Velvet gloves come off and out comes the iron fist (Ontario Political Forum) Now that it has a majority under the banner of One Ontario, the newly elected Liberal government in Ontario is trying to create conditions to justify attacking public sector workers wages and working conditions and criminalizing those who refuse to accept austerity as the guiding aim of Ontario politics. Similar developments are taking place in British Columbia and Quebec under Liberal majority governments. It confirms that the main program for majority governments is to use their powers to impose the neo-liberal agenda on the people rather than find ways to resolve the social and economic problems facing the society so it can move forward. The need to eliminate a deficit, incurred to pay the rich and without any concern for the well-being of the people, is constantly cited. This is the case whether provincially or federally by all the parties in the Legislatures. These governments and parties refuse to say No! to the monopoly dictate that utilizes the debt and deficit to extract billions from the public purse; however when the workers say No! these same governments jump to ensure that their resistance is turned into a law and order problem. Immediately following her election as Premier, Kathleen Wynne reaffirmed her determination to eliminate Ontarios $12.5 billion deficit by 2017-18. On CBC Radios Metro Morning Wynne was asked if she is willing to do this even if it means playing tough in contract negotiations with public sector unions. I respect the collective bargaining process and Im adamant that we will have fair collective bargaining, but there is no new money and everyone knows what the fiscal situation is. Weve made tough choices; we will continue to do that, Wynne said. Speaking to SunMedia she stated: The budget that we are going to be re-introducing in the next couple of weeks is the same budget that we introduced at the beginning of May and there is no new money for wages and salaries in that budget. [...] any groups or individuals who supported us either knew that or they should get to know it now because thats the plan that we brought forward, she added. Wynne is absolutely clear that the working people of Ontario oppose austerity and that is why she was able to capture a majority using fear of Hudaks version of austerity. The ruling circles deliberately avoided any discussion of what the Liberals have already done and propose to do in the future for fear of giving the working people a clear reason to defeat both parties in the election. This is why right off the bat she is now going out of her way to make it clear that everyone who supported her or in this case, voted for her, and especially those who didnt, better shut up and swallow her version of austerity because she now has a majority and that is what they voted for, whether they were clear about it or not. Wynnes biggest problem is that everything she claimed Hudak stood for, including arrangements to negate workers bargaining rights and ability to organize, she also stands for. This will become clear as the working people take action to affirm their rights. It is in this affirmation of rights that the working people will now be challenged to find new ways to broaden their opposition to austerity amongst all sections of the population. By putting forward alternatives to the neo-liberal austerity agenda, Ontario will sort out how to open its path to progress.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 02:20:09 +0000