16 July 2020

A month into Stage 2 of reopening and a couple of weeks into Stage 3 - and the recovery of our economy has been quite uneven. Despite impressive job growth that’s seeing many laid off workers hired back on, more than half of workers let go at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown remain out of work. What’s more, the CERB benefit’s $2,000 per month is encouraging those (who were only working part-time and/or in minimum wage jobs pre-Covid) to remain out of the labour market and reliant upon government handouts.

The other key part of the uneven recovery is the fact that our schools have not reopened. Unlike in other provinces (BC, PEI, Quebec) Ontario’s schools remained locked up, kids remain at home struggling with online learning, and teachers remain at home, too, trying to keep busy. Some are fully employed, but many are not - nor are the school administrators and support staff.

School-aged children pose a low risk of transmitting Covid-19 to other children or to adults, say medical experts around the globe. So the children face little risk returning to classes.

Their teachers and school support staff face more risk - from each other and from outside contacts with adults. Grocery store workers who have been working throughout the Covid lockdown face far greater Covid transmission risk than teachers, due to their daily exposure to adult strangers all day long. Other jurisdictions have been reopened for a month or more now and things are going well, with no big spikes. Indeed, the only spikes in the number of Covid cases we have seen are among foreign farm workers (adults) and (young) adults in bars, parks, and beaches that have reopened. So why does Doug Ford want to re-open bars ahead of schools? There is a strong argument in favour of sending our children back to the classrooms five days a week as soon as possible. It is a mental health concern, due to four months away from friends, teachers, sports teams, daily routines - normalcy, in other words. Plus there are those secondary students who worry now about their post-secondary education, and student jobs that fell through, partly thanks to the CERB benefit’s generosity. 

 With kids stuck at home and parents minding them, as well as overseeing their online classes - in some cases lacking computer skills, computer hardware, and even internet service - parents and grandparents remain away from their workplace because, well, somebody has to look after the kids, right? Government decision-makers are being overly cautious because they have an eye on their eventual re-election, individually and in particular as political parties.

Were we to have Consensus Government in use - party-less politics with only Independent MPPs and MPs representing their ridings - the urgency of getting kids back to the classroom would have been heard and the decisions made.

The country’s and the provinces’ economies will continue to sink further into debt if this does not happen soon - dragging many businesses and thousands of Canadian workers down with them.

For those parents not comfortable allowing their children back in school classrooms, they can be visited by those teachers afraid to return the classroom to provide curriculum workbooks and tests for parents to use - no more problems with computers and the internet!

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

LONG-TERM CARE IS A PC PARTY &

DOUG FORD FAILURE

3 June 2020

Boy, Premier Doug Ford may well be enjoying a big boost in his approval rating from Ontarians, seeing him as sympathetic and thoughtful during his daily TV news conferences. However, he is reading from a Teleprompter, and reading - slowly, with big wide eyes - every word carefully scripted by his handlers and backroom advisers.

They have no intention of letting him speak off the cuff and get off message. He still does sometimes, and that usually gets him into trouble.

I took exception with his almost tearful statement once the Canadian Forces report into the conditions military personnel - assigned to help shore up the inadequate staffing levels in certain nursing homes - have found. The report cited patients not having dirty diapers changed for days, not being bathed for weeks, the presence of cockroaches and ants in several homes, force feeding of residents, staff shortages, staff going between residents’ room without changing their personal protective gear, putting a patient to sleep with food in his mouth, etc.

Premier Ford said he had never seen such an awful report, ever. He also said he was totally unaware of the situation in Ontario’s nursing homes and had no idea it was that bad.

Well, Mr. Ford, you are telling fibs. You and your government massively scaled back inspections of the provinces 690 or so nursing homes. The mandatory, minimum of one surprise inspection each year per home did not happen in 2019. Only 9 were inspected. Families of nursing home patients (because they are patients, more so than residents) have called for years for better care for their elders. Better food. Better staffing. Better quality in bedrooms and common areas. Some nursing homes are unionized, some are not. Most are run by the private sector, who as all companies do, try to maximize profit. That profit comes out of the spread between what patients pay and what patient care costs. The wider the gap, the higher the profit.

Clearly, the way ahead for long-term care in Ontario is a move away from a for-profit model to one whereby all homes are not-for-profit. These homes were set up over the past few decades to deal with the aging population and the surge in demand as the Baby Boomers retired and then later needed long-term care. Hospitals used to handle these patients in the old days, and these wards were essentially removed and set up as specialized homes run largely by the private sector in our province.

In more recent years under the Liberals an effort has been made to permit more seniors to stay in their homes or in the homes of family members. While this appears to have been working, more needs to be done. How about a tax deduction similar to daycare deduction costs parents claim?

As far as improving nursing homes goes, the list is long: Install air conditioning; find some way to separate patients during pandemics; hire more permanent full-time staff and employ fewer part-timers and none at multiple homes. Boost pay levels for staff, especially for PSWs.

Obviously better nursing homes and better home care means more money spent by the province.  Ontario is facing a huge deficit and huge debt, with little new money to spend.  But were we to begin paying down the debt, the reduction in interest paid on the debt could be redirected to improve seniors care.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

RE-OPENING OUR ECONOMY NEEDS

A MULTI-FACETED PLAN

5 May 2020

   Here we are the middle of May, after eight or nine weeks of quarantine and economic shutdown. Another two to three weeks to go? To say this has been like crossing new territory for all of us is an understatement!

We’ve had to stay away from others, stay in our homes, minimize our exposure to any places and people and things we normally took for granted. We’ve had to learn to work from home (for some) and to study at home (for others), as well as how to remain with our loved ones and stay moderately cheery with some sense of feeling productive. New hobbies have been enjoyed, yard work is well underway. Dogs are tuckered out from too much exercise! The next big thing will be how to get us all back to ‘normal’...work, school, shopping, revving up the economy and making up for lost time in 2020.

   Some provinces are ahead of others, and in Ontario, we are playing it safer than some since we have had - along with Quebec - 90% of all the Covid-19 cases. Both provinces have the largest populations in the country as well as highly international populations - driven by immigration, foreign workers, and refugees - that travel frequently.

Quebec’s approach is to open up areas away from the main pandemic infections in metropolitan Montreal first.

   Ontario would be sensible in taking this same approach. Perhaps a Phase 1 might see areas where new cases of Covid-19 have been practically zero for say the past three weeks be allowed to open first. Phase 2 would add in areas with the next fewest cases, and those with the highest like Toronto, would be held back until a Phase 3.

   Within each of these phases, businesses deemed more urgent to reopen (medical and seasonal ones) be allowed to open first. This would see dentists, eye doctors, and physiotherapists along with garden centres, farm businesses, golf courses, marinas, and campgrounds open first, with the idea of social distancing remaining in place for now plus staying out of high-risk areas.

   Retail businesses, especially small ones, should also be allowed to reopen first, our goal being to discourage bigger crowds in bigger stores until later this summer.

   Restaurants need to reopen, with the seating expanded for 6-foot gaps between fewer tables. Public toilets need to reopen and be cleaned perhaps every two hours once people are allowed to circulate in an area.     Schools need to be reopened and classes run through July and August, preparing students for September and back to normal. I think we have - all ages - enjoyed enough of a ‘summer break’ much earlier than usual this year. Hopefully our MPPs will push for a phased re-opening starting next week, and a return to school 1 June.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

FINANCIAL HANGOVER WILL PLAGUE GOVERNMENTS AFTERWARDS

22 April 2020

LONDON, ONTARIO - COVID-19 has been the biggest economic kick below the belt for Canada since the Great Depression of 1929. Now let’s also recall that the Second World War sent Canadians into a bit of a tailspin with labour shortages, money shortages, rationing, and debt. Coming out of that war the economy roared forward, and coupled with the Baby Boom where returning soldiers started families, Canada’s economy did not stand still until the 1970s when Pierre Trudeau and the Liberals began mishandling the country’s finances.

    The Parliamentary Budget Officer this month has said that the total federal spending related to Covid-19 and the pre-existing 2020 budgetary deficit will together total overspending by the Trudeau Liberal government of more than $182-billion this year.(THIS WAS BEFORE TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF $8-BILLION FOR POST-SECONDARY STUDENTS)

    While some spending was to be expected it is arguable how much was needed. More significantly, how long will it now take to pay off this Covid-19 extra spending of some $160-billion?

    I think that having that as a target is appropriate. Simply heaping all of that extra spending on to the country’s already huge debt mountain of $715-billion does not seem sensible. Rather, consider it needed but temporary spending, to be paid off as quickly as possible. That means, say, over the next five years. In order to do that the GST will need to rise from 5% to 10%. I know we all hate sales taxes, but we have to pay the piper at some point, right?

    Provincially, that same argument holds water, too. Ontario introduced a $17-billion package on 25 March to support the province through the COVID-19 outbreak, including an influx of cash for the health sector, direct payments to parents, and tax breaks for businesses. The plan included both $10-billion in tax and other deferrals and $7-billion in new spending. The move will contribute to a major hit to Ontario’s bottom line, pushing the province’s annual deficit from $9-billion to a projected $20.5 -billion for 2020-21 — a McGuinty level not seen since the aftermath of the 2008 recession. If we are to take the same five-year strategy to pay off this additional provincial debt of $17-billion, it would mean increasing the PST from 8% to 10%.

    Such a combined federal-provincial debt strategy would see the HST then rise from 13% to 20% for the next five years.  After that we would be in the same, unpleasant, pre-Covid-19 debt situation we were originally looking at.  Ontario’s pre-Covid debt stood at $355-billion, by the way...Ouch!!

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

26 March 2020

LET'S HOPE ONTARIO LEARNS THIS TIME

FROM COVID-19

Boy, a lot can happen in the span of three weeks.  COVID-19 has affected everything in Ontario from getting out of bed in the morning, to if and where and how we work, learn at school, receive health care, do our necessary shopping, how we travel, and even our social interactions.

The measures announced by the federal and provincial governments and echoed by local governments is - as far as any of us know - the best way to contain this latest virus and let it run its course.

Remember that this is the third virus outbreak since 2000 (the others being SARS and H1N1 a.k.a. Swine Flu).  Lately I have been wondering just how much we learned from these other two earlier pandemics, and how much we will remember about COVID-19 once it is finally eradicated.

Let's be serious and logical about the future: In something like 7-10 years time, another virus will arrive here...SO LET'S BE BETTER PREPARED.

Certainly we have learned that travel causes such viruses to spread globally and in large countries much faster than they would normally do, leaping across oceans and mountain ranges, spreading rapidly through unprepared countries. Limiting or suspending non-essential travel is a good first step.

We have learned that we can never have enough of the emergency supplies of things like surgical gloves, face masks, certain medical supplies for hospitals and especially equipment like ventilators. The Ontario Ministry of Health should have at least one complete mobile surgical hospital ready to deploy when needed anywhere in the province.

We have learned that social distancing is a solid way to not spread this virus locally.  We have also learned that if contact between people is minimized through business and event closures, closings of public spaces, and cancelling public gatherings, we can apply the brakes to the spread, even if we cannot stop it fully.

We have learned that selfishness raises it's ugly head during such times, with hoarding and unreasonable over-consumption of items at grocery and drug stores.  These weak-willed people will always be in our society, so government needs to act sooner (next time) to limit purchases (Rationing) to enable sufficient supplies for everyone.

Selfishness also has been evidenced by those who knowingly mixed with others when they knew - or strongly suspected - that they would test positive for the COVID-19 virus.  These people should not be allowed to board flights, trains, or buses to travel without a medical test of some type such as forehead temperature checking. If that raises a red flag, they shouldn't be allowed to travel and they would be entitled to a refund of their ticket.

The fact that many people might test positive and yet not display symptoms shows the need for some form of testing technology.  Research & Development into many health conditions and risks is money well spent by the Ministry of Health.  Rather than employ a large work force of well-paid bureaucrats, spend some of those funds on R&D.  It is the only way to stay ahead of the next great health risk for Ontarians, and it will result in less money spent in the future.

It also shows the need for annual doctor visits, and for limiting somewhat which countries we should be allowed to travel to on a whim.  Regular family doctor checkups will at least increase the likelihood of detecting health risks sooner.  Some places pose greater health risks to us, and we need to be advised, warned, and told you are on your own if you choose to go there.  Government waivers to not require us to bring them home free of charge are sensible and would be supported by the majority (consensus) opinion.

If there is a single "positive" from COVID-19 and the big shutdown of Ontario, it is that I have never seen more people outside, getting fresh air and exercise, sunshine (Vitamin D) than I am seeing now.  As one who always does this daily I can say few of our fellow Ontarians get anywhere near enough exercise, eat healthily, and relieve stress caused by a nasty combination of workaday worries and laziness.  Those people share that lifestyle with their children and they too grow into unhealthy adults, at risk from the next health threat.  

As a "carrot" to all Ontarians, Government needs to reward those who take the decision and spend daily time doing what is good for them.  Three times weekly with some real esercise, and everyday at least a walk or bike ride, tennis, golf, baseball, volleyball, hockey, soccer, you name it.  

Offering Ontarians to keep the smoke shops, LCBO and the pot shops open during COVID is not much of an incentive for a healthier future.  Rather, Preventative Medicine is what the Ministry of Health should be all about.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

PROPOSED OXFORD COUNTY DUMP SHOULD 

GO TO FORMER TORONTO AIRBASE

6 March 2020

Last week Toronto newspapers reported on a proposal to redevelop 600 acres of the former Canadian Forces Base Downsview, more recently home to Bombardier’s aircraft plant in the city.  The development is an initiative by two federal pension funds to make lots of money by creating communities, houses, condos and office buildings. This was not intended for affordable housing, and is meant to maximize profit for the pension funds involved.

Three hours west, along Hwy. 401, the Township of Zorra and County of Oxford along with the Town of Ingersoll are dealing with an ongoing redevelopment project of sorts, that being to take an exhausted quarry along Hwy.401 and convert it into a huge garbage dump. The proponents - Walker Environmental - has been moving through the various stages of unveiling the project, conducting studies, open houses, and environmental assessments, as well as receiving public input. It will handle decades of garbage, and locals - elected and unelected - worry that the dump will end up contaminating their ground water which they rely on for well water for human and animal use.

Walker insists the quarry will have a 12-foot tall containment lining, along with plumbing to remove any liquids. The quarry happens to be situated next to the Thames River, into which a lot of ground water drains.

Naturally the dump can be seen as an economic development opportunity, creating jobs in Oxford. Yet workers are hard to find now.

Quite a lot of the planned usage of this proposed dump is from the City of Toronto.  It will remove the need to ship waste across the border into Michigan. In the past the Greenway Landfill in Elgin county was purchased by the City of Toronto to give it absolute control of the large facility which provides plenty of space for city waste.

The issues in this are ones we saw under the Liberal Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty governments: The province removing planning approval from local counties and townships for controversial projects that businesses want to proceed with.  The county and the municipalities involved in no way want this project, and were never asked to approve it.

The Doug Ford PC Government is fairing no better than the Liberals before them, retaining the approval authority at the provincial level. That is simply wrong.

Furthermore, what about the province telling all municipalities - including the City of Toronto - that from now on they must deal with their own waste within their own borders, as do cities like Halifax, NS?

This would mean Toronto needs a space the size of the Oxford dump or the Greenway Landfill combined that can handle Toronto’s waste for the next 50 years or more. Is there such open land for such a project?

Of course there is: The 600 acres of the former Downsview airforce base is perfect, well located and serviced by highways. That is the next best use for that land.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO 

IMPROVE OUR ENVIRONMENT

6 February 2020

Government exists to do things that we citizens cannot do as efficiently by ourselves. Providing services like education, health care, defence, and so on. The federal government has the lead responsibility on the environment in this country. Some of it’s key initiatives, notably the carbon tax, simply won’t make much of a difference to environmental quality.

Our Carbon Tax would need to be higher - much higher! - and none of it should need to be rebated to us, if we really expect people to start acting smarter as friends of the environment.

I happen to be one of those people who always has taken into account fuel economy when I purchase a vehicle. Many people don’t. They buy a flashy vehicle that stirs them emotionally. It is time to start using our brains a bit more folks.

The practical things to improve our environment that the federal government could implement are many. 

Building: Reduce the use of carbon-based fuels: This can be achieved in several ways. First, improving home heating efficiency means using less fuel. Window and door retrofit programmes, improved insulation in buildings and homes. Switching homes from natural gas to electric heat where financially viable, or geothermal heat pumps, and build homes to take advantage of the suns natural heating effect on properly designed/oriented homes and buildings. These changes could be made to new build homes and structures.

Gas Guzzler Vehicle Tax: Adding extra taxes to the vehicles people choose to buy makes these already expensive vehicles even more so. Another option would be to add a Fuel Economy Tax on vehicles with, say, fuel economy of 9.0L/100km or more.

Electricity: Reducing the use of electricity by constructing homes and buildings with more windows and skylights. Timers could be mandatory in all new builds so that when people leave rooms and leave the lights and electricity running, it would shut off at some pre-set point. All new buildings should generate their own electricity using solar shingles - thus adding no new demands on the electrical grid. These things could be made to happen through changes to the provincial building codes.

Transit: Why not reward people for using public transit? It means they are supporting the system with their money and also keeping their personal vehicle off the roads, thus reducing traffic, reducing road wear and tear (and therefore reducing the need for road maintenance) and they are increasing road safety.

Where people choose to live: How about rewarding people who live close to their workplace? They’d be driving - and polluting - less.

Vehicles: How about rewarding people who purchase fuel-efficient gasoline or diesel vehicles? How about rewarding purchasers of electric vehicles?

Carrot Policies Better Than Stick Policies: To add a Carbon tax to the price of fuel at the pumps, just to give it all back - and more! - will never change anybody’s behaviour in terms of driving too much, driving fast and consuming more fuel than necessary, and driving gas-guzzlers, such as pickup trucks and sports cars.  

My choice would be that instead of using the Stick with people, let’s use the Carrot: Rewards are a more positive way of modifying behaviour, as Pavlov discovered long ago.

All of these ideas are better than what the Federal Liberal Government has laid out to improve our environment.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

LOCAL - NOT PROVINCE-WIDE - CONTRACTING BETTER FOR OUR SCHOOLS

6 February 2020

   Teacher’s strike: Whatcha gonna do? It seems that every few years out they go, hitting the picket lines. The easy solution is this: A referendum asking voters if they will pay higher taxes to pump more money into the education system (keep in mind 85% of school board budgets are wages, salaries and benefits). If voters agree, then alright. And if they disagree, then alright, too.

   We can always say “It’s for the children” if that makes the participants feel better about the disruption school worker strikes cause to the students’ educations, to families, and to government finances.

Keep in mind the provincial government does not have more money, in fact, it already overspends by about $9-billion per year. So if we all agree to pump more money into the system, it has to come from somewhere, right? Hence, higher taxes.

   This reality is true for every single person employed by the taxpayer at all levels of government and their agencies in Canada. I feel that sometimes public sector workers - including teachers - miss this reality.

   If we were to start an education system from scratch, we’d probably keep it as small, simple, and localized as possible to ensure affordability and accountability. Ontario’s earliest schools happened into existence in this fashion before they were pulled under an ever-expansive larger system, into boards, and then the buck was kicked up the chain to the province to sort out province-wide contracts with workers unions. This has led to major labour and political struggles. Were we to create that local school from scratch, each school would have its money from local taxes. That would be the school’s total budget available for all costs, including salaries of teachers and school staff. The number of employees would sensibly be kept to a minimum to ensure affordability into the future. 

   This would mean that each employee’s position would have a pay cheque attached to it for the upcoming year. It would be open to applications from those interested in filling it. Applicants would be interviewed and a hiring committee of parents and the principal would make their selections, offering teaching and non-teaching positions to the chosen few. Those applicants do not need to accept the job if they don’t like the pay, the benefits, the hours, the after class hours, the vacation days, the curriculum, the class size, and so on. 

   There are always others willing to fill these spots and accept the terms offered. Unlike doctors, there is no shortage of teachers seeking work.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO