February 28,
2007
Rebuilding Public Services:
Ontario Can Do Better!
OPSEU members and the people of Ontario have a lot at on the
line over the next nine months. This spring, the McGuinty
Liberals will introduce their final budget before the next
provincial election. The election itself is set for October
10, 2007.
The stakes are high. The future of our public services and
OPSEU members’ jobs depend on how Ontario votes.
And even though polling day is still months away, one fact
is crystal clear: Ontario can do better.
Time’s up, Dalton
During the 2003 election campaign, Dalton McGuinty promised
to rebuild public services. Coming after two Tory
governments and eight years of cuts, that commitment was
central to the Liberals’ victory.
There’s just one problem. Three and a half years later,
Ontarians are still waiting.
Hospitals and long-term care facilities still face service
cuts, staff shortages and excessive wait times.
Boards of education are cutting staff and programs and
closing schools. In our colleges and universities, growing
class sizes and rising tuition are threatening the quality
of post-secondary education.
Funding for other key programs and services has stagnated or
been cut even further, from affordable housing and social
programs to child care and environmental protection.
OPS on the front line
Nowhere is the problem clearer than in the OPS. In their
first budget, the Liberals announced plans to freeze or cut
spending in 15 ministries. Next, they promoted the idea of a
“two per cent world” to convince OPSEU members to accept
wage increases below inflation. And since the election, the
Liberals have continued with Tory-style divestments,
privatization and layoffs.
OPS cuts since the McGuinty Liberals were elected include:
-
divesting the North Bay and Whitby
psychiatric hospitals
-
closing the last three regional centres
for people with developmental disabilities
-
contracting out provincial highway
maintenance
-
cutting budgets for parks and
conservation staff
-
off-loading the provincial corporate tax
auditors to the federal government
-
closing the Ministry of Health’s
regional offices and privatizing the Trillium Drug
Program, and
-
other cuts to staff and services in
ministry after ministry.
Getting political
The good news is OPSEU members have learned an important
lesson over the past 12 years: protecting public services
means getting political.
That is how we helped dump the Tories in 2003. It is how we
bargained a fair collective agreement in 2004-05. It is how
we restored successor rights in 2006.
And it is why OPSEU is launching the “Ontario can do better”
campaign. Over the coming weeks, there will be plenty of
ways you can help – in the workplace, in your community, and
during the election campaign. Stay tuned for more details –
and check the OPSEU website (www.opseu.org)
regularly for campaign updates
OPSEU survey asks
you…
‘How’s McGuinty doing so
far?’
What’s happened to the public services you deliver since the
McGuinty Liberals were elected? How have the cuts affected
your ministry? How has your life at work changed? What
should the government do to really rebuild
public services?
OPSEU wants your input. To have your say, please complete
OPSEU’s confidential online survey. Just go to:
http://www.opseu.org/ops/survey2007.htm. Be sure to
send in your survey response by March 23, 2007
Your stories and views will help the
Ontario Can Do Better
campaign make public services the central issue in the
upcoming provincial election.
Authorized
for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
Download
February 28, 2007 Issue of
Frontlines
.gif){kind=small}
