This week the
Toronto Star published an editorial entitled, Balancing a budget on the sick and disabled. Toronto city council, in a decision to
abandon the poor being helped by The Hardship Fund project, recommended by a
vote of 23 to 22 that city staff consider killing the fund to save on next
year’s budget .
The Hardship Fund is
a program helping the poor and disabled receive basic medical aid so they can
stay in their own homes and out of hospital. It’s called the Hardship Fund and
it serves 1,300 people in Toronto yearly.
Who are these
councillors who, sailing under the colours of Mayor Rob Ford, voted against the
fund?
Here are the 23 who
voted against the program as listed in the Toronto Star's editorial: Mayor Ford
and councillors Paul Ainslie, Michelle Berardinetti, Gary Crawford, Vincent
Crisanti, Mike Del Grande, Frank Di Giorgio, Doug Ford, Mark Grimes, Doug Holyday,
Norman Kelly, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Milczyn, Denzil
Minnan-Wong, Ron Moeser, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, John Parker, James
Pasternak, David Shiner, Karen Stintz and Michael Thompson.
Good Guys or Bad?
Now, here's what I
don't get. All of these councillors present themselves as veritable Florence
Nightingales and Mother Theresas. I did
an Internet search of self descriptions on a number of them and found involvement
in the following:
The Boy Scouts of
Canada (at least two), the Canadian Cancer Society, the Knights of Columbus,
the Friends of Fort York; involved in a
number of fundraising and educational awareness campaigns for a variety of
charitable organizations including Providence Healthcare, Variety Village,
Toronto Humane Society and local feline and canine rescue groups; Daily Bread Food Bank - Community Awareness,
Advocacy and Fundraising; Annual Police Chief's Children's Games; Neighbourhood
Watch, Block Parent, Church Treasurer and Religious Instructor; volunteer for
the North York General Hospital Foundation,
sponsors annual community clean-up days, has annual skating parties and
created the Community Spirit Award;
board member of Eva's Initiatives which operates two youth shelters in
North York (Eva's Place and Eva's Satellite) and one in Toronto (Eva's
Phoenix).
So, we clearly have
a bunch of councillors who, on the face of it, should have a good understanding
of how the poor are struggling with hardship and suffering, and the people who
are being helped by the Hardship Fund in particular. They should also have a
good understanding of the economics: that helping people stay at home with the
Hardship Fund in thousands of dollars is saving millions of dollars in hospital
and long-term facility frail care costs. A bit like saving money by not changing the oil in your car.
How, then, explain
the discrepancy in the behaviour of these councillors, solicitously involved in
the community on the one hand, kicking the poor further into the gutter on the
other?
From my reading I
gather that these are all favoured leaders of Ford Nation. From the way they
voted on the issue of the Hardship Fund it strikes me that, when the chips are
down, these 'Yes' men and women are all going to do precisely what Mayor Rob
Ford tells them to do and vote precisely as he tells them to vote, regardless
of their personal convictions or their publicly projected images. This means
that, if Mayor Rob Ford cannot find the gravy that he campaigned on, they will
agree to gut programs for the poor instead of the rich to help the mayor save
face. The poor are soft targets and
alienating them is likely perceived as not seriously influencing an election.
Let the citizens of
Toronto take note and remember at the next election.
