Ontario’s Education Minister condemns BDS, supporting apartheid education

Peter Miller

On May 19th, a motion given to the Ontario Legislature titled the “Standing Up Against Anti-Semitism in Ontario Act” was defeated 39 - 18. Bill 202 would have blacklisted supporters of the Palestinian led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by prohibiting public institutions from working with people who support BDS. The Bill also would have specifically prohibited colleges and universities from enacting BDS because of the movement's success in getting students and student unions to support BDS through general meetings and referendums. Not only was the Bill a McCarthyite attack on democratic rights and those fighting for human rights in Palestine, but the Bill also spread misinformation, stating supporters of BDS are “anti-Semitic” and call for the boycott of Jewish businesses, which has never been the case.

The Union-Pearson Express: Public Transit For The Rich?

David G.

Metrolinx, the Ontario provincial transit agency, has recently unveiled the new Union-Pearson Express (UPE) train which will run from Pearson International Airport to Union Station in Toronto starting in May. This will start a month before the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games open which have already caused some controversy for its outlandish overspending problems, fast-tracked development projects leading to gentrification, and the lack of proper infrastructure. The Pan-Am games will cause traffic jams across Toronto which will affect the city's ageing infrastructure. Recently, the capitalist CEOs in charge of the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am games have been caught overspending their budgets, which consists of public money from taxpayers. Money went to paying for expensive limousine rides and purchasing luxuries such as designer shirts. This is one of many controversies that the TO2015 committee has got itself into in recent months.

Ontario’s Austerity Hurts Students With Disabilities

By Sarah Jama

We all know what it feels like to sit in class with an uncontrollable urge to pee. Most of us would raise a hand, get granted a hall pass, and go relieve ourselves in the nearest bathroom or tree. For others, the process is more complicated. Picture wearing a catheter, or needing help to transfer from a wheelchair to a toilet. Not so simple in a school setting.

Educational assistants (EAs) are individuals who help students with disabilities gain access to the accommodations required in order for them to benefit from receiving an education. Simply put, EAs are meant to assist students with disabilities in closing the gap between able-bodied individuals and themselves, or to ‘even the playing field’. They scribe notes for students who can’t move their fingers, or assist in monitoring students with severe anxiety in testing situations. Yes, they even help students in the bathroom.

The Liberal Social Injustice Premier and The Fight for A Livable Minimum Wage

A joint statement from the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) and the YoungCommunist League (Ontario)

Last year, Premier Wynne said she wanted to be Ontario’s “social justice Premier”.  She said she would take action to increase social assistance rates and to raise the minimum wage. 

But her inaction on starvation level social assistance rates, and her decision to permanently embed a poverty level minimum wage, is earning her the title of Ontario’s social injustice Premier.

Wynne’s government is following other Liberal and Tory governments in Canada:  to drive down wages and living standards, attack labour and democratic rights, reduce taxes on the corporations and the rich, cut services and privatize, privatize, privatize.

No Friends in the Legislature

The Liberals have been all too happy to parrot the policies put forward by corporate employers and their lobby groups. This includes the Retail Council of Canada, which is supported by Toys ‘R’ Us, and the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, which represents Tim Hortons and McDonald’s.

The very modest $14 minimum wage being fought for by youth, labour, anti-poverty and social justice groups around the province, has no friends in the Legislature.  The NDP is non-committal.  The Tories would eliminate the minimum wage altogether if they could (in keeping with the right-to-work-for-less legislation they want for Ontario).   The Liberals want to make sure the minimum wage is wrapped in cement, never rising beyond the annual inflation rate.