hearts & minds #3

8/14/2019 Hearts & Minds #3

1/28 1 Heartsand M inds

Issue 3 July-August 2009

New organizational approaches snagNova Scotia win

Knowing that the party had a

strong likelihood o becoming govern-

ment, candidate search was regarded

as critical. Te Party did not want to

ace questions such as Darrell is a

good guy, but look at his team! Teincoming premier would need to have

a strong pool o MLAs rom which to

choose cabinet ministers. As Leader,

Darrell Dexter and his team were very

hands-on with the search. Ridings

were encouraged to target individuals

who were experienced in business, ag-

riculture, the shery, civic government

and law enorcement as prospective

In the 2009 Nova Scotia election

the NSNDP initiated new and updated

organizational practices that were cru-

cial to winning the necessary seats ora majority.

Tose practices included: a very ac-

tive role by the Leader, Darrell Dex-

ter, in candidate recruitment; a pre-

election capacity-building exercise;

a tough love approach to the sae

incumbents; a target team approach to

the new seats that were needed, and a

resh approach to the endgame.

Jill Marzetti

candidates. Te Leader was prepared to

meet with these persons to bring them

on board as candidates. In some cases

ridings were told to go back and do

more work on candidate search rather

than go with the same candidate theyhad had in previous elections. Most o

the ridings had candidates in place be-

ore the writs were dropped. Just hal a

dozen did not; in 2006, about a dozen

candidates were only nominated aer

the writs were dropped.

Once candidates were nominated

a capacity-building exercise was done

with incumbents and (Contd on p.5)

Jill Marzetti

Courtesy o Ian Austen


2/28

Heartsand M inds 2

Air Canada: Fly it Right

Book Reviews

A Tale o Two Transit Consultations

Urban agriculture: The wave othe uture?

Psychiatric survivors need jobs

2009 Liberal Budget and the Har-monized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario

Venezuela: Steady progress

Getting eHealth back on track

An Ontario pension plan: An ideawhose time has come?

Greenest City is growing the uture

Sudbury New Democrat MP intro-duces law to cap credit card interestrates at prime plus 5 percent

Co-operatives: Back to the Future?

Clean energy jobs being createdin Michigan, Colorado, Ohio,Manitoba and Quebec

Credit unions and economicdemocracy

Peggy Nash, ormer MP (ParkdaleHigh Park)

Gelek Badheytsang, Communications Director,Greenest City

John Richmond

J.A. MacNeil

Gord Perks, oronto City Councillor, Ward 14

Peter Kormos, MPP (Welland)Paul Miller, MPP (Hamilton EastStoney Creek)

France Glinas, MPP (Nickel Belt)

Cheri DiNovo, MPP (ParkdaleHigh Park)

David Reville, ormer NDP MPP (Riverdale)

Art Chamberlain, Media relations manager,Central 1 Credit Union

Glenn Tibeault, MP (Sudbury)Peter abuns, MPP (oronto-Danorth)

Darwin OConnor and Grace Scheel

J.A. MacNeil

Strategic challenges in the NovaScotia electionJill Marzetti

Honduras: Reormists out,

troglodytes in

Middle East in the Obama era:Dare we hope?J.A. MacNeil

See Hearts & Minds online at: http://www.phpndp.ca

The articles contained within represent the views o each author, not necessarily those o

either the riding association executive or any other NDP body. All authors are members o

the Parkdale-High Park Riding Association unless otherwise identied.

In this issue

34

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8

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

18

20

21

24

26

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Dry cleaning

Electrical servicesElectricity

Energy Star appliances

Financial advisory services

Funeral services

Furnace repairs

Gas at the pumps

Vitamins

Grass-cutting

Gym ees

Additionally, the corporate income tax

rate will drop to 10 per cent by 2013

(down rom 14 per cent today). In

making these changes, the provincia

budget has shied the tax burden rom

the wealthiest corporations to working

people, many o whom are now unem-

ployed.

In transerring the tax burden on to

working people, the McGuinty Liber-

als have joined the ederal Conserva-

tives in implementing a regressive, s-

cally conservative agenda that will do

nothing to put people back to work.Andrea Horwath and Ontarios

New Democrats have launched a cam-

paign to stop the implementation o

McGuintys tax grab. o take action

go to http://www.andreahorwath.com/

unairtaxgrab/home.html and sign our

petition. ogether we can let Dalton

McGuinty know that Ontarians say

NO to this unair tax grab.

sive, proactive response that would

provide real economic solutions. In-

stead, the Liberals introduced a regres-

sive tax that will orce Ontarians to pay

more or basic essentials and everyday

purchases, including many which pre-

viously were not subject to any provin-

cial sales tax.

Harmonizing the provincial sales

tax with the ederal GS means that

McGuinty is adding 8 percent to the

cost o basic goods. Tese goods in-

clude gas, heating oil, and electricity.

Tese are not the only items thatwill cost individuals more as items

rom cradle to grave will be hit by

McGuintys harmonized tax system.

Under the proposed scheme, daycare

will cost an additional 8 per cent. Fu-

nerals will also be subjected to the in-

creased tax. I you purchase a morning

coee, take your pet to the veterinar-

ian, go to the theatre, play a round

o gol or pay or the internet in yourhome you will be paying an additional

8 per cent in sales tax.

As part o the Liberals tax reorm

package, businesses will get $4.5 billion

in tax cuts over the next three years.

On March 26, 2009, the provincial

Liberal government announced in

their budget that it would implementa harmonized 13 percent sales tax.

Harmonization would combine the

ederal Goods and Services ax (GS)

with the Provincial Sales ax (PS).

In order to blend these taxes, the pro-

vincial Liberals worked closely with

Conservative ederal Finance Minister

Jim Flaherty. As part o their agenda,

the Liberal-Conservative sales tax will

take eect on July 1, 2010.Te 2009 provincial budget was

a unique opportunity or the gov-

ernment to address the devastating

jobs crisis aecting Ontario workers.

Working people expected a progres-

2009 Liberal Budget and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)

in Ontario

Cheri DiNovo, MPP

Accounting services

Adult ootwear under $30Air-conditioning repairs

Arena ice rentals

Audio books or the blind

Bicycle saety gear

Boat docking ees

Campground ees

Car washes

Carpentry services

Conerences and seminars

These goods and services will cost you 8 percent more under the HST

Haircuts and styling

Home heating oilHome renovations

Internet access ees

Landscaping

Legal services

Magazines

Manicures

Massages

Moving vans

Newspapers

Plumbing services

Postal stampsPrepared oods under $4,

including coee, muns,

ast ood meals, etc.

Real estate commissions

Rentals o commercial

property

Ski lit tickets

Snow-plowing

Sports feld rentals

Cheri DiNovo was rst elected MPP orParkdaleHigh Park in a 2006 by-electionand re-elected in 2007. She is the NDPscritic or Employment standards, Womensissues, Housing, Citizenship and Immigration.

Theatre admissions

TobaccoBicycles

Veterinary care

Domestic air travel

Train ares

Taxi ares

Bus ares

Sale o armland

Courier ees

Real Christmas trees


4/28

Heartsand M inds 4

create 2200 jobs per year through a 10 percent manuac-

turing and processing investment tax credit,

kick-start new home construction with a one-year pro-

gram to rebate 50 percent o the HS,

boost the Equity ax credit to promote investment in

communities,increase renewable energy to 25 percent o the overall

supply by 2015,

implement a 10-year arm strategy to improve competi-

tiveness and protability,

establish a Community Land trust which will identiy

and purchase signicant lands, purchase the develop-

ment rights to that land or purchase easements to en-

sure public access. Te land could then be used or con-

servation, wildlie and sh habitats, orestry, outdoor

recreation including hunting, shing, and armlandpreservation,

challenge Ottawa to ensure its shery policies reect the

needs o independent shermen,

re-direct sta rom government communications to di-

rect marketing o primary industries,

create a prior learning assessment pilot program.

Te NDPs promises were careully costed out and the g-

ures made public.

By contrast, the Conservatives hauled out old budget an-

nouncements with some additional promises and the Lib-

erals produced a wide-ranging platorm with no costing.

In Darrell Dexter, the NSNDP had a leader who resonat-

ed with Nova Scotians. Experienced as a journalist, law-

yer, municipal councillor, and a member o the Canadian

Navy, Dexter also scored high with voters on the charac-

ter attributes o being caring, smart, likeable, trustworthy,

and practical. His leadership was characterized as genuine

leadership or todays amilies.

In contrast, the PC Premier, Rodney MacDonald, was held

in low esteem across the province. While Conservative

party support in some areas was still strong, support or

the Conservative leader was weak and ell throughout the

campaign. Te Liberal leader, Stephen McNeil, also did not

are well. Despite the barrage o advertising ocussed on

him as leader and potential premier, McNeil never seemed

to connect with the voters. Te Liberal party, having hit an

Every election poses a unique political environment. Tere

are circumstances a party may have created; others may

be challenges to be surmounted. And some o the political

environment may present opportunities.

All o these actors were at work in the June victory o the

Nova Scotia NDP.

Aer the 1999 campaign, the Nova Scotia NDP undertook

to build itsel as a positive practical party ocussed primar-

ily on pocket-book issues rather than merely being critics

o the government o the day. Tis allowed the Party to

deal with the negative image that the NDP has with nan-

cial management. Te emphasis was on practical aord-able plans, the new deal which in the 2009 campaign be-

came a balanced, practical plan to make lie better or you

and your amily. Te reerence point was the Manitoba

and Saskatchewan NDP.

Te 2009 NSNDP platorm was criticized by the Conser-

vatives as a our-page leaet. It was ocussed on the issues

that were top o mind or voters: health care overwhelm-

ingly, and then job creation and the economy. It was also

targeted to the needs o the communities in seats, particu-

larly rural ones, that needed to be won. Only seven com-

mitments were made:

create needed secure jobs,

keep emergency rooms open and reduce health care

wait-times,

take the HS o home energy,

x rural roads and keep communities strong,

provide seniors the services needed or them to stay in

their homes and communities longer,

ensure that more young people stay and build a lie in

NS, and

ensure that that province lives within its means (bal-

anced budget).

Te NDPs proposals or creating secure jobs and strength-

ening the economy are to do the ollowing:

maximize ederal unds to build the inrastructure that

communities need,

Strategic challenges in the Nova Scotia electionJill Marzetti


5/28


6/28

Heartsand M inds 6

Out o Tis World Ca and Parkdale

Green Tumb Enterprises. And, show-

ing that survivor business isnt just a

big city phenomenon,Abel Enterprises

in Simcoe produces custom wood-

working and commercial urniture.Te businesses mentioned provide ull

or part-time work or several hundred

psychiatric survivors. I there were

more businesses, many more psychi-

atric survivors could be employed.

Whats needed is a

greater investment by

government.

Te second is to

support and expandaugmented educa-

tion. Augmented

Education is a new

training and employ-

ment support model

developed by George

Brown College and the

Centre or Addiction

and Mental Health

(CAMH). Te Assis-

tant Cook Extended

raining program is

one o two Augmented

Education programs

currently oered at

George Brown College.

Te other program is

called the Construction Cra Worker

Extended raining Program.

Te goal o these programs is to help

people recovering rom addiction and

mental health problems take the rst

steps toward jobs in orontos ood

service and construction industries.

Tis program is ree or participants

with costs covered by the Ontario gov-

ernment.

Tese programs are enormously

successul. Tere are three problems,

however. Tere is a choice o just

What should we do? Te rst thing

we need to do is rid ourselves o the no-

tion that having a mental illness means

you cant work. Most o the 70 people

who work at A-Way Express Couriers

were told they couldnt work. Hah! A-Way is celebrating its 22nd birthday on

June 11 (Editors note: Approximately

30 percent o the people working at A-

Way Express live in Parkdale.).

Te second thing we need to do is

to pressure our governments to put

more emphasis on employment sup-

ports or people with mental illness.

Here are some things that we could be

doing more o:

Te rst is to support and expand

survivor-run businesses. Ive already

mentioned A-Way Express Couriers.

In oronto, there are our other busi-

nesses: Fresh Start Cleaning and Main-

tenance and the three businesses that

the Ontario Council o Alternative

Businesses runs: Te Raging Spoon,

I went to the doctor to nd out how

high my cholesterol was. In the wait-

ing room was a poster that read em-

ployment determines health; I knew,right then, what Id write about or this

newsletter.

Let me locate mysel. In the 1960s, I

spent almost two years as a patient in

mental hospitals in Ontario. I got inter-

ested in the mental pa-

tients liberation move-

ment in the early 70s;

that activism eventually

led me into politicsoronto City Council

(80-85), the Ontario

Legislature (85-90),

and in the Premiers

Ofce (90-94). In 1996,

I started David Reville

& Associates, which

does social research

and community devel-

opment. Since 2004, I

have been teaching A

History o Madness and

Mad Peoples History at

Ryerson University.

Seventy to ninety

percent o people with

serious mental illness

are unemployed. When I hear people

complaining that their job is driving

them crazy, I wonder i they know that

not having a job drives and/or keeps

people crazy. Well, its true. In his a-

mous bookRecovery rom Schizophre-

nia Richard Warner shows that the

biggest single actor in recovery rom

schizophrenia is whether or not the

person works. Alas, as the statistics

show, we are doing a very bad job o

helping people with schizophrenia

(and other mental illnesses) get work.

Psychiatric survivors need jobsDavid Reville, ormer NDP MPP

l to r: A-Way Express Executive Director Laurie Hall, David Reville, and activist

Pat Capponi at A-Ways 20th Anniversary party



hired a number o peer support work-

ers in its schizophrenia program Te

mental health sector employs tens o

thousands o people; many more o

them could be people with lived expe-

rience.

For urther inormation on A-Ways

services, call 416 424-2266, or see http://

www.awaycourier.ca

two programs, they are oered only

at George Brown College and stable

unding remains elusive. Augmented

education could help any marginal-

ized group gain entry into the labour

orce and augmented education pro-

grams could be oered at community

colleges right across the province. Te

provincial government has provided

unding through a variety o unding

mechanisms. I think its time or the

government to und an augmented

education program.

Te third thing we could do is en-

courage the mental health system to

put more emphasis on the value o

lived experience and hire more psychi-

atric survivors. Te Centre or Addic-

tion and Mental Health has recently

David Reville is a psychiatric survivor, andwas a popular oronto City Councillor(1980-85) and MPP or Riverdale or twoterms (1985-90), beore retiring rom thelegislature. He received an award rom theCouncil o Canadians with Disabilities in

2001. He now runs David Reville & Asso-ciates consulting rm, and is an instructorat Ryerson Universitys School o DisabilityStudies.

An interesting article

about survivor-run busi-

nesses: Learning to walk

between worlds: informallearning in psychiatric

survivor-run businesses: a

retrospective re-reading of

research process and results

from 1993-1999, Kathryn

Church (2001)

http://www.oise.utoronto.

ca/depts/sese/csew/nall/

res/20learningtowalk.pd

Working Like Crazy, an

NFB documentary about

survivor-run businesses.

A teaching guide may be

ound at http://www.on-

nb.gc.ca/sg/98109.pd

For more about aug-

mented education, see

the George Brown Collegewebsite. There are a num-

ber o articles about aug-

mented education on the

CAMH website; see, or ex-

ample: www.camh.net/.../

Strategic_Planning_An-

nual_Reports/Annual_Re-

ports/2005/training_em-

ployment_ar2005.htmlFor inormation about

jobs requiring lived expe-

rience o mental illness

e.g. peer support workers,

see: http://www.vch.ca/

mentalhealth/peersup-

port_aq.htm

Psychiatric survivors need jobsOther sources o inorma-

tion on this issue

Other businesses run by psychiatric survivorsFresh Start Cleaning and Maintenance Busi-

ness

761 Queen St. West, Suite 207

Toronto, Ontario

M6J 1G1

Phone: 416-504-4262Fax: 416-504-3429

http://www.reshstartclean.com/

This business provides general oce clean-

ing, special event cleaning, construction

cleaning, seasonal lawn clean up, prepara-

tion and ertilization. They provide over 1000

hours a week o work to dozens o psychiatric

survivors.

Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises

1499 Queen St. W., Suite 203

Toronto, ON M6R 1A3

Tel: 416 - 537 - 9551

Fax: 416 - 537 - 1810

[email protected]://www.pgte.org/index.html

This business provides specialty cosmetic

landscaping both indoors and outdoors

to local businesses and organizations. It

currently provides employment or up to

35 people. For a portolio o their work, see

their website.

Out o this World Ca

1001 Queen St. W. (inside CAMH)Tel: 416-535-8501 x. 3006

Fax: 416 - 583 - 1247

General Inquiry: [email protected]

http://www.otwcae.com/index.html

This business provides top-notch catering

services too (see their menu and on-line

order orm at http://www.otwcae.com/

catering.htm)

The Raging Spoon

761 Queen St. W. (Queen and Euclid)(416) - 504 6128

[email protected]

http://www.ragingspoon.com/home.htm

Raging Spoon provides excellent catering

services (see their menu at http://www.

ragingspoon.com/ragingspoonmenu.pd ). It

also has a ca, currently under reconstruc-

tion but reopening soon. It has employed

about 150 psychiatric survivors


8/28

Heartsand M inds 8

Getting eHealth back on trackFrance Glinas, MPP

Te continuing expense

scandal at eHealth On-

tario and the McGuinty

governments seeminglylaissez-air supervision

o the agency has cast

doubt on not only the

competency o the gov-

ernment, but also on

the status o Ontarios

electronic health records

system.

It should be said at the outset that no government agency

should be given carte blanche in their operations, regard-

less o the importance o the nal product. Te gross mis-

management and waste o precious health care dollars,

the backhanded deals between riends, and the continued

bungling o the launching o a provincial electronic health

records system is unacceptable.

But where do we go rom here and how do we get the de-

velopment o an electronic health records system back on

track?

For starters, there is no question that eHealth Ontario must

shed itsel o the corporate culture o entitlement that has

le Ontarians appalled. Tese are the same Ontarians who

have patiently waited a very long time or an electronic

health records system to roll out across the province.

In the healthcare sector itsel, you would be hard pressed

to nd anyone who would deny the importance o elec-

tronic health records. Tus, it is essential that this scandal

does not leave Ontario even urther behind in achieving a

system o electronic health records.

Certainly, heads must roll as a result o the current scan-dalincluding the one o the Minister in charge. But its

also prudent to take a moment and think about where we

ought to be headed.

Electronic health record systems have the potential to save

our healthcare system millions o dollars each year. Tey

can also reduce healthcare errors, ensure greater coordina-

tion, and provide or better care and health outcomes or

Ontario patients.

Yet, in spite o these benets, Ontario is sadly lagging be-

hind other jurisdictions.

We are standing on the sidelines while a place like Den-

markwith about hal o Ontarios populationdemon-

strates an advanced and comprehensive electronic health

records system. Te level o integration and the close to

100 per cent compliance that has been achieved in Den-

mark is a goal we should set our sights on.

But beore we think that the only leading example o this

kind o system is located in a ar-o country, lets take a

look at an Ontario-grown model.

Te Group Health Centre, located in Sault Ste. Marie, has

been described by Roy Romanow as the jewel in the crown

o Medicare. Te centre is a model o inter-disciplinary,

comprehensive careall supported by an electronic health

e-Health: Follow the money . . .

Amount paid to two top e-Health executives per year, own in rom Alberta $1,500,000

E-Health CEO Sarah Kramer annual salary 380,000

Sarah Kramers bonus in March 2009 ater our months on the job 114,000

Sarah Kramers severance pay 316,670

Amount Sarah Kramer billed govt to reurbish her ofce 51.500

Consultant Penny Ballems pay or 78 hours o work 30,000

Michael Guerrieres consulting ee per day 3,000

Fee per day o each o two executive own in rom Alberta 2,700



electronic records but are rarely able to share these records

with external partners such as hospitals. Tis greatly un-

dermines the eectiveness o any electronic health records

system.

Ontarians need and deserve a system that works. With a

total investment that is now ast approaching $1-billion

we should have it. But sadly we dont. Te eHealth Ontario

scandal is a serious setback, but it shouldnt derail the ob-

jective o delivering a sound, ully-unctioning electronic

health records systemsooner, rather than later.

records system that has been successully unctioning

or more than a decade. Tis system allows the centres

healthcare team, as well as hospitals and pharmacies in the

broader community, to have instantaneous access to pa-

tient records and manage chronic conditions in ways that

the rest o Ontarios healthcare providers can only dream

o. Tis system was not the product o high-priced consul-

tants. Rather, it was developed internally, growing out o

an already-established model o coordinated and patient-

centred care.

Given what we know and what weve seen, the Ontario

government would be wise to take a moment to reconsider

eHealth Ontarios present path. Te agencys penchant or

the glamour o high-priced consulting is not only unnec-

essary, but also ill-advised. Bringing the development o

an electronic health records system back into the public

sector, alongside proper accountability

mechanisms, should lead to ar better re-

sults than we have seen over the past seven

yearsduring which hundreds o mil-

lions o taxpayer dollars have been largely

squandered.

Tere is no question that building an elec-

tronic health records system will require

signicant investment. But New Demo-crats want it to be investment that is based

on the needs o patients and the ultimate

goal o building a coordinated, inter-disci-

plinary healthcare system.

What is at stake here is not just the comple-

tion o a complex inormation technology

puzzle, but also the provision o world-

class healthcare to all Ontarians.

Even beore this scandal, New Democrats

had expressed concern that eHealth On-

tario was not ocused on implementing a

system that gives highest priority to co-

ordination. Healthcare proessionals have

raised red ags about the absence o proper

plans to have existing systems communi-

cate seamlessly with each other. For exam-

ple, doctors ofces may have some level o

Getting eHealth back on track

France Glinas is the MPP or Nickel Beltthe riding constitut-ed by the doughnut o communities around the city o SudburyShe serves as the NDPs Health and Long-erm Care Critic andworked as a physiotherapist and healthcare administrator priorto her election to Queens Park in 2007. She is also a bush pilot, acompetitive rower and an avid snow boarder.


10/28

Heartsand M inds 10

I the downward trend in cover-

age is allowed to continue, more and

more Ontario workers will be without

workplace pensionsmaking a public

pension system their only option. Tis

points to the crucial need or a broad-based, public discussion on how best

to ensure that all working Ontarians

will have nancial security in retire-

ment. Tere are many questions about

how an Ontario pension plan should

be designed, such as:

Should the plan cover only those

that presently lack an occupational

plan or should it also be accessible

as a top-up option or those that dohave a plan?

Should the plan be mandatory or

all employers and employees or

should there be opt-out options or

particular groups in particular cir-

cumstances?

What should the minimum contri-

bution level be?

New Democrats want to hear the

views o Ontarians. Tis summer, our

Pensions Critic, Paul Miller (MPP or

Hamilton EastStoney Creek), will

criss-cross the province posing these

and other questions as we rene our

proposal or a Pensions Ontario Plan.

West end orontonians can attend the

August 6 meeting on Weston Road

(See ad, page 9).

NOE: A French version o this articleis available at our website. See: http://

www.phpndp.ca

Peter Kormos is the MPP or Welland andthe NDP critic or justice and labour.

Paul Miller is the MPP or Hamilton EastStoney Creek and the NDP critic or Pen-sions, Seniors Issues, Government Servicesand ourism, Recreation and Sport.

pensions o tens o thousands o retir-

ees at risk. Te legislation is, in act,

a complete repudiation o decades o

past practice whereby the province has

always provided the Fund with a long-

term, repayable loan whenever claimson the und exceed the money avail-

able or payout.

It should be noted that Ontario al-

ready has the blueprint or dealing

with many o the current problems

acing the pension system: the Arthurs

Report. While the NDP doesnt sup-

port all o the reports recommenda-

tions, we ound it particularly astute

on the matter o the Pension Benets

Guarantee Fund.Te NDPs approach to pension re-

orm is based on the ollowing consid-

erations:

- First, we recognize that the Can-

ada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age

Security plan (OAS) orm a crucial

oundation or decent retirement or

Ontario workers. However, the in-

come level they oer does not provide

or a retirement with dignity. For many

workers, this means the CPP benet

will provide an income ar less than

one-quarter o the average industrial

wage. For women and others acing

discrimination and structural disad-

vantages in the labour market, plan

benet levels are inadequate.

- Second, there has been a gradual

slide in the number o workers covered

by a workplace pension plan. Much

o this due to the dramatic growth onon-standard or precarious work, in-

cluding part-time, casual, contract

and sel-employment. Tese areas o

work have grown while the raction o

the workorce now having permanent

ull-time employment has allen to

less than two-thirds. O those not hav-

ing permanent ull-time employment,

only 15 per cent enjoy workplace pen-

sion coverage.

Te issue o pensions has been gar-

nering a great deal o attention. And

with the baby boomer generation

reaching or soon to reach retire-

ment age, pensions promise to become

an even bigger issue o concern to all

Canadians.

New Democrats at Queens Park

believe that all workers should be able

to look orward to an economically

secure and dignied retirement. Te

NDP believes the Ontario government

has the primary responsibility to deal

with the present pension crisis. Te

provincial government has sole re-

sponsibility or protecting 85 per cent

o Ontarios pensions. It holds the keysto resolving many o the issues sur-

rounding pensions.

Tats why New Democrats were

concerned by legislation, buried in the

ne print o the provincial budget bill,

that explicitly states that the province

has no legal obligation to support the

Pension Benets Guarantee Fund

the back-up or Ontario pensions.

Tis legislation is wrong and places the

An Ontario pension plan: An idea whose time has come?

Peter Kormos, MPP

Paul Miller, MPP



Sudbury New Democrat MP introduces law to cap credit

card interest rates at prime plus 5 percent

Glenn Tibeault, MP

While the weather has improved,

and the sunshine has brightened our

days, there has been no improvementor the millions o Canadians strug-

gling with huge credit card debt and

cripplingly high interest rates.

In April o this year, I introduced

a motion as the New Democrat con-

sumer protection critic to adopt the

Obama Administrations approach to

credit cards, through the implementa-

tion o the Credit Card Accountabil-

ity and Responsibility Act. Te planincluded measures to accomplish the

ollowing: end unair ees and charges,

eliminate arbitrary interest rate hikes,

protect consumers who pay their bills

on time and shield the vulnerable rom

aggressive credit card solicitation.

When the motion received support

rom the majority o Parliament, the

Conservative government nally took

notice o the issue. However, like most

announcements made by the Harper

government, all that was oered was

window dressingliterally a bold box

on customers credit card statements.

No help with high interest rates.

No halt to any time, any reason

interest rate increases.

No help and no hope or Canadi-

ans.

No hope until now.

However, now there is a real solu-

tion on the table. A solution that willtake real action and yield results or

Canadians who are ed up with the

unair and predatory practices o

credit card companies. Finally, there

is a plan to put a hard cap on interest

rates.

It is important or all New Demo-

crats to stand with Canadian consum-

ers who have been gouged by high

credit card interest rates. Tats why Iintroduced a private members bill on

June 18 that would cap all credit card

interest rates at ve per cent above

prime (the overnight Bank o Canada

lending rate). Tat would mean the

rate on June 25, or example, would

be 5.25 percent. Most Canadians are

currently paying between 11 and 18

percent on their credit cards, i not

more.

Te bill would amend sections o

the Bank Act and three other laws to

ensure that all credit cards are subject

to the regulation and all consumersbenet rom reasonable interest rates.

Banks are giving out ewer loans

and lines o credit, orcing amilies to

turn to their credit cards, which have

much higher interest rates. Canadians

are already eeling the eects o the

recession; over 1.6 million are unem-

ployed, and hundreds o thousands o

them cant get access to EI. At the very

least, they shouldnt be eeced by thebig banks and credit card companies.

Contact me at (705) 673-7107 or

more ino, or to tell me your story o

misbehaving credit card companies

[email protected] .

For the ull text o Bill C-426An

Act to amend the Bank Act and oth-

er Acts (cost o borrowing or credit

cards), see: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/

HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4007045&Language=e&Mod

=1&File=24

Glenn Tibeault was elected to represent theriding o Sudbury in the House o Commonsin 2008, the rst New Democrat to representthe riding ederally since 1967. He currentlyserves as the NDPs critic or consumer pro-tection and sports. Prior to his election as

MP he worked as a reporter, a worker withthe developmental handicapped and execu-tive director o the Sudbury United Way.

Write to your ederal MP, o whatever political stripe, urging him/her to vote in avour o a

frm cap on interest rates by supporting Bill C-426.

TAKE ACTION!


12/28

Heartsand M inds 12

especially challenging.

Competing companies like West Jet

and Porter predictably react by adding

more airline capacity to the market,

even when travel is declining, in the

hope o urther damaging Air Canada,so that they can then gain a larger share

o the market. Tis illogical behaviour

is encouraged under our current any-

thing goes air travel regime.

Unions have once again done the

responsible thing by holding the line

(even aer six years without a pay in-

crease) and by trying to keep the com-

pany out o bankruptcy. Retirees have

joined in the eort. But ultimately, we

need some sanity and some regulation

restored to our air travel. Tis doesnt

mean returning to the old ways. A

modern regulatory system would pre-

vent the dramatic swings in the airline

sector by imposing responsible limits

on the overall capacity growth o car-

riers. It would stop the destructive

attacks o one company on another

through excessive carrying capacity.

It would also mean our FederalGovernment taking an equity stake

in Air Canadanot buying the whole

company or running the day-to-day

operations, but helping ensure long-

term nancial stability. I the alterna-

tive is a complete oreign takeover such

as happened with our railway system,

keeping our government involved in

our national air carrier is denitely

preerable.

Te travelling public in Canada,

and the workorce who serve it, have

endured enough. Lets not let another

travel business needlessly go under. Its

time to put some sanity back into our

national airline.

For urther inormation about the

Air Canada situation, see: http://www.

caw.ca/en/7423.htm

As chie negotiator or the CAW in

the recent round o talks with our na-

tional air carrier, I have observed rst

hand the shortcomings o privatizing

and deregulating key sectors o our

economy.

Air Canada is once again teetering

on the brink o bankruptcy (CCAA*),

aer just emerging rom CCAA six

years ago. At that time the courts ap-

proved a plan that saw Air Canada En-

terprises (ACE) take on the role o ma-

jor shareholder o Air Canada. ACE

spun o key protable segments o Air

Canada, such as the Aeroplan rewards

program, the maintenance section, andits regional carrier. Tese were sold or

huge prots that beneted the inves-

tors, especially US hedge unds, and

the key executives. ACE CEO Robert

Milton alone pocketed more than $60

million. Tis is the kind o irrespon-

sible corporate behavior that is driving

Americans crazy but doesnt seem to

attract much notice here in Canada.

Air Canada sta bore the brunt othe restructuring. Under bankruptcy

they had made sacrices that provided

over $2 billion in cost savings to Air

Canada, only to see this money travel

right into the pockets o the investors.

oday those employees work harder

and longer or less pay and benets.

Since the end o 2000, Air Canada

has reduced its total ull-time equiva-

lent sta by 47 percent, resulting in a

loss o over 20,000 jobs (rom almost

45,000 jobs to 23,600 today). Tey are

so short-staed that when bad weather

hit last December during the holidayperiod, Canadian air travel ground to

a halt and there were not enough sta

to deal with the crisis. Te traveling

public took out their rustrations on

the same sta that were trying to hold

the operation together. It was very

rustrating indeed.

Opposition to so-called Big Gov-

ernment and the Nanny State os-

tered the climate that led to Air Cana-

das current precarious state. In Canada

and around the world governments o

all stripes ell into the trap o the pri-

vate sector does it better. Certainly

this approach made some people very

rich, but it also le some governments

nearly bankrupt, eroded key services

like health care and transportation,

and promoted a philosophy o greed

that works against the public interest.

Ask anyone aected by the nancialmeltdown inicted on the world by

Wall Street how eective the unregu-

lated private sector can be.

Airline deregulation has led to the

bankruptcy and disappearance o doz-

ens o companies with all the usual

pain and heartache or the sta and

travelling public. Since Air Canada

was privatized, it has been an overall

disaster or investors losing a grand to-

tal o almost $6 billion.

Te latest downturn in the econ-

omy has created a crisis or many o

the worlds airlines, but or companies

like Air Canada, which was already in

a precarious state, the loss o revenue,

the poor hedging o uel prices, cur-

rency uctuations, and the poor state

o pension plan investments have been

Air Canada: Fly it Right

Peggy Nash, ormer MP

* CCAA: Companies Creditors Arrange-ments Act



came up with new station congura-

tion ideas that dramatically improved

the proposal.

Contrast this with the processes or

the Air Rail link and GO transit im-

provements. Only one option is pro-posed. Static poster boards take the

place o community conversation, and

crucial inormation about costs and

phasing that might yield other options

(such as using electric instead o diese

trains) has been withheld because o

commercial considerations. In short

the communitys wisdom has not been

part o the design process.

Elected ofcials who are account-able to the public run the C. In

contrast, Premier McGuinty recently

removed all elected ofcials rom the

Board o Metrolinx.

We will only achieve sustainability

i we get both the big picture and the

thousands o smaller local pictures

right at the same time.

Gord Perks: 416-392-7919councillor [email protected]

http://www.gordperks.ca

work rom both points o view.

oronto s ransit City started out

as a bird-eye view project. o get the

street sense the City went to the com-

munity. o date, there have been about

25 ormal public consultation meet-ings. Te chair o the C, Council-

lor Adam Giambrone, has personally

hosted an addition 30 independent

stakeholder meetings. Countless inor-

mal small group meetings have been

held. We are planning about 30 more

public consultation meetings or pre-

liminary planning and there will be at

least eight more meetings as part o the

Environmental Assessment require-ments. Once we are into pre-construc-

tion there will be ongoing community

liaison meetings.

Tis intensive conversation has

yielded tremendous results. For ex-

ample, public consultations on the

Waterront West line led to a decision

to develop a new routing option: one

that would see light rail serve expand-

ed beaches and parkland down by theSunnyside Beach.

Te consultations on the Sheppard

line also led to big changes. Te local

councillor met with residents, transit

users and City sta right onsite in the

Don Mills Subway station. Dierent

modes o transit, and station design

were evaluated. Members o the pub-

lic were provided with costs and time-

lines associated with the various op-

tions. With that in mind, members o

the public reworked the proposal and

Most everyone agrees that we need

to take bold steps to achieve a more

sustainable city. Te trouble comes

when we overlook the ne details o

how to make that change. Compar-ing the community consultations or

ransit City and Metrolinx shows how

things can go right or wrong.

Mayor Miller is ond o saying that

oronto has an excellent transit sys-

tem - or 1975. Hes right. Most o the

transportation choices made in oron-

to and the surrounding municipalities

avoured cars over walking, cycling

and public transit. Now, we must catchup on nearly a generation o under-

spending and questionable land use

decisions.

O course rebuilding the trans-

portation system is no easy eat. Its

one thing to draw a bunch o lines on

a map and designate them as transit

routes. Its another to gure out how

that transit works when it rubs up

against neighbourhoods. Its the di-

erence between a birds eye-view and

street-sense. A good project needs to

A Tale of Two Transit Consultations

Gord Perks, Councillor

Gord Perks has been City Councillor orWard 14 since 2006. Prior to that he hadbeen senior campaigner at the oronto En-

vironmental Alliance (1997-2006) with aocus on waste reduction and public transit,executive director o the Better ranspor-tation Coalition (199496), the Pulp andPaper campaigner atGreenpeace Canada

(1989 93), and worked with PollutionProbe (1987-89) where he was the princi-

pal author o the Green Consumer Guide.

Watermain and sewer work will begin on Roncesvalles the week o July 20th. Construction will run rom 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, Monday to

Friday, and rom 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, as well as occasional work at night until the project is completed. During construction

only northbound trac will be maintained and parking will be prohibited along most o the street. Access to driveways and sidestreets

will be maintained. For urther inormation, see: http://www.gordperks.ca/park_post/

Roncesvalles reconstruction - water main and sewer project:


14/28

Heartsand M inds 14

Clean energy jobs being created in Michigan, Colorado,

Ohio, Manitoba and Quebec

Peter abuns, MPP

In Ontario we are surrounded by

jurisdictions that have increasingly

gured out what the uture is goingto look like, that are racing ahead o

us, and we are playing catch-up. In

the United States, the new adminis-

tration understandsperhaps very

imperectlythat the uture is going

to be in clean energy. Te ederal gov-

ernment is putting in place unds to

develop renewable energy to address

climate change, energy independence

and building 21st century industry.

I you look at Michigan, our neigh-

bour, they have been battered heavily

in the last decade or two by the decay

o the auto industry. Teir leader, the

state governor, is ocusing heavily on

renewable energy and development

o clean cars, o electric cars, as the

uture or industry in that state. In

April, Governor Jennier Granholm o

Michigan made this announcement:

Michigans aggressive eort to grow

the advanced-battery industry and the

jobs it will create has resulted in our

companies announcing plans to in-

vest more than $1.7 billion to launch

advanced-battery manuacturing a-

cilities in Michigan. Te projects that

will create almost 7,000 new jobs in

Michigan were awarded state reund-

able tax credits that will help the com-

panies in their quest or some o the $2

billion in ederal grants or advanced-

battery research and development.

So, the reality is that in our neigh-bouring jurisdiction o Michigan, they

have a vision o where the uture is, and

they are moving towards it, because

they want their people to be employed

and they want industry in Michigan to

support the uture o Michigans econ-

omy.

A ew months ago, in Denver, Colo-

rado, the American Wind Energy As-

sociation held its annual conerence.Five years ago, 5,000 people would go

to that conerence; a ew months ago,

it was 22,000. Five American gover-

nors were there on panels hustling or

business. Michigan had a huge room

in which they were presenting them-

selves as a partner or any industry that

wanted to set up green manuacturing

in Michigan. Ontario had three people

in a little booth.

Whos more serious about getting

that green business?

In Colorado, they have a unit in the

governors ofce whose sole unction is

to look at the supply chain or renew-

able energy companies, identiy areas

where businesses in Colorado can

provide components, and go to those

companies and try and insert Colo-

rado businesses into that supply chain.

Or, they will look at deunct industrial

properties in that state and say, We

have acilities that could manuacture

what you need to get your product out

the door. Come work with us. Tey

are consistently and aggressively going

aer that business.

In oledo, Ohio, in May, the oledo

Free Press reported that the alterna-

tive energy industry has become a

bright spot in oledos otherwise dis-

mal economy. Tere are 6,000 people

in the oledo area employed at rms

contributing to solar cell developmentand manuacturing, according to Re-

gional Growth Partnership, a non-

prot economic development group.

Tat number pales in comparison to

the overall manuacturing loss in that

region, but at 6,000 people, it actually

is the core o what can become a grow-

ing industry in that area.

In the United States, jurisdictions

that have aced many o the sameproblems we are acing here are ag-

gressively going out and getting the

manuacturing jobs and putting them

in place. Teyre understanding, as I

said, at the ederal level in the United

States that the world is changing very

substantially. On April 22 the head-

line in the New York imes was, En-

ergy Regulatory Chie Says New Coal,

Nuclear Plants May Be Unnecessary.

Tis is not a minor researcher in a

large ederal department. Tis is the

person who oversees the direction o

energy investment and energy regula-

tion throughout the United States. He

sees that the way that energy, electric-

ity in particular, is generated and dis-

tributed in the United States is going

to shi dramatically. Tat is a debate

that is not over in the United States,

but at least at the very highest levels

theyre understanding that there is that

opportunity. Its there today, its alive, it

has to be taken, and it can have a huge

positive impact on the economy.

In Manitoba, where the NDP is gov-

erning, we have a government that has

become a leader in geothermal energy,

that provides unding or household-

ers to put in heat exchangers so they



applications to set up new gardens

Te city has a mandate to increase the

number o community gardens, and

is aiming to have at least one in every

ward. Tere is a ormal process or ap-

proval, involving a community meet-ing and trouble-shooting by city sta

prior to the issuing o a permit. Te

City o oronto itsel tills the plots al-

located and sets up a shed on each plot

beore turning it over to the successu

applicant.

Hussey laments that some oronto

city policies inhibit urban agriculture

oronto still has a rule that ood grown

on public land cannot be sold, onlyused by the growers themselves or do-

nated. Although the initial intent o

the measure may have been to preven

private proteering on public land

this rule limits the economic viability

o urban agriculture projects, because

it means the wages o the growers have

to be covered by grants or donations

rather than by the sales o the ood

they themselves produce.

comments in his website: http://www.

spinarming.org

Satzewich and Vandersteen get

three crops per growing season on the

plots they rent or barter or through-

out the city. For urther inormationabout SPIN arming, see: http://www.

spinarming.com/aq/

How ar can urban agriculture go

to meeting orontonians ood needs?

According to Graeme Hussey (direc-

tor o development or Greenest City),

reliable urban agriculture experts

such as his mentor, York University

proessor Rod MacRae, estimate that

oronto might be able to grow withinits boundaries about 20 percent o the

vegetables its inhabitants need. Other

less densely occupied cities might are

even better, but unlike Detroit, oron-

to doesnt have a lot o empty lots in

the downtown area.

Tere is increasing interest on the

part o orontonians in setting up new

gardens. According to Hussey, there

are more than 50 existing urban gar-

dens in City parks, and another 150

Contrary to what one might think,

city gardening oers distinct ad-

vantages over rural arming. Wally

Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen, theounders o SPIN-arming (Small Plot

Intensive) have been growing ood in

and outside o Saskatoon or 20 years.

However, they ound the problems

with bugs, deer and wind on their ru-

ral arm overwhelming, and aer six

years, decided there was more money

to be made growing crops intensively

in the city o Saskatoon.

According to Satzewich, city grow-ing provides a more controlled envi-

ronment, with ewer pests, better wind

protection and a longer growing sea-

son. We are producing 10-15 dierent

crops and sell thousands o bunches o

radishes and green onions and thou-

sands o bags o salad greens and car-

rots each season. Our volumes are

low compared to conventional arm-

ing, but we sell high-quality organic

products at very high-end prices, he

Urban agriculture: The wave of the future?J.A. MacNeil

Quebec content or wind turbines,

theyre talking heavily about content

rom Gasp. Companies are having

to move into the Gasp Peninsula to

make wind turbines, to make blades,

to make the whole range o equipment

to actually put those wind turbines inplace. So an area that or generations

has seen nothing but depopulation is

seeing young people come back into

the Gasp because there are now some

new jobs that pay decently there.

Quebec is using their green energy

sector as an economic development

toolrankly, like Minnesota, which

has a similar strategy in the north end

o their stateand seeing the positive

results that you can see i youre willing

to invest substantially and understand

where the uture is going.

People ask what green jobs are and

I can tell you, they are nancial, cleri-

cal, retail, I, design, manuacturingmaintenance, construction and trans-

port. In act almost every job we do

now can advance a sustainable agenda

Tats i we are willing to act.

Clean energy jobs being created in Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, Manitoba and Quebec

can take cold or heat out o the earth.

Tat isnt electricity generation. Tats

taking advantage o heat and cooling

storage in the ground, something we

should be doingan area where Man-

itoba is leading the way.

In Quebec, they have investment inwind turbines that are changing the

ace o the Gasp Peninsula. When we

talk about investment in wind turbines

in Quebec, you have to understand that

theyre very ocused on the Gaspsie,

on an area that has been chronically

underdeveloped, that has been losing

employment and losing population.

When Quebec talks about 60 percent

Peter abuns, MPP or oronto-Danorthsince 2006, is the NDP critic on Environ-ment and Energy.. He was previously Executive Director o Greenpeace Canada andoronto City Councillor or Riverdale.


16/28

Heartsand M inds 16

Greenest City is growing the futureGelek Badheytsang

Community gardens are springing

up aster than dandelions in the GA

these days. Why are they taking such

strong roots here in Parkdale?Becoming a locavore and the eco-

virtues o reducing the long-distance

transport and chemicals associated

with conventional agriculture is a hot

topic lately. Community gardens em-

brace some o these virtues but also

do more than just growing local ood.

Tese gardens grow an urban commu-

nitys ood security by keep-

ing the skill and knowledgeo growing ood alive and

allowing urban residents to

reconnect with ood beyond

the supermarket. Te gar-

dens also combat two orms

o alienation that plague

modern urban lie by bring-

ing urban gardeners closer in

touch with the source o their

ood and the environment,

and by breaking down social

isolation by creating a hub

within the community that encour-

ages the residents to move outside o

their homes and interact with others.

It was with these values in heart

that Greenest City joined orces with

local residents to cultivate Parkdales

rst community ood garden. Being

a neighbourhood where 90 percent o

residents live in multi-unit apartments

with little to no access to growing

space, Greenest City identied a need

or a place where some o its residents

can tend to a garden plot and grow

healthy and organic ood or their

amilies and community.

Owing to its large immigrant and

diverse population, the garden serves

not only as a place or people to re-

kindle their love and skill o growing

ood; it is also an open and public out-

door community centre or Parkdales

diverse community.

Tere is a reason community mem-

bers in Parkdale named this rst gar-den HOPE (Healthy Organic Parkdale

Edibles). HOPE garden grows not only

ood, it helps grow community pride,

connections and opportunities, and

the strength and beauty o Parkdale.

Tis garden makes a big dierence

or me. It gets me out o my apart-

ment and has a positive impact on my

mental health, said om, a gardener

at Greenest Citys HOPE Community

Garden.

Understanding the need to get

youth engaged in the vision o a sus-

tainable ood system is also an integral

aspect o Greenest Citys work. Te

organization created an environmen-

tal leadership program specically or

youth called the Youth Green Squad

(YGS).

One o orontos most interesting

gardens belongs to the YGS. Each sum-

mer, Greenest City employs a number

o Parkdale youththe YGSas ull-

time urban gardeners. Tey plant and

harvest their own organic garden, and

in the process have revitalized a local

parkette previously associated with

drug-use and neglect. Te youth do-

nate their entire yield to local com-

munity kitchens where they also work

as cooks, providing a healthy organic

meal or some o the most marginal-ized members o their community.

I didnt think twice beore about

what I ate or where it came rom, says

Brindini, a 16-year-old YGS member.

Now I see that I can make a real di-

erence just by knowing how to grow

ood and sharing it with other people

in Parkdale. It makes me eel happy

and proud.

Te recently completedoronto Diabetes Atlas sug-

gests that community inra-

structure can help mitigate

the diabetes epidemic by pro-

viding opportunities to make

healthy choices. Garden-

based programs like Greenest

Citys create new inrastruc-

ture in our community: new

public spaces, new jobs, new

access to sustainable ood,

new ways to be involved in

the community, new opportunities to

be active, and a place to belong.

Greenest City plans to improve

and expand our work in the commu-

nity. You can help us by sponsoring a

YGS members salary. Or you can be

included by subscribing to our weekly

e-newsletter, which covers all the latest

details o events, programs and ways

to get involved.

Please contact us, by email: admin@

greenestcity.ca or by phone: 647-438-

0038 or more inormation on how

you can be a part o this growing

movement.

Gelek Badheytsang is the CommunicationsDirector o Greenest City



ending a plot requires about 4 or 5

hours o work a week. Someone needs

to come by every two days to water

and weed or up to an hour. Tis is a

signicant, but not a huge, investmen

o time.Greenest City Director o Develop-

ment Graeme Hussey points out that

greenhouses can be a big part o urban

agriculture. He notes that a greenhouse

o about 8 x 8 (3 metres by 2 metres)

can grow enough seedlings or a com-

munity garden o about 4-5,000 square

eet (400 square metres). Te seedlings

are not only used within Greenest City

garden; they are popular items withthe public.

Te oronto District School Board

has many underused greenhouses

Parkdale Collegiate has a new green-

house and Greenest City is working

with them to make it more unctional

Greenest City itsel is about to receive

a small greenhouse their rst rom

Home Depot.

Greenest City is a remarkably suc-

cessul home-grown work-in-progress

and one model or urban agriculture.

things up. He enjoyed himsel, made

healthy riends, then got o drugs, and

now has a stable home aer 35 years o

driing around oronto.

Greenest Citys other urban garden,

the Youth Garden, located in the DunnStreet Parkette, is employing 11 at-risk

high school youths, some o whom

are aboriginal. Te ood grown in the

Youth Garden is donated to communi-

ty kitchens in the area where the youth

help cook and serve the ood.

Greenest City has seven paid sta,

o whom ve and hal started in the

last six months. Greenest City sta

acilitate cooperation among the di-erent gardeners in a particular gar-

den, provide technical advice and help

obtain the seedlings. Tey also give

workshops on growing, harvesting,

processing, ood politics and cook-

ing. Greenest City has attracted over

500 volunteers, who have collectively

contributed over 12,000 hours o time

in 2008. It has ocused on Neighbour-

hood 85, a very vulnerable neighbour-

hood in Parkdale. Currently, no spaces

in the HOPE Garden are available and

there is a waiting list.

About Greenest CityJ.A. MacNeil

Greenest City is an award-winning

charitable organization that grows lo-

cal organic ood, youth leaders and

healthy, sustainable communities witha ocus on orontos Parkdale-High

Park neighbourhood. Its animated,

community-driven initiatives are

grounded in urban agriculture. Green-

est City has two urban gardensthe

HOPE Garden and the Youth Garden.

Tere are 30 plots in Greenest Citys

HOPE Garden, located on Cowan Av-

enue south o Queen Street; most are

owned by agencies rather than by indi-viduals. For example, the ESL class or

ibetans has a plot, and participants

learn English in the context o garden-

ing. Te Hope Garden produced about

3000 pounds (1300 kilos) o ood last

year and is governed by a steering

committee composed o the gardeners.

Te gardeners themselves decide what

to grow. Te HOPE Garden has had

other unexpected positive spin-os.

For example, Dave, a Parkdale resident

with drug problems, got involved in

the HOPE Garden, digging and xing

Further readingFor Hunger-Proo CitiesSustainable Urban Food Systems.

Edited by Mustaa Koc, Rod MacRae, Luc J.A. Mougeot, and Jennier Welsh.

Published by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 1999.

For Hunger-proo Cities is the

rst book to ully examine ood

security rom an urban perspec-

tive. It examines existing local

ood systems and ways to improve

the availability and accessibility

o ood or city dwellers. It looks

at methods to improve commu-

nity-supported agriculture and

cooperation between urban and rural

populations. It explores what existing

marketing and distribution structures

can do to improve accessibility and

what the emerging orms o ood-

distribution systems are, and how they

can contribute to alleviating hunger in

the cities. Finally, the book discusses

the underlying structures that create

poverty and inequality and exam-

ines the role o emergency ood

systems, such as ood banks. For

Hunger-proo Cities includes con-

tributions rom armers and pro-

essors, young activists and expe-

rienced business leaders, students

and policymakers, and commu-

nity organizers and practitioners.


18/28

Heartsand M inds 18

Co-operatives: Back to the Future?John Richmond

Sunday night dinner with my

grandmother on my mothers side was

a regular event when I was growing up.

Other relatives sometimes joined usbut Grandma was always there. We al-

most never missed Sunday night din-

ners unless we were away on vacation.

While I was used to my ather, who

at that time worked at the Bank o

Montreal, telling me that socialism

is a nice idea but it will never work,

my grandmother would spend Sunday

evenings denouncing the evils o the

Social Creditour right-wing gov-ernment at the time in BCand tell-

ing me that the Great Depression had

taught her that capitalism was a system

doomed to ail, and that only World

War II had saved the system rom total

collapse.

I still remember sitting by the re

in our living room and asking my

grandmother what socialism would

look like. I was curious and I want-

ed answersI elt my grandmother

was right about our economic system

but also thought my ather was right

about the problems with socialism;

government-run business is usually

less efcient and eective than the

private sector, or example. But as my

Grandmother pointed out to me and

rest o the amily in our lively political

discussions, government ownership o

business was not the denition o so-

cialism.

My grandmother was not well read

in philosophy, economics or political

economy but she knew implicitly that

the Soviet model o socialism was

just an excuse or a naked power-grab.

Te USSR, China and other so called

socialist countries had nothing to do

with real socialism. Real socialism or

my Grandmother was ommy Doug-

las and the CCF/NDP.

We orget (and our education sys-

tem does nothing to remind us) that

the CCFthe Cooperative Com-

monwealth Federationhad a visiono socialism which was all about the

democratic, small and medium-scale

ownership o the means o the pro-

duction and distribution o goods and

services by workers, armers and con-

sumers organized into cooperatives

and credit unions (nancial coopera-

tives) o all shapes and sizes.

For my grandmother, this was the

ideal we should all be working toachieve. Te government should pro-

vide certain important services. In her

opinion these were (1) Health care,

(2) Education, (3) Ferries (in BC you

cant get anywhere without the erry

system), (4) Insurance (o all kinds

insurance or prot was a sin against

the Bible, according to Grandma), and

a ew other things. But everything else

could be cooperatives.

Tis idea appealed to me greatly,

and I threw mysel into joining, study-

ing and participating in co-ops rom

an early age. Years later, now living

in Parkdale-High Park, I have been

working with a group o amazing lo-

cal residents to design and create a

ood co-operative. Since co-ops are no

longer on the political (or any other)

radar, i you want a co-op you have to

do it yoursel , which in many ways is

the essence o the spirit o co-ops.

But starting a co-op, as I now know

rom experience, is no easy aair. Es-

pecially since co-ops are, by denition,

democratic businesses. Tey must be

built slowlywith great care, attention

and love. And ultimately the groups

involved must be able to access capi-

tallarge amounts o capital.

Our group began with the idea o

starting a Farmers Market since Farm-

ers Markets are easier and quicker to

organize and they achieve one o our

most important goals bringing pro-

ducers/workers (the armers) directlytogether with consumers (no middle

men, no corporations, etc.).

Our Sorauren Farmers Market

began last summer and is now in its

second year o operation. In the mean-

time we have been working hard to get

our ood co-op grocery store o the

ground. Our core group o ounders

met every two weeks or many months

working out the model, at the sametime as word spread and people began

calling and emailing us to ask when

are you going to open? and How can

I get involved? Te response was both

exciting and motivating.

Tanks to one o our core organiz-

ersSally Miller, a recognized expert

in ood issues and cooperativeswe

are now incorporated, we have a busi-

ness plan, nancials, an organizational

model, and we are planning to start

selling memberships and raising at

least part o the capital. Te rest o the

capital will come in the orm o loans

rom investors and a mortgage rom a

credit union.

Since democracy and participa-

tion are the core o any successul co-

op, we have been taking the time to

consult and involve as many people

as possible. We have enlisted a num-

ber o people rom York University to

help with a process called mapping,

whereby groups o people are brought

together to draw dierent versions o

their community based on social top-

ics. For us this process involves look-

ing at where, how and why people get

their ood and what is most important

to them in terms o ood issues.



would be against that?

Sally Miller has just published a new

bookEdible Activism. It is available

at Another Story bookstore on Ronc-

esvalles.

Te Sorauren Farmers Market is

open every Monday rom 3-7.

Our website is: http://www.west-

endood.coop

in some important ways my grand-

mother was right. Not surprisingly my

ather also switched rom voting rom

Liberal to NDP, and now belongs to

the party!

Perhaps it is time or the NDP to re-

examine its roots in the co-operative

movement. We all know that the NDP

seems to have lost its way when it comes

to economics. Aside rom promising

to balance the books (which om-

my Douglas was very much in avour

o), we seem to be oering little else.

Co-ops oer a way out o the current

economic crisisa win-win strategy:

more and better economic and politi-

cal democracy and participation in a

way that gives ordinary people more

control over their daily lives. Who

We are working on a model that will

share the ownership and operations o

the co-op among workers, consumers,

as well as armers. Tis is an innovative

model which tries to balance the pri-

orities, concerns and interests o our

key stakeholders. In addition we have

been looking at issues o ood security

and how we can involve low-income

consumers in the operation o the co-

op and in gaining access to healthy, lo-

cal ood at aordable pricesno easy

challenge when the government is not

there to help.

wenty-ve years ago my ather

switched rom working in the cor-

porate banking sector to working in

credit unions and community-owned

housing. My ather had decided that

Co-operatives: Back to the Future?

John Richmond is a ormer Vice-Presidento the ParkdaleHigh Park NDP riding as-sociation. He was reasurer o the KarmaFood Coop ounded in 1972 and still goingstrong at 739 Palmerston Avenue here inoronto, rom 1998 to 2002, and directoro Human Resources o the East End Food

Co-op in Vancouver rom 1990-92. He is asocial worker in the mental health eld.

Te evidence so ar in the cur-rent recession is that there has

been an increase in the numbers

o cooperatives being ormed, and

they tend to last longer than other

types o business. In Germany,

the cooperative business model is

seen to provide stability and se-

curity in tough times, and is ex-

panding into new elds within the

Small and Medium Enterprise sec-tor. Tere are 8,000 cooperatives

with around 20 million members;

250 cooperatives were created in

2008, double the numbers started

in 2007.

Also, cooperatives last lon-

ger; while in 2005 1 percent o

businesses were declared insol-

Resilience o the Cooperative Business Model in Times o Crisis (excerpt)

International Labour

Organisation

vent, the gure or cooperatives was

less than 0.1 percent.(1) On the other

hand, in Spain, where there are over

18,000 worker cooperatives employing300,000 people, there was a slight all

in the number o new cooperatives in

2008 o 1.7 percent. However, the all

in start-ups or conventional compa-

nies was 7 percent.(2)

A major study by the Qubec gov-

ernment showed that cooperative

businesses tend to last longer than

other businesses in the private sector.

More than 6 out o 10 cooperativessurvive more than ve years, as com-

pared to almost 4 businesses out o 10

or the private sector in Qubec and in

Canada in general. More than 4 out o

10 cooperatives survive more than 10

years, compared to 2 businesses out

o 10 or the private sector. (3) One o

the reasons or this longevity could be

that cooperatives are not purely

motivated by achieving the maxi-

mum rate o prot. Rather coop-

eratives also have goals o servingtheir community and meeting the

needs o their members.

For the ull text o this ILO

study, see: http://www.ica.coop/

activities/un/2009-coop-resil-

ience.pd

(1) Marquardt, S and Sinico, S (2009)More German rms turn to coopera-

tives in tough economic times, ound atwww.dw-world.de(2) Worker cooperatives ace the eco-nomic crisis, ound at www.cicopa.coop(3) A study conducted by the Ministryo Industry and Commerce, Govern-ment o Qubec, 2008 Contributors:Lise Bond, Michel Clment, MichelCournoyer, Gatan Dupont


20/28

Heartsand M inds 20

housing, assist students and reduce or

waive service charges or community

groups.

Canadian credit unions are also

part o an international system and

are actively involved with the WorldCouncil o Credit Unions. Each year

they send sta and volunteers to help

credit unions grow and prosper, as well

as welcoming international visitors to

study Canadian organizations.

o learn more about Canadian

credit unions, check out the website

http://www.cucentral.ca

vation. Teir sizesmaller than the

huge banksmakes it easier to push

new ideas and makes them quicker to

implements changes.

Among the many innovations rom

credit unions are: mobile banking, anAM network, Internet banking, debit

card service and loans to women in

their own names.

Te rst Canadian caisse populaire

was started in December, 1900 in Le-

vis, Que. by Alphonse Desjardins. He

later worked in Ottawa and in 1908

helped start the rst credit union, now

known as Alterna Savings. Desjardins

later helped ound the rst American

credit union in New Hampshire.

Credit unions and other co-oper-

atives are based on the values o sel-

help, sel-responsibility, democracy,

equality, equity and solidarity. In the

tradition o their ounders, co-oper-

ative members believe in the ethical

values o honesty, openness, social re-

sponsibility and caring or others.

Credit unions and co-operatives ad-

here to seven principles that put those

values into practice.

Voluntary and Open Membership1.

Democratic Member Control2.

Member Economic Participation3.

Autonomy and Independence4.

Education, raining and Inorma-5.

tion

Co-operation among Co-opera-6.

tivesConcern or Community7.

Each year credit unions provide

millions in assistance or community

groups and projects. In 2007, they

contributed more than $36 million

to community eorts to support lo-

cal services, community initiatives

and sports teams, nance aordable

Te credit union movement in

Canada is thriving, despite the current

economic turmoil. In act, the prob-

lems have underlined the nanciallogic and value o the co-operative ap-

proach.

Credit unions exist to serve their

members and the communities in

which they are located, not to generate

huge prots or shareholders, or pay

large salaries to their CEOs.

Tis dierence in ocus helped

credit unions avoid the massive losses

that have hit the banks and ensured

that they have remained strong, stable

and able to serve their members.

More than one-third o Canadians

belong to a credit union, or caisses

populaires, making the system one o

the strongest in the world.

Te co-operative banking system is

split in two systems the Desjardins

Group that is a dominant player in

Quebec and has operations in other

provinces and an English-language

system represented by Credit Union

Central o Canada, the national trade

association and nancial acility, with

provincial centrals that provide servic-

es and about 440 independent credit

unions across the country.

Credit unions serve members, not

customers. Te cost o a membership

varies, but it is usually about $25 to

$50. Tis gives a member the right toattend annual meetings and to be ully

involved in the decision-making pro-

cess.

Te strong ocus on serving mem-

bers is demonstrated in surveys that

regularly place credit unions ahead o

banks in customer service rankings.

Another advantage o credit unions

is that they are more open to inno-

Credit unions and economic democracyArt Chamberlain

Credit unions ollowethical route

Credit unions take a dierenteconomic approach than thebig banks. Their ocus is onpeople, not profts.

They ollow co-operativeprinciples that guide theirapproach to service and in-vestments.

In the mid-1980s they ound-ed the Ethical Funds Compa-ny to provide members witha socially responsible way oinvesting. The company hasbeen at the oreront o theethical investment move-ment in North America andnow oers a wide range oinvestment products.

Now, it is part o Northwest &Ethical Investments LimitedPartnership, a national in-vestment frm with approxi-mately $5.5 billion in assetsunder management. North-west & Ethical InvestmentsL.P. is owned 50 percent bythe provincial credit unioncentrals and 50 percent bythe Desjardins Group.



Zelaya as the only legitimate president

and called or Zelayas return. Barack

Obama, however, did not initially use

the word coup, prompting specula-

tion that the US administration does

not want to be obliged to cut o all aidto Honduras, as it is required to do un-

der American law when a democrat-

ically-elected president is overthrown

by the military.

On July 5th, Zelayas attempted re-

turn to Honduras rom Costa Rica

was thwarted by the military, which

blocked the airport runway in the

capital. Meanwhile, a crowd o some

100,000 Zelaya supporters gatheredoutside the airport to welcome him

back, but were attacked by soldiers and

riot police, who launched tear gas and

red upon the crowd, killing two peo-

ple, one o them a minor, and wound-

ing thirty.

Whos behind the coup, and why?

Te Honduran Supreme Court ap-

parently ordered the military to arrest

Zelaya. Like most progressive Latin

American presidents, Zelaya inherited

a Supreme Court closely allied with

still in operation.

Te military also cut electricity

throughout the country, making it im-

possible or most Hondurans to get

news rom oreign media outlets. Tey

cut telephone lines and Internet access,and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curew.

Since the coup, despite violent re-

pression by the military, crowds o pro-

testers have gathered on the streets o

the capital, egucigalpa. According to

the Honduran Committee o the Rela-

tives o the Detained and Disappeared,

as o July 20, a total o 1046 people have

been detained, 3 killed, 59 injured and

16 threatened with murder.

International reaction

Western countries, with the excep-

tion o Canada, were swi and vocier-

ous in their condemnation o the coup.

For example, Chilean President Mi-

chelle Batchelet, Brazils Ignacio Lula

Da Silva, Venezuelas Hugo Chvez,

Cubas Ral Castro, American Presi-

dent Barack Obama, and even right-

wing Colombian President Alvaro

Uribe all condemned the militarys

actions, reiterated their recognition o

In the wee hours o Sunday, June

28th, Hondurass reorm-minded

democratically elected president,

Manuel Zelaya, was taken prisonerby the military, who threatened to kill

him, then ew him to Costa Rica. Tey

then installed the head o the Hondu-

ran Congress, Roberto Micheletti, also

a Honduran Liberal Party member, as

interim president. Te pretext or the

coup was that Zelaya had organized a

non-binding reerendum to ascertain

the degree o public support or con-

stitutional reorms that would have,among other changes, made it possible

or a president to run or re-election,

something which the current Hondu-

ran constitution does not allow. Ac-

cording to the coup organizers, the

reerendum itsel, to be held Sunday,

would have been illegal.

Minister o Foreign Aairs Patricia

Rodas was also arrested and taken to

Mexico, and the military issued war-

rants or the arrest o the other cabinet

ministers.

Clampdown on media and protesters

Shortly aer the military seized

power, they stormed a popular ra-

dio station, and shut down the CNN

Spanish network as well as elesur, a

Venezuelan-based continental televi-

sion network sponsored by progressive

Latin American governments to coun-

ter the right-wing bias o the majority

o the television networks operating

in the region. On the Monday ollow-

ing the coup, the ew media outlets

still operating in Honduras conned

themselves to playing music and air-

ing soap operas and cooking shows.

Apparently, only pro-coup media are

Honduras: Reformists out, troglodytes inJ. A. MacNeil


22/28

Heartsand M inds 22

security policies pushed by the U.S.

under Bush.

Te Zelaya government imple-

mented a number o programs that

y in the ace o market-oriented

policies, or example providing school

lunches or approximately 1 million

school children, abolishing primary

school tuition, expanding vaccination

programs, bringing electricity to poor

peoples homes

and imple-

menting an

a gr i cu l t ura l

strategy that

i n c r e a s e d

p r o d u c t i o n

o basic ood

grains.

On June

30th, CBC

radio inter-

viewed th

ormer head

o the Hondu-

ran Chamber

o Commerce,Jacqueline Fo-

glia, who according to her own web-

page is a West Point graduate and was

an Army ofcer rom 1984 to 1995,

and recently has energetically dedi-

cated hersel to promoting ree trade

agreements. She declared hersel elat-

ed by the militarys actions. Accord-

ing to the Committee o the Families

o the Detained and Disappeared, Fo-glia was head o the analysis section

o the Armys Battalion 316, a death

squad; her section was in charge o

collecting data on civilians considered

military targets, many o whom later

disappeared or were murdered. (Tis

was not mentioned by CBC, although

it certainly would have shed some light

on the credibility o her comments.)

about 500 soldiers in Soto Cano60

miles rom egucigalpaand it is di-

cult to imagine that Hondurass mili-

tary did not inorm the local US base

commanders o their intentions, al-

though anything is possible. Whether

the American base commanders com-

municated all inormation they may

have had about those intentions to the

Obama administration ought to be

investigated by the US Senate Foreign

Relations Committee.

Zelaya, a businessman, was elected

in 2005 as the relatively moderate can-

didate o the Hondurass traditionally

powerul Liberal Party. As John Nich-

ols June 29th article in Te Nation

notes, he was not viewed as a particu-

larly radical player when he took o-ce. But Zelayas le-leaning economic

and social policies earned praise rom

labor unions and civil society groups,

and he had orged regional alliances

with the Bolivarian Alternative or the

Americas, which Venezuelan Presi-

dent Hugo Chavez and other elected

leaders in Latin America established as

a counter to the neoliberal trade and

the countrys elite, and a military ac-

customed to violating human rights.

Te coup was led by General Romeo

Vsquez, who attended the inamous

US School o the Americas (SOA) in

1976 and 1984.

hearts & minds #3

Documents