21 hours Ago
While it’s true we are all suffering from the current postal strike, we need to remember the benefits these events can bring to all workers. Indeed, in 1981, the strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) led to 17 weeks of paid maternity leave for postal workers, which later expanded to the first federally-funded paid maternity leave for all pregnant women workers in Canada. These strikes ask for better working conditions that will eventually benefit all workers.
Ask yourself, do you need mail every day? Snail mail is practically obsolete. Can we not function using the postal service say only on Tuesdays and Thursdays? For packages, an added charge for the sender? Then we only need part-time postal workers and don’t have to pay benefits. I haven’t used mail, other than packages, for more than 20 years.
Postal workers walk up and down the street and drop off flyers. Is this really worth $75,000 per year, with benefits and pensions ? It’s like we’re still hiring people to deliver milk. Just go to the store and save the country hundreds of millions of dollars.
Contributing columnist Jaime Watt has grabbed the bull by the horns in this good article. My understanding of potential ramifications for Canada of president-elect Donald Trump’s stated U.S.
border control policy is we should plan to fail. We can and should ramp up border patrols, reduce illegal pathways and implement more oversight at border entry points. I just don’t believe this will be sufficient.
Intensification of our current best practices at the border will not alter the course of desperate people seeking a way out of poverty, privation and statelessness. What to do? All levels of government should co-operate, anticipate and prepare to cope with foreseen large scale, persistent and unplanned inbound migration. And include municipal governments in discussions on policy among the feds, the provinces and the United States government.
Why? Because ultimately it will be on municipalities to host any influx of people. While wealthy federal and provincial governments squabble about their share of the burden, monies the municipal governments currently don’t have will be needed to cope with the big problem they are about to have thrust upon them. Municipalities need to understand the scope of unforeseen settlement responsibilities and be prepared to request and receive appropriate, adequate funding for housing, schools, hospitals, and community supports, shelters, food and other necessities.
Contributing columnist Michael Levitt’s article praising Peter Mammas, CEO of Foodtastic, the company which owns the Second Cup, for acting strongly in the face of antisemitism and terminating two franchises should spur all of us to action. The temporary closing of these two Second Cup locations could lead to financial hardship, so coffee drinkers should find a Second Cup location and shop there. In early October I wrote to the Star suggesting the province pay for truckers to be rerouted off Hwy.
401 onto Hwy. 407. The Doug Ford government continues to come up with alternate ‘solutions,’ including Ford’s ridiculous idea of building a tunnel under stretches of the 401.
As I see it, Ford’s problem with subsidizing the 407 tolls is likely that it entails an immediate and ongoing outlay of cash, whereas some of his other ideas involve a much longer timeline. Avoiding solutions like subsidizing the 407 tolls for trucks allows Ford to funnel provincial funds into some of his other hairbrained schemes instead, like canceling the Beer Store contract early and eliminating licence plate renewal fees. It seems common sense is trumped by cheap politicking every time, and we can’t seem to win for losing.
People have a misconception about how expensive it will be to subsidize trucks on the 407. This will all be net new business for the 407, with no cost of acquisition. The province should offer the owners of the 407 a 25 per cent revenue increase for truck traffic.
Who knows, maybe 10 per cent will work. This will look fantastic on the 407’s bottom line. A win-win for everyone.
Remember, the province of Ontario has a lot of negotiating power because they approve the 407 rate increases. They should also include a $100,000 fine for the illegal use of discount transponders. Thank you to Shawn Micallef and David Rider for their reports on police budgets, Carolyn Parrish and Parkside Drive.
What is the average voter to think when the police are always expecting bigger budgets? Even with more money, nothing changes. In fact, things get worse. Why would a sensible attempt to prevent more deaths and injuries on busy roads with no bike lanes be vandalized? Why are car hijackings, illegal guns and stabbings continuing? As Shawn Micallef writes, “Premiers have incredible power over cities and can shape police reform and shape budget considerations.
” Maybe our taxes could be spent to improve urban safety..
