Capitals' "mascot for Ontario": Notes on the NDP going to the dogs.

Greg Waters

The imposition of "social contract" cutbacks across Ontario makes
it painfully obvious that the NDP is more than willing to sacrifice
human needs in its attempts to satisfy the demands of the corporate
agenda.

Those who campaigned and voted for the NDP were not expecting that
the party that promised to serve in the interests of working people
would implement what is perhaps the toughest of all the austerity
policies imposed by the provincial governments during the
recession. Since its electoral victory in 1990, Bob Rae's New
Democrats has shamefully postponed, and drastically denied, access
to basic social services.

When the "social contract" cutbacks were first announced, union
bureaucrats pounded the government with a wave of militant
rhetoric. Premier Rae tried to duck this criticism by saying he
would "much prefer to be practical and speak directly to the people
of the province remembering that it's their interests that come
first."  In reality, however, Rae's efforts at bailing out a
sinking system sets the record straight as to whose interests
really come first.

Two years ago, Community and Social Services Minister Tony Silipo
announced that the NDP would be providing daily breakfasts to
hungry children across the province. Since Silipo's announcement,
however, the government has served up nothing but delays and
excuses. Even though the Ministry says it's prepared to introduce
this desperately needed service, Cabinet wrangling has stalled any
effective action. As the recession forces more and more people--in
fact the number has doubled since the NDP took office--to depend on
social assistance, and as child poverty dramatically increases, the
proposed nutritional program is continually shelved pending further
reevaluation.

While the politicians and bureaucrats posture over how to balance
budgets, the one child in five that is dependent on the province
for the basics of survival is ignored. As it now stands, instead of
trying to make sure that all the hungry children are fed a decent
breakfast, the government plans to serve as a 'catalyst' for
volunteer agencies. What this means is that very little cash is
being used to feed children, who, for example, constitute almost
half of the clients at Toronto's Daily Bread Foodbank.

Another NDP strategy for cutting back is to make people previously
covered by the province responsible for their own healthcare costs.
For example, up to 167,000 people in Ontario stand to lose their
OHIP coverage.  Of this number, 82,700 are refugee claimants,
20,000 are foreign students, 43,000 are temporary workers and
10,600 are relatives of these groups.

It is not just these groups that are being attacked, 95,000 welfare
recipients face restrictions on their healthcare benefits. This
restriction is being imposed by charging welfare recipients who own
a home to pay 2 per cent of the value of that home for their
healthcare services every year. This measure is particularly
devastating for older people who bought their houses when real
estate costs were down and have to pay the 2 per cent on the value
of their home at present real estate prices.

Furthermore, in the face of "excessive price increases," the NDP
has axed 236 drugs from a medicine plan. The elimination of the 130
over-the-counter drugs and 106 prescription drugs that were
previously available free of charge to seniors and people on social
assistance was estimated by the government to save $50 million.
The consequences for those dependent on the program, however, are
frightening. Jane Leitch, President of the United Senior Citizens
of Ontario, was quoted in the Financial Post* as saying: "If you
have to buy your own [antihistamines], your choices if you happen
to have a low income might be you get to eat or you have the
medication to alleviate the condition."  Given that 1.3 million
residents in Ontario rely on social assistance to meet their basic
needs, then the probability of many people having to opt for the
option of eating is great.

In the NDP's attempt to impose $2.4 billion in spending cuts, $1
billion is being slashed from the healthcare budget.  Healthcare
experts warned the government of the adverse affects the cuts would
have for the delivery of services. In addition to the "special"
programs (i.e., dialysis, cardiac care and transplants) that were
immediately put in jeopardy, thousands of jobs have been lost, and
services have been reduced. For instance, hospitals across Ontario
restricted their services during the weeks around the holidays. All
exploratory and elective surgery was cancelled during the last
quarter of December. In a least one case this meant that doctors
waited till a time when a medical situation became so bad that the
patients' condition became inoperable.

It is not just isolated cases, however, that end up this way.  At
one hospital in Toronto, at least 10 per cent of its cancer
patients who would benefit from radiation treatment arent
receiving it.  Moreover, last year a  14 week backlog forced
hundreds of Metro Toronto breast cancer patients to travel to
Northern Ontario for six weeks to receive radiation treatment.  And
for those who must travel out of province for other treatments, if
the NDP doesnt consider their illness an "emergency" then they
must foot the entire bill.

While writing an article about how the NDP's cutbacks put the
weakest and most vulnerable at risk, Catherine Stewart , a
consultant on womens' and childrens' issues reported in the Toronto
*Star* that one healthcare worker she interviewed broke down in
tears when describing how the cutbacks were affecting the quality
of care that mental health clients were receiving.  In fact, the
waiting list for spaces developmentally disabled adults in Ontario
is 30 years.  But instead of creating more spaces the NDP is
planning to shut down (within three years) the Oxford Regional
Center which cares for 244 developmentally disabled people (and
employs 522 workers).

What will continually make matters worse is that the NDP has set
for itself the goal of eliminating half of the existing mental
health beds over the next decade.  The consequences of this plan
for both the short and long term is obvious for June Beeby, founder
of the Ontario Friends of Schizophrenics, who in the Toronto *Star*
noted that  "if there are fewer beds for the very ill and no more
money for mental health services overall, it doesnt take a rocket
scientist to figure out that this will mean more people living on
the streets."

Knowing that the cutbacks mentioned above are only a part of the
NDP's record makes it easy to explain why Pat Palmer, President of
the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, recently adopted Rae as his
"mascot for Ontario." But Bob Rae and those NDP MPs in Cabinet and
the backbenchs who have supported the cuts are not simply cowards
and traitors.

The NDP's capitulation to big business is an inherent feature of
social democratic parties.  Even in times of economic prosperity,
the reforms legislated by a social democratic party are limited to
what capitalism can afford.  In other words, reforms can be won
through parliament only insofar as corporate profits remain high.

Accordingly, the current recession quickly exposed the fatal
limitations of a reformist strategy for social change.   Electing
a more "left" leader is not going to change what the NDP does in
office, nor is not voting for the NDP at the polls going to teach
them any lessons.  It's in the very nature of the NDP that it tries
to manage capitalism--and the New Democrats' record on healthcare
and social services demonstrates that in its management strategy
the interests of the capitalists comes first.