The following letter by CUPE Local 79 President Tim Maguire was sent to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, expressing alarm over the irresponsible public sector cuts recommended in the Drummond Report.
Dear Premier McGuinty:
On behalf of the largest municipal local union in Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 79, I am alarmed at the recommendations and direction of the Don Drummond, Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services. The 300 plus recommendations in the Drummond Report are all about cutting the public services that the people of Toronto and Ontario want and need. During times of slow economic growth and high unemployment our citizens need public services to be there for them, as they try to stabilize their household finances and family responsibilities.
The Report by Don Drummond represents the same old banker’s mindset of austerity that has been discredited by many. For example, in its analysis, Deconstructing Drummond, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives notes that an austerity agenda would only make matters worse and the Ontario government should instead be looking to create jobs and stimulate economic growth.
It’s time to challenge this mindset that repeatedly states “debt and deficits are out of control – so we must cut public spending.” The results of an austerity agenda are by now predictable and make no economic sense. Public sector workers are laid off to save money, unemployment skyrockets, high unemployment means reduced tax revenues and the fiscal deficit rises. In the end there are less supports for all the citizens in Ontario and the income gap between rich and poor widens further. (The “Working Poor” in the Toronto Region, Metcalf Foundation, February 2012)
Premier McGuinty, you need fresh thinking on how to reduce the deficit in Ontario. A good place to start is by putting an end to the corporate tax cuts that will cost the Ontario treasury over $2 billion in revenue this year. Increased revenue of $2 billion would mitigate the harsh recommendations in the Drummond Report.
You cannot balance the books by giving the banks and corporations tax breaks while working families are struggling with the high costs of energy, student debt, child care, home care, long term care and inadequate pensions.
The people of this province, not the banks, need a break.
The recommendations in the Drummond Report will not create one job, but they will increase the growing number of people out of work. This Report is not a ‘vision’ for Ontario – scrap it.
Yours truly,
Tim Maguire
President
