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| 2nd page - NEWS 160: |
E-Mail -- news tips.
July 19/98 Harris Management Minister Chris
Hodgson has announced plans to close up a 100 Toronto schools
and open more schools in other areas.
.........................
Harris cuts lead to layoffs - Young
Teachers Tossed Out by Board's Decision to Kill Adult Education: More than
800 young high school teachers across Greater Toronto are facing layoffs.
Layoff notices were issued after public school boards in Toronto, Peel,
Halton, Durham and York regions worked out the number of teachers needed
for the coming school year based on current secondary school enrolment.
In Toronto alone, 682 teachers were laid off. One factor that contributed
to the high number in Toronto was the board's decision to cut adult education
programs and move to a continuing education model - leaving hundreds of
full-time, unionized teachers jobless
.........................
After-school sports could become
a thing of the past for high school students attending Toronto's public
schools. The Toronto Public School Board does not have the $4 million it
needs to run its extra-curricular sports program, said Lorne Smith, assistant
head of physical education at North Toronto Collegiate Institute. In an
effort to make the public more aware of the funding crisis facing Toronto's
after-school sports programs, high school coaches, athletes and teachers
are holding a news conference tomorrow at Central Technical School on Harbord
St.
.........................
A report on the Toronto
Students and Workers Rally in Solidarity with Indonesian Students
is on the Rallies Page - Sunday May24/98 -- march from the education ministry
to the Indonesian Consulate in Cabbagetown. Report by Gary Morton for Citizens
on the Web
.........................
Huge Tuition Robbery by Harris: LYN
McLEOD Says Ontario university students in graduate and professional studies
face stiff tuition increases this fall with the province's decision to
lift restrictions on fees. The biggest increases are likely for students
entering their first year in the programs this fall. ``It would appear
by deregulating these professional programs, the government is sending
a message that only students from wealthy families need apply,'' said Deborah
Flynn, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.
The Ministry of Education and Training said yesterday
that it will let universities set their own tuition fees for medicine,
law, business, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and
all graduate programs. Education in medicine will now be out of reach for
many. The fee hikes are not mandatory - each university has the option.
So fees could fluctuate from school to school. First-year students in the
much-sought law, graduate business and medicine programs are expected to
be hit by the biggest hikes.
The province also announced its intention to
loosen regulations on fees for undergraduate engineering and computer science
programs. Liberal education critic Lyn McLeod predicted that tuition fees
are going to soar under the government of Premier Mike Harris. ``Every
college and university is feeling cash-strapped because of the Harris cuts
to operating grants,'' she said.
Universities and colleges were hit by a $400
million annual cut to their budgets in 1995. Now, the only new revenue
available is higher tuition fees. Nova Scotia is the only other province
in Canada that allows its universities to set fees. ``What we will have
left is a two-tiered system of higher learning in this province,'' McLeod
said. U of T's new medical students will be hit the hardest - $11,000-a-year
tuition starting in the fall of 1999. Colleges will be allowed to set tuition
fees for all post-diploma programs. Ontario post-secondary students are
already coping with some of the largest tuition hikes in Canada. Fees have
jumped by as much as 60 per cent since the Progressive Conservatives took
power in 1995.
------------------
The Longer Battle is not a Divide (Toronto
Trustees Have Unfairly Voted Education Rights Away.)
By Gary Morton
This is the last of my series of articles detailing this for the Harrisville on the Web site. First let me say that many people agree with my idea of protesting against trustees for voting away Adult Education programs. Many also oppose my efforts. Those in opposition are mostly elite activists on online lists. This is generally the case nowadays. The ordinary citizen who defends things like universality in education or the right of citizens to decide issues like how they are taxed - CVA or whatever, in binding referenda, find themselves opposed by educated radicals who have copped out to the enemy in more ways than one. Not long ago I spent a lot of time arguing with NDP guys who think referenda are a tiger that can't be tamed. Lump them in with Harris and his new anti-referenda, Referdumrenda bill and some liberal MPPs who don't like referenda and you get a guarantee that citizens will never be able to vote on the important basics of government, democracy and taxes.
A spokesperson for People Education e-mails me as to her strong speech to trustees, asking them not to make the Adult Education cuts, but she opposes my efforts to protest directly to the trustees saying it is dividing those who should be united in opposition to Harris and company. The fact is I am running a strong campaign against Harris on my site and have a telephone pole sign campaign underway of large anti-Harris stickers. I am running an election campaign directly against Mike Harris right now.
Gail Nyberg and others think the cuts should go through swiftly so people will see the effects of Harris budgeting, (though that is not their only reason). The truth is that they could just as easily be Harris supporters saying the cuts must be rushed through to improve education. The effects on those at the bottom are same. Yet the politicians and activists don't care. What they care about are their own profiles and looking good in the forums. A lot of what they recommend is silliness - like John Sewell recommending closing schools in only Tory ridings. And it is silly because we shouldn't be making road kill of the innocent so we can hold their corpses up for the TV cameras and Mike Harris. It is not right to hurt Mike Harris by hurting others.
Let's visit the education subject truthfully - When trustees voted to chop Adult Education programs they did it in a way that almost immediately cuts the ability to get into a program for 40 percent of the people applying. Universality is now gone or the basic idea that all are entitled to access to a high school education is gone. Yet the money isn't gone, as Education Minister Dave Johnson is billions richer just this week because of the new union deal.
One citizen e-mailed on the subject saying there comes a time when you have to say no. I say you draw that magic line at the point where a right or institution is to be lost. Whether it is trustees, Mike Harris or the Hospital Restructuring Commission, they do not have the immediate right to close institutions and remove basic rights of citizens in society. They don't have that right because such moves are more than budget cuts. The issue is not just economics. Full debate involving the citizens must take place. All alternatives must be studied. Everything should be public and if it isn't that way then it isn't really good democracy. It is a poor sort of democracy where committees of politicians, boards and commissions rule us.
There were alternatives put before the trustees, but they wouldn't listen or study the details. Instead they cut off debate and ran off quickly to vote our rights away. And it is not as if they had to -- with 400 angry people there against the cuts, smart politicians would have harnessed this force of citizens and used it against Mike Harris.
Some of the trustees have even said things to the effect that there is no use holding back on cuts because Harris will be re-elected anyway. I say that if that is the case, that is more reason to fight now. Whether they want to realize it now or two years from now activists and groups are going to have to target those politicians who won't say NO. Whether they are local politicians, members of boards or from the province or federal government.
There isn't any other way in the long term. The hard fight against them all is the only way. Too many people want an easy way out - dump Harris and Heaven returns. Sorry, I don't think it will be that way. I am working to dump Harris, but only as the first step on the road out of the Harrisville trash.
Support my protest and e-mail these trustees telling them that are the bad apples who killed Adult Education Rights in Toronto.
Judi_Codd@nynet.nybe.on.ca
Gail.Nyberg@tdsb.on.ca
Ron.McNaughton@tdsb.on.ca
Donna.Cansfield@tdsb.on.ca
Irene.Atkinson@tdsb.on.ca
Jeff.Kendall@tdsb.on.ca
Mike.Thomas@tdsb.on.ca
Elizebeth.Moyer@tdsb.on.ca
Doug.Stephens@tdsb.on.ca
Shelley.Laskin@tdsb.on.ca
Sheila.Ward@tdsb.on.ca
Sheine.Mankovsky@tdsb.on.ca
Suzan.Hall@tdsb.on.ca
Gerri.Gershon@tdsb.on.ca
Judi.Codd@tdsb.on.ca
Diane.Cleary@tdsb.on.ca
The School Board Web site is at http://www.tdsb.on.ca/
----------------
650 Million - The Education Dollars Were There By Gary Morton
Today's news shows Dave Johnson to be 650 million richer in education
funds because of the new union wage and pension deal.
When he faxed trustees a week ago asking them not to go ahead with
cuts he was likely hinting that he was interested in providing some millions
to save Adult Education if it was done in a way to make him look good.
The trustees blew it, they barely scratched Harris and now we've lost Adult Education.
We should remember the principle that as a society we feel public education
should be available so citizens all have at least a high school education.
When a principle is agreed on then the service can be delivered. The
trustees hastily voted to suspend democratic input and kill the principle
of universality in public education.
They want us to blame only Harris and Mike wants us only to blame Paul
Martin.
If local politicians want us to believe in local democracy, they should start convincing us that their actions count and that all does not come from higher up.
Also - they would have us believe that we buy rights. That things like education are purely commodities and if some politician higher up switches the marbles and says the money isn't there. Then we can't afford that right or things like education any more.
I say we can because if the people agree on the principle of high school education for all, then a way can be found to deliver it.
The Buck here has been stolen and passed. And as usual the weakest in
society pay the price.
-------------------------------------
Resign - Toronto Trustees Should Resign Over Johnson Fax By Gary Morton
The media had Toronto trustees labeling Dave Johnson the ultimate hypocrite over his last moment fax asking them not to kill Adult Education programs.
Johnson probably is the ultimate hypocrite, but he is also Harris' key hatchet man. A guy shifted to posts to make cuts no one else can stomach. During the Megacity fight he was brought in to force 103 through. But if you think back, John Sewell and a heck of a lot of other people would have been happy to get any sort of message promising cooperation from Johnson.
Read between the lines --- Dave Johnson was telling trustees to hold
off and eventually they could squeeze something more out of him. Johnson
thought cash could be squeezed from administration, but once he was pulled
into some talks some provincial money might have come through.
I read other ideas - The Sun editor felt the overpayment into the teachers'
pension plan could be used to save some programs. Perhaps if our noble
trustees would have held off like smart politicians a spirit of generosity
would have developed and some of the programs would have been saved.
They didn't. They should resign. They tell me I am a friend of Mike Harris for trying to blame them and not him. I do think Harris created an education mess, but saving programs are more important than trying to tag cuts to him. There are always other ways to do media damage to Harris.
I could do without Harris and some of those progressive Toronto politicians.
Progressive trustees leave you on the street unable to get a high school
education. Then likely to follow will be the progressive councilors who
have you and your squeegee swept off to jail as they don't like poor people
littering the streets of our fair Olympic City.
-----------------------------------------
Adult Education Schools Cuts (Does anyone really
believe in anything but budget?)
By Gary Morton
I had a deathly case of the flu Easter Weekend,
but
still got down to the legislature with an armload of large anti-Harris
Some Cuts Never Heal stickers. These to greet Harris on his return. I went
around the building putting them up on the poles. Across the road at the
back were Adult education protesters camped in the Park. I stayed away
from them because I didn't want to make them ill, but did pause to think
about their plight. People without a solid education are pretty much like
me, except that I can write books and novels and essays and build computers
and web sites and so on. Like me in that they are useless on the job market.
Everywhere you go a door is closed because you don't have the education.
It doesn't matter if you really do know how to do it.
At least I did get grade 12. Imagine where adults will get without a high school education in today's society. And to boot we live in a society where teachers and corporate guys tell you than everyone will have to return for education a number of times in their lifetime, just to keep up.
Toronto District School Board trustees voted 14-7 to cut adult day classes Wednesday after debate and angry shouting from 400 people who crowded the board's chambers. Though this is a direct result of the Harris cutbacks, trustees have no excuse for voting this through without a fight.
The cuts will cost 573 teachers their jobs and cut the number of spaces for adults by 4,000 -- five stand-alone adult day-school sites will operate starting Sept. 1 with part-timers who are paid an hourly rate. Another 15 high schools that contain both adults and adolescents will get to keep up to 60% of their adults for another year to reduce the impact on younger students and prevent the schools from being shut completely.
The cuts are quite extensive, why would the politicians vote for them? The answer is simply that politicians no longer have a social conscience that extends beyond a budget line drawn in the sand. At all levels of government they have proven they will sacrifice every value and cut everything sacred if they are told it is necessary because of a shortfall. And that is even if the shortfall is a phony one like the one in Ontario caused by the province pumping billions out of Toronto or the federal debt which is caused because the government decided to stop using the Bank of Canada and to borrow and pay enormous immoral interest to private bankers.
Perhaps citizen groups should start asking the politicians if they will place conscience over budget before lending support.
Here are the Trustees who failed the test and voted away adult education. Some of them smugly laugh at protests, calling them a sign of the times. But what if we made their lives simply unbearable?
How about it -- Gail Nyberg - Ron McNaughton--Donna Cansfield--Irene Atkinson--Jeff Kendall--Mike Thomas--Elizabeth Moyer--Doug Stephens--Shelley Laskin---Sheila Ward---Sheine Manikovsky---Suzan Hall---Gerri Gershon--Judi Codd---Diane Cleary----?
Here are some e-mail addresses--- Give these guys HELL!
Judi_Codd@nynet.nybe.on.ca
Gail.Nyberg@tdsb.on.ca
Ron.McNaughton@tdsb.on.ca
Donna.Cansfield@tdsb.on.ca
Irene.Atkinson@tdsb.on.ca
Jeff.Kendall@tdsb.on.ca
Mike.Thomas@tdsb.on.ca
Elizebeth.Moyer@tdsb.on.ca
Doug.Stephens@tdsb.on.ca
Shelley.Laskin@tdsb.on.ca
Sheila.Ward@tdsb.on.ca
Sheine.Mankovsky@tdsb.on.ca
Suzan.Hall@tdsb.on.ca
Gerri.Gershon@tdsb.on.ca
Judi.Codd@tdsb.on.ca
Diane.Cleary@tdsb.on.ca
The School Board Web site is at http://www.tdsb.on.ca/
-------------
Mike Harris' Education Funding Formula is
a doomed to failure, (April 12/98) say
adult student protesters squatting in tents behind Queen's Park. The adult
students are protesting the shifting of $583 million from adult education
and administration to school maintenance and class downsizing. The protesters
say this shift in funding will force more than 8,000 adult students out
of secondary schools. "Without an education a lot of adults are going
to have a tough time," said one of the students. "A university degree does
not get you anywhere any more, imagine not even having a high school education."
About 570 teachers will be fired in the nextyear, despite estimates in
the Tory education reform plan that more than 3,000 teaching jobs will
be created province-wide over the next three years. "They are going to
let go of the teachers with fresh perspectives and ideas, the ones closest
to being our peers," one protester said.
-------------------
New Harris Education Funding Plans leads to
layoffs--400 Peel District high school
and elementary teachers were fired yesterday. Officials say the province's
new education funding model is the cause. "It's a very sad day for
Peel ... I'm very upset and concerned," board chairman Janet McDougald
said. "This is just the beginning for us." McDougald said the
job cuts -- 100 elementary and 300 high school teachers -- are directly
related to less money in the funding formula for librarians, guidance
counsellors and department heads as well as teacher preparation time.
She claimed her board's budget will be $20 million short this year
despite being given a special "mitigation" allowance of $21 million.
D'Arcy Kingshott, president of the local high school teachers union,
said the 13% of his 2,480 members will be out of work and he's "not
overly optimistic" they'll be hired back. "I'm outraged and angered
... I hold Mike Harris solely responsible." Toronto District school board
chairman Gail Nyberg said her board could be next with the layoff
lists.
-------------------
New Harris Attack on Students - Feb/98 Ontario
parents will pay a higher share of their
children's post-secondary education costs starting next year, Education
Minister Dave Johnson says. Johnson said the government is clamping down
on students by withholding income-tax refunds from those who can't repay
loans. And Ontario will require schools with exceptionally high rates of
loan defaulters to themselves repay a portion of the money. New lower thresholds
on family income for determining how much the Ontario Student Assistance
Program (OSAP) will lend a student. At present, OSAP and a federal
matching program lend single students up to $9,350, and married students
or single parents up to $17,000, a year for tuition and living expenses.
But those maximums can drop, depending on family income and on a student's
own income and assets. For example, children in a family of four
whose household gross income is $40,000 a year currently qualify for the
maximum loans. But under yesterday's announcement, the maximum is reduced
by $100 regardless of whether one or both children attend a post-secondary
institution. In a family of four with a total income of $55,000,
the current reduction is $324 but that will rise nearly threefold next
year to $933 for one or both kids. A household of four with a total
income of $65,000 will see its reduction go to $3,919 from $3,286 at present.
Wayne Poirier, head of the Ontario wing of the Canadian Federation of Students,
called the change ``one further example of how the government is eroding
student assistance. Poirier recalled that tuition is expected to
rise dramatically following a government decision late last year to allow
colleges and universities to raise tuition by 20 per cent or more in the
next two years.
---------------
Students in Jeopardy in Bank Squat:
The anti-Harris chants reached my ears as I strode through the underground
beneath
the Commerce Court. As I took an escalator up to see what was going on,
I was not aware that a huge anti-Harris student rally had just taken place,
with thousands of students blocking King and Bay Streets. It happened that
some of the students decided to take their case to the president of the
bank and crowds streamed into Commerce Court. To stop the crowds, police
decided to lock the doors, and at that point the students inside decided
to squat and not leave. They felt staying would highlight their protest
against Mike Harris' Sixty percent increase in tuition fees.
Fifteen riot cops suddenly appeared behind me as I rode up on the escalator,
and at the top I found myself in a scuffle with cops who wanted me out.
I pushed ahead and ended up in the press ranks, shouting that I was with
the press. A uniformed cop continued to hassle me but later gave up, and
I was pushed aside as a screaming female student was dragged past me by
the police.
A couple hundred students had taken over the North West corner of the
ground floor, an area with open Plexiglas windows that allowed another
crowd of protesters to watch from outside. Kiosks and ledges on the marble
walls allowed some of the student leaders to perch above the reach of the
police while others sat on the floor. The mood was very hostile at first
with some students shouting F--ing pigs. They were angry about earlier
arrests.
While I was standing with the press I commissioned a student writer
to write a report for me and he is still inside. Just after I did that
the police told the press ranks to move back to the wall as they were going
to advance for arrests. One squatter noticed this and shouted a warning,
then a police spokesman denied that they were moving in. To clear things
up I stepped forward and told the students that the police were going to
charge in and the press were in fact just stepping back for good photo
angles.
The police held back, a debate began between students who wanted to
leave because of fear of the police and students who wanted to squat indefinitely.
Those who wanted to stay won the vote, but people who wanted to leave were
allowed to do so.
The police would not allow water or toilet facilities for the squatters
so they decided to build their own toilet. This was done by using the potted
plants and taping protest leaflets and signs up to create a private area
-- or somewhat private as a lady in charge of a TV crew said, "I
definitely want a shot of that" and sent up a camera to get a picture of
people peeing.
The security cameras were and are taped over with protest stickers,
which is good since a police spokesman announced they were going try and
charge people in days after the squat was over. Undercover cops, some of
them taking photos and footage were everywhere. At some points there were
more police than squatters.
Even so the atmosphere got kind of homey at times. One of the kiosks
had a bank poster on it with a family and a big slogan that said I SEE
OUR NEXT HOUSE HAVING A BIG OLD OAK TREE.......
The mood started shifting from worry to jubilation as time wore on
-- students sang Solidarity Forever and tossed ripped bank flyers in the
air like confetti. I talked to a guy called D or Dee from the Dead Poet's
Society, a group that recorded a song called Down With Mike Harris and
has an album called Dangerous Days. D was acting as a sort of mediator,
trying to keep everyone happy.
For me worry took over for two reasons - it looked like the police
were going to get brutal and I remembered that I had just picked up prescription
drugs for my invalid ex-wife. These were in my bag and if I were arrested
the police would likely try to tag me for possession of illegal drugs.
The police spokesman also refused to say what had happened to George Shepherd,
a protester arrested earlier, other than to say he was likely at 52 Division.
They also refused to reveal what he was charged with and this convinced
many of the activists to remain stubborn with the police.
I got out and talked to people on the outside. The police seemed to
be gathering in huge numbers so I went back for a tour of the underground
and got beneath the squatters. Standing behind a post I heard an undercover
man on a cell phone say they were going to move in twenty minutes. He then
saw me and called for someone to remove the trash from the hallway. I ran
out and mentioned to a student by the window that the police might move
in twenty minutes. Another said a huge number of police with shields were
at the side. A lady who stuck a note to the glass passed this info to the
people inside. They reacted by putting on their coats and announcing they
were preparing for the assault. When the twenty-minute deadline ended all
of the riot cops suddenly just walked out and drove away. So it looks like
they were going to move but decided to leave it. Right now uniforms are
on guard till the riot guys come back.
An important point here is if the police had moved in it likely would
have been a disaster. With windows and potted plants and people up on ledges,
there could be serious injury. It is rather shocking that not a single
politician tried to bring about a peaceful resolution to this squat.
I may go back later to check the situation. Some of the students wanted
to contact Councilor Jack Layton for help. People might try to get him
at Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Suite 207, Toronto, M5V 3C6, Phone: 392-4060,
Fax: 392-4120
..........................
2:30 a.m. -part 2
I returned to the Bank at one a.m. to find the protesters still
inside and Solidarity Forever written in yellow tape on the sealed revolving
doors. Some young women were up on the platform top of the doors dancing.
Others were dancing in the confetti of torn bank flyers on the floor. The
majority sat - in a rough head count the figure I got was 125 people still
squatting in the bank. They are surrounded by police who are intent on
arresting them when they leave.
At about 1:45 four of the protesters decided to leave, and as the fourth
person, Ben Donahue, emerged, he was jumped by police. The crowd outside
immediately charged the police, chanting Shame, Shame as they dragged Ben
to a paddy wagon. His distraught girlfriend is now at 52 division at Spadina
and Dundas, trying to find out if he is there and what he is charged with.
Police said they got him for an earlier assault, but they can't be believed.
Likely they pushed him and he pushed back at some point and now they are
trumping up assault charges. People outside and inside are trying to rally
support - they need people at King and Bay. If they leave they all have
to leave together, to try and weaken the police. Supporters should try
to get to King and Bay, Commerce Court, by early morning. People outside
the bank worry the police and Commerce security. They don't want to make
a mass riot arrest while under scrutiny. Anyone who can get to the police
or 52 division to help those who will be arrested should do so. Without
a doubt the police will grab a good lot of people in the morning and jail
them. The number to file a complaint against Toronto Police is 416 326
1189. People who want to help could try phoning there and demanding
information on those arrested.
..........................
Part 3 - Morning 7 a.m.
I stopped by at the Bank at 7 a.m. and found the students outside
the bank growing in numbers. The squatters were also still inside, but
now looking rather tired and subdued. The kids outside had the red federation
of students banner up at the corner and were getting a lot of honks and
support from the traffic. I spoke to some of the people, mentioning I had
sent out a lot of e-mail, trying to get support, so that the people inside
could walk out without getting arrested. Students with cell phones were
also working hard and though I had to leave I heard supporters did arrive
because of their efforts. Enough that Police Chief David Boothby showed
later in the morning and agreed the squatters could leave without being
arrested. Apparently there were some struggles before Boothby came as officers
tried to make some grabs on people.
I believe Boothby made the right decision. One thing I learned is that
a successful sit-in is not a very likely thing. It was only because of
the odd location of this one that the police were not able to make a mass
arrest. I also learned that you can't expect anything from the press -
I didn't see radio and TV coverage but did read the papers. The Globe and
Mail made no mention that the sit-in was still ongoing and led people think
it was a brief thing. The Sun posted terrible coverage and ended quoting
some passing business men who said the students should get a job. This
was terribly unfair as nearly all of the passing business men I spoke to
last night sympathized with the students. Worst of all was the Toronto
Star - the protest was partly against Premier Mike Harris' hefty tuition
fee hikes of 60 percent, yet the Star made no mention of this and instead
said Mike Harris supported the protest. The Star made the protest look
like a joint thing with the Bank of Commerce, Mike Harris and the students
protesting together on the issue. Either the Star likes to post misinformation
or else no one there is sober.
..........................
Here is a capsule on what the CFS wants
The Canadian Federation of Students is demanding that tuition fees
be abolished. In keeping with the principle that public post-secondary
education is a public responsibility and a public benefit, funding for
post-secondary education should be paid for by the public, paid through
taxes collected by the federal government. The Prime Minister must appoint
a minister for higher learning, and create a national advisory council
on post-secondary education. Ottawa must set out five principles
on post-secondary education, like the five principles of medicare. 1. Public
administration so that colleges and universities are nationally planned
and governed on a not-for-profit basis. They are now a provincial jurisdiction.
2. Accessibility for everyone, regardless of background. 3.
Comprehensiveness, so that public education ensures a complete range of
learning options. 4. All academic credits be transferable between institutions
and barriers between schools in different provinces be eliminated. 5. Mobility
so that provincial residency requirements for student grants and awards
would be eliminated
It is long past due that Canada should live up to its international
obligations and abolish all educational user fees.
................................
Mike Whacks the Weak and Meek BY ALLAN STOKELL -- from Eye Magazine
We were never formally introduced. We met on the steps of the west entrance of Queen's Park. The first of December was sunny and very cold. At about the time Bill 160 was being passed we were part of a flow of protesters, mostly students heading for the street. I was being interviewed by a reporter. I was calling Mike Harris and his ReformaTories fascists. I looked up and he was beside me. That is when I saw the yarmulke.
When I had finished he said: "Yes, they act like the Nazis. They choose one group at a time. Blame poverty on the poor, no one will complain. Knock off the teachers, it's really the union bosses. Who will they take away next?"
At that moment a gaggle of students rushed by, shouting about blocking University Avenue. I stopped them. "There are not enough of you!" I protested: "Wait until later, when the demonstration starts." They didn't listen. They marched down the path to the street. We followed at a middle age pace.
The students did manage to block the northbound traffic flow. Large, strong 18-year-olds sat across the road chanting "Bill 160's got to go!" Soon they were vastly outnumbered by police. There were no cameras.The storm troopers could act with impunity. Some pushing started at the front of the line. Soon the horses were in. Heads were being bashed. A big cop took out my fellow picketer. He crashed to the floor. Three cops were on his back. Blood from his mouth flowed on to the street. His yarmulke, now detached from his crown, was crushed when he was picked up and dragged to a waiting police car.
It seems youth has its advantages. The jackals overlooked the six-footers with the rippling muscles. They chose the meek and weak.
I watched in horror. I began to scream "Nazis... Nazis." A cop rushed
me, pushing and dragging me to the
sidewalk while threatening: "You're next for the handcuffs!"
We did no wrong. We exercised our right to democratic process. I walked
home to write an email. My comrade, whose name I may never know, goes to
jail. As I left they were chanting. "We will never forget!"
In all my middle-class Tory days I will never forget the look on his face. The blood dripping from his mouth. Smile your know-it-all smile, Dave Johnson. Smile your vacuous smile, Mike Harris. Every time I see you smile, I will see the blood oozing from between your teeth.
Allan Stokell is a student at George Brown College and a parent.
----------------------------------------
Not a Happy Day and Not a Kind World -- December
1rst, 1997
for the parents, the children and the people as the Education Quality
Improvement Act goes through.
It was sunny at 1.30 as I buzzed over to the legislature. The first pickets were arriving and inside the galleries were filling with people opposed to education bill 160. I talked to Francois Rouleau of the Democracy Model group for a few minutes but had to get back to work. Before I left I handed a whistle to a protester. He said he would blow it all afternoon, and I grinned as I left because it was an expensive whistle with a high decibel capacity. It would have cut through and irritated Harris inside the legislature.
Only thing is it seems that NDP leader Howard Hampton was the person who heard it -- as he showed at the Citizens for Local Democracy meeting in the evening with a speech full of ideas on how to blow the whistle on the Tories.
Hampton looks like a political version of Stacey Keach and seems like a kindhearted sort of guy. He began his speech by saying that today is not a happy day, but the worst of days for education in Ontario. He didn't want to go into an analysis of bill 160 as he felt we all know the score on its undemocratic contents. His focus was on - What Next? One thing he is certain of is that this is not the end of the fight on 160 and not the end of the fight against the Harris education agenda. It is just the beginning.
Three significant events will occur according to Hampton. Just before
Christmas the funding formula will be announced. Boards will face an 11%
cut and this will reveal that Harris is dipping into education for money.
The second event will on January 1rst when the megaboards are supposed
to be up and running. They won't be because that is impossible when they
don't even know what their funding will be. This situation will be a mess
and Harris will get hit for it.
The third event will be in March when teachers start getting early
layoff notices. This will be another opportunity to show Ontarians what
Harris is really up to.
The East End Parents Network got a thanks from Hampton and applause from the audience over the issue of the referendum. Here are the details from the NDP web page -- NDP LAUNCHES PETITION CAMPAIGN FOR REFERENDUM ON BILL 160--The NDP has launched a province-wide campaign to collect signatures from 10% of Ontario voters (about 700,000) to compel the Mike Harris government to hold a binding referendum on education Bill 160. To get copies of the petition, call (416) 325-8684 or email: ndpmail@ndp.on.ca or print out our on-line version from our website http://www.ndp.on.ca/campaigns/education/bill160_petition.html.
The Tories plan to run on a Direct Democracy ticket again in the next election. The NDP want people to go out and get 700,000 signatures to present to the Tories. Once this happens the Tories will have to either follow through and support Direct Democracy and drop Bill 160 or else admit that their Direct Democracy platform was and is all rhetoric. At present they are in bad shape with the people -- Citizens by vote rejected the Megacity, Casinos, VLTRs, fast AVA, Pooling and all the rest of the Harris agenda. And by wide margins. Harris will be in a real bind if he refuses to recognize a province-wide petition.
Another sucker punch for Harris will come in May with the final funding formula. It will be revealed that the lion's share of the money taken from education will come from the Toronto Boards. This will be a reminder to citizens here that they have been Mega-robbed. The Common Sense Revolution was a Trojan horse and the sacking and pillaging is now too out of control for Harris and his big Toronto media pals to hide.
Howard Hampton says there is a reason why the Harris government is not democratic. Democracy is based on the idea of one person, one vote, and the Tories don't believe in that - they believe in the market. They believe that whoever has the cash should rule. They are not a government going too far too fast, as is often said. They are a government going absolutely in the wrong direction. Bill 160 is not about quality in education, it is about taking the democracy out of education.
Liberal Alvin Curling took the microphone after Hampton and offered some inspiring words. He mentioned that Thomas Jefferson called the Tyranny of the Legislature the worst of democracy. And in his mode as tyrant, Harris calls the large majorities of Ontario citizens that oppose him on issues, special interest groups. It is fitting that Harris' first act in parliament was to cut benefits to the poor by 22 percent. Curling then said he likes to look at the situation in a non-partisan way. He felt the NDP members also delivered elegant speeches against bill 160. The issue is now greater than parties, Curling said, to much applause. Then he pointed out that the conservatives plan to stay in power with a minority of the popular vote.
What Alvin Curling was really saying here is that Liberals and NDP will likely unite and aid one another on the petition effort and the larger effort to unseat Harris.
After Curling spoke there was talk about Citizens for Local Democracy leader John Sewell and others getting letters from Chris Stockwell, speaker of the legislature, warning them they were about to be banned from the premises. Stockwell has been in news lately with his theories that citizens aren't elected and are not really needed around the legislature.
My personal opinion is that Sewell doesn't need to be at the legislature. All citizens groups should take Curling's idea a step further. The issue is now great enough that we should be out aiding the opposition parties in all efforts to unseat the Tories. Sewell and others should be leading their troops out to the people to get signatures on those petitions. And if not getting signatures, distributing literature or aiding those fasting, sitting in or whatever.
And watch and see - it won't be long before the Tories will be wishing we were all back at the legislature blowing whistles, instead of out in public blowing the whistle on them.
Around five to six o'clock at the legislature, it was dark and cold and the mob was huge and angry. The police stared from behind their barricades. The drums and whistles, chants and shouts made me think of the end of the world and that we were the ones cast out. I took a large green garbage bag out my sack, put it on and tore out a hole to breathe. Up at the front I shouted, I'm Tory garbage, come and get me.
More than a few people laughed --- but then there are too many who have been made garbage and cast outs by Harris.
Not a Happy Day in Ontario and Not a Kind World
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Week of Darkness - People for Education Protest
at Queen's Park --Nov 27
Harris' horrible bills found the right week for passage. It
was dark in Toronto, like Christ had been punished again. Given the suffering
that will be inflicted by the tenant and welfare bills that have gone through,
the darkness was a shadow from our future. More of our rights as citizens
have died.
The provincial Education bill - Bill 160 was to pass today but liberal leader Dalton McGuinty used a loophole to delay the vote until Monday. A planned large protest fizzled a bit early. I arrived near the end of it but heard from a person not involved in protests that a huge crowd was present -- he was amazed that so many people would be protesting an education bill.
I arrived with a printed flyer to hand out and paused to holler up at the curtains - yelling, you're a scum Harris. Annie Kidder and a crowd of the People for Education protesters were behind me making noise and blowing whistles. One man put a sign on me that said Mike Harris - Public Enemy Number One. I also had on a Halloween mask of a devil and was on roller skates. The presence of my tiny or huge big mouth caused a police car to block the steps. There were also a lot of police on the steps. The legislature is like a fortress now and for no reason that I can see. We marched there all the time during the Megacity fight and made a lot of noise, and special police and horseback patrols were not needed. They have also been working with a huge crane at the side and I suspect one use they may have planned for it is to rescue Harris from a high window should protesters trap him inside. I have been chased away from the legislature recently - I stopped by to make some noise on my own on my way to a Democracy Model meeting and ended up fleeing from a Toronto cop. I got even yesterday by arriving early and pasting up huge Stickers. You may think, like the police, that I am a lunatic, but when you consider that we have a government that truly is an invasion force, you might change your mind. Their agenda has been rejected in referenda all across Ontario, yet they are pushing it through using undemocratic house rules they created, in a house that is like a war time fortress. Perhaps I am not a lunatic, but one of many people sane enough to be doing the right thing by protesting.
I skated back and forth for a while by the steps then another protester came up to tell me that it was the mask the cops didn't like. Apparently I am a threat because I could fly in on skates. The mask covers my whole head, meaning the pepper spray wouldn't work on me. This fellow was a Westerner and he told me that out in the Alberta he rode his horse right into the legislature during protest. I replied that the problem here is that only half of the horse got in and that is the horse's ass in the premier's chair.
A minute or two later, liberal Mike Colle passed and said hello Mr.
Morton. He knew who I was regardless of the mask. I handed him a Fight
the Harris Tyranny sheet - the details of it are at the bottom of this
post. I should mention that I skated around the area with the sign and
mask later, noting that Harris has very little support on the street. Women
grin or laugh. Low income and street people nearly always shout support
and I even had the people who sell the street paper Outreach including
copies of my flyer with the paper. The Harris support comes from the odd
well-to-do white male -- some of them yell obscenities at me. One protester
I talked to said he had been with people decorating areas of downtown with
green ribbons, only to find later that a few well dressed businessmen with
scissors had followed them and cut the ribbons just after they left. A
lot of work is store for these men as some of the schools have thousands
of ribbons around them.
-----------------------------
Teachers' Solidarity Rally
– Nov 8th, sponsored by the Metro Network for Social Justice
It was fairly warm, the streets carpeted by
large crisp leaves. I headed out with signs and planned to cover an
election rally at City Hall. It never happened to my knowledge, and I think
it was because Barbara Hall and Mel Lastman refused to appear. Near Queen’s
Park I put on skates, a devil mask, a huge Harris Hates Toronto sign and
held two other signs as I skated around. The lettering on them said
Harris Hates Ontario and Stop Mel, Mel Makes it Worse. I got a flyer from
the labour council near the subway and it listed their recommended candidates
for Monday’s election. I was certainly surprised to see that they recommended
Barbara Hall for mayor – the reason being that Barbara voted to take legal
action against Days of Action people. The flyer includes a cartoon of Mike
Harris as a cat burglar.
Rather than being dressed to be conspicuous, I looked a lot like everyone else. For a radius of a few miles around Queen’s Park, I encountered protesters with buttons and signs. At City Hall I didn’t find an election rally, instead it was Buzz Hargrove speaking from the back of a pickup truck. Buzz said the militant UAW has never gone on a long illegal protest like this so you can imagine how ugly the bill is for usually non militant teachers to do so. He said that if there is a problem with education it really shows in the 82 Tories in parliament. Bill 160 has not passed the test of public debate and input and should be scrapped according to Buzz. With the media doing a lot to obscure just what is happening, I was glad to hear the next part, which Buzz also talked of in his speech at the larger rally. The strategy the teachers will now take is similar to the Days of Action. The unions want to stage community by community shutdowns across Ontario and have the action end with a general strike. So it isn’t over when they go back Monday, as the papers would have you believe.
Back at Queen’s Park it was music and singsongs. One entertainer did a Joplin song as Take Another Fair Share of the Cash Now Mike. Harris Free Zone, has become the slogan of choice for lapels. There were union flags and variety in signs – some examples – Keep Politicians Out of the Classroom, Working Conditions are Learning Conditions, Retired Teachers’ Defense, Harris A B C – Arrogance, Bullying, Cuts. I saw Bill 160 as a stop sign, and a toilet seat sign that said Flush Bill 160. The best sign was an historical one with Mike Harris in uniform beside Adolph Hitler. Parents and student support groups and democracy groups were present. I came across a homeless member of the Democracy Model at the rally, and he was in favour of militant action and wondering why people in our society were letting democracy slip away because they were afraid someone might be inconvenienced. He mentioned there had been a teach-in on global corporate rule at OISE, and it was only then that I realized that foreign people I had talked to earlier in that direction were from it -–they were also strong supporters of my costume and reasons for protesting. An article in the Sun today reveals that liberal cabinet ministers relied heavily on corporate donations, and were rewarded by the pharmaceuticals for the damage they did to health care. Another person I saw was Dan King, handing out Ruth’s petition cards for an Ontario election. Ruth is another member of Democracy Model. While talking to him the very first education protester came over – he was at Queen’s Park in August for my Harris Hates Toronto protest and was pissed when the other unions failed to give him any support. Guess he sure has support now. He mentioned that Bill 109, the Tory library bill has been killed by Isabel Basset, and 18 million in funding has been restored. Basset apparently feared local control and that local politicians would censor books. Harris and Johnson have not been giving in at all though, as it is only Basset and Witmer who make concessions. Johnson needs a police escort to go places in Toronto without being attacked, and wherever Harris goes in Ontario, protesters surround the hotel. This of course does not phase them or convince them that there might be a problem.
There were a number of speeches at the rally, and while Kathleen Wynne of Citizens for Local Democracy was delivering a fiery speech, I noticed I was standing beside David Lewis Stein of the Toronto Star. I gave him a Democracy Model anti-Megacity election flyer. You are going to love this one, I said. He folded it up, appearing to be frowning up at Wynne on the stage. By the way, I said. There has been a debate started on the Citizens for Local Democracy internet forum. It is titled Stein Asininity, in reference to your recent columns. Have you any message for the group? Grinning, Stein said, Well, I guess I can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Then he quickly walked away. Like he would quickly walk away from anyone identified as having something to do with C4LD.
So my final assessment is that the teachers
must push to make sure the protest actions as outlined by Hargrove happen.
Relying on the liberals or NDP in the house would be a big mistake.
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October 6th - Fascism as Soft as Candle Wax
By Gary Morton
Indian Summer had me wearing shorts on Oct. 6th. I arrived at
Maple Leaf Gardens with a Harris Hates Toronto sign in my hand and a Harris
Hates Ontario sign on my back. A huge crowd was already moving through
the doors, and it swelled till the police were forced to close off a lane.
And that was only the beginning as 15 minutes later the Gardens were full
and the entire street ended up closed and filled with people. Bill 160
was the issue and the protesters were teachers. Looked like every teacher
in Ontario had arrived and brought friends as well.
A bass drum began to pound in the street and whistles and chants of We Won't Back Down! began. Stopping in the centre of the street I blew my whistle loudly a few times, then I looked up and listened as the din of the crowd echoed from the towering Days Inn and Lexington Condos.
Turning, I saw through the crowd to the Golden Griddle and noticed that the person banging the drum was Bob Olsen, a guy who used to lead Citizens for Local Democracy marches to the legislature before he quit the group because of a dispute with the Steering Committee. I took time to walk over and tell him I had also split from C4LD. I invited him to a meeting of the Democracy Model group.
Back on the edges of the crowd, I skated the perimeter, drawing a lot of comments because of my signs. In this crowd, men mainly ignored me, but a lot of women liked my oddball form of protest. I had till nine, then the march to Queen's Park would begin. I decided to race around town and with my signs up I skated down to the C4LD meeting and found they were to march to City Hall for the end of the last council session. A friend pasted a couple No Megacity stickers on my signs and I left heading back to the Gardens.
I was the only person there with a No Megacity message, the rest were all to do with bill 160. I ended up in the street looking at the soft blue and red lights on the Gardens Marquee, thinking about the situation with Harris. Bill 160 takes the governance powers in education away from elected school boards and parents and teachers and puts them in the hands of the cabinet and the Orwellian Education Improvement Commission. Harris has many bills, but they all have a common theme. Rights of the citizens are taken away - in Megacity it was the right to vote and have it mean something. In other bills the takeways aren't so obvious. It might be your right to benefits or a fair hearing on them . . . or the rights of an entire group are taken away in a sneaky way. Harris' bills always take money out of the system affected - usually billions. What he leaves behind is a restructured and crippled system that is to be primed for privatization or else governed by a new undemocratic and unaccountable board, commission or tribunal.
Putting it in the simplest perspective - the new Ontario is a place where citizens and minority and majority groups will have some rights but not many. They are fast food rights that a commission or tribunal can remove at any time. Most of the democratic institutions of society are remade into less democratic structures - as in the Megacity, where corporations and people of influence have access to government, but citizens and ratepayers do not. The new Ontario looks like a democracy, but that is really a facade. Every four years we elect a new dictator or we elect reps to Megacity councils, and they of course, represent the larger powers who fund their campaigns and not the citizens. It means we will get things like fingerscanning and library user fees and on and on - and get it from councilors and MPPs who claim to be progressive.
There was a time when workers would fight back, and in these times people are fighting back, but rather than call them workers, I call them democratic citizens. It is not just a labour issue, the fight is for real democracy.
By eight o'clock speakers were addressing the crowd in the street and there were more chants of We Won't Back Down! Nancy White came out and sang a version the Beatles' Revolution. A while later the march to Queen's Park began, and this was quite a large affair, almost like a big days of action event.
A stage had been erected at Queen's Park and as the first of the marchers
arrived a singer was doing a version of I Shot the Sheriff, but as I Shot
Bill 160, and I swear it was in self defense. Speakers included liberal
leader Dalton McGuinty, NDP education critic Bud Wildman and a clown version
of John Snobelen. McGuinty said that in the legislature Snobelen had claimed
to be a friend of teachers and he felt that was like Colonel Sanders claiming
to be a friend of chickens. McGuinty said the fight was worth fighting
and called on teachers to get out and get the support of neighbours and
friends.
Bud Wildman noted the sea of candles burning all the way to College
Street and pointed out that Snobelen had said that only the union bosses
and not the grass roots opposed him. Wildman then got a chant of We Won't
Back Down! going.
The real Snobelen didn't address the crowd because the Tories ducked out. The legislature had been scheduled to sit, but rather than face protest, the Tories hid. In my opinion the singing clown Snobelen did a version of Taking Care of Business that was better than a speech by the real Snobelen would have been.
During that song a familiar face emerged from the crowd. A labour guy who had protested with me August 18th, when only four of his union pals had shown. He was wildly enthusiastic about the size of the crowd. He also told me that he had copied the various flyers I had given him and posted them in high schools all over Ontario. Will Harris back down on this bill? he asked.
I looked at the soft light of the sea of candles and back to the soft glow from windows in the legislature. Candle wax dripped on my hand. I knew the whole thing wasn't about whether Harris would back down on this one. Harris isn't chopping workers with his cuts, he is chopping the democratic citizen, and his replacement for democracy is the rule of big business and undemocratic boards - his replacement is fascism as soft as candle wax. An Ontario where people will think they live in a democracy when democracy has become merely a token.
Don't know, was my answer.
Bill 160 Shatters Quality Education in Ontario said the sign waving
in front of me. And that is part of a Harris plan to shatter quality democracy
in Ontario, I thought.
----------------------
……………………………
Deck Stacked in Education Bill Hearings. Though
opponents of bill 160 are so numerous you
can practically hear them hollering on any street, Dave Johnsons list of
speakers are four home-schooling groups whose members teach their kids
themselves and would not be affected by much of the bill - as well as business
groups, think tanks and a host of education reform organizations friendly
to the government. ``We've never seen anything like this,'' said Lyn McLeod,
Liberal education critic. The government ``has stacked the deck in terms
of supporters of the bill rather than critics.''
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