Ontario Tories continue to be shit at math

[sabotabby]

 That's not true, exactly. Like most drug dealers and casino owners, they are good at the sort of math that lines their own pockets and screws everyone else.

For example, yesterday, they "leaked" the good news story that they were cutting tuition fees by an oh-so-generous 10%. Note that this didn't come with any kind of increase to post-secondary spending, meaning the institutions were responsible for finding the savings themselves. By now we all know what that means: larger classes, more reliance on contract faculty and TAs instead of tenure-track profs. The students and profs I knew received the news coolly, knowing that there would be a catch, and the axe fell today: an overhaul to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan, which effectively cut free tuition for families earning less than $50,000.

Because that's not sadistic enough, yesterday was the deadline for university applications. All kinds of kids applied for university—which, they are told repeatedly, is their only shot at upward mobility, or at least being able to put food on the table—thinking that tuition wouldn't be a problem. A lot of them are poor. Ford just fucked all of those kids over. Some of them are my students, who will now not be able to go to university, or will end up being horribly in debt, because Ford is determined to destroy anything resembling accessible, quality education in this province.

While he's at it, he's also recently:

• Introduced sneaky legislation to shred collective bargaining rights for nearly all unionized trades workers
• Planned to introduce a two-tiered transit system and open the door for privatizing public transit
• Created chaos in the healthcare system, likely in a move towards privatization
• Been up to some hinky business with the other Ontario municipalities

Waiting for the next election isn't enough; we need to be pushing back hard, now, in an organized manner. I'll keep posting about upcoming actions, but in the meantime, take two seconds to sign a completely useless petition, okay?

Comments

[moon_custafer]

Petition signed.

[sabotabby]

Thanks!

[minoanmiss]

Well, shit. :(

[sabotabby]

We are so screwed.

[dewline]

Tried to sign the petition.

Agreed that this is an evil act on Ford's part.

And do you remember those Science Marches? Starting with the "Death of Evidence" march back during the Harper days? I think if the organizers are still around and active, it might be good to get in touch with them.

[dewline]

Found the group:

https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/

They might be useful here, maybe?

[sabotabby]

I think so. Someone else will have to organize these things, though. I just got even more shit added to my already impossible workload.

[chickenfeet]

The one Ford policy I can get behind is abolishing the LHINs. They really are a massive, useless bureaucracy that delivers no value and creates tons of work for the organisatiions that actually deliver services.

[sabotabby]

I trust your informed opinion on this more than my own; however, I highly doubt they'll replace it with anything better.

[chickenfeet]

I don't disagree. I really doubt the viability of a Health Services Agency a la Alberta in Ontario. It's just too big and complex. What might work is to keep CCO and the Toronto Central LHIN (but expand it's mandate to the whole city of Toronto). Then merge the other LHINs with a lead hospital so that, frex, London Health Sciences could run LHINs 1 and 2 and the Ottawa Hospital could run Champlain. The Toronto teaching hospitals would report direct to the MOHLTC.

[smhwpf]

It's like they've got four year's unconstrained access to the cookie jar. All the cookie jars. And they are determined to stuff as many cookies down their gullets as is humanly possible while they can. Leaving none for anyone else.

I see that in September Ford had an approval rating of 37%. Which sounds low, but it was only about 40% when he was elected with 40% of the vote, and the article says that 37% would still be enough for a majority. (Unless I guess either the Libs or the NDP were to have a major drop in favour of the other). Stupid bloody FPTP. Stupid/evil bloody 37-40% of Ontarians.

[sabotabby]

That is absolutely the case. They're on a rampage.