Fiscal Alternatives to the Drummond Report

Fiscal Alternatives to the Drummond report by FTGU

The Drummond report, to be released on February 15th, will likely recommend deep cuts to public services and other austerity measures. I spoke to Salimah Valiani, an economist with the Ontario Nurses Association, whose report Fixing the Fiscal House: Alternative Macroeconomic Solutions for Ontario, shows that Ontario fiscal crisis is exaggerated and argues that Ontario has a revenue problem and not a spending problem. It provides alternatives to the austerity measures of the Drummond report.

This interview has been condensed.

Q: In your report, you write that compared to several countries, Ontario has relatively small deficit-to-GDP and debt-to-GDP ratios. Can you explain this further?

SV: The amount of public debt that is being carried by the government relative to the wealth being produced is the debt to GDP ratio. In Ontario, it is at 34% and at the national level it is at 32%. Now this compares with about 58% for Germany; 41% for the USA and in an extreme case is Greece which is over 100%.

According to the bankers in Ontario and according to Moody’s, there’s a fiscal crisis, but when we look at the debt to GDP ratio around the world especially in rich countries, we see that Ontario has a low debt-to-GDP ratio.

The deficit to GDP ratio is also low. The deficit is the amount of shortfall for any particular year. The current rate is 3%, 3% in a capitalist economy is very standard.

Credit is a key motor of the capitalist economy and we know that as individuals. We carry debt as individuals and we don’t see that to be the end of the world. Actually, neither do the bankers. If they did, we would have even less overall wealth because people would not be able to buy and that would mean less production.

At a 3% deficit, we need to question why there is now an urge, not only on the part of Drummond, but more importantly on the part of the ruling party in Ontario and most of the opposition, to get of that 3% by 2017. We need to put that questions as Ontarians and not leave it to Drummond.

There isn’t a crisis in Ontario. Like there isn’t a crisis in Germany which is upheld as a very high performing country though it’s debt to GDP ratio is 58%. So if there isn’t a crisis, what is the fuss about?

Q: We have heard a lot about Greece and the austerity measures there. The media paints Greece as a country that has out of control spending. Your report argues to the contrary. Can you talk about the revenue problem as oppose to the spending problem in Greece and how that relates to Ontario.

SV: In Greece, when you study the longer economic history, you see there’s an incredible low rate of tax collection on the wealthy, on corporations and even on small businesses. There are also many tax breaks.

The debt that is accumulated in Greece is due to the inability of the government to collect money which then can spend socially on programs for the people. Because the revenue is so low relative to other European countries there’s social spending is low.

In Ontario, we have a similar situation, if we look at fiscal 1998 and fiscal 2003, we actually lost $6.9 billion in fiscal revenue. Why? Because of tax cuts again on corporations, companies and wealthy individuals.

That’s just a five year figure, from 2003 we have to calculate how much more have been lost. Even after the Conservative party was voted out of Ontario, the tax cuts continued and there is a plan to continue them still. We need to calculate from 2003 onwards to know further losses that have been the reality for the Ontario government. What we do know, for the calculation right now, is that Ontario is third from the bottom in terms of public social spending in Canada.

Q: How has austerity measures in Greece made things worse?

SV: Austerity is cutting public spending which targets public sector workers. What we see in Greece is a huge increase in unemployment because the public sector workers are losing their jobs and that then means that you have even less tax collection. The Greek unemployment rate is now 17% and that is at least 6% more than it was before the public spending cuts happened in 2010. We had 17.5% in 2011 and before that, it was 11.4%.

In Ontario, we have had a lot of job losses and we have a higher rate of unemployment than most of the other provinces in Canada.

If we also entertain public sector spending cuts, we’re simply going to add to the numbers of unemployed workers. Similar to Greece, we will have less fiscal capacity, more workers out of jobs and less able to pay taxes. We will dig ourselves into a further hole except that we will bring down the deficit –this is the argument that is being made.

Does it make sense? We need to ask ourselves and we need to ask our elected officials.

Q: There’s a lot of buzz around the Drummond report being released on Feb. 15th. The report is treated like it’s the answers to all of Ontario’s problems by the mainstream media and these answers are given by one man - Don Drummond, who is the former economist for TD Bank. What else can you tell us about him?

SV: Prior to that, he was working in Paul Martin’s office back when the Canadian government decided to get rid of the debt quickly and made immense cuts in health transfers to the provinces. That was the design of Don Drummond.

Q: We’ve already heard a little bit about the contents of Drummond report such as reducing annual spending increases to 1% and 3% for health care. What consequences will this have for health care and nurses?

Occupy Debrief

The Greater Toronto Workers' Assembly organized an Occupy Toronto debrief on Friday, January 27th at the Beit Zatoun.

The panel aimed to address the following questions: Is this the beginning of a new community/labour coalition that we've been waiting for? Will the Occupy movement be able to sustain itself and help awaken a dormant labour movement? How did the Occupy Toronto experience measure up with other Occupations? How did the existing Toronto far-left respond to Occupy at first, and then once it coalesced? Will Occupy be co-opted, or indeed, is it co-optable? The speakers were all part of Occupy Toronto.

The first speaker, Lana Goldberg spoke about her experiences with Occupy and the day-to-day work, including the Action and Outreach committee, the Finance and the Legal Committee. Some work was done around outreaching to the unions and they were able to get financial support from the unions.

She said the relationship between Occupy and labour weren’t too strong. There wasn’t a lot of labour people in the park and there was some anti-union sentiment amongst some of the Occupy people. A lot of work was done in the committees to challenge these sentiments. She spoke about the work being done post-eviction Occupy.

Lana Goldberg by FTGU

Megan Kinch said Occupy wasn’t really a left project or space. She spoke about the differences and similarities between Occupy and the traditional left. Occupy had a diverse grouping of people who had different political views and as a result was not a safe left space. But that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

She talked about the advantages of the Occupy space and about the importance of working with people who have different views from leftists. Initially Occupy was middle class university students, but this shifted as people from different socio-economic backgrounds joined. She stressed the importance of doing continued long-term education and organizational work if the left wants a voice in the movement.

Megan Kinch by FTGU

Brendan Bruce spoke about labour’s relationship to the Occupy movement. He talked about SEIU and the Occupy Washington and how the union tried to take over the Occupy movement there, then moved onto Occupy Toronto’s experience with the labour movement and their lack of support in fighting their eviction from the park. However, there was tremendous support from the rank and file such as the Air Canada workers. He says Occupy has shown the assembly model of democracy works rather than having labour leaders tell workers what they should do.

Brendan Bruce by FTGU

For Paul Gray, Occupy has called into question the assumptions socialists have. He talked about Engels attack on social democracy and how this relates to Occupy. He argues that the Occupy movement is the logical result for the entire historic arc of social democracy and asks whether the barricade is obsolete and if it isn’t what that means for socialist strategy.

Paul Gray by FTGU

Occupy Talks: Indigenous Perspectives on the Occupy Movement

Video of John Trudell's Look at Us was shown before the talk.

Over 150 people attended the Indigenous Perspectives on the Occupy Movement as part of a series by Occupy Talks at the Beit Zatoun on January 23rd.

Jessica Yee’s article on the Occupy movement, published on Racialicious blog, sparked much debate and discussion around Occupy and the occupation of Indigenous land. Yee argues that the left often organizes campaigns using nationalist and patriotic language and fails to incorporate an anti-colonial and anti-oppression framework into their anti-capitalist project.

Tannis Nielsen, a Metis artist and the evening’s moderator, agreed with Yee’s criticism and called Occupy a re-occupation with potential.

The other speakers agreed with Nielsen and Yee’s analysis. 

Leanne Simpson, a band member of Alderville First Nation and an Adjunct Professor in Indigenous Studies at Trent University, said that Indigenous communities have been resisting the occupation of their land for the last 400 years.

She gave a historical and geographical framework of Southern Ontario and spoke of the devastating impact the Indian Act has on Indigenous people. She stressed the importance of the role of women’s leadership in the resistance against colonization.   
Clayton Thomas-Muller, of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and the Tar Sands Campaign Director for the Indigenous Environmental Network, spoke of his reaction to the Occupy movement when it first started, both his hopes and his concerns.

One of his concerns was that Occupy would take away energy from other campaigns that started before Occupy. He also spoke about how the Occupy movement is dominated by white males and their privilege and the importance of an anti-oppression framework.

But he was also impressed by the infrastructure that Occupy had set up. He wrapped up his talk by talking about London’s Climate Camp where they held a space, but also organized different actions each week. He felt the Occupy people were caught in the day to day work of holding the space such as dealing with conflict resolution, that left little energy for solidarity work such as the Tar Sands campaign.

Tom B.K. Goldtooth, the Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), headquartered at Bemidji, Minnesota, talked about the Indigenous protocol for communication and developing relationship with each other and the relationship to Mother Earth. He felt we need to ask critical questions such as: who are the 99% and when we say take back, who are we taking back from? 

Sponsors: Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Labour Council, Ryerson University, Environmental Justice Toronto, Indigenous Environmental Network

To download click the arrow on the right under info.


Tannis Nielsen by FTGU


Leanne Simpson by FTGU


Clayton Thomas Muller by FTGU


Tom Goldtooth by FTGU

Mayor delays vote on sell-off of social housing

Media Advisory from Tenants for Social Housing

Confusion, uncertainty continue to plague hasty social housing selloff
Tenants dismayed at chaotic process driving potential sale of their homes

TORONTO - After the close of business today and less than 24 hours before the meeting commences, the Executive Committee has removed the controversial sale of Toronto Community Housing homes from the January 24th agenda.

Tenants expressed concern at the chaotic process that seems to be directing the proposed sale of over 700 homes. Confusion over how many homes would be sold, which homes are actually available for sale and how affected tenants would be treated have caused anxiety among social housing residents and concern among many Councillors.

This evening’s abrupt decision to cancel the roughly 75 deputations scheduled for tomorrow afternoon have created further concern that there is no real plan and little clarity about the proposed sale, despite its significant impact on tenants.

The Fight for Social Housing

Download interview by clicking on the arrow on the right under info.

tenants for social housing by FTGU

On October 21, 2011, Toronto Community Housing approved the sale of 706 homes. The Tenants for Social Housing has been organizing to stop the sale and have taken their fight to city hall. On January 24th, they and tenants across the city will be deputing at the City Executive Committee to oppose the sale. There’s still hope after the 24th as the vote goes to City Council in February. I interviewed Susan Gapka of Tenants for Social Housing about their campaign and what can still be done.


Q: Can you tell me about Tenants for Social Housing?

SG: Tenant for social housing is a group of volunteers. We’re not staff. We’re tenants in Toronto Community Housing (TCH). We formed about 11 months ago. It was early in the new Mayor Ford administration. It was around February, there was an audit that came out from TCH that reported overspending and improper contracts.

The mayor set out to disgrace and fire the board of TCH. They met in early March and the mayor fired the board, and bullied the appointed board members who then resigned. It was done without a report to City Council.

There were a number of us tenants who lived in social housing who are organizers. In 2005 and 2006, we had organized a meeting with members of provincial parliament. There’s definitely a problem with housing, the housing is falling apart all around us.

We needed the money for capital repairs. We were able to get commitments from all three levels of government. It wasn’t only the tenants, there were a lot of people involved, there was a lot of goodwill, but we were part of that and we got $380 M in commitments from the federal, provincial government. We had some experience organizing.

When the mayor publicly fired the board of TCH, we organized –that’s where Tenants for Social Housing –We Are Not for Sale came out of.

Q: Can you tell me about the board? I understand there are only two tenants on the board.

SG: That was a really important thing. The tenants and the alternates were removed by City Council without a report. We thought that was inappropriate. The tenants are certainly not living on any gravy train that we know of. Many of us don’t even know what a gravy train looks like. We had elected tenants to the board, so we thought it was wrong for City Council to remove democratically elected tenants.

We weren’t able to stop that. But we were able to re-elect one of them. Catherine Wilkinson was re-elected to the board and Munira Abukar, a Ryerson student, a woman of colour, a young person was elected. We saw that as a victory. When everyone was being fired, we managed to get our elected representatives to the board.

Unfortunately, what happened during the appointment process is that city councillors (Frances Nunziata and Cesar Palacio) favourable to the mayor were appointed. The other citizen appointments, are real estate people. In the very first meeting, instead of looking at a judicial framework, a housing network, they moved a report that approved the sale of 706 homes. We tried to fight that, but we’re unsuccessful. They voted as a block.

Stop the Cuts Rally and Victory

Community mobilization has stopped cuts to many city services. I got an update from Kelly O'Sullivan on the Budget today.

Stop the Cuts Update by FTGU


Over 1000 people turned out for the Stop the Cuts rally at City Hall this evening.




Residents from Etobicoke came down to city hall by buses organized by the Etobicoke Stop the Cuts Committee.




Occupy City Hall sets up tents.




Protestors were blocked from entering city hall by police. Four people were arrested.

Community Recreation For All

C4all by FTGU

On January 17 to 19, City Council will finalize the 2012 budget for Toronto. On the table is a proposal to eliminate free registered programs for children and youth as well as cutting 17 out of 29 community youth outreach jobs. I interviewed Amy Katz with the Community Recreation For All campaign.

Q: What is Community Recreation For All?

AK: Community Recreation for All is a group of community organizations and residents across the city and we are concerned about access to our community centres and recreation programs.

Q: The proposed budget will eliminate free registered programs for children and youth. What are some of the recreation programs that the city funds?

AK: Right now there are 134 community centres across Toronto and 21 of these are called priority centres and just to clarify they’re not related to priority neighbourhoods. They’re scattered across the city.

A priority centre and priority neighbourhood are two different things. The priority centres were established in 1999 long before there were priority neighbourhoods, not all the priority neighbourhoods have them. Priority Centres until 2011 were free for everyone, adults, youth, seniors, and community spaces were free.

Programs include swimming, skating, art, free swim, computer skills, leadership training, fitness, sport, sewing. It’s a real range depending on the kind of programs they run.

Q: Why are these recreation programs important?

Etobicoke North - Stop the Cuts

Etobicoke North by FTGU

Partial transcript of interview:

In the Etobicoke North Stop the Cuts Committee, they have formed a coalition called Rexdale United to organize against the cuts to city services. I talked to Nigel Barriffe, an elementary school teacher and a member of the coalition, about their work.

Q: Can you tell me about the Etobicoke North community?

NB: The Etobicoke North has one of the highest unemployment rates of the 44 wards, one of the lowest average incomes – the average income is about $44,000. That information is available on the City of Toronto website. It’s a high mix of racialized people. You have a very large South Asian community from India, Pakistan. Then we have a very large African, East African, Somali, Horn of Africa, along with the English-speaking Carribean community.

Q: How has the community reacted to the cuts?

NB: There have been a number of smaller groups that have come together under the banner of Rexdale United. So we have been doing a lot of door knocking, a lot of flyering and emailing to the community. We had over 100 residents that came out to a budget forum that was finally called by the councillor after receiving numerous phone calls from our constituents.

We went out and said these are the cuts that are on the table and they were quite obviously upset by it, such as reducing TTC service and at the same time increasing fares. Routes Martin Grove 46, Steeles 60, Islington are all major routes for the TTC and all major routes that service Ward 1 and Ward 2. Councillor Criscanti was hiding behind the fact that he did support getting rid of Transit City which was the opportunity for us to have ligt rail transit in our area. It would have been a huge service increase to our neighbourhood.

They were very upset by these cuts and it showed by the number of people that came out. During the elections, there were never that many people that came out to the electoral debates. There were quite a lot of people that came out to express their views.

A group of youth from Rexdale are doing a campaign to ask the councillors to ride the bus with them for a week. There were a few progressive councillors who said they were willing to take that challenge. Unfortunately our councillor Crisanti, I’m paraphrasing, he was basically saying look it’s not convenient. I can ride it with you for a day, but not for a week.

The youth replied back in another email, ‘That’s our point. It’s not convenient. So that’s why we shouldn’t be cutting back on services and increasing fares. If anything we should be decreasing fares and increasing service.’ It’s unfortunate that he did not take their challenge. It will be interesting to see whether he puts his hand on Jan 17th or not in support of the continued cuts to the TTC.

(youtube video: Rexdale Youth Challenge Toronto City Councillors)

Q: How many people are involved in the committee?

NB: There have been 20 of us that have been working together on it. Everybody has been taking up different roles. It’s interesting to see how the tactics and strategies play out. None of us are full-time organizers. We either work full-time or we’re unemployed looking for work. We’re mothers or grandparents. We’re not professional organizers by any means. We’re citizens and we want the councillors to understand that the cuts he’s making to our neighbourhood are going to disproportionately affect communities like Rexdale.

The effects these cuts will have on Rosedale or Forest Hill are quite different from the effect it will have on Rexdale. When you close down a daycare centre like Greenholme Middle School, you lose those daycare spots, those are affordable daycare spots. People who have the lowest average income in the city, don’t have those resources to go out and pay the regular price for day care.

We have the Rexdale Community Health Centre that offers a lot of senior programs that I understand with a 10% reduction across the board means reducing the number of services that are being offered to the seniors in our neighbourhood. That’s what at stake here for us at Rexdale United and the community members that I’m working with.

Q: Why is it important that we stop these cuts?

NB: We've done the priority neighbourhood investment. The investment in childcare, the investment in transit city, the providing of decent jobs that provide a living wage – that’s called city building. That’s what makes a great city that it is. You have in my opinion a Tea Party mentality, a very right wing, hegemonic, neoliberal agenda, an ideological agenda that is being pushed down on us. We know that because there’s actually a surplus. So there’s no actual reason to cut these services. They have the money, but they’re choosing not to save these services. It’s ideological warfare that’s going on. That’s why it’s important for groups like Stop the Cuts to build coalitions, to build community groups, to build a grassroots movement that’s going to push back against this ideological warfare that’s coming down against our community.