Ontario liberals have taken a bigger bite of the future than they might realize. They want to bring dignity to the people of Ontario. They want to start with the working poor. These are the gig workers, the delivery people, the Walmart employees and basically anyone working for the minimum wage. Nobody can live in Ontario on the minimum wage. A $16 per hour minimum wage would solve nothing. It is a path to malnutrition and starvation.
But when you promise dignity, you are offering much more than minimum wages. Dignity encompasses another million Ontario residents who cannot find decent or safe shelter. These are people who try to live on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and have to rely on food banks and charities for a decent meal. They are people who are forced to steal from your front porch or your unlocked car. They are not all criminals but they are all desperate.
Remember the outcry when the Ford government tried to cut the programs for autism in Ontario. Those kids had support. Nobody wants to support the people kicked onto the streets of our cities. Oh sure, we give them a loonie or a toonie occasionally. Does that cover our guilt?
We are responsible. We cannot ignore those in our society incapable of holding a job through no fault other than the inability to meet the norms of society. We cannot hide them. There are no protected work houses in our society. They do not deserve to be locked away, hidden from sight. They are reality.
And yet Ontario elects a blowhard and cruel person such as Doug Ford. He came into office four years ago and immediately cut the allowance for ODSP to an average of less than $1100 per month per person. With inflation running rampant today, that is less than half what a single person needs today for lodging and at least one decent meal per day.
I think people who care are deeply concerned with where our society is headed today. Be they liberal or be they human, they care about where our society is going. We can start by ensuring that the Ford government is gone.
-30-
Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to: