Don't allow the ban on "man spreading" on the bus/train to pass.

Canadian Association for Equality

Various people are looking to get the TTC to ban something they call "man spreading" which is a sexist term, and is the simple act of opening your legs. There are a lot more things taking up seats on busses than men opening their legs, such as purses, strollers, back packs and the like.

People should have a common understanding about how much room they are allowed to use on a bus. That should not vary because of their gender, and if they need extra room whether for baggage, carts, walkers, canes, or children they should seek it as a special permission. This sets a very bad precedent as men opening their legs is something we have to do due to our biology. It's physically painful for men to close their legs and we cannot be expected to do so, and it's also a biological necessity for us to do so.  We can't force woman to stop breast feeding on buses or trains and we can't force them to stop bringing strollers on, why should we force men to close their legs? This is sexism plain and simple and it cannot be passed. If we lose, this will be a big blow to men's rights, and if we win not much will change and we will continue being able to keep our legs open on buses. This petition is sponsored by CAFE (Canadian Association for Equality) http://equalitycanada.com/

Click on this line to sign the petition.

The $240-million-dollar computer Grinch that stole Christmas.

FAMILIES ON SOCIAL ASSISTANCE RECEIVE BAD NEWS 48 HOURS BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE

Ontarians who rely on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program are still not receiving cheques or deposits in spite of promises from the Liberal government that the problems with their new computer system would be fixed in time for the holidays. Cindy Forster, Ontario NDP Critic for Community and Social Services and MPP for Welland, says this is unacceptable.

“It’s 48 hours until Christmas Eve, and people on OW and ODSP are finding out that new computer system rolled out by the Liberals is still broken,” said Forster. “This is one of the toughest times of the year for families on Social Assistance. The Liberals were warned for a year that this computer program had problems, but the Liberals rolled it out right before the Christmas holiday. They went ahead, and now some of the most vulnerable Ontarians are paying the price. Again.”

Problems with the new computer software became apparent last month when the $240 million system failed to send cheques or complete deposits to people across Ontario, and some recipients received as little as $5. The software has been plagued with problems across North America. Something Ontario was well aware of.

Frontline workers estimate that 36,000 Ontarians were paid the incorrect sums earlier this month.

“The holidays should be a time for joy and hope. Instead, the Liberals are throwing families into chaos, with many wondering how they’ll make it through the holiday season,” continued Forster.

Kathleen Wynne had previously dismissed the problem as a “glitch” while her Minister said the problem was a “slight glitch” and cast doubt on these families saying she found it “very difficult to validate some of the anecdotes.”

Save Bala Falls from Wynnes' Avarice!

Save the Bala Falls!

Save Bala Falls! Click on the photo to sign the petition.

The Bala falls is the one and only iconic heritage of the charming, historic town of Bala, Ontario. It has been used as a portage by Native voyagers on their way to Lake Couchiching and back, as well as fur traders, and explorers. Its significance lies in its connection to both the past and present, and once gone it cannot be replicated or replaced.

However, now the province of Ontario, together with a 'for-profit' outfit, is pushing through a plan to destroy Bala Falls as we know it. Why? For the purpose of making more money.

So how much is heritage worth? To a cynical, uncaring, avaricious government, apparently not much. But to the people of Bala it is priceless.

Please sign this petition and pass it on. Thank You.

Click here to sign the petition to save Bala Falls

Double-dipping at Wynne Ontario's hog trough

This is not the the first time an official has taken advantage of the system. During her time as chair of Ontario Power Generation (earning over $2.2 million, including a $300,000 limousine service) Eleanor Clitheroe billed  the crown corporation $214,000 in car allowances.

The point is, nobody noticed! Not an accountant, not an auditor, Nobody! Not only is it (minimally) unethical on the part of the officials, but incompetence on the part of those who should have been watching over this.

Incredible.

Union says Ontario welfare software riddled with 'design flaws'

TORONTO -- A new computer system tasked with administering social assistance in Ontario is creating "chaos" as staff waste valuable time trying to get it to work rather than helping their clients, the union representing welfare caseworkers says.

Carrie Poole-Cotnam with the Canadian Union of Public Employees said the revelation a bug in the software erroneously queued up $20 million in overpayments to welfare and disability recipients earlier this week was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The $240-million Social Assistance Management System is riddled with "design flaws" that see workers jumping through hoops just to do basic tasks -- such as adding a new child to a welfare case, a move which now takes "over 100 steps" from six before, she said Sunday.

Where do you even begin to address this issue for its ineptness and incompetence?

"Here we have a government that is so arrogant that they're not even prepared to apologize for this mistake, nor can they guarantee that it's not going to happen again," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

First, imagine winning the $50M jackpot. Untold wealth, right? Well, the $240 million the hot shots at Queen's Park sqaundered on this computer system is nearly 5-times that amount. FIVE TIMES $50M! That's 2,400 Rolls Royces sitting your driveway, 240 million-dollar homes at your disposal, 2,400 hundred charities you could gift with $100,000 apiece, etc. AND ITS YOUR MONEY! Can you dig it?

Rick Mercer tells it like it is: Tories spend $620M to tell you how good they are. *Barf*

"The final circle [of Hell] is basically sitting in a room watching Canada Action Plan ads over and over again on a loop."

Yeah, Rick Mercer really does not like the new ad campaign from Canada's Conservative government. His latest rant targets commercials promoting the government's new slate of tax cuts, the largest of which will send cheques to Canadian parents on the eve of the next federal election.

The measures have not yet been approved by Parliament, but the government is airing the the ads now -- at taxpayers' expense.

Mercer also takes issue with another recent ad promoting government services for veterans. The CBC host has been a regular critic of Conservative policy, attacking the government for failing to show respect to veterans who criticize measures such as closing support offices. He has also spoken out on allegations that injured soldiers were booted from the Canadians Forces before becoming eligible for benefits.

The NDP has said it will lodge a complaint with Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) about the ads for the tax plan. Last year the ASC ruled that government ads for the Canada Jobs Grant , which had also not been approved by Parliament (or the provinces), were inaccurate and unclear. Both ad campaigns include a small print text disclaimer at the end of the ads which reads "subject to parliamentary approval."

Stephen Harper's government has deployed ads under the Action Plan banner on a wide number of subjects since the campaign debuted in the wake of the financial crisis. While Mercer says the Tories are not the only government, past or present, to use such ads, he says they have "turned it into a fine art."

"They have spent over 620 million tax dollars on such advertising since they’ve been elected. Partisan advertising has become like doping in sports. Those who do it, defend it. But we all know it’s designed to give one party an unfair edge. And we all know it’s cheating."

 Source: The Huffington Post.

15% reduction in auto insurance premiums? Not. It's all in the bold print.

Kathleen Wynne has gone to battle in the board rooms of the auto insurance industry, and has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In fact, while she was fighting for our cause with tea and crumpets, she gave the ‘enemy’ several lucrative gifts for good measure. So, please, ‘Blunder Woman,’ don’t do us any more ‘favours.’

The Ontario legislature has passed a bill aimed at reducing car insurance premiums an average of 15 per cent by next August.

The government says the bill will help tackle fraud to lower costs for insurance companies, which "is expected to help lower insurance rates for Ontario drivers."

The bill, which was supported by the Progressive Conservatives but opposed by the New Democrats, is also supposed to help those injured in collisions settle disputed claims faster.

The NDP forced the then-minority Liberal government to agree to legislate a 15 per cent cut in car insurance rates in exchange for allowing the 2013 budget to pass.

The government promised to bring the rates down an average of eight per cent in the first year, but admitted last month that so far they have seen only a six per cent decrease.

New Democrat Jagmeet Singh says insurance companies saved $2 billion a year when the Liberals changed regulations in 2010 to cut the cap on payouts for routine accident claims in half, but never passed the savings on to drivers.

The bill calls for more oversight of the billing practices of health clinics that treat accident victims, and allows only licensed service providers to be paid directly by insurers.

It also moves a dispute resolution system for injured drivers from Ontario's insurance regulator to an existing tribunal run by the Attorney General's office, which the industry has said would eliminate one step in the appeals process.

Read more: http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/ontario-passes-bill-to-cut-auto-insurance-rates-an-average-of-15-per-cent-1.2111099#ixzz3JjX7EHgt

From income splitting to raising child benefits, Harper goes where the votes are...

By the time Wynne and the auto insurance industry get finished watering-down the 15% reduction legislation there won't be any water left in Lake Ontario!

Can you think of a bigger insult on Remembrance Day than to refuse to honour Canada's war dead?

Well that's what some Muslims are doing, and the Essex School Board thinks it's quite alright!

Source: "Lest only some of us forget" ~ Ezra Levant QMI AGENCY

Sign the petition: http://www.loveitorleave.ca/

It’s Remembrance Day. But not for everyone. The Greater Essex County District School Board in Ontario circulated an e-mail to the 75 schools it runs in places like Windsor and Leamington. The memo says teachers should be prepared to exempt Muslim students from Remembrance Day.

“Some families may be reluctant to have their children attend your location municipality’s ceremonies. Please note that meaningful alternate activities should be provided at the schools for those families who do not wish their children to participate in any Remembrance Day ceremonies.”

In case you were wondering which families they might be referring to, the school board didn't say specifically but pointed teachers to two Muslim-themed websites, including the story about the first Muslim soldier in the Canadian Forces who wore a hijab, an Islamic head covering.

But Remembrance Day is a central part of Canada. It remembers our history, and the men and women who fought and died to keep us free. It is not a dark day, an embarrassing day, a racist day or a day of shame.

t is a day of remembering why we are free, and what we stand for, and who sacrificed to make us this way.

It’s not a religious day, like Christmas. It’s a day for everyone.

It’s a disgrace that any family would object to it – especially an immigrant family who came here to benefit from our country. It would call into question the basis on which they applied for and were granted citizenship.

And even if some old bigot from a backwoods village in Pakistan or Somalia doesn’t want to respect Canada, that’s where our schools come in and teach those bigots’ kids and grandkids what it means to be Canadian.

Harper announces another $4.6B in family and child benefits. What did seniors and singles get out of it? ... The Bill!

Recently, Harper announced another $4.6B in tax credits and subsidies for families with children. This is on top of the $17.5B that will be spent on these two classifications by the end of this year.

In case you missed it, Harper announced two big changes in family and child benefits. The first is a tax credit, worth up to $2,000, calculated by letting the higher-earning spouse in a couple with kids transfer up to $50,000 of income to the lower-earning spouse. In total, Canadian families will pay $1.9 billion less in taxes as a result of this income-splitting measure in 2015-16.

The second is a boost to the so-called Universal Child Care Benefit, from $100 to $160 a month for each child under the age of six, as well as a new $60-a-month payment for each kid aged six to 17. This measure will cost Ottawa an estimated $2.6 billion in 2015-16.

Harper also announced a hike to the deduction for child care expenses, to $8,000 a year from $7,000, which is, no doubt, of great interest to moms and dads paying for daycare, but overall, this measure is expected to amount to only about $65 million for 200,000 tax-paying families.

Total expenditure = $4.6 BILLION

To see the full article, goto: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/sorting-out-who-wins-with-harper-s-family-tax-package-004412765.html

Take note: Corporations are rich enough to set-up job-creation programs to help their communities, and yet they are axing peope ... BIG TIME!

Scotiabank axes 1,500 jobs

Source: CBC Business News

When you're a bank raking in more than $6 billion in profit this year, the optics aren't good when your newly minted CEO comes out and announces you plan on firing 1,500 employees, 1,000 of them across Canada. It's a big, ugly number that's sure to dominate the news cycle

But that's exactly what Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter did this week, saying the bank would be streamlining its workforce as part of a cost-cutting plan that also includes writing down hundreds of millions of dollars.

The reaction was swift, and predictable, with critics panning the company's apparent heartlessness in their slavish devotion to the almighty dollar. But as Don Pittis wrote in one of our most-read stories this week, there's nothing particularly shocking about it.

Banks are in the business of making money, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's good for them, good for their shareholders, good for their employees — and good for Canada, Pittis wrote.

Scotiabank has long had a reputation for being one of the more international banks we have, with a track record of expanding into areas where it sees growth, like it did in Asia and Latin America decades ago. Sometimes those bets don't go well, but more often than not they do. Banks must manage their risk, so if they think it's a time to retrench a little before the next bout of expansion, that may prove to be best for everyone in the long run.

Watch Rick Mercer's sketch - "Hole Town." ... There is much truth in jest.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The+Rick+Mercer+Report/ID/2587997421/

Upper middle class Americans are rapidly losing ground ...

A recent posting detailed how upper middle class Americans are rapidly losing ground to the one-percenters who averaged $5 million in wealth gains over just three years. It also noted that the global 1 percent has increased their wealth from $100 trillion to $127 trillion in just three years.

The information came from the Credit Suisse 2014 Global Wealth Databook (GWD), which goes on to reveal much more about the disappearing middle class.

1. Each Year Since the Recession, America’s Richest 1 percent Have Made More Than the Cost of All US Social Programs

In effect, a reverse transfer from the poor to the rich. Even as conservatives blame Social Security for being too costly.

Much of the 1 percent wealth just sits there, accumulating more wealth. The numbers are nearly unfathomable. Depending on the estimate, the 1 percent took in anywhere from $2.3 trillion to $5.7 trillion per year. (All numeric analysis is detailed here.)

Even the smaller estimate of $2.3 trillion per year is more than the budget for Social Security ($860 billion), Medicare ($524 billion), Medicaid ($304 billion), and the entire safety net ($286 billion for SNAP, WIC [Women, Infants, Children], Child Nutrition, Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Housing).

2. Almost None of the New 1 percent Wealth Led To Innovation and Jobs

In 2005, for every $1 of financial wealth there was 66 cents of non-financial (home) wealth. Ten years later, for every $1 of financial wealth there was just 43 cents of non-financial (home) wealth.

What happens to all this financial wealth?

Over 90 percent of the assets owned by millionaires are held in low-risk investments (bonds and cash), the stock market and real estate. Business startup costs made up less than 1 percent of the investments of high net worth individuals in North America in 2011. A recent study found that less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs came from very rich or very poor backgrounds. They come from the middle class.

On the corporate side, stock buybacks are employed to enrich executives rather than to invest in new technologies. In 1981, major corporations were spending less than 3 percent of their combined net income on buybacks, but in recent years they’ve been spending up to 95 percent of their profits on buybacks and dividends.

3. Just 47 Wealthy Americans Own More Than Half of the US Population

Oxfam reported that just 85 people own as much as half the world. Here in the US, with nearly a third of the world’s wealth, just 47 individuals own more than all 160 million people (about 60 million households) below the median wealth level of about $53,000.

4. The Upper Middle Class of America Owns a Smaller Percentage of Wealth Than the Corresponding Groups in All Major Nations Except Russia and Indonesia

The upper middle class in the US, defined as everyone in the top half below the richest 20 percent, owns 11.9 percent of the wealth. Indonesia at 10.5 percent and Russia at 7.5 percent are worse off, but in all other nations the corresponding upper middle classes own 12 to 27 percent of the wealth.

America’s bottom half compares even less favorably to the world: dead last, with just 1.3 percent of national wealth. Only Russia comes close to that dismal share, at 1.9 percent. The bottom half in all other nations own 2.6 to 10.2 percent of the wealth.

5. Ten Percent of the World’s Total Wealth Was Taken by the Global 1 percent in the Past Three Years

As in the US, the middle class is disappearing at the global level. An incredible one of every ten dollars of global wealth was transferred to the elite 1 percent in just three years. A level of inequality deemed unsustainable three years ago has gotten even worse.

Solution: A Financial Transaction Tax (FTT)

More appropriately called a Financial Speculation Tax, it would help to limit the speculative trading that contributed to the financial meltdown in 2008.

The FTT has extraordinary revenue-generating potential, on a global scale. The Bank for International Settlements reported in 2008 that annual trading in derivatives had surpassed $1.14 quadrillion. Just one-tenth of 1 percent of that is a trillion dollars.

It’s also a fair tax. While average Americans pay up to a 10 percent sales tax on shoes for the kids, millionaire investors pay a zero sales tax on financial purchases. They pay just a .00002 percent SEC fee (2 cents for every thousand dollars) for a financial instrument.

In addition, the FTT is easy to administer and difficult to evade. Clearing houses already review all trades, and serve as collection agencies for transaction fees.

And as evidence of its suitability, three of the top five countries on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom are Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland, all of whom have FTTs.

People in the US and around the world are being rapidly divided into two classes, the well-to-do and the lower-income majority. This severing of society will change only when progressive thinkers (and doers) agree on a single, manageable solution that will stop the easy flow of wealth to the privileged few.

Gettting back to the hog trough at Ontario Power Generation...

Recently some outfit has been running infomercials for OPG and Hydro One (not mentioned in the commercial) saying that Ontario customers are paying less for electricity “than telephone, internet and cable combined. 

I don’t buy it.

My hydro bill for the month of October was $117.00. That’s $3.77 per day. My internet bill was $53 ($1.70 per day). So where are they getting their numbers from? My guess is OPG, Kathleen ‘Wonder,’ and Charles “let them drink coffee” Chiareli.

Actually, according the official ‘Sunshine List’ there are 8,000 OPG employees making over $100,000.

Proportional Representation: We've been too long without it!

Thanks to thousands of you, last weekend #PR2015was trending on Twitter in Canada! Working together, with allies such as Leadnow, Democracy Watch, the Council of Canadians and many others, we WILL make proportional representation a 2015 election issue. We can elect a majority of MPs committed to making votes count. Help us build the campaign for fair voting by SIGNING and SHARING the Declaration of Voters' Rights - www.fairvote.ca/declaration - 41,600 signers today!

Home mail delivery is being phased out. Deepak Chopra says it will be good excercise for seniors...

To date there has been no mention of an alternative for seniors or the disabled. However, along with this story I thought I'd resurrect this one which the government and the press quickly hushed up.

Harper Gives EU Leaders $300,000 Plane Ride For Free: CBC Report

A high-priced 'victory lap'

Among the invited guests at the Royal York Hotel event in Toronto was Greg Thomas, director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation — a supporter of free trade but not of lavish spending. Thomas said his organization would send a cheque to the government for the cost of his attendance, and added that the Airbus freebie was a waste of taxpayers' money.

"Victory lap or not, there's no excuse on blowing 300 grand on short notice for what amounts to a political show."

"Many Canadians," Thomas added, "can stomach the expense of hosting the royal family when they come to Canada." But, he said, "having royal treatment afforded to European bureaucrats is not something that's going to go down, I think, in any part of the country.... They could have done this in Ottawa. They could have saved $300,000 and it would have had the same effect."

The NDP's Don Davies, MP for Vancouver Kingsway, agreed.

Hydro One rates just went up again. Here's one of the reasons why...

The Canadian Press reported that in the 2013 Sunshine list, a list of $100,000 earners, Tom Mitchell, the president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, was the highest paid bureaucrat (in all Ontario) at $1.7 million. 

 Mitchell was paid a salary of $800,000 in 2011, unchanged from the previous two years. He also received incentive pay of $1-million in 2011, bringing his total compensation to $1.8-million, $500,000 higher than in 2010.

The so-called sunshine list of workers earning at least $100,000 — which includes doctors, nurses, teachers, police and firefighters in addition to civil servants — increased 11 per cent last year to 88,412. The number has jumped 38 per cent since 2009.

However, the government says the average salary on the list deceased by $41 from 2011 to $127,566.

Another shocker is that nearly 8,000 other people who work at OPG also made the list of $100,000 earners as well.

 Hydro One CEO Laura Formosa made $1.04 million last year.

 When there are seniors paying more for hydro than groceries, one wonders how Wynne and Chiareli can look at themselves in the morning.

 It is disgusting beyond belief.

News from the Nanny State: 'Uncle Tom's' $5B Daycare Cabin'

After a while you begin to wonder if politicians have any money sense at all. To make this ill-conceived scheme work, he proposes to get the Feds to kick in 60% of the cost. Bulletin to Mulcair: Whether it comes from the Feds or the provinces, there is only one set of taxpayers, and in Ontario, those taxpayers are already paying $40B in child benefits. Moreover, many of those over-burdened taxpayers are seniors and childless singles, so this Mulcair proposal only ads insult to injury to those folks.

 ERIC DUHAIME | QMI AGENCY

New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair just announced his masterpiece promise for the 2015 election: a $15-a-day national child-care program.

The idea sounds seductive. But do you seriously think the nanny state can properly take care of your babies?

Let's first take a closer look at Mulcair's own sandbox. His home province has had a $7.30-a-day program for more than 17 years. And there are very good reasons why no other jurisdiction on the continent has copied the self-proclaimed "Quebec model."

Quebec taxpayers now pay more than $52 a day for each baby in the Soviet-style system.

As soon as a woman finds out she is pregnant, she rushes to put her name on a waiting list for a daycare spot. Like in the good old USSR, it's the queue that makes you pay.

Desperate mothers or fathers who want to go back to work try to bribe a public servant to get to the top of the waiting list.

 __________________________

To read the full article, go to: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2014/10/20141016-072020.html

Click on the logo to learn more.

Yet another child benefit!

Federal government doubles children's tax credit to $1,000

The federal government’s decision to double the children’s fitness tax credit is getting support from parents, but many feel it isn’t quite enough.

Parents can claim up to $1,000 dollars for children under 16. They can get back up to 15 per cent of their children's registration or membership fees come tax time.

In 2015, the government will also make the credit refundable. This means parents who don't earn enough money to pay taxes can still benefit and get money back.

_________________

So what are senior and single taxpayers getting out of it? Diddly-squat. Child benefits, including education, must surely be approaching the $40B mark in Ontario alone [i.e. the Fraser Institute reported a few weeks back in the decade from 2001 to 2011, public spending on education in Ontario rose by 61%, from $15.2 billion to $24.5 billion annually] and the other list of over 39 grants, subsidies and tax credits must easily amount to $15B.

Actually no one knows the aggregate amount, so politicians at all three levels just keep throwing money into the pot on the basis that it wins votes from the majority at the cost of the minority.

It is utterly incomprehensible!

Wynne's Jobs strategy...

800 jobs at a cost of $687,500 per job, while risking 10,000 jobs = job creation. Huh?!

By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The Harper government's $550-million small-business job credit will create just 800 net new jobs in 2015-16, while a freeze in employment insurance premiums could cost the economy 10,000 jobs over the same period, Canada's parliamentary budget office says.

The latest report from the budget office, released Thursday, says the credit will create a total of about 1,000 "person-years" of work at a cost of $555,000 for each person-year. A job that employs a worker for two years amounts to two "person-years."

The report also says that because EI premiums are frozen at higher levels than necessary to offset the costs of the job credit, thousands of jobs could be lost.

"PBO estimates the premium rate freeze will reduce full-time equivalent employment by 2,000 jobs in 2015 and a further 8,000 jobs in 2016," the report said.

Starting next year, the job credit will effectively lower EI premiums for small businesses with annual contributions of less than $15,000.

Critics of the measure have complained the government should have gone further with a direct cut in premiums that would provide an immediate benefit to all businesses and employees.

That broader slash to payroll taxes isn't happening until 2017, the government says.

The Conservatives haven't said why they're waiting for two years to implement that cut; the PBO report says EI premiums are currently 13 cents above the break-even level and will be 28 cents above the break-even level in 2016.

To read the full story, go to: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/conservative-changes-ei-could-cost-canada-jobs-budget-031008832.html

"Liberals appear to have learned nothing from the spending scandals at eHealth and the ORNGE air ambulance service," Ted Anott, MPP

MaRS bailout ‘parallels’ past Liberal government scandals

By: Richard J. Brennan – Toronto Star Newspaper.

There is talk about selling off the LCBO, one of the major revenue sources owned by the government, and yet Kathleen Wynne seems to have the money to bail out yet another corporation (this time a U.S. outfit) with taxpayer’s dollars.

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government couldn’t run a hotdog stand let alone a downtown Toronto office building, veteran Tory MPP Ted Arnott says.

Arnott grilled Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid on Tuesday before the legislature’s estimates committee, which scrutinizes government spending, about the $309 million bailout of Phase 2 of the troubled 20-storey MaRS tower in the shadow of Queen’s Park.

“We are not satisfied with the answers we heard today. We don’t have confidence that the government can run a hotdog stand let alone a downtown office building like this one,” the member for Wellington-Halton

Hills told reporters afterward.

Arnott told the committee Liberals appear to have learned nothing from the spending scandals at eHealth and the ORNGE air ambulance service, or the debacle involving the decision to cancel and relocate two gas plants at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion.

“From our perspective . . . we see parallels between this and what happened at eHealth, the cancelled gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville, the ORNGE air ambulance fiasco and we wonder if the government has learned a single thing — hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being thrown around with very little accountability, very little scrutiny,” he said.

MaRS, which stands for Medical and Related Sciences, got in over its head with its Phase 2 tower, which turned off prospective tenants off with exorbitant lease rates — then dictated by a U.S.-based real estate company.

Word of the government bailout leaked out during the spring provincial election and since then, the Liberals have acknowledged negotiations were going on even before the election.

“Obviously the government wouldn’t have wanted that information to come out prior to the election . . . obviously the government had something to hide,” Arnott told reporters.

More recently the government announced it was paying out $65 million to buy out the American-owned developer, Alexandria Real Estate (ARE).

For the full story, go to: http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/10/07/mars_bailout_parallels_past_liberal_government_scandals_tories_say.html.

Fraser Institute: Cost of education rises 61% in 10 years, to $24.5B annually.

For quite some time now I have been ruminating about the cost of child benefits, including education. Of course, few people have been listening because they are either the beneficiaries of what I call the “baby industry,” or because I am merely a single taxpayer  who isn’t. However, now the prestigious Fraser Institute has come out with a report that confirms many of the things I have been saying. In particular: 1.     The cost of education has risen substantially, despite declining enrolments and diminishing results, and 2.     Schools are being turned into glorified daycare centres. Attached are excerpts taken from an editorial appearing in the Toronto Sun Newspaper Sunday, October 5. 2014. To read the full story, to: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/10/04/kathleen-wynnes-math-doesnt-add-up

We’re paying more for public education in Ontario these days and getting less.

As the Fraser Institute reported last week, in the decade from 2001 to 2011, public spending on education in Ontario rose by 61%, from $15.2 billion to $24.5 billion annually.

Meanwhile, student enrollment dropped 5.1%, from 2.16 million to 2.05 million.

Of course, higher teacher salaries account for part of this increase, along with inflation.

But that raises the issue of whether taxpayers are getting good value for money.

For the fifth year in a row, testing by Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) showed math scores in decline among elementary students in Grade 3 and 6.

In Grade 3, only 67% of students met the provincial standard in math in 2014, a four-percentage-point drop from 71% in 2010.

In Grade 6, only 54% of students met the provincial standard in math in 2014, a seven-percentage- point drop from 61% in 2010.

In applied math, only 47% of Grade 9 students met the provincial standard, a figure the EQAO described as worrisome, even though it’s up from 40% five years ago.

Instead of dealing with these problems, Ontario’s Liberal government, first under Dalton McGuinty and now under Kathleen Wynne, has poured billions of tax dollars into turning schools into glorified daycare centres, through its ruinously expensive all-day kindergarten program.

This may be good enough for government work, but it’s not good enough for the real world.

The problem is the person ultimately in charge of the system is Wynne, a former left-wing trustee with the spendthrift Toronto school board.

So hold on to your wallets, Ontario, because sadly, there’s no relief in site.​ 

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Insurance Industry Says No To Ontario Government Promise Of A 15% Reduction. PS: I told you so!

Insurance Industry Says No To Ontario Government Promise Of A 15% Reduction In Auto Insurance Premiums - And Ontario Government Falls in Line!

The cozy, behind-the-scenes relationship between business and government was on full display last week when the vice president of policy development for the auto and home insurance industry lobby group, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, came right out and said publicly that the # 1 promise of the 2013 Ontario Liberal budget - a 15% reduction in auto insurance premiums - simply wasn't going to happen.

Despite legislation passed by the Ontario legislature that mandates it, the Ontario government’s goal of a 15% reduction in auto insurance rates is “absolutely not” doable, the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Barbara Sulzenko-Laurie said last Tuesday during a panel discussion at the National Insurance Conference of Canada.

Even more telling are Ms. Sulzenko-Laurie's exact words uttered publicly at the conference which makes clear that not only is the industry going to do everything possible to block the promised 15% premium reduction, but that the government is a full partner in this outright lie to the Ontario people.

When asked whether the promised 15% reduction is going ahead, Ms. Sulzenko-Laurie's said:

“Absolutely not, and I think the government fully knows that although the government has not come out and said it”.

“But certainly in our conversations with the superintendent of insurance, he’s indicated to us that no one in FSCO (the Financial Services Commission of Ontario - the regulator of auto insurance in Ontario) believes that there’s 15% that’s in the system (to be reduced),"

“When we’re talking to the political side (Ministers and their staff), they don’t admit it, but they sort of smile knowingly in response to the question”.

So the Ontario government is not going to honour its promise to 8 million Ontario drivers to cut Ontario auto insurance premiums by 15%. It knows it, the bureaucrats regulating the industry know it, and the insurance industry knows it.

And the 15% premium reduction was no ordinary promise - this was the key promise of the 2013 Ontario budget. This was the promise that allowed the Liberal government to survive because a 15% premium reduction was the key demand of the NDP for the Ontario budget - the main reason the NDP allowed the Liberal government to survive another year!

Some background on the issue:

In 2010, the Ontario government slashed statutory auto insurance benefits that in just one year resulted in $2 billion in savings for Ontario auto insurance companies.

And predictably, auto insurance profits went through the roof giving the auto insurance industry some of the best financial results in years between 2011 & 2013.

Here's two examples of the 2010 benefit cuts:

Example 1: Because of the 2010 changes, the $100,000 maximum for medical/rehabilitation benefits was reduced to $3,500 for minor injuries (even though many so-called minor injuries are quite significant) and $50,000 for even more serious non-catastrophic injuries.

Example 2: The $72,000 maximum attendant care benefit for non-catastrophic injuries was reduced to zero (yes, zero!) for minor injuries and $36,000 for non-catastrophic injuries.

And it was a direct result of these benefit cuts - and the subsequent near-record industry profits - that the Ontario Liberal government made the 15% cut the key initiative in its 2013 budget.

But despite there being a law mandating the 15% premium reduction, the insurance industry has decided it just isn't going to happen. And the government, as it often does, has caved to the industry and is just biding it's time until it can come up with a spin-line that will provide a lame excuse for why their number one promise to the Ontario people in their 2013 budget, is simply not going to happen.

Want to know what is really happening in Ontario auto insurance while the industry is crying poor? Read lawyer Alan Shanoff's 3 excellent pieces from the Toronto Sun - the links are provided below.

And then let the Ontario government know what you think about the government breaking its # 1 promise of its 2013 budget!

*Note: The above was posted on my Face Book page without an author's name included; However, I take it that he or she wanted it promulgated, and so I post it here with thanks.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/30/auto-insurance-bomnanza

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/07/26/anti-fraud-bill-a-mirage

http://gerry-stopthebull.blogspot.ca/2014/03/ontario-auto-insurance-premium.html

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Relevant Members Addresses

 Hon Charles Sousa 

Mississauga South

csousa.mpp@liberal.ola.org

Ministry	Ministry of Finance 7th Floor, Frost Building South 7 Queen's Park Crescent Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Y7
Tel	416-325-0400
Fax	416-325-0374 Contact Kathleen by Phone, E-mail or Mail Phone 416-325-1941 TTY/Teletypewriter: (for the hearing impaired) 1-800-387-5559 E-mail premier@ontario.ca Mail If your message is private or personal, you may choose to write to me at the following address: Kathleen Wynne, Premier Legislative Building Queen's Park Toronto ON M7A 1A1