CUPE is concerned a new provincial omnibus bill will corrupt democracy, and allow corporate influence over government decisions.
Fred Hahn, the President of CUPE Ontario, says the Restoring Trust, Transparency and Accountability Act, will have only one day for a public hearing on Monday, just two weeks after being first introduced.
Hahn says the Bill 57 will eliminate independent oversight of the government by getting rid of the Child Advocate; the Environmental Commissioner; the French Language Services Commissioner; and the Conflict of Interest Commissioner.
He says the bill also makes it possible for the government to suspend all other independent officers of the legislature such as the Auditor General; the Integrity Commissioner; the Chief Electoral Officer; and the Freedom of Information Officer.
"These are the very people whose job it is to ensure that no government abuses their power or misuses their power for personal gain, and Bill 57 will give Premier Ford the ability to suspend them if they're about to release a report that criticizes his government," says Hahn. "The Conservatives were the first to praise the Auditor General when she exposed problems with the previous Liberal governments accounting. Now that they're in charge they're changing the laws to muzzle her and her colleagues. This is very alarming, and we should all be very concerned about the future of our democracy."
Hahn points out that just last week Ford's government announced the sale of the Hearn Generating Station for hundreds of millions of dollars less than it is worth, with no proper process. One of the key buyers has turned out to be a big developer whose family donated over $11,000.00 to the Premier's leadership campaign and $30,000.00 to his brother's mayoralty campaign.
"What people need to understand is that this it's about more than just lucrative financial deals for friends of the Premier – which is bad enough," says Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer for CUPE Ontario. "This is about a government that is giving away hundreds of millions of dollars that should be going to the public services we all need. It means less money for seniors in long-term care, less money for health care, and less money for our kids' schools. We all pay the price for these types of actions."
The Bill also makes changes to the structure of Metrolinx, brings in changes that will allow the Premier to sell off Ontario Place and dissolves the Trillium Fund that was created to finance all the infrastructure improvements needed around the province.
"Make no mistake, it's 'the people' the Premier likes to talk about that should be most worried about these changes. Will the Premier sell Ontario Place to payback more big developer donors with another questionable land deal? Will changes to Metrolinx lead to more costly privatization schemes? What will the Premier do with the $6 billion dollars currently in the Trillium Fund?" says Hahn. "Given his attempt to muzzle all independent oversight, another critical question is – will we even be able to find out?"
