The left fights for the working class

Re The left ignores the suburbs at its peril, Sept. 23

Despite letter writer Mario Godlewski’s claim, the left did not fail to listen to the working-class masses.

They listened, understood the difficulties lower-income earners face and tried to warn them against Ford — as did the vast majority of journalists and pundits of all political stripes. Those who voted Liberal or NDP support a higher minimum wage, the guaranteed income pilot, more generous social-welfare payments, postsecondary tuition breaks for lowerincome families, more publicly funded daycare spaces, enhanced OHIP and other benefits for the less welloff that are on Ford’s chopping block.

Many of the so-called wealthy elite even support higher taxes on highincome earners to pay for such programs because they understand that a permanently impoverished underclass is a breeding ground for precisely the kind of right-wing populism Ford represents.

If the people most likely to find themselves in that underclass chose to ignore the warnings about his hidden anti-poor agenda, they have only themselves to blame when their situation worsens.

Patricia Wilmot, Toronto

I would like to know who are these latte-left downtowners who are depriving services to low-income people living in the suburbs.

It is the PCs who have tried to convince us that we are “taxpayers” first, and citizens second. But who benefits most from keeping taxes low? Surely not people at the low end of the income scale.

Carol Libman, Toronto