In the News June 23

New Ontario Cabinet to Be Sworn In June 24

Ford Government Is Not the Voice of the People

Having declared that he has a huge majority to back his agenda for the coming period, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is selecting his cabinet in secret, to be sworn in on June 24 by Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell at 11:15 am at Queen’s Park. All Ontarians know is that Ford said that he will not announce his cabinet choices until then, that he publicly warned aspiring cabinet ministers not to lobby him or have their supporters lobby him and that Ford’s chief of staff, Jamie Wallace, is leading a 12-person transition team that is preparing recommendations for cabinet posts. It has also been mentioned that Ford will likely increase the size of the cabinet from the current 28.

Knowing the kind of plum job a cabinet post is considered to be by those who are lobbying for such a position does not inspire the people’s confidence in government, that is for sure. Nonetheless, the narrow private business interests who have a direct stake in getting their person into the plum positions must be sitting on the edge of their chairs. Presumably, some of them already know!

When the new parliament will open is also not known. News reports say the government will deliver a Throne Speech later in the summer to outline its agenda, after which the April 28 budget, with some “minor tweaks” will be reintroduced.

The crisis in health care that has been created by successive governments has been and remains a major concern of the people of Ontario. Ford told media outside his office on June 21 when asked if he was going to initiate a radical overhaul of the Health Ministry, with no sense of irony, “We’re just going to stay focused. We’re going to work with all the CEOs of hospitals and doctors and nurses and get their advice, because I am a strong believer of getting the advice off the frontline people that deal with health every single day.”

This talk of frontline people comes from the person who has refused to consider any of the solutions to the crisis in health care that have been put forward repeatedly and loudly by workers in every sector of the system. Ford has already implemented legislation which in effect cuts the wages of health care workers for three years with a one per cent per year compensation cap in Bill 124 which he will not repeal. He said only that in negotiations, he was committed to “being fair with the people. They’re out there working hard, doing a great job, and we rely on them. So I’m very grateful for everyone, especially the nurses.”

Ford also passed a law that protects the private owners of long-term care homes where seniors died during COVID-19 outbreaks from starvation and dehydration.

In response to journalists’ questions about expected cuts to government programs at a press conference the day after the election, Ford sounded like former Premier Mike Harris who unleashed a vicious anti-social offensive in the name of cutting red tape. This is the same Mike Harris that now operates private seniors’ residences.

Ford said that his intent was to run a more efficient government, get rid of red tape and “a lot of the unnecessary regulations, duplications and regulations that the province has and the federal government has.” He signalled that pressure will be put on municipalities to be more efficient as well, to look at “better ways of delivering services more efficiently at a lower cost.” This is the mantra to destroy the public system while paying lots of money to private interests.

On the economy, where his government has distinguished itself with its handouts to the rich and his assertion that the ‘Ring of Fire’ mineral deposits will be developed without regard to the rights of the Indigenous peoples whose lands will be devastated by the mining, roads and other infrastructure, he pledged more of the same, to serve the interests of the rich:

“Well, we have to make sure that we’re competitive and before I took office four years ago, we were non-competitive. We chased 300,000 jobs out. You have to create the environment for companies to come here and thrive and prosper and grow. And when companies thrive and prosper make no mistake about it, their employees thrive, prosper and grow. We create this climate where you can be an entrepreneur and open your own business. So we’re going to have the most competitive jurisdiction anywhere in North America or in the world. We’re competing against our friends in the U.S., over in Europe, over in South America, over in Asia. But we have the brightest and the best people anywhere in the world.”

Ford boasts about being in sync with the Trudeau government on its reckless path of integration into the U.S. war economy including ensuring the extraction and transport of critical minerals from northern Ontario which are needed by the U.S. war industries, and the trampling of the rights of workers, women, youth and the Indigenous peoples to serve the aims of the rich.

The anti-democratic electoral process which gave the PCs a majority with the votes of only 18 per cent of the electorate, do not by any stretch of the imagination signal agreement of the working class and people of Ontario with the Ford agenda or give him the green light to speak in their name.

The concerns of the people raised before and during the election remain. The necessity for a change in the direction of the economy, to invest in health care, education and social programs and to stop paying the rich and stop criminalizing dissent by declaring everything a matter of national security, is more urgent than ever.

Working people in health care and education as well as certain industries have had it with rule of impunity. They are exhausted and scared about the consequences of unsafe working conditions. Complaining is also exhausting because problems require collective action to bring about change.

Through discussion and working out solutions to the problems facing each sector and Ontario society the working people are sure to find a way out of this unsustainable impasse and affirm their rights and the rights of all no matter how adverse the circumstances they face.

It Can Be Done! It Must Be Done!

Workers’ Forum, posted June 23, 2022.