You know McGuinty is in real trouble when comments on a Toronto Star story are almost unanimous in condemning the latest Liberal campaign announcement. Through the first seven pages of comments only a few seemed onside with McGuinty's latest attempt at pandering and vote buying:
"Just ahead of the provincial election, the Ontario Liberals have announced they will halt construction of a controversial gas-fired power plant being built on the Toronto-Mississauga border if they are re-elected."
With the media and pollsters calling the election a dead heat, my reply would be Bullshit. We were told over the course of the 2011 federal election the Conservative's couldn't win a majority. The media told us how great Ignatieff was doing campaigning and how poorly the Conservative campaign was.
Then we were subjected to groundhog day, only this time the media and pollsters telling us Smitherman and Mayor Ford were in a dead heat. The result was Ford getting almost 100,000 more votes than Smitherman.
And now the pollsters tell us how the voters of Ontario don't want change, things are just ducky with McDud as Premier. The funny thing is over the course of a workday I talk with quite a few people from different areas of the province. It's pretty rare to find someone who is voting Liberal.
Scandals, patronage, taxes, electricity rates, hst, attempts at vote buying like mentioned here at the top. People have had enough of McGuinty's waste and sleaze.
As far as I'm concerned October 6th can't come soon enough.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
McGuinty's Real Health Care Record; Cuts, Layoffs and The Sunshine Club
Seems McGuinty wants to keep bringing up the name of Mike Harris and painting himself as the health care Premier. Really Dalton? We all know McGuinty is a liar who can't be trusted. Below is a list that barely scratches the surface of health care cuts initiated by McGuinty's government. Hudak and Horvath should be reminding Ontario voters of this every day.Let's take a look at some of McGuinty's actual record on health care, not that make-believe world he wants to delude us with:
-$1.2 billion E-Health Scandal Wasted
-$300,000 severance for the E-Health head when the scandal was uncovered.
- Delisted eye exams, physiotherapy, and chiropractic care, sighting the fact it was unaffordable.
-made sex-change operations OHIP paid (yet the above unaffordable?)
- between 1995 and 2003 the PC government had created 20,000 new long term care beds and refurbished 16,000 more. Health Minister Deb Matthews said the McGuinty government has opened almost 8,000 new long term care beds, and is committed to adding another 2,000 beds in 10 communities this year. (which record is better?)
-NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accused the government of announcing $14 million in new funding to “plug a hole in the Niagara Health System’s budget” to divert attention from closing emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne. She also raised the byelection bailout in Toronto of the Grace Hospital. “Will this minister continue to play cynical politics with Ontario hospital funding?” The Minister said they were working with the LHINs to determine where additional funding was needed.
-The Ottawa Hospital is the latest to announce positions are being cut to balance its budget. Assuming a two per cent funding increase for this coming year, the Ottawa Hospital has to trim its budget by almost $19 million. More than 100 positions are being eliminated at the hospital, including 4.35 FTEs from among OPSEU represented positions.
-The Sudbury Regional Hospital is cutting 41,000 cleaning hours at the hospital and expanding contracting out. The affected members belong to CUPE
-WHITBY – Ontario Shores is eliminating 55 positions at the former Whitby Mental Health Centre in order to cope with underfunding from the Ministry of Health.
Forty of the positions will receive layoff notices, while 15 workers will be redeployed following contracting-out of their work.
-In addition to eliminating 55 positions, Ontario Shores has announced that it is closing one of two Beacon House sites. The Oshawa site will now be closed permanently. Beacon House is a residential treatment program serving individuals with complex personality problems that have resulted in psychiatric hospitalizations and frequent involvement with community services.
Ontario Shores has also closed Challenging Directions Enterprises, a Whitby-based outpatient workshop that provides work experience to 75-80 clients each day. The sheltered workshop closed its doors February 23rd.
OPSEU believe the layoffs are a partial response to a growing legion of managers being employed at Ontario Shores. This expanding list of managers is beginning to displace programming space for clients as Ontario Shores seeks to find new office space to accommodate them.
-LHINs were not included in new rules prohibiting sole-source contracting. Tory Leader Tim Hudak raised a sole-sourced $80,000 contract between the Toronto Central LHIN and the Courtyard Group, a Liberal-friendly consulting firm. The contract was to help implement a diabetes strategy. Hudak linked a number of those in the contract with the e-health scandal. Hudak said that after e-health, the same consultants were coming back for “second helpings” from the LHINs.
-PC health critic Christine Elliott raised questions about the qualifications of LHIN board members who happened to also be significant financial contributors to the McGuinty Liberals. That list included Juanita Gledhill, Chair of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN, the same LHIN that approved closure of the ERs at Port Colborne and Fort Erie.
-cutting services, including the Toronto St. Joseph’s pain clinic, one of several services recently scheduled for closure by the cash-strapped hospital. “They’ve left hospitals and clinics across the province making random cuts to front-line services
-$15 million bailout of the Toronto Grace Hospital during a by-election with cuts to hospitals in other communities
-layoffs at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton and at Hamilton Health Sciences
- the number of LHIN positions on the sunshine list (those earning more than $100k per year) had grown by 150 per cent, from 40 to 95 in three years. Executive salaries at the LHIN were also up by 213 per cent.
- Hamilton Health Sciences: “Even though we’re recognized as one of the most efficient hospitals in the province, we have been forced to make some changes that will impact patient care… In 2010/11 we will do 1,200 fewer surgical procedures.”
-, St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) is cutting services that will limit access to outpatient lab testing, increase waits for diagnostic imaging, and impact jobs in the community.
Six positions are expected to be eliminated from the lab and diagnostic imaging – this at a time when the Ontario government is spending to stimulate new jobs in the economy.
- The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is calling on the McGuinty government to take steps to protect mental health services after a minimum of 10 layoffs was announced last week at Providence Care hospital
-Rouge Valley Health System gave notice of layoff to CUPE, OPSEU and ONA. Cuts to OPSEU included 14 positions affecting cardiac care, rehab, mental health, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory. Meanwhile Toronto East General hospital is closing its physiotherapy clinic later this year and St. Michael’s has already announced it is postponing elective surgery and reducing office cleaning to save money.
-$1.2 billion E-Health Scandal Wasted
-$300,000 severance for the E-Health head when the scandal was uncovered.
- Delisted eye exams, physiotherapy, and chiropractic care, sighting the fact it was unaffordable.
-made sex-change operations OHIP paid (yet the above unaffordable?)
- between 1995 and 2003 the PC government had created 20,000 new long term care beds and refurbished 16,000 more. Health Minister Deb Matthews said the McGuinty government has opened almost 8,000 new long term care beds, and is committed to adding another 2,000 beds in 10 communities this year. (which record is better?)
-NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accused the government of announcing $14 million in new funding to “plug a hole in the Niagara Health System’s budget” to divert attention from closing emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne. She also raised the byelection bailout in Toronto of the Grace Hospital. “Will this minister continue to play cynical politics with Ontario hospital funding?” The Minister said they were working with the LHINs to determine where additional funding was needed.
-The Ottawa Hospital is the latest to announce positions are being cut to balance its budget. Assuming a two per cent funding increase for this coming year, the Ottawa Hospital has to trim its budget by almost $19 million. More than 100 positions are being eliminated at the hospital, including 4.35 FTEs from among OPSEU represented positions.
-The Sudbury Regional Hospital is cutting 41,000 cleaning hours at the hospital and expanding contracting out. The affected members belong to CUPE
-WHITBY – Ontario Shores is eliminating 55 positions at the former Whitby Mental Health Centre in order to cope with underfunding from the Ministry of Health.
Forty of the positions will receive layoff notices, while 15 workers will be redeployed following contracting-out of their work.
-In addition to eliminating 55 positions, Ontario Shores has announced that it is closing one of two Beacon House sites. The Oshawa site will now be closed permanently. Beacon House is a residential treatment program serving individuals with complex personality problems that have resulted in psychiatric hospitalizations and frequent involvement with community services.
Ontario Shores has also closed Challenging Directions Enterprises, a Whitby-based outpatient workshop that provides work experience to 75-80 clients each day. The sheltered workshop closed its doors February 23rd.
OPSEU believe the layoffs are a partial response to a growing legion of managers being employed at Ontario Shores. This expanding list of managers is beginning to displace programming space for clients as Ontario Shores seeks to find new office space to accommodate them.
-LHINs were not included in new rules prohibiting sole-source contracting. Tory Leader Tim Hudak raised a sole-sourced $80,000 contract between the Toronto Central LHIN and the Courtyard Group, a Liberal-friendly consulting firm. The contract was to help implement a diabetes strategy. Hudak linked a number of those in the contract with the e-health scandal. Hudak said that after e-health, the same consultants were coming back for “second helpings” from the LHINs.
-PC health critic Christine Elliott raised questions about the qualifications of LHIN board members who happened to also be significant financial contributors to the McGuinty Liberals. That list included Juanita Gledhill, Chair of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN, the same LHIN that approved closure of the ERs at Port Colborne and Fort Erie.
-cutting services, including the Toronto St. Joseph’s pain clinic, one of several services recently scheduled for closure by the cash-strapped hospital. “They’ve left hospitals and clinics across the province making random cuts to front-line services
-$15 million bailout of the Toronto Grace Hospital during a by-election with cuts to hospitals in other communities
-layoffs at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton and at Hamilton Health Sciences
- the number of LHIN positions on the sunshine list (those earning more than $100k per year) had grown by 150 per cent, from 40 to 95 in three years. Executive salaries at the LHIN were also up by 213 per cent.
- Hamilton Health Sciences: “Even though we’re recognized as one of the most efficient hospitals in the province, we have been forced to make some changes that will impact patient care… In 2010/11 we will do 1,200 fewer surgical procedures.”
-, St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) is cutting services that will limit access to outpatient lab testing, increase waits for diagnostic imaging, and impact jobs in the community.
Six positions are expected to be eliminated from the lab and diagnostic imaging – this at a time when the Ontario government is spending to stimulate new jobs in the economy.
- The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is calling on the McGuinty government to take steps to protect mental health services after a minimum of 10 layoffs was announced last week at Providence Care hospital
-Rouge Valley Health System gave notice of layoff to CUPE, OPSEU and ONA. Cuts to OPSEU included 14 positions affecting cardiac care, rehab, mental health, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory. Meanwhile Toronto East General hospital is closing its physiotherapy clinic later this year and St. Michael’s has already announced it is postponing elective surgery and reducing office cleaning to save money.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The Dalton McGuinty Legacy.....Pass It On
PLEASE READ, PASS ON AND REMEMBER NEXT ELECTION....
Here is what our Premier has done for Ontario in the past seven years.
Remember...he had a no tax increaseelection message/campaign.
He has increased all the licensing fees from your car to your boat including fishing and hunting.
He introduced the health care premium (not called a tax) and some couples pay as much as $1,500.00 a year.
He has put an ECO tax on many containers such as paint cans and window washer fluid. And people still don't realize it until they see the bill - he kept that one real quiet.
He put a disposal tax on all electronics..when you purchase new ones...so true..
He put the disposal tax back on tires.
And now he has passed the HST tax - the largest tax on the province ever and the only other tax in Ontario that ever came close to this in the past was the health care premium. He passed this bill even though 76% of the people in Ontario were against it.
This HST will provide the Province with an additional THREE BILLION dollars a year.
Then on July 15th, we all got our S.M.A.R.T. Meters on which we have to pay perpetual rent and will end up doing our laundry in the middle of the night. We are also going to pay big time for air conditioning from now on because when we need it the most it will be in the prime time of usage.
Let us not forget the E-health scandal with 1.2 billion dollars wasted and paid out to friends and relatives. What was Mr. McGuinty's answer to this? ?Well, if the people of Ontario don't like it, they can show it in the next election.? Nice attitude. This after he fired the CEO and then gave her a severance package of $300,000 - not bad for only being on the job for seven months.
And what about the SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS windmill power plant contract that he awarded to KOREA ? One would think there was some place in Canada orNorth America that could have built these.
He also closed the emergency rooms in Port Colbourne and Fort Erie because there is not enough money. There have been two deaths since then because by the time they got to St. Catharine's it was too late.
But he then awards a hospital in Torontothree million dollars - of course, that was in the riding where there just happens to be a by-election to replace George Smitherman!
He has taken the richest most prosperous province in Canada down to one of the 'Have-Nots' and, over the past six & one half years, has increased the budget deficit from $5.6 Billion dollars to TWENTY SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS and he still has a half to go.
And don’t forget his nice little salaryincrease of $40,000.00 a year - millions of people in the province don't earn even half of that.
Have we forgotten all the MP'S who also got a 14% increase? And now that they've had their increases he comes out with a new budget to freeze all provincial employees wages for two years - a bit late don't you think.
He increased the hydro tax by 10% in April of 2010.
He has increased the tax on liquor and wine by 10% in May of 2010.
Also, do not forget that Dalton wanted to built a 900MW Gas Fired power plant less than 1km from homes and schools inOakville. After wasting millions to try and push this through and blaming it all on his policy of defeating NIMBY attitudes, the power plant was suddenly cancelled. By a miracle yet to be properly explained,Ontario suddenly had an energy surplus and no longer needed the plant.
Dalton is a dolt and a fake and needs to go down heaped with shame for a job very badly done.
I hope this gets passed around the province ofOntario and everybody remembers the way we got screwed by Mr. McGuinty and the Liberal party and - remember - not one Liberal MPP had enough guts to vote against any of the above.
Wake up Ontario!!
And all pensioners got no raise at all over the past 18 months!!!!!
PS// He also is going to award companies $10,000.00 tax credits to hire immigrants..PLUS..consider the $30 million program to subsidize tuition for foreign students.
ps.ps. McGuinty tried to close the emergency room at the Ajax-Pickering hospital a few years ago, forcing residents to drive to Scarborough. The only thing that changed his mind was public backlash, which he construed as lost votes.
Here is what our Premier has done for Ontario in the past seven years.
Remember...he had a no tax increaseelection message/campaign.
He has increased all the licensing fees from your car to your boat including fishing and hunting.
He introduced the health care premium (not called a tax) and some couples pay as much as $1,500.00 a year.
He has put an ECO tax on many containers such as paint cans and window washer fluid. And people still don't realize it until they see the bill - he kept that one real quiet.
He put a disposal tax on all electronics..when you purchase new ones...so true..
He put the disposal tax back on tires.
And now he has passed the HST tax - the largest tax on the province ever and the only other tax in Ontario that ever came close to this in the past was the health care premium. He passed this bill even though 76% of the people in Ontario were against it.
This HST will provide the Province with an additional THREE BILLION dollars a year.
Then on July 15th, we all got our S.M.A.R.T. Meters on which we have to pay perpetual rent and will end up doing our laundry in the middle of the night. We are also going to pay big time for air conditioning from now on because when we need it the most it will be in the prime time of usage.
Let us not forget the E-health scandal with 1.2 billion dollars wasted and paid out to friends and relatives. What was Mr. McGuinty's answer to this? ?Well, if the people of Ontario don't like it, they can show it in the next election.? Nice attitude. This after he fired the CEO and then gave her a severance package of $300,000 - not bad for only being on the job for seven months.
And what about the SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS windmill power plant contract that he awarded to KOREA ? One would think there was some place in Canada orNorth America that could have built these.
He also closed the emergency rooms in Port Colbourne and Fort Erie because there is not enough money. There have been two deaths since then because by the time they got to St. Catharine's it was too late.
But he then awards a hospital in Torontothree million dollars - of course, that was in the riding where there just happens to be a by-election to replace George Smitherman!
He has taken the richest most prosperous province in Canada down to one of the 'Have-Nots' and, over the past six & one half years, has increased the budget deficit from $5.6 Billion dollars to TWENTY SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS and he still has a half to go.
And don’t forget his nice little salaryincrease of $40,000.00 a year - millions of people in the province don't earn even half of that.
Have we forgotten all the MP'S who also got a 14% increase? And now that they've had their increases he comes out with a new budget to freeze all provincial employees wages for two years - a bit late don't you think.
He increased the hydro tax by 10% in April of 2010.
He has increased the tax on liquor and wine by 10% in May of 2010.
Also, do not forget that Dalton wanted to built a 900MW Gas Fired power plant less than 1km from homes and schools inOakville. After wasting millions to try and push this through and blaming it all on his policy of defeating NIMBY attitudes, the power plant was suddenly cancelled. By a miracle yet to be properly explained,Ontario suddenly had an energy surplus and no longer needed the plant.
Dalton is a dolt and a fake and needs to go down heaped with shame for a job very badly done.
I hope this gets passed around the province ofOntario and everybody remembers the way we got screwed by Mr. McGuinty and the Liberal party and - remember - not one Liberal MPP had enough guts to vote against any of the above.
Wake up Ontario!!
And all pensioners got no raise at all over the past 18 months!!!!!
PS// He also is going to award companies $10,000.00 tax credits to hire immigrants..PLUS..consider the $30 million program to subsidize tuition for foreign students.
ps.ps. McGuinty tried to close the emergency room at the Ajax-Pickering hospital a few years ago, forcing residents to drive to Scarborough. The only thing that changed his mind was public backlash, which he construed as lost votes.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
www.DumpDalton.Ca
Came across this website. Not sure who's running it but contains tons of great info.
www.dumpdalton.ca
www.dumpdalton.ca
McGuinty Another $200 Million Wasted
McGuinty thinks he's the health care Premier, right?
"As part of its Emergency Room Wait Time Strategy, the Ontario government is investing more than $82 million in 2009/10 to reduce the amount of time people spend in hospital emergency rooms (ERs). This is the second year that the government is investing in this comprehensive strategy. The strategy helps hospitals improve emergency room (ER) performance in a number of ways".
So how did Premier Dud do spending $200 million of your taxpayer dollars?
"Provincial Auditor General Jim McCarter revealed in his annual report Monday that despite an extra $200 million being pumped into driving emergency room wait times down in the last two years, significant Ontario-wide progress “has not yet been made.”
The auditor found patients with serious conditions sometimes waited in emergency 12 hours or more — far greater than the province’s eight-hour wait time target.
McCarter also discovered emergency patients who need a bed waited on average for about 10 hours but some waited 26 hours or more.
On Saturday, Marlene Stephens, a 41-year-old daycare worker and mother of two, died at William Osler Health Centre’s Etobicoke campus emergency room after waiting for nearly two hours to be seen by a physician, her family claims.
“This is terrible,” said Marlene’s mother, Thelma Lee.
“Nobody should go through this type of situation.”
Stephens was taken to hospital with breathing problems and languished without being attended to, Lee says."
So how was that $200 million doled out? "The program, known as Pay for Results, rewards hospitals for meeting specific ER wait time reduction targets. It also provides them with opportunities and funding to meet these targets". So do we really know what the actual wait times are? Or would hospitals exaggerate the numbers to get more taxpayer money for themselves? I'm guessing yes.
$200 million with next to no results. $1 billion for E-Health for absolutely nothing. Premier Dud decided that eye exams and physio should be de-listed as the province couldn't afford it (see $1.2 billion wasted above). Of course he did feel that taxpayers should pay for sex-change operations. Question: How many eye exams could be covered for the cost of one sex change? Someone should ask McGuinty that.
"As part of its Emergency Room Wait Time Strategy, the Ontario government is investing more than $82 million in 2009/10 to reduce the amount of time people spend in hospital emergency rooms (ERs). This is the second year that the government is investing in this comprehensive strategy. The strategy helps hospitals improve emergency room (ER) performance in a number of ways".
So how did Premier Dud do spending $200 million of your taxpayer dollars?
"Provincial Auditor General Jim McCarter revealed in his annual report Monday that despite an extra $200 million being pumped into driving emergency room wait times down in the last two years, significant Ontario-wide progress “has not yet been made.”
The auditor found patients with serious conditions sometimes waited in emergency 12 hours or more — far greater than the province’s eight-hour wait time target.
McCarter also discovered emergency patients who need a bed waited on average for about 10 hours but some waited 26 hours or more.
On Saturday, Marlene Stephens, a 41-year-old daycare worker and mother of two, died at William Osler Health Centre’s Etobicoke campus emergency room after waiting for nearly two hours to be seen by a physician, her family claims.
“This is terrible,” said Marlene’s mother, Thelma Lee.
“Nobody should go through this type of situation.”
Stephens was taken to hospital with breathing problems and languished without being attended to, Lee says."
So how was that $200 million doled out? "The program, known as Pay for Results, rewards hospitals for meeting specific ER wait time reduction targets. It also provides them with opportunities and funding to meet these targets". So do we really know what the actual wait times are? Or would hospitals exaggerate the numbers to get more taxpayer money for themselves? I'm guessing yes.
$200 million with next to no results. $1 billion for E-Health for absolutely nothing. Premier Dud decided that eye exams and physio should be de-listed as the province couldn't afford it (see $1.2 billion wasted above). Of course he did feel that taxpayers should pay for sex-change operations. Question: How many eye exams could be covered for the cost of one sex change? Someone should ask McGuinty that.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
If I Was In The Ontario PC War Room I Would......
...be taking a long look into companies such as Eclipsall Energy Corp., and check to see if the companies employees have filed EI claims in the last year. I would do the same with employees of Bruce Power. That's one of those companies McGuinty signed inflated electricity price contracts with whether they are running or not.
Why would I do this? Well, if McGuinty thinks it's fair for the voters of Ontario to pay massive increases for their hydro use, he also might want to explain to those same voters why taxpayers dollars go to said companies, who then temporarily lay off those same employees for low demand, and who then get funds from taxpayer funded EI. I would also look for links between companies like Eclipsall Energy Corp., and the companies they have signed contracts with, particularly ones with ties to members of the Liberal Party or their families.
I'm not alleging any wrongdoing, but in this case doing due diligence just might be a worthy endeavour.
Why would I do this? Well, if McGuinty thinks it's fair for the voters of Ontario to pay massive increases for their hydro use, he also might want to explain to those same voters why taxpayers dollars go to said companies, who then temporarily lay off those same employees for low demand, and who then get funds from taxpayer funded EI. I would also look for links between companies like Eclipsall Energy Corp., and the companies they have signed contracts with, particularly ones with ties to members of the Liberal Party or their families.
I'm not alleging any wrongdoing, but in this case doing due diligence just might be a worthy endeavour.
