OPEN LETTER TO DOUG FORD - "FOR THE PEOPLE", BUT WHICH PEOPLE?

Another provincial election has come and gone.

The PCs led by a moderate candidate, Patrick Brown, imploded one day in January of this year, allegedly by anonymous accusers of the #MeToo movement.  The suddenness, the abrupt change and sudden shift in direction in that party looked bad and gave me what information I needed about you and any of your competitors.  It was almost created by prophecy to put you in the Premier's chair.  Because of that turmoil and the sudden decision to move your party to the far right has turned me off from possibly being a supporter.  I am of the radical middle, not to the left or to the right (and have supported all of the major political parties at different elections).  I was hopeful for the People's Guarantee, a modest platform, with ongoing efforts to continue to build and grow the province, improve health care and address climate change, would have gained traction.

You say "the people" voted for change.  You say "the people" were tired of Kathleen Wynne, even though I can't think of anything policy-wise that Kathleen Wynne did that deserved such hatred and animosity from some of "the people" in Ontario.  Nor can I think of one good reason to change the direction of the province to what you were campaigning on, which was essentially nothing.  Under pressure to present a costed plan, you and a few pals spent the night photo shopping prior election announcements and attached some price tags to them.  This was in spite of the fact if you fulfilled every part of your platform as written, the province was going to be in a much deeper hole than it would be under any of the other party's governance.

You promised that everybody would have more money in their pockets under your governance.  Sadly, I think you are only thinking of SOME of the people, not all of us.  A forum at Ryerson University was held on disability issues prior to the election and your deputy premier Christine Elliott stated that she was empathetic that more money should be put into ODSP, but said that the province is not in good financial shape, so it was a priority of your party to put the province back into healthy balance.  Let me say one thing ... the province will NEVER be in good enough shape for your government to allow people with disabilities to have more money in THEIR pockets and live decent lives, whether they work or not.  If the province was in such bad shape, why is your government still moving ahead on significant tax cuts that for the most part benefit only the well-off, most of whom will not spend a single penny in their communities?  

My daughter just graduated from high school and is now moving on to post-secondary education in the arts.  She is a very different person than the people you speak for and represent.  My son is going for post-graduate studies and will be thereafter practicing in the medical field.  He is also a very different person.  He is smart, well-educated and works hard. He cares about our health care.  My son wrote a paper on how much the cuts that your predecessor Mike Harris costed the province. Yes, these cuts COST the province and as a result, plunged us into a major deficit.  Mike Harris was going around at the time promising the same kind of "trickle down" economics you are, but all I witnessed were more people dying, children being removed from more homes, more people getting charged for minor crimes and ending up jail, more people on the street after losing their homes ... That costs the province something.  It costs to keep people in jails.  It costs to keep people in homeless shelters.  It costs to force people to scrounge throughout the day, sometimes committing minor annoying acts that were back then criminalized, so more people can be punished for being poor.  Our courts, police forces, judiciary and legal aid costs the province money.  These people did not see any of the money that supposedly "trickled down" from the province's wealthy.

I worked in the mental health system back then.  I was watching people die, many times at their own hands, and other times, as a result of health issues.  I once read a report that stated that homeless people live to an average age of 47.  Is this the kind of province you want to lead?  Your single-minded pursuit to get people receiving "social assistance" back to work is a familiar refrain as well.  I remember the workfare program implemented by your predecessor, and how it had to shut down because there were not enough "jobs" to place workfare clients in.  Do you think things have changed since then?  Do you think businesses will suddenly open their doors and hire people from the OW rolls and help people get off ODSP?  If this were the case, businesses would have started that already! We are just wondering how your government intends to force employers to hire people with disabilities, pay them decent wages and accommodate their needs so they can perform effectively.  Many people with disabilities are well educated, well qualified for the jobs that are out there, but most of them are unemployed or not in the labour force. Perhaps, you can pass one of your laws that you can ram through the legislature that employers must hire anybody with a disability or who could prove they are on social assistance.  Or are you just going to put the whole burden on the person as usual, many of whom experience ongoing discrimination?  The longer they are out of the workforce due to discrimination, the less likely they will ever return to the labour force.  In the meantime, how will they get by when the amount one receives on "social assistance" barely covers their rent, let alone any costs associated with conducting an effective job search?

Your Minister of Community & Social Services, the Hon. Lisa MacLeod, has announced today that Ontario is officially moving backwards on social policy.  She has decided that your new government is scrapping everything that could possibly represent positive change and will help enhance health and improve people's outcomes.  That, instead of putting more money in these people's pockets. Basic income studies will now be scrapped, so that the social assistance system can move back to the dark ages of policing and criminalization of people living in poverty, who are only doing what everybody else does to survive. You ran your campaign on not being a "politician", which is fine.  But this also alerts me that your government needs help from lots of people who have actually studied policy, know what works and what doesn't work, and can certainly advise you not to repeat the barbaric acts that the Mike Harris' government did to "the people" that you claim to serve.  

My memory is long and I remember people dying in the mid to late 1990's and early 2000's ... many times, several in a month.  I also recall people coming into my office desperate because they were about to pushed out of their homes.  Only a couple days later, I would hear from somebody else that they had committed suicide, or I would read their obituary in the local paper the following week.  I also remember a close friend of mine that died of AIDS because at the time, Mr. Harris thought a lot like you, not liking the idea of harm reduction programs in the community, such as supervised drug injection sites.  My friend could have been saved, at least long enough to benefit from the then new anti-retroviral medication regimes that were becoming popular in those days.  But he was denied help because he was an IV drug user and by not helping them, it was going to get them to quit on their own.  News flash, Mr. Ford!  At the time my friend was alive, he was an avid user of one of the many UNSUPERVISED sites where some people gathered to use highly addictive drugs, like heroine.  Today, the number of these unsupervised sites are greater and more out of control than they once were.  If it is not important enough to save the lives of our most vulnerable people in the community that resort to this addiction, then one should wonder whose lives you DO prioritize.

Again, back to the Harris days.  Mr. Harris was just like you.  He got elected in early June 1995, just like you did, and like you, he acted really fast!  He couldn't wait to get those tax cuts out to his (and your) friends, while cutting supports to half a million people on social assistance, as well as in other areas, such as health care.  I remember that summer of discontent.  Mr. Harris decided to turn the Family Benefits Program (the predecessor to the ODSP program) and then taken anybody who was on that program because they were "permanently unemployable" and move them to Ontario Works, moving only those with severe disabilities to the new program "that takes people with disabilities off of welfare where they do not belong and into a program that will meet their needs".  Most people on Family Benefits at the time were "permanently unemployable", usually due to mental health, chronic pain, or cognitive disorders.  They were not going to benefit from Ontario Works.

Remember back then, I was working in the mental health system.  My agency did counseling, crisis care and referrals, as well as individual advocacy for clients who needed supports in such things as filling out forms, getting into residential programs, etc. I would also have outreach people who would travel to the difficult areas of my community to assist people in accessing services, as well as linking them to the needle exchange, which just started after my friend died.  Unfortunately, I noted an uptick in crisis calls shortly after Mr. Harris took office.  One day, a few months after the FBA program was turned upside down, a young woman in her late twenties came to my office to access counselling for family suicide.  Her mother who I will call Amy (to keep it confidential) took her own life.  It soon became clear to me that she was also seeking support to make change for people like her mother.  It turned out that Amy was in receipt of Family Benefits as somebody who was "permanently unemployable" due to various mental health and physical maladies.  She accepted a part-time job at what was then minimum wage at $6.85 an hour for approximately eight to ten hours a week.  She reported her job and her income to her FBA worker.  Shortly thereafter, she was one of thousands across Ontario who tried the same thing who received a letter from their caseworker advising them that they were cut off FBA because they were no longer "permanently unemployable".  Before long, Amy went home and emptied a number of pill bottles into her system.  She died later that night.

I immediately became familiar with the workings of things like the Coroner's Act, an application for mandamus, among other things I was taught at university before I actually decided what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I handled the media well.  Amy was on the front page.  I made sure my local PC members of provincial parliament knew what happened.  I continued to push her case.  At that time, the provincial government was busy with Dudley George, and later with Kimberley Rogers, and Walkerton ... all symptoms of a problem that populist politicians fail to consider when they are interacting with people's lives.  I almost added a new case to keep Mr. Harris and his government busy, but they were wise enough to finally start opening the doors instead to create THAT program "to move people with disabilities out of welfare where they do not belong".  It was called the Ontario Disability Support Program.  I remember sitting around a table at Wellesley along with a number of other advocates to talk about the major components of this program.  

In the new program, people were allowed to work and keep some of their earnings, access employment supports to help pay for things the worker (or self-employed) person needed to enter or re-enter the workforce, as well as a number of benefits, such as drug coverage, hearing aids, eyeglasses, dental and extended support for approved devices under the Assistive Devices Program.  It was by no means perfect, but it was a start.  Unfortunately, despite Mr. Harris' good intentions to take people with disabilities "off welfare", this did not truly happen.  People receiving ODSP were still subject to most of the same rules that people on Ontario Works had to follow, such as depleting themselves of most of their assets, stripping their retirement savings, losing income support if they even live with somebody else for a few weeks.  This was not okay, but as soon as the new Ontario Disability Support Program Act and the Ontario Works Act (arising from the oddly named 'Social Assistance Reform Act', or Bill 42 at the time).  Over time, court challenges were done to force the government to change other things, such as a lifetime ban from receiving any further assistance if they were ever convicted of "welfare fraud".  There is a lot that I can say about that, but that would be for a different post for a different day, as all "welfare fraud" was is, outside the obvious tiny fraction of those that would collect under different names, etc., were those poor folks who just did what other people would do to secure opportunities or enjoy improved quality of life (e.g. accept short term jobs "under the table", moving in with a partner to improve their quality of housing).  But, next time!

Over the years, the Liberals eventually took over.  Once Dalton McGuinty took power, they did their own form of austerity measures on the poor, such as stripping the then in place, special diet allowance, restricting medical transportation monies, and eventually scrapping the community start-up benefit and home repair program.  These were not good steps, as they were poorly thought out and later handed down to the municipalities, which either provide supports in these areas, or they don't and among those that do provide, the degree and type of supports available varied depending on where you lived in Ontario,  I learned this when I began to notice a significant number of people on ODSP who had no teeth.  Others were trapped in inadequate housing because they could not afford to move.  I am also aware of homeowners who were unable to complete simple repairs, which later resulted in substantial deterioration of their homes and living conditions.  In fact, a few of these situations turned into 'no occupancy orders' resulting in the homeowner moving to a shelter.  Again, good money thrown after bad.  

Eventually, while Mr. Harris was still in power (and prior to his successor Ernie Eves taking the reigns), I moved back into law.  This came from the sheer powerlessness I felt when I was forced to see what really was going on in people's lives.  Even if people accessed mental health programs, they would still return to inadequate housing and be forced into a severely inadequate diet.  I have met people who were diagnosed with health conditions that would normally appear in people who live in what we call "developing countries".  I also noticed a significant number of people on Ontario Works were really getting sick due to inadequate supports, to the point where they eventually became eligible for ODSP.  I met one chap who was living on ODSP, but barely making rent so he needed to work ... and he tried.  He secured about twenty-three jobs one year, only to be fired two or three days after he started.  Others want to work, but couldn't seem to get hired.  I participated in numerous employment consultations, as well as self-employment consultations, with the Ministry staff, as well as with other ministries under the Liberals.  They were really trying to do some good, but the reality persisted that is going to persist with your government, Mr. Ford.  There are no jobs.  

I became a legal advocate.  I work for anybody that needs legal services that fall within the range of my areas of experience and knowledge.  I started with a small office at home, to a small office in a commercial building, to an office as a sole practitioner with others working for me, to what I am doing now, as a professional corporation.  Although I love the law and what I do, I still struggle, as I have to always be "on", which is not what I envisioned when I went to school for so many years. It is the folks I work with or for, as I always seem to enjoy being with others and working with others towards common goals.  I've also assisted in the advocacy that the former Liberal government engaged with that resulted in policy that was finally moving in the right direction.  An Income Security Working Group was formed which included top policy analysts, economists, labour representatives, legal professionals, mental health and community agency representatives, as well as people who were poor who were articulate and knowledgeable about what would work for people in their own communities. They produced a report called the Income Security: A Roadmap for Change.  A basic income study started in four communities in Ontario to study the lives of 4,000 people to see how it would affect them if they received more money, less conditions and were not forced to work (as many as seventy percent of those in the basic income pilot were working anyways).

Between the 2017 and the 2018 budgets, a number of very progressive reforms were proposed and put into place for ODSP and OW recipients.  The minimum wage was hiked to $14/hour and slated to increase to $15/hour.  There would be an end to asset stripping of people on ODSP.  Common law relationships were going to be permitted for up to the three years without it affecting one's income.  Exempted earnings was increased.  One would not have to spend down their RRSPs or TFSAs they may be saving for their retirements. There were many more changes that would make the lives of people on ODSP much easier, even though the amounts were still highly inadequate.  I was advised that people with disabilities on ODSP would eventually be moved to an assured income, which would be like the basic income, with more money and less conditions and continued support for those that wish to and can work.  People in receipt of the assured income would not get cut off if they married somebody who also had an income.  They would be permitted to earn so much a year and their earnings would be annualized and averaged to determine their monthly income.  There was finally hope in this community.  I noted many of the people who participated in the basic income study start small businesses, take short vacations (with family money), work part time and/or get involved more in the community.  Even as the overall changes were put into place, people had hope.  There were less crisis visits and more visits where I can truly provide wholesome assistance to people to build a small business, take courses, etc.

However, today the lights went out and really fast!  I had three contacts today from people I know in the community who were feeling suicidal and many others, anxious.  Two people I know who are involved in the basic income pilot in Hamilton will now have to give up their housing they have been able to grow and become more productive in and move back to inadequate, shabby housing in poor repair.  Another was looking forward to "keeping more money in her pocket" when the exempted earnings were scheduled to increase to $400 a month instead of $200.  She told me she was simply going to work less hours now, as most of her money is clawed back or gone to work related expenses that are not paid for by the program.  Another who was able to invest some monies in health and wellness programs from a recent inheritance is now worried she will be cut off ODSP because her funds will be now "over the limit".  Another that started to put money into a TFSA will now have to withdraw it and spend it down and be guaranteed an old age in poverty.  My network is a microcosm of people who are now responding to the lights being turned out.  The "promise" to reform 'social assistance' over the next hundred days is only bringing anxiety.  Nobody thinks the new reforms under your government will be beneficial.  In fact, many of us in the legal profession remember what happened to thousands of people in Ontario for several weeks when Mike Harris' government turned FBA upside down to cut off those who were deemed "permanently unemployable".  I know the name of the person I helped and I know there are many more Amys out there that can only be hurt if something to this level is attempted again.

If the province's books are in bad shape, you do not hand out tax cuts either.  If there is belt tightening to be had, those in the best position to handle it should be impacted and that is those with the most money, not those with the least.  The people I know do not get any help from tax breaks.  In fact, people who work and are trying to get off social assistance are the highest "taxed" group of people in this province and I fail to see where in any of your policies you intend to do something about that. Your promise to lower gas prices is fraught with assumptions, given that I know your government really can do nothing about the price that companies charge for gas, nor can your government dictate to the breweries what to charge for their beer. The same applies to hydro. With the partial privatization of Hydro One, it is no small wonder that with the cuts in conservation programs that would otherwise benefit low income homeowners and tenants, I can only foresee the cost of gas and hydro going up for members of this group, while those with the funds to get high efficiency appliances will save money.  Again, where do these policies put more money in the pockets of the poor?  As stated before, you stated you are not a politician, and given that - you need people who know about policy, who know their community and so forth, to help set policy so it helps, not hurts.

As a business owner, I know what cuts to the poor do to local businesses.  Small businesses rely on the income people in the community have in their pockets.  If minimum wages are stalled, basic income is trashed, social assistance is raised at a rate less than inflation and programs that were once available to low and middle income people are no longer available, these people will not be going to small businesses anymore because they will not have discretionary income.  These people do not benefit from your tax cuts.  They need more income, not tax cuts (when many don't pay much provincial income tax anyways).  When people stop shopping, businesses lay off and close their doors.  I am sure you do not want to preside over a province that is pushed into a recession.

I am offering you an invitation to come down to visit my community, with me as your tour guide.  I will take you to different parts of my community where you will meet different people.  This will give you a chance to meet "the people" that you claim to represent face to face so that you can learn how most Ontarians are being forced to live and not just the well heeled that can attend your rallies.

THE RISE OF THE ANOMIE GENERATION

I walked the full walk for the Coldest Night of the Year 2017 for Start Me Up Niagara.  Start Me Up Niagara's business is booming, but for the wrong reasons.  Sadness and hurt is ubiquitous with personal pain taking priority over social peace.  The organization tries to put into place hands on solutions that produce long term change for people, instead of just feeding an empty belly for a night, or for a few days.  They pursue the concept that all people have value, not just those that are reaping most of society's rewards.

This winter has been rough for me with the death of my mother last fall, only to be followed by the knowledge and helplessness of my father dying before me.  To me, it is though society has been taking a turn in a different direction and we all feel like helpless pawns trying to fight against the forces that try to keep us all down.  Members of my profession are susceptible to mental health issues because people do not approach us when their lives are doing well, when optimism speaks the day. We spend our time receiving, analyzing, outputting and speaking out, filing complaints, approaching people who are less than happy to see us, only to be misunderstood by those for whom we speak at times, as well as our colleagues.

Niagara Region is not a nice place to live and do the type of work that I do, without expecting to have some of it rub on you.  It is part of the compassion of my advocacy and my practice.  I actually give a damn about the people that come in to see us.  I've often considered the work of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ... my people are at all sorts of levels of that ladder, although nobody I know has truly reached the top of personal fulfillment.  At this time of the year, it is so hard to keep going  ... people around me are talking about the spring as though the spring can only bring blessings and freedom from this chronic darkness.  I spoke to the cab driver that took me here who told me as he let me off to keep your stick on the ice.  His eyes seemed to know how I was feeling, though I mentioned none of it ... he did mentioned so many people are hurting and cranky today.

This world is not the world that folks like my mother and father built.  My mother and father lived in a different world, in a different time ... perhaps, when we didn't know so much about the dangers of smoking and other things like that.  Growing up, I always noted people being mostly of an 'average' type, although I tended to thrive among the intellectuals.  We intellectuals would discuss anything, ranging from the eventual usefulness of learning the Pythagorean Theorem, to remembering the name of every bone and muscle in the human body and the periodic table.  At the same time, I watched the world evolve into something that I no longer understand or want more of.  My grandfather who I adored throughout his long life is probably rolling in his grave if he knew what the world has consisted of today.  He always taught me to remain strong, think for myself and keep fighting for justice.

In my working world, it is all computers, cloud technology, server technology and legal rigidity.  It is a controlled environment in some way, where we can give others the gift of a certain amount of peace and control in their lives.  Experiencing things, hearing things, doing things and then writing up memos about all of that becomes the life of law.  I continue to want and need the people around me that I have, as when I am not at work there is less of that, but more raw human emotions and amorphous anger directed at no particular direction.  I walk out of my office tonight.  One fellow is yelling and screaming obscenities down King Street, kicking over every garbage can or other chattel that moves.  Another fellow mumbled words only he knew what they meant, while giving us all the starry eye and that scary grin.  In the housing of the bank machines, people lie down and make themselves at home there.  They tell me they won't go to a shelter.

The world my mother and father were part of was one where everybody worked for a decent wage or produced decent wages for others, while looking forward to a decent retirement where the thought of mere survival and struggle was distant.  During my mother and father's time, people cared for one another, for their neighbours and did not mind having a government that also gave a damn.   My mother would tell me of how she grew up in a time that even rock and roll music was so new, so different and unabashedly rebellious.  Nevertheless, she felt the growth of illicit drug use led to where we are today, but then again, she faced her own comeuppance.  She married the man she thought would take care of her and us for the rest of her life, but that did not turn out right.  My father picked up and left my mother for what he saw were greener pastures, though that did not prove rewarding for him in the long run either.  At one time, there were consequences for one's actions ... or at least some expectation that one would apologize or at least forgive.

The fact that my mother passed away and my father is on his way to his own fate reminds me of the era that both of them lived through and hoped for our next generation passing on as well, and moving to a new ambiguous future where public anger results in the rise of people like Donald Trump and favouring policies like Brexit ... looking for solutions in politicians that create both impossible expectations and unanticipated grief for way too many ... the people want this, so why not they justify their stake into the very heart of society.  Society becomes an unnecessary force, as worship of the individual takes over, the thought that one strong man can make it right, is as scary as it sounds ...  I try to explain to people the elements of contagion theory and a voice of authority quietly condoning violence and hatred of the latest scapegoat group, or even joking about it to a large crowd of angry supporters ... is something that is as dangerous today, as it has always been.  Sometimes our first instincts, our first spark of anger and our desires arising from them are not necessarily the panacea we should be seeking.

In today's unabated community of 'alternative facts' and so-called fake news, society is approaching its pinnacle in its anomie.  The progressive forces of society not only have to fight the tendency of celebrity worship sharing the same old neoliberal concepts to run a government, whilst ignoring the very real consequences of a society going under, but to help people away from harming their own interests.  I tell people close to me what it was like for me to work in the mental health system when our province was headed by Mike Harris, who as his first move when elected slashed welfare rates, fired numerous civil servants and started the downward curve in health care coverage.  This is when I realized that the old era had ended and a new, scary reality was taking shape.  I do truly believe we never truly recovered from that period.  In my darkest moments, I still remember those who have died or have lost everything they owned or even their families or loved ones through Mike the Knife's slash and burn policies.

Those who worked alongside me back then are either dead or still wear their scars.  Occasionally, I meet one of them who appear very surprised to see me owning a legal office and partaking in rights-based litigation these days.   At the same time, I try to provide support and avenues for others to practice and to partake in profit sharing with me.  I also provide ongoing support and mentoring to others in the profession, many of whom just had too much.  Many stopped believing in what they do or what they are worth.  It's about the world and what it has been coming to.  It's about society telling people they are on their own, regardless.  I don't want to see the world turn out like that.  I want to stand up and make a difference where I can.  It is just sometimes so hard to see where I am going with this.  Some tell me it is about the ripple in the water the stone I make creates, as it broadens it scope to cover more ground.  Being a survivor is not all about glory and celebrity; it is grit and hard work, and many times hard feelings.

Click the links throughout this post and you will hear songs/videos replaying elements of the world I am referring herein.  Would be interested in your thoughts.

WHEN BREATHING BECOMES UNDER-RATED, AND PANAMA COMES CALLING

I recently had a bout of health issues that brought me through the Niagara Health System. Fortunately, I landed in our new hospital in St. Catharines, even though I arrived terrified and thinking I was going to die!  My breathing became very laboured and I was unable to walk anywhere without shortness of breath.  My heart was apparently overworked at 186 bpm and my blood pressure was very high.

I don't know about you, but I really don't want another 'near death' experience, however it might be defined.  A friend, my son and I arrived at the emergency department on the behest and urging of my doctor.  We noted a sign saying "Start Here".  I introduced myself and fortunately, this was the person my physician was speaking to before we flew down there.  I was referred to Triage Unit A, whereby a nurse sat me on the bed and tried to get me lie down (but breathing is even more interesting when I lie down).  They did an ECG telling me my heart is fine but "just a little fast" (one of many euphemisms).  

They took my blood pressure, checked my lungs and so forth, and then sent me back to the wait area.  It wasn't even a few minutes before somebody called in from the entrance to the A Pod. The A Pod had many, many rooms and private work areas.  I brought what I could, but I was unable to walk that far ... the nurse apologizing for making me walk all that way, but I did.  I was relieved when I was placed in my own "room".  In the old hospitals, they did not have separate room areas for emergency patients, just curtained off areas with separate monitoring areas.  This was a room, only separated from the nursing station by a curtain.  

This was very different; they had a large TV screen showing me my ECG readings, my blood pressure automatically taken every fifteen minutes, my heart rate and my respiration rate. What surprised me was how fast the nursing staff were able to stabilize me, aka get me breathing again, slowing my respiration and gradually bringing my blood pressure down.  My heart rate stayed at a worrisome 140- 150 bpm.  Nurses, paramedics and nursing assistants were all busy, coming back and forth, introducing themselves for each twelve hour shift, taking blood tests.  Once I tried to go to use the washroom, but even though it wasn't far I was totally out of breath,  One of the nurses brought me back.  I noted there were a number of police officers at the ER, which I found interesting.

There were several blood and urine tests taken, apparently ordered by the Doctor on Call - who I looked up, and found she was specialized in Emergency Medicine.  She was very nice, calming and reassuring for me, explaining each test as they took them.  While I had my husband and son there, I tried to imagine them as medical detectives, like on True Stories from ER on TLC or even House.  My son who was with me throughout the whole ordeal kept looking at the screen and trying to reassure me too.  He is a medical sciences student, interested in the medical field. I was sitting, remembering the uncomfortable position I was sitting in my bed.  The emergency room beds are nowhere nearly as comfortable as the beds on the hospital inpatient floors.

Noting I was not able to use the washroom, they brought a commode to the unit next to my bed, where I was told to ask somebody to come in if I needed to use it.  Over the night, there were incidents of paramedics bringing people into the Pod.  There were two "Code Blue", as well as a few "Code Whites" in the mental health section.  This poor doctor, alone at night as the sole physician on call, had to deal with two Code Blues, as well as one Code White in Pod A (a fellow who was drunk and did not want to go to detox).  Activity was high speed around me, while inside I was trying to control my breathing.  Even getting up to use the commode was hard on me, bringing my heart rate way up, my breathing, etc. and it took so long to recover ... 

The doctor came in and told me all my lab tests turned out all right, but they wanted to do a chest x-ray.  This was one of their stand-up models they had in the diagnostic section.  They page a porter electronically, who comes to my unit, grabs my bed and transports me literally to where I need to be to wait for my x-ray.  I looked around me each time they did this - there were always other patients, some older, some younger than me, also awaiting radiology.  A technician signals the porter to bring me into the room and then she took over.  I saw the huge machines around me.  She asked me if I can stand.  I was honest and told her it was a challenge, so she showed me a way to stand up without risking my balance.  After positioning me, she took several pictures of my chest and then had me back on the bed and back in the waiting area, for a porter to return me to the A Pod.  

The doctor came back and told me my chest was clear, but she wanted to do another test called the d-dimer test, which can hint at the presence of clots.  She told me if this is positive, I will be scanned and then there will be a diagnosis.  There was more blood drawn.  Later, I was told the d-dimer showed up positive, suggesting a clot.  They then arranged to send me for a CT Scan.  Again, it took some time, but the porter (in green uniform) came around to take me back to radiology and had me sit and wait.  I was moved over to another section where the technician spoke to me about what happens in a CT Scan and had me sign paperwork for the Scan and the radiation dye they put in people to make the veins show up better.  Because I was already on Metformin as one of my diabetes drugs, she explained people generally do not continue on it for another 48 hours after they take a CT Scan.  Inside, the technician knew to grab a pillow to allow me to kind of keep my head up a bit as she knew I could lie flat.   She told me I will be told when to not breathe and when to breathe.

After she went back to this room that was offsite, but exactly like it is on TV (you have technicians and nurses in a window area monitoring the CT screening as it is being completed, as they upload it into my patient record).  My bed then moved into the machine putting me in a large cylindrical area.  As it went on, I felt the dye go into my body (which takes place very fast) and then I heard a woman's voice say, "Breathe", and then the the cylinder turns around and I can hear the whirring and so forth, and then, "Don't Breathe" and the same.  This only took about four or five minutes and then I was moved out, transferred back on my bed and ported back to the A Pod.  It took some time, but I was told by a nurse that the new doctor on call will be in to speak to me.

It was a middle-aged short man who was funny as hell.  He came in and asked, "So you are the person who came into emergency and checked out right and is perfectly healthy, except for clots in the lung?"  He told me the CT Scan showed the clots clearly and they were pretty serious.  A respirologist was coming in shortly to order treatment for me.  He told me I would be placed on injectable blood thinners for a few days, until the doctor can assess any oral medications.  This lung doctor came in, told me that he was admitting me to the hospital and that he ordered some pretty strong blood thinners because the clots in my lungs were fairly large.  He asked me if I was sure I didn't have calf pain, or travelled anywhere or had recent surgery, etc.  The answer was no to all of that.  I told him I was on hormonal medications (which I am no longer on) and that being diabetic and being in a profession that doesn't involve a lot of walking around doesn't help.  He examined my legs and said they did not seem to be swollen, but he set me up for an ultrasound for veins in the leg, pelvic and hip, as well as an echocardiogram.

A nurse came in and injected me with a powerful blood thinner (Lovenox) and told me I will be injected each day in the morning and in the evening, 100 mg IM.  It is interesting that you do not really feel too differently on blood thinners than you do without them, but you bruise easily and in hospitals, they like to draw blood, as well as keep a vein open for saline solution, other medications, etc.  People like me have an interesting time getting these kinds of tests, where veins are sometimes difficult to find.  They were eventually found, but my right arm eventually looked like it went through the Boer War.  They then started on my left arm.  

The porter came calling again to bring me to the ultrasound area where the technician was very thorough and used the doppler all over my legs, behind my calf, behind my knee, and everywhere else where a clot might appear.  This took awhile, as she put me in very difficult and uncomfortable positions to do the test, but I just allowed them to do whatever ... then I was taken directly to the echocardiogram room.  The woman doing the echocardiogram was very nice, reassuring and did a very thorough job as well.  I can see the right ventricle of my heart working so hard to pump blood out with my attempts to breathe.  Inside, I was trying to calm myself ... I wanted to help get my heart to rest.  She also assured me that once the blood thinners take effect, the heart rate will improve.

Later, I was assigned a male nurse who was very friendly and he came in to speak to me, especially when I was beginning to feel afraid of what was happening to me.  I needed to use the washroom, so he went to get a female colleague to assist.  I was still not breathing and I wanted to know when this was going to get better.  He was the one who in a quirky way reminded me about how anxiety can be triggered by the high heart rate and breathing issues, and in turn, aggravate the heart to beat even faster into a vicious cycle.  The doctor put all my prescriptions in (and added some medications for anxiety).  He came in and took some blood tests, then on intervals, tested my glucose as well.  He did inject me with a small vial of insulin (which I had to take because of the CT Scan).  I couldn't sleep very well.  In fact, I don't think too many people sleep really well in a busy emergency department.  

I started getting food trays, which was a treat for me as I had not eaten or even received my blood pressure meds in almost two days at that point.  It was that evening when the nurses came around with my regular drugs including my blood pressure drugs, etc.  My son came in after he had been resting for the day and kicked my husband out so he can rest and my son can take over.  He brought his laptop and did some of his papers for school.  He kept quiet and allowed me to sleep when I could ... In fact, I did sleep and early in the morning, I noted my son was still on his laptop. I noted my heart rate was going down, my respiration was getting back to normal and my oxygen ranked between 96 - 99%, a good rating.  The nurse that was working with me told me my heart rate for the first time went below 100 while I was resting.  

He went off shift and another nurse came in to take more blood and do another glucose test, then later told me I was moving upstairs!  The St. Catharines site has 80% of its rooms as single rooms.  They then moved me to what was called the Telemetry Unit (where people often are sent after cardiac surgery, or pulmonary "events" like I had).  I continued to pay for a week of Wi-Fi/Internet access for this room, using my laptop and my cell phone to text people.  I had many friends and family members come to visit.  In my own room, I was less anxious and both my son and my husband felt comfortable leaving me overnight.  I was fine with that.  I was on monitoring for the first four days upstairs, then I was told the doctor liked my numbers which were going in the right direction, but they will do regular vital signs checks.  

I continued to need oxygen and injections, but on Monday, the doctor came in to tell me he was going to start me on oral medications twice a day.  He explained that the medication I was getting, while still a powerful drug, is one of the new ones that don't interact with foods and most medications like the old Warfarin/Heparin combination did and thus, requires less monitoring (because one is stabilized on a maintenance dose).  He also told me they will set me up with follow-up at their clinic and the hospital's thrombosis clinic for follow-up.    He also wanted to run another test on me, a mammogram (just to be thorough because there might have been a cyst or something that came up on the CT Scan).  (The mammogram did get done and that technician was marvellous! ... if anybody in Niagara needs a mammogram, go to St. Catharines' site of the NHS as the technician there makes it painless).  

At first, getting up and using my washroom was difficult, leaving me breathless and exhausted by the time I rang the nurse to take me back to my bed.  However, after each time doing it, I was less exhausted and recovered faster.  The nurse assured me that although going there would bring my heart back up to 130 - 145, it would much more quickly come back down ... which meant to me that this was going to get easier.  A few days later, I asked about taking a shower. My first attempt at a shower was difficult, but I managed to do this, as well as brush my teeth and refresh.  On Tuesday, my doctor came in to tell me that I can go home the next day.  He was very nice too.  He told me my numbers were much better and that he would ensure that all my prescriptions would get transferred over to my pharmacy on discharge.

Later at night, I was transferred to a discharge floor.  I had to set up again and felt my anxiety coming back on again.  I took a shower the next day and cleaned up and eventually went to the nursing station to organize my discharge (late afternoon, when my doctor was finally upstairs to approve my discharge).  They removed my vein hook up, gave me my ID badges and went over my prescriptions very carefully and faxed over referrals for both specialist clinics and I was able to leave on the Wednesday.  At home, I rested.  I set my medications up the same way they were in the hospital (and my pharmacist was very helpful in making sure the new drugs were taken and organized properly).  I want to say that the care I had received at the NHS hospital here in St. Catharines was very good and the medical staff, even the porters and kitchen staff, were very kind and accommodating and they made me feel more comfortable. 

I am back at work now, but could only put out a part-time (for me) schedule.  Most people work forty hours a week and now that's what I am doing, which is PART TIME for me!  I go and do what needs to be done and that's it.  Over eighty phone messages, several pieces of mail and a couple of faxes.  I did the email replies as well.  I am on an online support group for people that share the same condition I have ... many recover and move on, but some are vulnerable to repeat episodes.  I don't want repeat episodes.  

Then, as I come back out and find out what's happening in the world ... the Panama Papers have been released, or at least what the media is referring to as thousands of people around the world hiding behind offshore accounts, many of them likely not paying taxes in their own country ... one of my colleagues told me who was on the Canadian list.  I became so angry ... why these people think others should be paying their share of taxes for them or accepting cuts in public services.  I just came out of the hospital.  I don't want to see cuts in their service, as they gave me good care and I realize now I could have died.  The NHS saved my life.  These people who seem allergic to taxes now want to further drain the federal (and provincial) treasury so there is less money for important things like health care, education, social services and other things we take for granted in a civilized nation.

Fans of Donald Trump, Kevin O'Leary and others like that ... I don't understand them at all. Neither have a clue how the other 99% of us live, nor do they care.  They truly believe the "trickle down" theory as some kind of religion, which of course has been disproven time and time again.  These same people here in Canada mourn the loss of Stephen Harper.  I celebrate that loss, because I did not get one iota of benefit or find any opportunities to get ahead while Harper was in power, while I watched tax break after tax break get handed to people that can damn well afford to do without that tax break, because even with these breaks, these wealthy people aren't going to create more jobs for the rest of us ... nor are they going to make our small businesses work more in our favour.  People who are ridiculously rich don't care about the working class, the merchant class or even the so-called middle class ... in fact, the way they structure their arguments to keep the economy working in their own favour is to make the middle class and some of the merchant class hate the working class and in turn, all of them hate the poor folks that can't even seem to be elevated to the working class.

I have been warned that there are emotional and psychological effects of my health issues. Many in the online support groups have suffered from them.  But I try to go back to remember what one of the nurses that was in the hospital told me.  She reminded me that it takes a long time to completely recover from this thing, that I will have good days and I will have bad days and not to fret over the bad days, as it gets better over time.  Many of my cohorts are upset to learn that the medications do not get rid of the clots, but simply prevent the clots from growing and keeping new ones from forming.  My doctor told me this, so I know what to expect.  One's body usually absorbs them over time as the medication destroys the clots' support structure, so the clots eventually get re-absorbed into the body.  A few stick around.  One of the doctors told me he only had one in his many years of practice he had to refer to a surgeon to directly take the clot out (a fancy operation, he referred to it as).  

I have an appointment for follow-up and I will also be following up with the family doctor, but I just want to get better.  I make myself walk each day.  Sometimes it is harder to do, and other times, I am exhilarated to do so.  I noted that if I am stressed or pressured too much at work I am less effective, so I am trying to schedule this gradual reintegration.  The legal system still runs like it always did.  I still appeared before the same judges, justices and adjudicators I always have and met many of my colleagues in the process.  I just wish I can be as strong and effective as I was before.  I will write another post shortly in more detail about Panama Papers and why our social system needs to be revamped, especially given that easily fifty percent of all people are working in situations like I am: self-employed, contractors, part-time, no benefits.  I lost a lot of money because of this illness.  I just have to get better and get back on track, because there is nothing else I know how to do.  

I can no longer take breathing for granted.  I think the act of being able to breathe is highly underrated, and it has become so obvious to me through this experience.

Your thoughts?

TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE: THE WORLD SERIES AND THE FEDERAL ELECTION

The Blue Jays just won the right to continue in the American League Division Series with a score of 5:1 against the Rangers at their turf in Arlington, Texas.  There will be another game tomorrow and if the Blue Jays win that one, they will return to the Rogers Centre for the fifth game in the Series, whereupon if they win this, they move to the winner of the other pair in the American League.  I was alive and aware when the Jays won the World Series in both 1992 and 1993, the latter of which I was in Toronto and witnessed the crazy train going on well past twilight and into the wee hours of the morning.  Since 1993, the Blue Jays did not win past regular season.  Hockey has also started its regular season, whereupon tonight, the Montreal Canadians won the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference.  It is such a good thing to be surrounded by Jays fans when we have baseball in October and fans of any Canadian team going into playoffs.  We make our gentleman's bets (or ladies' bets) on who was going to win, with entire cities exchanging jerseys at the time of the playoffs.  This is all part of the community spirit that many of us enjoy.  However, we enjoy this even if our team does not win the grand prize, being respectively the World Series or the Stanley Cup.  The outcome does not impact on our lives in any meaningful way, whereby we get hurt if we lose or benefit over others if we win (unless you are playing for money, which I don't do).

However, the outcome of federal elections can do just this.  While many see elections as a kind of a playoff season, the debates being the games where there are winners and losers.  However, those watching the elections also realize that from the results, there are real winners and real losers and as Canadians, we need to try to make these elections work for everyone, not just for those that stand to gain the most from a party intent on giving you back even more money that you don't need, somehow convincing the public you will still be spending it in your community despite the fact you already have everything you need/  For the purpose of this post, I want to explain to people what is on offer in general for the federal election and what this means for people in Canada, and especially underlining why it is important to cast your vote even if you don't know who to vote for.

First, the unfortunate focus of the federal parties has been on tax credits.  Tax credits are fine if you have a strong annual income with money left over at the end of every month.  If you use some of this money to pay for your children's participation in sports, you will be able to claim a children's fitness credit, or if you pay upfront for home renovations, you might qualify for a small renovations credit. Tax credits are offered everywhere by the Conservatives, thrown about like candy mostly to their supporters, but at the same time putting on a charade when attempting to address regular Canadians. Unfortunately, many regular Canadians might actually believe that the Conservatives will be handing you a cheque if you fall into an increasing number of categories, while the fact remains that if you are only earning a modest income, you likely cannot pay the upfront costs for children's hockey, home renovations, carpentry tools, etc., so any tax you have to pay will be at its maximum as the Conservatives will not be offering you any cheques or tax reductions just for you being alive.  At the same time, if you are a single earner in an upper middle class family earning at least $93,000 a year on your own, while your spouse stays at home with the kids, you can haul up to $50,000 of your own money (on paper) to your non-earning spouse to save on your taxes for a reduction of almost $2,000. This doesn't assist single earners that earn much less than that.

Further, because the Conservatives do not believe anybody needs child care and that all families have somebody who is able and willing to stay at home for many years to look after their own children, usually the woman (so her income can be further cut back and even demolished upon the 50% chance of your marriage ending in a divorce, but oh well...), they do not support funding daycare for any child.  At the same time, Conservatives reprimand single parents who are stuck on welfare and unable to work because they have no child care.  Their solution is, I suppose, is to find yourself a man who earns a family wage to take care of you.  Good luck.  About the intact families where one earns money from a job and the other is at home because of disability, the losses are borne entirely by the one working as well as the person who is disabled.  This convoluted gift for the wealthy has no benefit whatsoever for caregivers (unless they were able to quit their jobs and look after their loved ones full time, with a tax credit - wow).  If you are a single earner and earn less than $44,000 a year, you won't be getting any help from the Liberals either, as their magically constituted middle class earner earns between about $44,700 and $89,401.  I can't remember the last time I earned more than even $40,000 for my family, so I guess I am stuck with all the taxes, the clawbacks and other punishments I am to tolerate for being married to a man who is disabled.  

The Conservatives have extended the Universal Child Credit Benefit (UCCB) to those adults with children between the ages of seven and eighteen, which is fine, but it is just $60.00, albeit the benefit IS taxable.  Many of Trudeau's middle class families will be losing most of it through taxes at the end of the year.  I presume the Conservatives' intent for this money is for parents to put it into an RESP or something for their children.  Most lower middle and working class families I know do not have the money to put into an RESP.  The money from the UCCB, while appreciated, will likely go towards paying the hydro bill, or paying to put food on the table.  It is impossible to save when you have no money from which to draw from to put into any kind of savings instrument.  At the same time, people are constantly bombarded with talk about how Conservative policies will put "more money in your pocket".  I am saying, this would not put any more money in anybody's pocket who needs it ... and for those that do benefit, they are unlikely to spend it in their communities.  Like the large companies that have already benefited from Liberal and Conservative largesse for years, this money is likely to be hoarded in savings accounts or even in offshore accounts.  How that helps our economy, I am puzzled.  It certainly isn't going to go towards hiring even one additional worker.

The Liberals have a few selective benefits, such as an expanded child benefit that will be targeted to lower and middle class families and add up to more money per child on an annual basis.  They will also tax earnings from those earning $200,000 or more in a new tax bracket at 33%.  Corporate tax rates will remain the same (even though as some pointed out, many wealthy people flow all of their income into a privately held company and draw in accordance to the corporate rate as opposed to their general taxation rate).  That means many millionaires will continue to pay less taxes than the rest of us.  The NDP wants to close a number of loopholes for high earners and hike corporate taxes. Conservatives, of course, want to scare everybody into believing that all the large companies will leave Canada to lower tax havens.  This is not what will move them.  The Trans Pacific Partnership deal likely will eventually move Canadian jobs out of the country, but not a single Conservative or even a Liberal will admit that.  When confronted, the Conservatives promise to pour billions into the dairy, auto and other sensitive industries to help "transition" them under the TPP; little do they admit that not a single penny will land into the pockets of the workers in these industries, just the overpaid and over entitled executives.  Once the TPP takes effect and jobs are lost, those losing their jobs will join the rest of us to compete for the remaining low paid, part-time, unstable jobs that are left, while struggling to make ends meet on less and less money.

The NDP also wants to fund a national childcare scheme, as well as begin talks about home care and a national pharmacare program, although I think the TPP would put a kibosh to that one.  Harper will continue to constrain Canada for years to come, even long after he had been booted out of office, which is better sooner than later.  A national childcare scheme, while a good idea, might only be good a few years down the road after all the provinces and the federal government adopt it, which leaves people needing child care today still lacking.  What I do like about the NDP is that they will stop the income splitting for the families (not the seniors) and will end the extension to $10,000 for the TFSA. An extended TFSA again only benefits wealthy people or at least those that have $10,000 laying around doing nothing that they can plug into one of these accounts.  Most of us just hope to get through each month not falling further into debt.  Who is willing to speak to us about that?

The NDP is the only major party that plans to fully ratify and implement the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Canada has signed the agreement, but did nothing beyond that, such as setting up an infrastructure so that legislation, programs and services passed by any Canadian government, federal or provincial, pass Charter muster.  This would give us a chance to challenge how disability benefit programs serve to keep people with disabilities in poverty and discourage relationship formation and children staying at home beyond the age of eighteen years.  It might even find a way to allow us to file in tort to get our hard earned retirement savings back, especially among us who were forced to drain them and look forward to retiring under the nearest bridge.  The amount the government provides for basic OAS/GIS is sub-poverty level and given the fact that most health coverage disappears at that stage.  Only the NDP and the Liberals want to increase the GIS and bring retirement age to 65 for those that wish to retire at that time.  The Conservatives are probably fooling a lot of seniors into believing they will be receiving an additional $2,000 annually if they are widowed or otherwise living alone.  This again is a tax credit, which means if you are receiving any GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement) as part of your retirement package, you will get nothing.  Again, the better off you are in retirement, the better off the Conservatives want to make you.  To Hell with the growing number of seniors who are retiring in deep poverty.

In this election, don't let the federal Conservatives tell you health care, services for people with disabilities, etc. is only provincial.  If this were true, then what would happen if one of our provinces suddenly decides to opt out of medicare?  If health care were provincial, they'd be able to do that with no strings attached, which is what many Conservatives like to see given they have done nothing during their tenure about enforcing the Canada Health Act (which regulates the delivery and public funding of health care, as well as federal transfers).  The Conservatives plan to slowly reduce the amount of money they transfer to the provinces, despite the ageing population and increased needs, to the extent some say is as much as $36 billion.  If you think you can pay more and more for your needed health care out of pocket, then that is okay for you ... but for the rest of us?  Too bad.  The provinces don't want to raise taxes any more than the feds do, so why does the feds always say health care is provincial?  For exactly that reason!  They want to download health care entirely onto the provinces by withdrawing their funding and not enforcing the Canada Health Act.  Further, the Conservatives have not held a single meeting with provincial premiers on health care since they got into power, so that is because they intend to get rid of it by attrition.

They say services to people with disabilities are provincial.  Canada used to have a Canada Assistance Plan, which regulated welfare payments, which ensured that no province will make deep cuts to the program that would put people's health at risk, that they had a right to retain assets, that they had a right to earn money that would not be deducted, and the right to appeal, among other key requirements, again with penalties for provinces that don't comply.  In 1993, the federal Liberals scrapped the Canada Health Act, which essentially opened the door to many provinces cutting welfare rates, passing workfare requirements, etc.  This is why we are so far behind in Ontario.  A recent article stated that if welfare was retained even at the rate of inflation since Mike Harris came to power, it would be over $962 per person, but it is actually less than $650 per month (in Ontario).  Disability rates were frozen under Harris, which is the same as a cut because the price of housing, food, transportation, clothing and other necessary items goes up, while your income stays the same.  The Conservatives also deepened the regulations which continue to sit today that smother people from ever escaping poverty, unless they immediately find a good paying job with benefits.  We all know where these kinds of jobs had gone.  If you have one, be thankful.  Many of us will never get there.

They also downgraded environmental, food inspection and health regulations, whereby industry is allowed to hire their own "inspectors" and pass on their own discretion.  We all know how well that went with incidents such as Maple Leaf Foods and the listeria crisis and provincially, Walkerton. The Conservatives say it is incompetent staff, but who is setting the standards as to who should be working in these places?  Nobody.  It continues today.  You are a friend of a friend of somebody. That is how you get jobs in most places.

The unfortunate thing is that some people still believe there are "opportunities" out there.  If there were, we would not be in the economic crisis we are in.  People would not be working two or three part-time jobs or trying to survive on one low income, or moving in with parents or friends and relatives because they cannot afford to pay for a roof over their heads.  I would have been able to snag a position between 2000 and 2006 when I sent no less than 800 applications to various jobs for which I qualify, but was denied every single time.  An Adzuna study last year deemed the Niagara Region as having only one job vacancy for every one hundred unemployed job seekers.  The people telling us about these "opportunities" unfortunately already had theirs and most are enjoying at least a semblance of a retirement, something that is becoming more and more at question for most people.

Elections are important.  It is too easy not to vote.  However, political parties and campaigns determine their platforms and priorities by the people that vote, not the people that don't vote.  The political campaigns know each and every poll in every electoral district.  They obtain data from various sources, where they know the age breakdown, ethnic breakdown, average incomes, renter/ owner ratio, etc. for each and every poll.  If it turns out and it does, that those in wealthier homeowner-based neighbourhoods, vote at an average of 85% of their registered voters ... while only twenty percent of registered voters in renter dominant, lower income and high youth polls, it should not surprise you why political candidates say nothing about poverty, housing, tuition fees, etc. because they know who votes and who doesn't.  I do believe if the lower income neighbourhoods, the young people, students, etc. voted at the same percentage as the wealthier and middle class groups, politicians will be falling all over each other to get the "poverty vote", the "housing vote", the "student vote", etc.  Don't believe me?

Ask yourself why Harper has tried to make it harder for many people to exercise their right to vote.  Be a rebel and vote anyways!  Surprise them all!  

FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE GREAT RECESSION IN NIAGARA

Have you read the news lately?

The Bank of Canada, The RBC and TD Canada Trust have arrived at a consensus that Canada is now in a recession. or at least heading for one.  Bank of Canada is considering slashing its bank rate again, following many prior reductions in order to spur more investment.  Polls are suggesting that most Canadians believe we never left the Great Recession.  That Poll, conducted by Pollara states that more than fifty percent of Canadians in mid-2014 believed the economy was shrinking.  However, our Finance Minister Joe Oliver refuses to believe we are in a recession, as his government is slated to go to the polls this fall.  This is despite both private and public sector economists warning that we are either already in a recession, or we are facing one very soon.

One would think that our lower dollar would help resurrect our ailing manufacturing sector, which prior to the 1990's was the main private sector producer of middle-class jobs.  But it seems my spider sense, and those of many others, sees this is not happening.  As extraction, refining and transportation in the oil and gas sector is facing major competition in the South, Alberta is for the first time in many years sliding into a recession as well.  This is being felt by Canadian people across the country, both in their perception of their own economic opportunities, as well as economic growth in general.  For the first time, in May 2015, Albertans went to the polls and elected their first NDP government, after years of iron-clad conservative rule.  This party has also been leading in the polls federally as well.   More than fifty percent of Canadians view the NDP as the best effective change from the current government.  Mulcair's party continues to enjoy a steady lead over the other two main parties.

Recessions affect all of us.  Traditionally, our governments have been cost conscious and tight fisted when it came to spending on programs to relieve the impacts of a recession.  While many on the right would argue that governments cannot spend their way out of a recession,but conversely making cuts and tightening up program spending on vulnerable communities does not 'cure' a recession either.   Over the past few years, more and more commentators and even wealthy business people have come forward to protest what we all knew already:  the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and more and more people are saying this is not a good thing.  Nick Hanauer, a billionaire investor stated in his TED Talk video that when communities don't have consumers to spend their money, business at all levels suffers.  Tax cuts for the rich and cuts to social programs supporting the lower income has not ever led to more and better jobs.  In fact, the less money the public has to spend at small businesses in their communities, the less likely these business will hire additional staff.

This issue has been brought to the fore by the Occupy movement that claimed the 1% is taking from the further impoverished 99%.  Hugh Segal, former Conservative Senator, has been raising the spectre once again of a guaranteed annual income for all Canadians.  This would mean creating an income floor that nobody falls below to ensure that nobody lives in poverty and can meet their basic needs.  He critiques the current welfare measures applied today, which do more to discourage work and crush incentive than they lift anybody out of poverty, while citing an unconditional guaranteed annual income for all Canadians will increase local spending, as well as eliminate disincentives for Canadians to accept paid work.  While discussions about a guaranteed annual income (GAI) still need to be focused, issues around amounts required per person, per family or household, as well as what - if any - clawbacks would exist - as the recipients of the GAI begin to increase their paid work - need to be finalized to ensure we are not replacing one bad welfare system with another one.

At the same time, last Sunday a referendum was held in Greece, in which 61% of those who voted elected to say NO to further austerity measured imposed on them by the European Union, European Central Bank and the IMF, from which bridge funding has been provided over the past five years and has not yet been renewed.  Greeks have lived the effects of austerity, enduring deep cuts in pensions, public sector wages and program spending, leaving many people without enough funds to pay for their basic needs.  There have been public suicides, business closures and large public protests, which led to Greece electing a far left government that agreed with its people: austerity has to end.  Greece is in a difficult spot, not necessarily a result of profligacy, but a result of many factors (e.g. poor enforcement of tax collections, insufficient value added tax or VAT, previous attempts at cuts, as well as pressures resulting from having an economy and currency controlled by others -- countries with more stabilized funding and a significant resource base).  More austerity is not going to cure Greece, nor is kicking them out of the "euro: either.  These next few weeks are going to prove interesting as Greece's new government attempts to work with its European partners and creditors to get a plan to get itself out of this mess.

In Canada, our right wing has constantly pushed for further austerity measures on its people; in particular, people who are most vulnerable.  I don't understand how cutting the amounts people get in unemployment insurance, disability and welfare allowances is going to create jobs, or get these people into stable, middle class positions/  I have witnesses the effects of this philosophy over the past ten to fifteen years and have only seen a downward drift in wages, in business confidence and a noticeable spike in social problems (e.g. family breakdown, mental illness, hate crimes, etc.)/  People talk about not having enough to eat and to pay for their housing in the same month, so how would it be possible for them to spend any money at their local restaurant, movie house or bowling alley?  The downward trend is being accompanied by the disappearance of manufacturing jobs and transition to other types of less labour intensive industries, such as the knowledge sector, personal services and to some extent, financial services.  Many jobs are also being automated, leaving many more people out of work now or in the future ...  . a future vision of self-driving cars, cell phone apps, e-mail and video communications, and so forth, eliminate many jobs as we speak.  A recent article in The Atlantic entitled "A World Without Work" hypothesizes further social breakdown and economic crashes if our policy makers are not cognizant about leading interventions to make this transition smoother for all concerned and again, raises the spectre of a GAI.

As the owner of a small legal practice in Niagara, I know that if I were to remain successful and grow my business, as in hiring new people, I need more clients.  That means, I need more people who have discretionary funds to pay my office to assist them in various legal matters.  If government austerity policies continue to shrink the pocketbooks of the middle class, who remain our biggest customer, my business would not be able to function, nor would any other business - apart from discount grocery stores, second hand clothing shops and low cost rentals.  As more people fall into this decline, the demand for these basics will only go up, while supply is limited.  Many anti-poverty spokespersons, most of whom have never been poor themselves, are asked what is needed, their first response is "affordable housing".  While I agree housing is an issue, it is a symptom not the cause of the sorry state of affairs we are in now.  Most people do not want to live with the rules, restrictions and traps offered by 'rent geared to income' housing, while others would like to hang onto the homes they have.  The notion of building more social housing as a salve for poverty's ills is very limited to those that want to and manage to get to the top of extensive wait lists, while others further down the list or those that do not wish to live in social housing are left out.  Those in RGI housing tend to remain in RGI housing, as establishing oneself or re-entering the labour force from social benefits is penalized.

An attack on poverty has to start with income; that is, income that does not squeeze incentive from those in receipt of it, or stigmatize those that need it or who apply for it.  Housing markets that cater to the general population can and will adjust their prices to match the "market" meaning that prices will eventually rise or fall with average income of those that demand the commodity. This relates to talks the mainstream media has about a "housing bubble", which is when the price of housing becomes too high for most people, the prices will naturally fall to a lower equilibrium.  Some economists fear this, as many people have taken advantage of low interest rates and have over-mortgaged themselves, where if the rates ever go up or they re-enter the market, they may find themselves locked out.  When prices go back to equilibrium it may not necessarily be a bad thing, especially as it will bring more renters into the ownership market, leaving more rental housing available to those that need them. The situation as it stands now is wage controls (esp. the "social wage") without price moderation, which is shutting out the poor not only from the economy, but from their communities as well.  Shelter portions of OW and ODSP were last deemed to be adequate at some point in the 1970's, but certainly are insufficient in today's market.  These things tend to segregate a large part of our community, which has been repeatedly found in any academic study I've read, to be polarizing and dysfunctional for the people involved (and with enough people in these situations, there can be a chronic recession - much like we feel today in Niagara region).

We have a federal election coming up.  While I cannot tell you who to vote for, but please do study your candidates' positions on all issues of importance to you and choose the candidate you believe will best get Niagara out of this recession.  Most important -- register to vote, and learn what you need in terms of ID, as some of this had changed.  For agencies and others who work with low income communities, please try to ensure that people that need some type of identification can obtain this identification before they will need it to go out to vote.  Promotion of citizenship at this very crucial time is vitally important if we are ever going to achieve stronger communities.

A SPLASH FOR THE RICH FROM THE START OF 2015 ...

What is a cynic to say when this is a New Year, when bam!  ... 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2015, a gift arrived for Canada's wealthiest families with children under eighteen.  Coming from a jaded perspective of "fairness", the federal government just threw them all a gift up to $2,000 a year in tax savings, while 85% of Canadian families with children get nothing.  Perhaps more money can be written off in daycare costs by some of us, but you have to have the cash first before you can benefit and how are less "entitled" Canadians going to benefit if they: (a) need to work; and (b) cannot afford upfront costs in daycare?  I suppose the federal government will tell these parents or parent, in the singular sense, to stay home and raise their kids ... and draw upon their independent wealth that we all supposedly have, or just suck it up and find a "babysitter".

First, the people that benefit the most by this dog's breakfast of a tax giveaway are two parent families, where one stays home to look after the kids and the male (usually) has a job that pays in the six figures.  Not exactly the kind of family in my opinion that badly needs this extra money, or any kind of example of a consumer that will spend this money in the community to generate jobs ... the extra money is likely to be thrown into investments or foreign bank accounts, as a family like this is not going to buy more groceries, another car or take more meals out than they already do, just because of this financial infusion.  It is a $3 billion drain on our federal budget, money which can be better spend on health care or infrastructure supports.   The health care accord between the federal government and its provinces and territories ended last year, which means that the federal government led by a leader that never supported the idea of medicare can feel more free to cut back the transfers it gives to the provinces by way of Canadian Health and Social Transfer, and by way of not enforcing the Canada Health Act to allow provinces to experiment with private health care.  This certainly won't bother the family with a six figure income breadwinner as they likely have health, disability and life insurance, while the rest of us will end up paying more out of pocket.

Second, two income families, which is what most families are these days, will not benefit (except where there is a very wide variation of wages, such as a minimum wage worker married to a senior public school teacher that earns over $94,000 a year).  There is no rationale for this handout to those richer than the rest of us.  Two-income families have much more expenses than those families with a single high income earner.  There is transportation, work clothes, lunches out, training and education expenses, as well as daycare, if there are children.  Those two items alone take up much more than the $2,000 gift their one income counterparts will be receiving this year (and in most cases, they will be getting a big zero from our federal government).  Calls for national child care policy have fallen on deaf ears with this current government.  In the eyes of Harper, the best that women can hope for is an iron clad guarantee that their marriage to their sole breadwinner man will last ... something we know is more likely to fail than not.  There are reasons women need to go into the paid labour force and remain financially independent, even if her significant other is a good earner.

All of this discussion around the so-called Family Tax Break has been so convoluted by media portrayals of what constitutes an average family.  None of us have ever seen real families portrayed in the media as being legitimate, such as those with single parents, those with same sex partners, those where the only breadwinner is supporting the other spouse with a disability, or cases where the total family income is insufficient to meet even basic costs, let alone enough to benefit from any tax breaks ... families that struggle to put food on the table will not be putting their children in hockey or other extracurricular activities.  The idea of shuffling kids around in a minivan is completely foreign to many, many Canadian families, yet the media likes to portray this type of family as being "average".  Politicians especially of the Christian right in Canada tend to believe they are benefiting all families by only catering to families much like their own.  Studies have shown that politicians are more likely to come from high income backgrounds and supportive families, while the majority of Canadians have mixed experiences.  Not experiencing a struggle gives politicians no right to determine what rights the rest of us have.  They do not understand what the "rest of us" need because they never needed to.  Many have never held "real jobs" as your or I refer to them ... having inherited trust funds from their parents, been educated in the best schools, and enjoyed prestigious positions in companies owned or influenced by their parents, and similar situations.  These are the types of people that usually complain about high taxes (Canadian Taxpayers' Federation) - folks who are financially secure, often earning six figures or in a high profile profession, such as journalism, law or finance. While I don\t have much information on the demographics of the membership of these groups, but a perusal of their board of directors' thumbnail bios, or by researching the backgrounds of particularly high profile spokespersons for these groups will give you an idea.  While this does not determine their personal values or advantages they likely had in reaching the positions they have, nor does it comment on their personal character or even makes a statement against their credibility (as in fact, I do enjoy the writings of many of these same people), but - put it this way, I have yet to see a single parent juggling three jobs and three kids joining an organization like this or caring a whit about what these people have to say.

The Harper Government is expected to hold an election this year.  Perhaps, this is why he is throwing goodies at his wealthy supporters at this time.  It is important to get these changes in before the election so he can add these things to the list of things he supposedly done for Canadians, yet more and more of us are wondering if we are even living in Canada today, as the Canada of today is so different than the Canada of yesterday.  For example, I don't have any faith that there will be any public pensions available for people that are not availing themselves of their own savings or of employer-based pensions.  Stephen Harper and his ilk doesn't give two hoots about elderly people, particularly women that don't have access to private pensions.  Even if one maxes out their entitlements to OAS, GIS and small amounts of CPP one might be entitled to, these folks will be living in deep poverty.  I doubt even this will be around by the time I reach the ever moving target called the age of retirement.  I am also finding that more and more health care services are not covered by provincial medicare, which means to many of us, we simply do without ... this doesn't help the man with the abscessed tooth that ended up dying, the woman who mysteriously died after being admitted to hospital with a dental infection, or the patients who are clogging the wait lists for orthopedic care due to the lack of funding for physiotherapy.

I think that among those of us that do not belong to the economic elite better stop voting for politicians that are part of this elite.  We need to vote those out that are supported by the elite (such as lobbied by the big oil companies which receive billions of taxpayer dollars in annual subsidies) and those that continue to not give a tinker's damn about the rest of us.  I vote municipally for those that are not "too good for" public transportation, and for those that are not interested in closing more schools without examining the impact that it has on housing values in the neighbourhoods serving them.  I vote provincially and federally for politicians that once held ordinary jobs, and know what it is like to do so and try to raise a family.  I also vote for those that operate small businesses, who did not inherit that business from somebody else.  I will support any politician that will actually do something about the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and not just wring their hands over it.  For example, stop the 1% from begetting the future 1% through inheritances ... this unearned money over a certain amount should be taxed heavily and perhaps prodigy of the rich might have to try to make it like the rest of us.  Start clawing back incomes over $150,000 at a higher rate ... and use the proceeds to invest in lower income people to help them raise their income or create opportunities for themselves, as well as provide a living income for those that cannot do this.

I am not just speaking as somebody who is against wealthy people, because I am not.  Higher incomes should be encouraged and the number of high earners should increase.  In fact, I had many jobs in the past prior to losing my driver's license that paid quite well, and never did I ever whine about the taxes that I paid during that time including the so called "high income surtax" that the top 10% had to pay at the time, but since reduced.  I personally think politicians should ask those coming to them complaining about taxes to require such individuals to disclose their own incomes, both gross and incomes held in wealth, as well as line 150 in the previous year's tax assessment and then asked if they had a choice between earning what they do now and paying what they currently pay in taxes (or a little bit more), or to pay absolutely no taxes and just earn $20,000 a year for all of their needs, including housing, travel, food, etc. and see what they say.  For those that say this is an infringement of privacy, please know this is how poor people are treated all the time before they can get one penny of any kind of help, yet the same wealthy people we speak of continue to benefit from much more of our tax dollars, directly or indirectly, than the whole gaggle of poor people in Ontario.,