workers and especially the
Ontario workers to defend the right of the TTC workers to fight for
their demands and to negotiate their working conditions.
Speak out! Do not permit the TTC workers to be
isolated! Down with the anti-labour anti-social legislation! Fight for
the rights of all!
Oppose the Anti-Worker Hysteria in Toronto
TML vehemently denounces the anti-worker
hysteria that welled forth in the wake of the Toronto transit strike. A
shameful united front of capitalist politicians and mass media
generated the most hateful anti-worker class warfare the city has seen
in some time. Not one sane voice could be heard from
any politician in the Ontario Legislature or City Hall. Wave after wave
of sanctimonious breast-beating and anti-worker attacks surged from the
capitalist establishment involving all the media outlets and the three
political parties in the Ontario Legislature. Anti-worker politicians
raced to the Legislature on a Sunday
and pushed through the back-to-work order in 27 minutes. Not one voice
was raised in the Legislature or City Hall representing the interests
of the working people. In the name of the working people, an orgy of
capitalist bile spilled forth attacking the working class and its right
to defend itself from the anti-labour
anti-social plans of the state capitalists in control of the transit
system.
Liberal, Conservative and NDP politicians united in a
single voice to suppress the transit workers' struggle to defend their
wages, working conditions and Canadian standard livelihoods. (Two NDP
politicians, Kormos and Miller, did not support the legislation and did
not attend the session. The vote was thus declared unanimous.) Not one
issue concerning the problems faced by transit workers and the
anti-labour plans of transit management was
discussed in the Legislature, at City Hall or in the mass media. A
single-minded explosion of hatred attempted to mobilize the city
against transit workers whose crime was to take the action allegedly
sanctioned by labour law to defend their cause.
The extreme dislike for workers who resist was so
palpable in the Ontario Legislature that the Conservative leader got
caught up in the moment and demanded violence be unleashed against
trade union leaders, screaming they should be "horsewhipped." This open
class warfare coming against the working
class on the eve of May Day is a wake-up call for all workers to get
organized in a manner which can be effective to defend their rights.
This type of anti-worker hysteria is one step away from an across the
board declaration that any trade union or workers' activity that
directly challenges the monopoly capitalists
is illegal. This past weekend was a dramatic word of warning to the
workers and people of Canada to get better organized in fighting
working class organizations that hold high their own perspective and
means of communicating with one another. It is a clear example that
when the chips are down, the working class
cannot rely on the political parties to stand on principle because
their only concern is to defend the "rights" of the monopolies. Workers
must
elect their own political representatives who can be relied on to stand
on principle and exhibit some backbone in the face of adversity and not
collapse in the face of the wild screaming
of the capitalist mass media and politicians.
Ontario and Toronto are sinking into a recession and the
monopoly capitalists want to stomp out any working class resistance
before it even starts. Toronto has become an anti-worker haven of
contracting-out and other forms of non-standard work. Stopping this is
a central demand of the Toronto transit
workers. The transit maintenance workers are taking the lead and
bravely raising their voices and fists in action to defend themselves
from contracting-out and non-standard work that are gradually
destroying the Canadian standard livelihoods of many Torontonians.
The mass media and capitalist politicians snivel and
cringe, but for the workers and people, the time is now to organize
every single worker in the city and province and defend their right to
express their concerns. The time is now to speak up for the working
class with means of communication controlled
by workers. The time is now to bravely confront the anti-worker
hysteria of the monopoly capitalists and give rise to worker
politicians that stand for their class with courage and conviction.
What better time than May Day to pledge to unite and become active with
a working class perspective and organize to have
worker politicians, media and fighting organizations.
Workers can only rely on their own unity and
determination to defend themselves in the face of the hatred and greed
of the monopoly capitalists. The security of workers lies in their
fight for the rights of all! Support the fighting transit workers who
are standing tall against contracting out and other
attacks on their Canadian standard livelihoods!
Essential Service?
McGuinty's Anti-Worker Anti-Social
Attack on TTC Workers
- Steve Rutchinski -
Before the TTC employees even had a tentative contract
proposal to vote on (which they rejected), Premier Dalton McGuinty had
already declared the Ontario government would not tolerate a transit
strike and would impose back to work legislation.
Premier McGuinty added that if the city of Toronto were
to approach his government with a request to have the TTC declared an
essential service -- banning the right to strike for TTC employees --
that is something it would consider.
The rich and their politicians are quick to proclaim
public transit crucial, even an "essential service" if necessary, when
the workers fight for their interests. But the financial difficulties
of services like the TTC are largely due to cuts in social spending,
particularly by the provincial and
federal governments. It is not the employees who deliver the services
who are to blame.
The downloading of the costs of social programs onto
the municipalities, especially by the Mike Harris government, is
largely to blame for the reductions of service to the public by the TTC
and for TTC demands for concessions from its employees. In this, Mike
Harris followed the lead of Bob Rae's "Rae Days." The program pushed
today is essentially the
same -- don't fight for your rights; take a cut for the team. If you
refuse, you are to blame for all the woes. You are either with us or
against us. If you are against us, you deserve all the penalties we
choose to throw at you.
Just last year the Mayor's Office in Toronto issued a
statement to Council pointing out that "The city continues to be forced
to divert the money needed for municipal services to pay for provincial
programs." It pointed out that "all programs -- including TTC -- must
now be looked
at for service reductions in the absence of new revenues."
In Ontario, we are still living with this legacy of the
Bob Rae NDP and the Mike Harris
Tories -- as with the wrecking of other public services and
infrastructure. It was the
pledge Dalton McGuinty made to the rich at the time of the 2004
provincial election -- to toe the line of the
anti-social offensive and stick with the Mike Harris fraud of "balanced
budgets."
The McGuinty Liberals are quick to point out that,
unlike the Harris government, this government is spending substantial
amounts on infrastructure, public transit included: $497 million for
public
transit in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton; $382 million for Go
Transit
infrastructure; $166 million
to expand the Go Transit Bus system. Highway, bridges, schools and
hospital projects all figure prominently in the provincial budget.
In truth, the destruction of public infrastructure and
public services in Ontario which took place as a result of the
anti-social offensive during the Mike Harris era, and the expenditures
to renew infrastructure by the current government, are one and the same
-- forcing society to pay the
rich.
The renewal of infrastructure and public services in
Ontario on a privatized basis necessarily followed the wrecking and
destruction. Modern society cannot function without modern
infrastructure and services, so may as well make it another way to
channel people's money to the rich.
Renewal of the infrastructure is being undertaken much
like P3 hospitals -- "creatively" financed to ensure guaranteed profits
to the financiers. Service to the public is merely incidental and not
the deciding factor.
Municipalities are being forced to recover renewal of
infrastructure costs through user fees (higher fares for instance) and
taxation of rate-payers. The cost of operating public transit in
Toronto has been dumped onto municipal rate payers and transit users
while federal and provincial governments
abdicate their social responsibility to provide the services and
infrastructure needed by society. The TTC for example is the least
subsidized public transit system in North America.
If guaranteeing public right to essential
infrastructure and services was the actual agenda of the provincial
government, this state of affairs would not be permitted to continue.
If guaranteeing public right to public transit was the actual agenda,
the living and working conditions of the
human beings who deliver the service would have first consideration.
Instead, the Premier is using the high ideal of
protecting public interest to attack the very employees of the TTC who
deliver the service which we as a society rely upon.
Toronto Transit Commission and Its Workers
Are Not a Cost to the City or
Province
- K.C. Adams -
The mass media and capitalist politicians constantly
repeat the
nonsense that the TTC is a cost to the city and province, and TTC
workers are a major aspect of that cost. Quite to the contrary, the
9,000 TTC workers produce an enormous quantity of added-value that
contributes to the material wealth and general
prosperity of Toronto and the surrounding communities.
A unit of TTC social product or value is an available-passenger-ride
(APR). The total TTC social product or APRs for a year contain both the
added-value contributed by 9,000 operators and maintenance workers
(their total work-time for the year) plus the costs of production
coming from
those necessary products bought and consumed such as fuel and
electricity, and from the wear and tear (transferred-value or
depreciation) of all TTC machines, plant and equipment.
The annual new added-value created by 9,000 TTC workers
plus the
already-produced value bought and transferred into the new added-value
combine to produce the total TTC social product or APRs for one year.
TTC operators and maintenance workers should be lauded
and
congratulated for the enormous new wealth they contribute to the city
and province. Also to be applauded are the workers who make the
streetcars, buses, subway trains, fuel, buildings and other necessary
material that go into the production
of TTC social product. An urban mass transportation system is an
integral part of the whole socialized economy. Mass transit plays an
increasingly crucial role in the well-being of both the social and
natural urban environments. TTC and other Canadian mass transit workers
deserve stability of employment and Canadian
standard wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions commensurate
with the vital role they play within the socialized economy.
The Canadian standard claim on the wealth TTC workers
produce should
be determined first and foremost by what the workers themselves
consider their needs and secondly through approval by a public
institution of their working class peers. At this time such a
harmonious arrangement is negated
by the domination and antagonistic grip of private monopolies and the
rich over the mass media and city using their wealth and class
privilege, and through their representatives on the TTC board, in City
Hall and the Ontario Legislature. Within the prevailing antagonistic
relations of production the TTC workers have
no choice but to fight for their Canadian standard livelihoods through
job actions such as withdrawing their work-time until a suitable
contract is arranged and agreed to by both the workers and those who
control the transit system.
To use the mass media and state machine to deny workers
the right to
organize and fight for a guaranteed Canadian standard livelihood is to
put the present state institutions and the social arrangements between
workers and owners of monopoly capital into doubt. This attack creates
conditions for bold
revolutionary thinking and action of workers and their allies to
organize into a powerful political force to fight for renewed state
institutions with new political, economic and social arrangements
agreeable to and enforced by the working class.
The use of the mass media and Ontario Legislature to
criminalize and
deny transit workers their right to organize and fight for a Canadian
standard livelihood calls into question the present state arrangements
between workers and owners of monopoly capital. This raises in a
forceful manner the necessity
for democratic renewal of the state institutions in favour of the
working class.
The owners of monopoly capital and their political
representatives
should come to their senses and back off from using the state to deny
the workers their right to organize and fight for a Canadian standard
livelihood. This direct experience of transit workers being attacked by
the power of the provincial
legislature, the political parties of the rich and mass media will burn
deeply into the memory and consciousness of the Ontario working class
and strengthen its determination to organize and unite to fulfill its
social responsibilities to itself and to build alternative state
institutions in its own image.
Mass Transit Is an Essential Public Service
Whether
the powers that be officially deem mass transit as an essential public
service or not is irrelevant to the issue of workers' right to organize
and fight for a Canadian standard livelihood, which includes organizing
into working class collectives and
withdrawing their work-time as part of their struggle. Of course mass
transit, as an integral part of the socialized economy, is an essential
public service but that reality in no way negates the right of transit
workers to organize and fight for a Canadian standard livelihood. The
reality of providing an essential public
service reinforces their claim on the wealth they produce as a first
priority.
The Collection of TTC Gross Income
How TTC gross
income should be collected in exchange for TTC social product (APRs) is
a separate issue from the fight of TTC workers for a Canadian standard
livelihood. The Toronto and Ontario working class should discuss and
take up in earnest the issue
of mass transit in all the urban centres and the method of payment in
exchange for transit social product.
TTC and other cities' available-passenger-rides
(APRs) are
an essential public service that contributes to the general well-being
of the community. This social product should be held in the same high
regard as other necessary public services and products such as
healthcare, education, water,
food, steel, oil, natural gas, sewerage, garbage collection and
recycling, the generation and distribution of electricity, culture etc.
Because the present economic system in Canada demands
that virtually
all use-value created by the working class be exchanged for money, this
creates the problem of how gross income for the TTC should be collected
in exchange for its social product (APRs).
The benefit from TTC social product accrues to the
socialized
economy in general and is a necessity of modern life in a similar
manner to healthcare and education and many other services and
products. TTC use-value contributes to the well-being of the people and
the social and natural environments
of Toronto. It is normal and progressive that the gross income in
exchange for TTC social product should be collected mainly at the point
of production and distribution from all workplaces operating in Greater
Toronto and from Ontario's general revenue. In addition to a planned
amount of revenue from Ontario,
all workplaces that employ workers and are serviced by TTC should
contribute a portion of their gross income in exchange for TTC social
product. As mass transit is an essential public service that should be
encouraged and which contributes to the socialized economy and benefits
both the social and natural environments,
passenger fares should be completely eliminated so as to expand the use
of mass transit and reduce individual car traffic, especially for
travelling to and from work.
British Columbia
Campbell Government Moves to Further
Privatize Health Care
- Barbara Biley -
On April 8 the Campbell Liberal government introduced
the Medicare Protection Amendment Act which amends the
legislation which spells out how government medical insurance is
administered. The amendment adds two clauses, one which adds a sixth
"principle," sustainability, to the five "principles"
of the Canada Health Act -- public administration,
comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility. The
effect of the amendment is that the Medical Services Commission which
governs the provincial health insurance program, the Medical Services
Plan (MSP) must consider sustainability
when making decisions on which services are to be covered, to what
extent and by what means. A consequent amendment to the Health
Authorities Act requires that the seven Health Authorities
consider the "principle" of sustainability when making decisions on
what services are provided and how in
the various regions of the province. The amendment to the preamble of
the Medicare Protection Act reads:
"WHEREAS the people and government of British
Columbia are committed to building a public health care system that is
founded on the values of individual choice, personal responsibility,
innovation, transparency and accountability;
WHEREAS the people and government of British
Columbia are committed to developing an efficient, effective and
integrated health care system aimed at promoting and improving the
health of all citizens and providing high quality patient care that is
medically appropriate and that ensures reasonable
access to medically necessary services consistent with the Canada
Health Act (Canada);
WHEREAS the people and government of British
Columbia wish to ensure that all publicly funded health care services
are responsive to patients' needs and designed to foster improvements
in individual and public health outcomes and ongoing value-for-money
for all taxpayers; .
January 28, 2003. Hospital Employees Union demonstrates on one year
anniversary of Bill 29.
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The problem of "sustainability" has been used as the
justification for a series of measures which have substantially changed
the character of public health care and how it is provided in BC. Soon
after replacing the NDP as the party in power in 2001 in an election
which saw the NDP reduced to two
seats, the Campbell Liberals brought in the infamous Bill which was
pushed through the legislature in a matter of hours overnight. Shortly
after the Liberals were elected, the Health Employers Association of BC
(HEABC), the provincially mandated body which represents all health
care employers in negotiations
with the provincially mandated Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA)
-- the association of health care unions -- lobbied the government for
changes to previously negotiated contracts which would remove any
prohibitions to contracting out. The government responded with Bill 29,
the legislation that stripped collective
agreements of all prohibitions against contracting out, bumping rights
for laid off employees, provisions that provided for re-training of
workers displaced due to technological change, etc. The justification
given at the time was that health care costs were skyrocketing and the
government had to act and the way to
cut costs was to solicit private multinationals to provide services on
the backs of workers paid wages far below the Canadian standard and far
below the negotiated wage rates in the contract between the HEABC and
the FBA. In the name of "sustainability" thousands of workers lost
their jobs and the British, French
and U.S. monopolies Compass, Sodexho and Aramark respectively, took
over cleaning and
food services in almost all the hospitals in the province. The FBA and
other affected unions challenged Bill 29 all the way to the Supreme
Court. In its ruling in June of 2007, the Supreme Court found that
sections of Bill 29 violated the
charter rights of the workers involved. But, while finding the
government's method in violation of the Charter, the court
actually justified the government's actions:
"In enacting Part 2 of the Act, the government's
objectives were to respond to growing demands on services, to reduce
structural barriers to patient care, and to improve planning and
accountability, so as to achieve long term sustainability. In addition
to these general objectives, the specific
impugned provisions were designed to provide a more seamless and
flexible health care delivery system and develop more cost-effective
and efficient ways to deliver health services in order to improve
patient care and reduce costs.The objectives of Part 2 of the Act and
of the impugned provisions are important ones.
The health care system is under serious strain and is facing a crisis
of sustainability. There is little hope that it can survive in its
current form. [198-200]
The question of sustainability is a serious issue.
Ensuring that all the bounty of nature is renewed and protected in
order to provide for coming generations and that all the needs of the
producers and the younger generation for education, health care and
economic security are fundamental
responsibilities of government. In Canada where everyone is born to
society and depends on society to provide the necessities of life. The
people
understand sustainability in terms of protecting and advancing the
society for the benefit of all. Sustaining the society and its natural
and social wealth belongs to
everyone and it should be the subject of extensive discussion
throughout the society. To take up the aim of making the monpolies
competitive and sustaining their drive to improve their rate of return
-- that is not acceptable.
 The current constitutional arrangement makes the
provincial governments responsible for health care while some of the
funding comes from federal taxes in the form of transfers to the
provinces. Public health care in Canada is an arrangement by which
provincial governments provide
insurance which covers what each province determines is "medically
necessary" care provided in the community and in hospitals and clinics.
Outside of these institutions, most of which are state funded and
administered, most 'providers' are private -- doctors, labs, home
support agencies and a growing
number of private agencies providing diagnostics, physiotherapy, home
care and other aspects of health care. In BC, the situation has changed
in the last decade to one in which most senior's residences are
operated by private companies whose principle motivation is profit, not
care. The abuse of
public funds and the elderly is so blatant that precisely at the time
in 2006 that the health authority took over the administration of one
of a company's facilities due to serious allegations of abuse, the same
company was awarded the contract for all the new seniors' care beds in
another community.
The Minister of Health, in discussing the government's "sustainability"
initiatives in health care, particularly the establishment of a
Foundation for Health Care Innovation and Renewal, said "We haven't
made any decisions to what the model will be, but in BC we have 70 to
80 private clinics today
so there is already a mix. We want to find the best alignment of public
and private."
How to ensure sufficient funding for health care, to
create and maintain the infrastructure, educate the tens of thousands
of personnel needed to provide health care services, advance scientific
research and constantly expand and improve the system, at the same time
as taking measures
to remediate the social and environmental conditions that contribute to
ill-health, is a challenge that belongs to the whole society.
Sustainability requires an increase in investments in health care and
other social programs and an end to the diversion of public funds to
the monopolies, an end to privatization
and prohibition of the diversion of public funds to the profits of the
monopolies, including the restoration of public control over seniors'
residences. Only when the question of health care is approached from
the perspective of defense of the rights of all to the highest standard
of care that the society
can provide, can the question of sustainability be seriously addressed.
When the elite who have captured economic and political
power talk about "sustainability" they are not speaking of defense of
the right of the people to health care and making the necessary
arrangements and investments to ensure that the Canadian standard of
health care is not only
guaranteed but constantly improved. When the rich and their
representatives in government speak of "sustainability" they are
speaking, in broad terms, of the insatiable need for increasing profits
of the monopolies. The illusive dream of sustaining the monopolies is
what is driving the restructuring
of health care in BC.
Hamilton
Stop the Spray
- Julie Gordon, Hamilton Resident -
In Hamilton dedicated volunteers are concerned about the
overuse of pesticide.
The City Of Hamilton did not consult with the people
about how to control the gypsy moth infestation. Some people would like
to have a choice whether or not their area is to be sprayed. Others
would like to see alternative measures used that would be more
environmentally friendly.
The following text has been printed on leaflets which
are being distributed through the Hamilton area.
***
Stop the Spray!
If you are in the flight path of the city's Aerial spray
campaign against the gypsy moth you need to know more about Foray 48B
for your health and safety! All over the world people are complaining
about Btk!
Auckland, New Zealand has been sprayed regularly with
Foray 48B (Btk spray) to combat the moths and the people who live there
are tired of it.
Dedicated volunteers on Salt Spring Island, BC
prevented overhead spraying because they organized and placed gypsy
moth traps manually!
In BC and Oregon the government paid for people to be
evacuated to hotels during spraying. Btk mist will drift and can build
up in people's homes.
In Nova Scotia, Btk spores were found in the municipal
water supply.
Children are at particular risk from the effects of Btk;
Ground spray workers and migrant workers have suffered continuous
health troubles; We could lose more birds, rainbow trout, beneficial
insects and butterflies.
Foray 48B is a commercial formulation containing 97.9%
inert, chemical ingredients: toluene fumes are intoxicating and
nauseous, parabens are carcinogenic, Sulphuric acid burns the eyes and
respiratory tract, and sodium hydroxide is extremely caustic, and
phosphoric acid causes confusion, fatigue,
irritability and behavioural changes.
The Bt component is live bacterial spores which live in
air up to 17 days.
Two applications of the aerial spray are planned for
mid- to late-May, in areas of Ancaster, Flamborough, Dundas, Glanbrook
and West Hamilton including Dundas Valley and Cootes Paradise and
Churchill Park. November 1992 the minister of Natural Resources Bud
Wildman, said: "Unless the tree
is under significant stress for other reasons, the gypsy moth by itself
does not kill the tree. Continuing to spend money on gypsy moth
spraying when we are having difficulty funding other important aspects
of the forestry program does not make sense!"
Alternatives
1) Remove egg masses in the spring to keep defoliation
levels at a healthy level.
2) Spray caterpillars off the tree with a high pressure
hose that applies insecticidal soap.
3) Wrap adhesive tree bands (Bug Barrier Tree Band®)
around tree trunks to prevent caterpillars from reaching the leaves.
Collect the Caterpillars from that are hiding from the heat.
4) Set up pheromone traps mid to late summer to catch
male moths who are seeking mates.
How does city hall intend to prevent contaminating the
water supply when they spray the catchments area? Does City Hall intend
to relocate people who may not want to be exposed to Btk? Will Public
Health record reports of ill effects from the spray? People in east
Auckland are suffering from breathing
problems; flu-like symptoms; headaches; skin rashes; nose bleeds; eye,
ear, nose and throats infections, digestive problems; seizures;
miscarriages; premature births; and thyroid problems! A horse that was
discovered with lumps under its skin, swollen limbs and nausea had to
be relocated. Residents found similar
health problems with their pets.
Julie Gordon
Hamilton resident
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Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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