Parties curry favour now, we feel effects later
Former Fleming president wonders why NDP would promise to stay out of education labour disputes
How about we start all over and all three Ontario parties select a new leader and revise their platforms so we have some decent choice in the June 7 election?
How can we be asked by all the parties to incur debt at such a rapid rate and for years into the future? No wonder the average family debt has increased dramatically over the past two decades. Governments seem to have lost their way. I used to rail against them when they thought any debt was terrible. Now we seem to have come up with a formula that says if we just go into debt a little bit a year it will be OK. Does that make any sense to you? Not to me.
Speaking of nonsense, we have parties that truly do not seem to either not understand how the markets and government works or are simply trying to deceive the voters. When leaders propose changes to things that they have no control over, such as gas prices, it makes you wonder if they have any understanding of the roles they are applying to fill.
When one party lurches from one platform to another without pricing it out you wonder what they stand for. Especially since they seem to have lost their sense of fiscal responsibility. Another party cannot even get their numbers straight so how are we to trust what they say.
But my biggest beef is with how the parties curry favor with groups that will compromise them going forward. The worst of this is the promise that the NDP have made to never intervene in an education strike.
Was there nothing learned from the five-week college strike last year? Or even worse, the current York University strike? The NDP has blocked any legislative solution and have promised never to legislate back if they are the government. They even went further to state that they would not do so if there was an elementary school strike. Is there any wonder that the elementary teachers union has supported them in this election?
So what is wrong with just allowing the unions and management to play out through negotiations a settlement no matter what amount of time it takes? Well, the welfare of students and families is at stake!
The purpose of government is to act not for any one entity but for the betterment of the citizens of Ontario. The NDP has not brought forward any plan to settle these education disputes. They have shown their naivete in managing public affairs.
Some of you may remember that following the lengthy strike last fall in the colleges I asked that the government consider education an essential service. It is my belief that fire, police, hospitals and education all should have an alternative method of labour dispute resolution. No person or family who has endured or is threatened by fire should not be assisted while a contract is being negotiated. No threat of crime should be allowed to increase during police negotiations. No person requiring acute health care intervention should be held hostage to a labor dispute. No student or in the case of minors family should have to have their lives disrupted.
I am not saying that employees should not have a right to have representation and bargaining. But the NDP’s position is no matter how long the dispute, government should not intervene. In other words, the rights of the union or employer outweigh the rights of the citizens who become pawns in these disputes. I am sorry but I believe we elect government to govern, and that means step in when the good of society is placed in jeopardy. If they are willing to put children and families at risk what else are they willing to do?
I honestly believe this is not a decision of principle but of political convenience. Who can argue that the York University students do not have their education at risk? The college strike is still having profound impacts on student’s lives. With such obvious examples this year why has the NDP not thought through a more nuanced approach that would not favor one party or another in a dispute? Why have they not demonstrated that they are ready to govern?
It appears that we in Ontario want a change in leadership. Before we do so we should get answers to critical issues. Leadership requires balancing rights and responsibilities, including the government's to protect third parties in disputes.