Hepburn: Time for McGuinty to fix health-care mess

September 16, 2010
Bob Hepburn
By all accounts, Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews is a smart, pleasant and politically savvy woman whose heart is in the right place.
For years, first in private life and now as a cabinet minister, she has fought hard on behalf of women, the poor and children.
And recently she has received much-deserved praise for her moves to lower prices for generic drugs.
But all this good work cannot hide the fact that Matthews has caused widespread chaos and misery by failing to stop the rapid deterioration in one of the main pillars of Ontario’s overall health-care strategy.
Indeed, on her watch, critical parts of Ontario’s health-care program are in shambles, with funding slashed and angry, often frail patients left to fend for themselves without services or having to pay out of their own pockets for needed help.
At the same time, Matthews is being criticized for fostering “a culture of fear” within the health-care sector, for refusing to meet with many professional health-care groups, and of running a “closed and defensive” ministerial office.
Her troubles stem from the failure by Queen’s Park to adequately fund outpatient and at-home health services.
That’s important because the McGuinty government is pressuring hospitals to reduce costs. To do that, hospital administrators are slashing the number of beds and pushing patients out the door faster than ever, turning them over to community health authorities.
However, cash-strapped Community Care Access Centres, which arrange for support from local health-care professionals, have simultaneously cut funds for all but the most severe cases.
These cuts — more than 50 per cent in some areas — have been made suddenly and without consultation.
The dramatic reductions started to show up last fall and have continued to this day. Hardly a day goes by without more layoffs and more reduced workloads for health-care professionals.
The result is that patients who need critical services provided by occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, dietitians and other professionals are forced to go on wait lists that can last for years or receive no help at all.
Incredibly, though, there’s no sense of urgency from Matthews, no feeling that she even realizes a problem exists.
Here’s what she said in a speech in April to the Canadian Club in Toronto: “Whoever needs care, will get care. Period. Full stop.”
And this is what she said earlier this year: “When we see hospitals close beds, that’s actually in and of itself not a bad news story because so much more is being provided in the community.”
Nonsense!
Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, which represents 400 grassroots organizations from across the province, is sharply critical of Matthews, saying there is “no alignment of hospital planning and community care planning.”
Examples abound across Ontario.
In the Windsor area, adult rehabilitation therapy through home care was cut earlier this year by up to 70 per cent.
In Cobourg, the Northumberland Hills Hospital closed outpatient physiotherapy and occupational therapy services.
In each instance, concerned residents have held community meetings, started petitions and staged demonstrations.
Matthews has ignored them all.
Mehra is one of the few health-care advocates to speak publicly about their frustrations in dealing with Matthews or health ministry officials.
Many others spoke to me only if their names would not be used. They were afraid of being “blackballed,” as one person said, by Matthews and her Queen’s Park staff. Some of them have tried unsuccessfully to meet with Matthews since she was appointed health minister last October.
To fix this mess, it’s time Premier Dalton McGuinty stepped in and ordered Matthews to conduct a full probe into the depth and impact of the community care cutbacks.
He should also demand CCAC officials explain fully why they are slashing vital services without telling or consulting the public.
And while he’s at it, McGuinty should meet personally with health-care groups ignored to date by Matthews.
It wouldn’t be much, but it would be a welcome start.
Bob Hepburn's column appears Thursday. bhepburn@thestar.ca

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Ontario Health Coalition
15 Gervais Drive, Suite 305
Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8
www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca
416-441-2502

More One-Day Hotel Strikes To Come, Union Says
 
CityTV
 
The Toronto International Film Festival may be the biggest event in town right now, but labour leaders have managed to steal some of the spotlight.

Hotel workers and union leaders marched on an “alternative red carpet” at the Hyatt Regency at 307 King St. W. Sunday – one of several planned one-day strikes.

Sid Ryan, the head of the Ontario Federation of Labour, joined workers on the picket line in front of the film festival hub.

Hotel workers and their union leaders from Unite Here Local 75 are protesting increased work loads and what they claim are stagnant wages. They claim hoteliers have locked employees in to recession-level wages despite increased profits from various events, such as the film festival.

Hyatt Regency staff went on a 24-hour strike last week, as well. On Friday, workers from the Fairmont Royal York hit the picket line in a one-day job action. Actor Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez joined the workers in a show of support.

The hotel employees have also won the support of others in the film industry. The Alliance of Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) said it stands behind the hotel workers.

And employees at the Holiday Inn on Bloor Street also held a 24-hour strike Saturday.

More one-day picket lines will be cropping up in front of 10 hotels over the next two weeks, Unite Here says.
 
 
 
Striking hotel workers walk 'alternative red carpet'
 View larger image

Unionized hotel workers at the Holiday Inn on Bloor Street hit the picket line, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010.
Updated: Sun Sep. 12 2010 7:18:42 PM

The Canadian Press/CTV
TORONTO -- Dozens of flag-waving hotel workers staged another one-day walkout on Sunday outside a downtown hotel at the hub of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan, who marched alongside workers on an "alternative red carpet" outside the Hyatt Regency, called on the hotel's owner to "share the wealth."
"I think what they're trying to do is lock in poverty level wages, or a recessionary level of wages in with these workers going forward," said Ryan.
Toronto's hotels have been booked up solid throughout the summer, noted Ryan.
The Hyatt Regency, like others, has emerged from the recession and is making modest improvements to its bottom line, he said.
"If you're making profits and you're doing it as a result of the sweat off the brow of these workers, the least you can do is share some of the wealth with these workers," said Ryan.
It was the fourth one-day strike by city hotel workers since Sept. 3 and the second to hit the Hyatt Regency.
The protest did not block guests from entering the hotel.
On Friday, actor and longtime labour activist Martin Sheen and his actor son, Emilio Estevez, showed their support for hotel workers by joining the picket line outside the Fairmont Royal York. That's something Ryan calls "fantastic."
On Saturday, workers at a Holiday Inn staged a one-day walkout.
Sunday's demonstration got a few curious glances from people attending the TIFF Bell Lightbox block party, which was held only steps away. The street party featured food, face-painting and music from artists such as K'naan, who was scheduled to perform later in the afternoon.
Talks broke down between management and the union representing 150 workers at the Hyatt Regency Sept. 3. No new talks are scheduled.
The workers are seeking a 10 per cent wage increase over three years while the employer is offering five per cent over five years. Pensions, shift hours and health benefits are other issues.
The Hyatt Regency, Holiday Inn and Fairmont Royal York are among the 13 owned or operated by Westmont Group that are bargaining with the union.
Workers at 10 hotels who are in a legal strike position will be taking part in more one-day walkouts in the next two weeks, said Unite Here Local 75 president Paul Clifford.

G20 defendant Alex Hundert found to have breached ‘no demonstration’ condition for speaking at a university panel event

October 8, 2010 – Toronto, Mississauga New Credit – G20 defendant and alleged ‘ringleader’ Alex Hundert was found to be in breach of his ‘no-demonstration’ bail condition today for speaking as an invited panelist at two recent university events. A new bail hearing is now underway at the Scarborough Courthouse at 1911 Eglinton Avenue East in courtroom 405. This hearing is now expected to drag into next week and continue on Tuesday October 12, and Wednesday, October 13.

According to Yogi Acharya “We are outraged at this ruling. He was speaking at a panel discussion in a university classroom alongside professors, which is clearly not a public demonstration. This is yet another attempt to silence Alex, and is a strong indication of the police's intent to criminalize ideas, dissent, and effective community organizing.”

In a previous media statement, Hundert has stated “They are targeting me and because I am part of communities that are effectively organizing across movements. Whether it is the criminalization of anarchists and community organizers like me, or the daily demonization of Indigenous peoples, poor people and migrant communities, we are living in the midst of an increasingly aggressive and openly racist Harper regime that serves only to protect property and profit, not people. We have to show them that our resolve and our solidarity can be stronger than their intimidation and repression.”

Several other G20 defendants remain behind bars, including Indigenous sovereignty activist Ryan Rainville of the Sackimay Nation, punished by the criminal justice system for being poor and unable to afford exorbitant bail, while others face the possibility of deportation as a means of stifling their dissent.

Hundert is currently facing politically-motivated conspiracy and counselling charges in relation to the Toronto G8/G20 protests. He was arrested pre-emptively at gunpoint in a violent house raid on the morning of June 26th, before the protests began, and is being targeted as a member of the community group AW@L and Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance.

This latest attempt is not the first time the Crown has attempted to send Hundert back to jail. On July 28, 2010 the Ontario Provincial Police warned Hundert that media interviews him and his co-accused Leah Henderson did with CBC radio, Toronto Sun, Vancouver Media Co-op, and Rabble were a violation of the no demonstration bail condition and threatened to re-jail them. A day later at a press conference, Hundert and his supporters decried this media ban as a blatant violation of his right to free speech and of freedom of the press. On August 20, the Crown had appealed Hundert and Henderson’s release from jail in the Ontario Superior Court and was seeking pre-trial incarceration. However Federal Court judge Todd Ducharme dismissed the Crown’s appeal.
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For more information and interview requests:

Yogi Acharya 647-764-0488, Rachel Avery 519 616 5549