This announcement from the federal government came after significant pressure from the NDP: * The BCNDP has implemented such a program and the newly elected Manitoba NDP is taking steps in that direction * [A month ago, the federal NDP was pushing for a national school lunch program in the next budget and had private talks with the Liberals about it](https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/ndp-pushing-liberals-to-include-national-school-food-program-in-upcoming-budget-1.6796700) * [10 days ago, the federal NDP passed a motion to call on the gov to fund this program](https://reddit.com/r/ndp/comments/1bkgt7o/ndp_passes_motion_to_fund_school_lunch_program/) * [Advocacy groups put significant pressure on the government, too](https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/a-national-school-food-framework-is-on-chrystia-freeland-s-desk-will-ottawa-say-yes-1.6817919) I am happy to see this step towards ending child hunger and its great that the NDP is getting some nice little victories in the minority government.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca
www.cp24.com
Canada
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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At least in the browser, adding an exclamation mark redirects you to the community. Without the exclamation mark my phone thinks its an email address.
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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Would love if you could add !ndp@lemmy.ca, and perhaps combine it with canadapolitics under a "politics" category?
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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Completely agree!
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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Doesn't seem like enough to me, although he's had success with these small asks (he got the GST credit doubled a few times now)
Canadian Labour Movements
Unifor reaches tentative agreement with Metro
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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I'm not sure, it's not in the press release.
Canadian Labour Movements
Unifor reaches tentative agreement with Metro
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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They actually managed to pull it off! They got roughly 20% over the life of the agreement, a $4.50 increase for their highest earning employees (full time and senior part time workers, who make $20 per hour currently) and 3.20 for their lowest earning employees (who make about minimum wage). And the best part about it is that nearly half of that increase is in the first year, front loaded. An actually decent deal! More details below.
It is **extremely** rare that a major labour leader like Fred would weigh in on a tentative agreement made by another union. It is even more rare that he appears to be advocating for rejection. Tentative agreements are rarely rejected by union members in Canada, although there has been a slight uptick recently. Context: The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) has reached an agreement with the Ontario government to use binding interest arbitration, avoiding the potential for a strike. Interest arbitration is typically used for essential workers, such as firefighters or nurses, that can't legally strike. It is strange that a union **with** the right to strike, like high school teachers, are proposing this. While arbitration has been seen as a promising alternative, due to recent positive arbitration outcomes for nurses in Ontario, many in the labour movement are wary. Critics argue that relying on arbitration can weaken the union, deprive members of their voting power, and potentially lead to more bargaining impasses. It can also make unions dependent on the success of other unions in setting good wage standards. Additionally, choosing arbitration might inadvertently undermine the bargaining position of other unions. The choice by OSSTF is especially puzzling to some given the current favorable conditions for unions to achieve significant gains at the bargaining table. Article with lots of information: https://theconversation.com/for-ontario-teachers-arbitration-is-no-substitute-for-the-right-to-strike-212432 Source tweet: https://twitter.com/FredHahnCUPE/status/1696731147365913071
theconversation.com
Context: Unifor 'appalled' following Ontario Education Minister's comments on child pronouns https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/08/29/stephen-lecce-ontario-child-pronouns-schools-canada-unifor/
QUEEN’S PARK – The Official Opposition Ontario NDP welcomes news that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has decided to ban gambling commercials that feature celebrities and athletes, which will help protect both children and adults from the explosion of unregulated advertising content under Ford’s Conservatives. In June 2023, NDP MPPs tabled a PMB with their solution for a ban on iGaming advertisements. Prohibiting celebrity and athlete involvement is a welcome first step. **Quotes** > “Health professionals have been sounding the alarm about the impact that online gambling advertising is having on people, especially on youth. Today’s news is welcome – now we need to follow the advice of experts and keep pushing for more.” -MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), NDP critic for Health > “We’ve seen an explosion in advertisements for online gambling ads in the past few years, which puts people with gambling addictions and Ontario youth at risk. I’m pleased to see the AGCO’s recognition that more needs to be done, and hope Ford immediately calls our PMB to second reading debate. Let’s keep pushing and get this passed”. -MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West), NDP critic for Mental Health and Addictions >“For too many years Ontarians lacked effective consumer protections when it came to online gambling. Today’s action from the AGCO is finally a positive step in the right direction – and a sign that our bill with expanded protections is needed.” -MPP Tom Rakocevic (Humber River – Black Creek), NDP critic for Consumer Protection > “I’m happy to see the AGCO agree with us about the impacts that gambling ads can have on our children and youth, and welcome today’s news. The evidence has been clear for years and it’s never too late to do the right thing. I’m excited to see our PMB become a reality – it’s the clear next step.” -MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain), NDP critic for Children, Community and Social Services
New Democratic Party
Corporate investors to blame for housing crisis, says NDP MP Daniel Blaikie | 'Canadians are getting kicked in the teeth'
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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Vacancy control is a policy that would fix this, and has been proposed by the Ontario NDP! It would tie rents to units instead of tenants, which would mean landlords can't raise rents beyond the rent control guideline when putting a unit back on the market. This removes the incentive for landlords to renovict tenants.
New Democratic Party
Corporate investors to blame for housing crisis, says NDP MP Daniel Blaikie | 'Canadians are getting kicked in the teeth'
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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The fact is, the NDP and conservatives lost the last election. The NDP won 25 seats. And polling right now shows that the conservatives are going to win the next election if it were called tomorrow.
In the last parliament, from 2019-2021, there was also a Liberal minority, with deal between any party. But the Liberals simply got what they wanted because they could count on the support of either the Bloc (when shooting down legislation over jurisdiction), the NDP (for childcare), or the Conservatives (when legislating workers back to work), and have a working majority.
So, the NDP has three options:
- Have little influence and get played like they did from 2019-2021
- Bring down the government, with a high chance of a conservative majority: which would mean tax cuts for the rich, cuts to healthcare, and giant cash handouts to the private-sector for housing that will enrich developers and effectively scam the taxpayer - I mean, just look at Ford's absolutely transparent greenbelt corruption
- Use their power to broker a deal with the Liberals, guaranteeing them stability in exchange for serious concessions on healthcare (dental care and pharmacare), worker's rights (paid sick days, anti-scab legislation), climate (phasing out fossil fuel subsidies), childcare (ensuring that care is done by public and non-profit instead of private providers), and housing (a few extra billion dollars, which is wildly insufficient IMO)
Option 3 is probably the best deal. Would an NDP government do more to tackle the housing crisis? Yes, but in the current parliament, with only 25 seats, you get what you can get. I think the NDP should push for more, be more aggressive, and have a more credible threat of pulling the plug in order to extract more from the Liberals, and for that reason, I'm not super excited about the way things are going. I'll certainly push for more at the party convention.
However, let's look at the bigger picture. What policy goals have the other parties (including the conservatives) actually accomplished in Parliament over the past decade? They've made a bunch of noise, but gotten pretty much nothing done.
New Democratic Party
Corporate investors to blame for housing crisis, says NDP MP Daniel Blaikie | 'Canadians are getting kicked in the teeth'
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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We need a massive, WW2-style investment in home construction, and we need housing prices to go down. That's something that the NDP believes in more than any other party. Take a look at this response in the last leader's debate, where Singh actually pushes back on the notion that housing should be an investment and prices should keep going up. You think Poilievre or Trudeau are going to say anything like that?
The fact is though, that REITs are buying up massive amounts of property, have perverse tax incentives, and have a lot of political influence through their accumulation of capital over the past decades.
*Transcript:* Canadians that are trying to either buy their own home, rent an affordable home, or in the case of Peggy, trying to stay in an affordable home, are all getting kicked in the teeth. They're facing these challenges because the market hasn't been set up for them to compete with families in similar situations with similar incomes. Instead, Canadians wanting to find their way into a home are having to compete with deep-pocketed corporate investors. This is what's structurally wrong with the Canadian housing market. There are people out there that'll tell you different things about that. The Liberals so far have only been willing to take action concerning foreign buyers, but we know they only represent about five percent of the market. Conservatives will argue that it's government spending, it's the Bank of Canada, or anything else that diverts attention from the real problem. The genuine issue is the massive corporate profits made by turning what should be a market about people securing a family home into an asset class for profit generation. This isn't a phenomenon that occurred by accident. If you delve into the history of real estate investment trusts (REITs), you'll find that they began their rapid ascent in 1996. Coincidentally, this was right after the Liberals canceled the national housing strategy. The trend has been growing ever since. It's myopic to focus solely on the last two years and the housing market fluctuations during this exceptional period. The trend of Canadians being pushed out of affordable homes started much earlier than that, and it's a pattern seen across both Liberal and Conservative governments. These administrations have been lacking in supply-side solutions. Additionally, they've cultivated a tax culture that rewards companies for buying affordable buildings, ousting tenants, and then hiking rents. Through the tax code, if you're part of a REIT, you're exempted from paying corporate tax on your profits, as long as you distribute the income to individual investors. Normally, a company would first settle corporate income tax on its earnings and then distribute its dividends from the remaining amount. Another way the housing market has been undermined is by both Liberal and Conservative governments not renewing operating grants linked to many affordable buildings, be it co-op housing or non-profit housing. Federal operating money made those units more than just affordable – they were rent-geared to income, which is the gold standard for housing. It ensures tenants don't end up paying an exorbitant portion of their earnings on rent. As these 40 or 50-year mortgages began to expire towards the end of the Harper government's term, the promise of not renewing these operating grants was made. While the Liberals ran on a commitment to sustain them, they backtracked. Consequently, buildings across the country that had federal funding, ensuring they could offer affordable rents to tenants, were told by both Conservative and Liberal governments that there would be no funding renewal. This meant they either had to raise the rents or sell their buildings. This situation made them ripe targets for REITs, which had the financial means to outbid non-profit associations experienced in housing. This is a long-brewing problem, and while the pandemic exacerbated the situation, attributing the crisis solely to pandemic-induced government spending is a mistake. The housing crisis has been building up for ages and has now reached a critical point. We must take actions to stabilize the market and salvage the affordable units we still have. Experts reveal that for every new affordable housing unit we establish in Canada today, we're losing 15. This rate is unsustainable. The decrease in supply, combined with the detrimental role of REITs and other corporate landlords, is at the crux of the issue. We need proactive government intervention to address and resolve this problem, ensuring Canadians have access to affordable housing. This is why we're [announcing specific measures today.](https://www.ndp.ca/news/corporate-pandering-liberals-and-conservatives-puts-housing-prices-out-reach) Jenny has already mentioned imposing a moratorium on REITs and corporate landlords from purchasing affordable buildings. We've also discussed establishing a fund so that non-profit housing experts can acquire and manage these buildings appropriately. Another crucial step is eliminating the preferential tax treatment for REITs, which only makes them a more enticing investment option, drawing more capital into a system that's undermining our housing market. We shouldn't be incentivizing investors to exploit a mechanism that makes housing less accessible for Canadians. Our package of solutions aims to conserve affordable units, create more of them, and stop rewarding major investors who profit by forcing Canadians out of homes they can afford, leaving them to fend for themselves.
The Federal NDP will be having its party convention in Hamilton from October 13th to 15th, 2023. There, the federal executive will be elected, the delegates will decide whether or not to keep the party leader, guest speakers will do their thing, and delegates will debate policy and the general direction of the party. **How do I become a delegate to convention?** [Here's an unofficial guide I got in my email on how to be a delegate (it's slightly different for each province).](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QPW27KrBlWvePe0a6hc4be8fDKkAnaoi) **How do I amend the NDP constitution/amend the policy book/or make the NDP take a stance on a particular issue?** The deadline to submit policy proposals has passed. If you're someone who has proposed policy, please post it below! **Cost, Deadlines, and Other Details** Link to official convention details: [https://www.ndp.ca/convention](https://www.ndp.ca/convention) The delegate fee for youth is **$99**, if you're unwaged it is **$149,** and the regular fee (as long as you register before the 25th of August) is **$349.**
www.ontariondp.ca
This really happened! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-auditor-general-greenbelt-report-1.6930390
The Ford government removed approximately 2,995 hectares of land from the Greenbelt in December — while adding more land elsewhere — to build 50,000 homes. The government said the changes were part of its plan to build 1.5 million new homes in the next decade to ease Ontario's housing crisis. As CBC Toronto first reported, land registry and corporate records showed several well-established developers were among the owners of the land that was removed from the Greenbelt. Some of those developers have made financial donations to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario or its politicians. The CBC analysis also revealed several of the properties were purchased after the Ford government came to power in 2018 while they were fully or partially off-limits to development. Lysyk agreed to look into this decision in January following a request from the leaders of all three opposition parties, who raised concerns about whether developers who benefitted from the Greenbelt decision knew about it in advance. Instead of finding they were tipped off, Lysyk found it was the developers themselves who, in many cases, successfully lobbied to have specific sites they owned opened up for housing development. Lysyk's audit found that 12 of the 15 parcels of land ultimately chosen for removal came from specific requests from developers or their representatives. "Many of these individuals had advocated for the removal in emails and in-person meetings within a few months prior to their removal," according to the report. "For example, one lawyer representing three housing developers emailed the Chief of Staff on Sept. 27 and 29, 2022, providing site specific details for the land they sought to develop." According to a timeline of key events, two prominent housing developers approached Clark's chief of staff in Sept. 2022 at a building industry event, and provided him with packages containing information on two sites in the Greenbelt — the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve in Pickering and a site in the Township of King that was purchased that very month for $80 million. Shortly after the September event, one of the developers provided Clark's chief of staff with information related to three other sites. "About 92 per cent of the land that was ultimately removed from the Greenbelt was requested to be removed by the developers the chief of staff dined with at [the event]," the report says.
3700 Metro employees are on strike after they voted to reject a tentative agreement with the employer yesterday. Solidarity! https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/gta-metro-grocery-store-workers-reject-tentative-settlement-begin-strike-action
www.thestar.com
“This company, like so many other companies, is making billions, billions on the backs of working people, shame, billions on the backs of working people who are going to lose their homes if this company doesn’t come forward with a solid deal,” Stiles said to workers on the picket line. Context: National Steel Car manufactures freight cars for trains
www.hilltimes.com
New Democrat MP Gord Johns says he aims to bring back enough expert opinion to convince the Liberals to offer more than a piecemeal approach to the opioids crisis.
lemmy.ca
There's a lot more Canadians there! Catch you there
It’s time to put an end to outrageous CEO pay and tip the scales to favour Canadians. Article link: https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/06/20/ndp-leader-jagmeet-singh-brings-forth-motion-to-tackle-rising-costs-unchecked-corporate-greed.html Petition: https://www.ndp.ca/tax-ceo-pay
www.thestar.com
With a white paper detailing 29 recommendations on advancing trans equality published by NDP MP Randall Garrison earlier this month, the Liberals have the opportunity to model collaboration by working across party lines to tackle anti-trans hate and address the persistent inequities trans Canadians face. Read the whitepaper here: https://randallgarrison.ndp.ca/sites/default/files/white_paper_on_the_status_of_trans_and_gender_diverse_people-_english__0.pdf
www.durhamradionews.com
“Privatized healthcare funnels taxpayer dollars directly into more expensive, lower quality care to line private companies’ pockets,” claimed NDP Health Critic France Gélinas. “These profiteers heavily lobby the government, exploit health care workers and create all kinds of conflicts of interest.” “The significant increase of 51 per cent in lobbying activities over the past year raises serious questions about the transparency of Ford’s government,” she added. “Such a surge in lobbying efforts is concerning and suggests that something fishy is happening behind closed doors.”
www.thestar.com
For those out of the loop, Olivia is a former school board trustee, city councillor, and NDP MP. As well, she is the widow of Jack Layton. Her victory tonight, on a progressive, renter-focused campaign, is a massive win for the left!
ottawacitizen.com
www.thestar.com
Pharmacare is a proposed policy that would enable people to buy prescription drugs with their government-issued health card, instead of their credit card. Currently, prescription drugs aren't covered under Canada's healthcare system, so we have an inefficient, american-style patchwork of private healthcare insurers, government programs, and greasy lobbyists. The Liberals have promised pharmacare since 1997 but have dragged their feet on implementing it every time, and now they are being noncommittal on introducing legislation by the end of the year (which is required under the NDP-Liberal deal)
www.thestar.com
Relevant Onion video: [Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=16&v=JnX-D4kkPOQ&feature=youtu.be)
New Democratic Party
Should the NDP community move to lemmy.ca?
leftwingmememachine
1 year ago
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update, 2 years later: I've moved this community to lemmy.ca
The conservatives just voted against the budget last week, which contained an NDP provision that would expand dental care to under-18s and seniors in households with incomes below $90,000. They've said that dental care is ["...more inflationary spending that will make the problem even worse"](https://www.terracestandard.com/news/federal-dental-care-benefit-gets-go-ahead-from-house-of-commons/)
Summary: - Creation of universal pharmacare program is a condition of Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence deal - In 2018, the Liberals appointed Dr. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario Liberal health minister, to chair an advisory council to assess a national pharmacare plan. The council's report, released the following year, recommended the establishment of a universal, single-payer public pharmacare systen - The NDP's health critic says their bill follows the council's recommendations and the principles of the Canada Health Act. He said the proposal allows the government to negotiate with provinces and territories on a pharmacare plan, and would allow Ottawa to withhold funding from provinces if they don't comply with the act.