Elections should not be a ‘gesture’

By the time of publication, Doug Ford will more than likely be re-elected as premier of Ontario. Every political pundit has preordained Ford as a victor, despite the fact that most Ontarians desire change.

A brief overview of Ford’s Ontario. The most recent budget statement proposes cutting $1.3 billion from education, $632 million from children’s and social services. Additionally, healthcare underspending is estimated to amount to $3.1 billion. Over 4,900 residents and workers have died in long-term care facilities during this pandemic; over 45,000 people have filed workers’ compensation claims for COVID-19-related workplace injuries. In a slap to the face of injured workers, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) announced that a $1.5-billion surplus in the province’s workers’ compensation scheme - monies that should pay for benefits and healthcare for workers - is being sent as a rebate to employers.

This election should be the opportune time to provide public scrutiny over a government’s record. Yet this election cycle has been anything but. Ford has refused to answer questions regarding privatisation of public resources such as healthcare and education by stealth. Activists have been arrested for exerting their democratic rights. Conservative politicians have refused to participate in election town halls and forums. Recently, a group of advocates (including myself) organised a forum regarding injured workers. The governing Conservatives refused to participate in this pivotal forum. So what are elections for when regular people can’t ask elected officials what steps they will take to improve their daily lives?

It’s incomprehensible how the political chattering class can coalesce around the current regime. It’s a political echo chamber that bears no resemblance to the day-to-day realities of working-class communities. Yes, people are exhausted and fed up with COVID-19. Yet the government’s offerings are ending restrictions and carrying on as if the ongoing health crisis has ended. Nothing is being offered to proactively improve the lives of the most vulnerable segments of our society.

The most egregious moment to me occurred recently in the Windsor-Essex region. Doug Ford visited a greenhouse for a photo op for his re-election. Viewers would have been treated to a smiling Ford with a backdrop of one of Ontario’s wealthiest agricultural operations. However, what was left out? The Caribbean and Central American workers, who were sent home early so that Ford could do his media event uninterrupted. According to the workers they lost half a day’s work. Money they desperately need to feed their own families.

It’s so obvious whose side Ford is on. He’s no friend of the working class, despite his many efforts to sway blue-collar workers. In a region that was so hard hit by the virus, as well as an industry where approximately 3,000 agricultural workers have tested positive, Ford stated in absolute terms that he sides with the rich and powerful.

In envisioning an Ontario where every resident matters, we need to end the many ways people feel both disenfranchised and disempowered by our current democratic decision-making process. Elections should not be a ‘gesture’ but a meaningful exercise to build a robust and healthy society. Politicians should never be given a carte blanche when they hide from us, the electorate. Nor should we accept a political class that is at the beck and call only of campaign donors. It is imperative that we demand a democratic system that is inclusive, representational of all, and engages in redistributing the province’s wealth. Those who have been left behind deserve much better than what is offered by the current regime.

- Chris Ramsaroop is an organiser with the activist group Justice for Migrant Workers, an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto, and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law.