The inanity of the pooling scheme that former Ontario Premier Mike Harris introduced to fund Toronto’s social services is nowhere more evident than in the discussion Peel Region councillors had Thursday about introducing a dental program here for low-income seniors.
The discussion was sparked by new Ward 6 Councillor Carolyn Parrish, who was approached by a pair of constituents who are seniors and have no dental insurance. Only 36 per cent of Peel seniors had such insurance in 2003 and only 48 per cent had ever seen a dentist that year, even though the teeth often provide one of the first early-warning signals of problems with health.
The Ward 6 seniors went with some friends to visit one of the 13 public low-cost dental centres that Toronto provides for those who are eligible for the federal income supplement benefit (under $17,000 for a single and $23,000 for a family).
After they waited in line for several hours, they were told they were not eligible because they live outside Toronto.
The ironic part, of course, is that we ship some $64 million of our tax money to the east every year as part of the pooling program so that Toronto can provide a level of service that our own residents do not receive. Peel’s entire health department budget is, in fact, $65 million.
So property tax being collected in Mississauga, which should only go to services within our own borders and should be spent by politicians we have elected, is being exported to Toronto so that politicians whom we do not elect can provide a service that Mississaugans do not have. It’s absolutely ludicrous and a blatant example of the principle of taxation without representation that caused some uprisings around these parts in the past.
Parrish says it will cost under $500,000 for Peel to provide the same program Toronto has here. Well worth the investment.
The debate also prompted the Ward 6 Provocateur to propose that some City councillors run in the Oct. 10 provincial election to encourage Ontario to end pooling.
While that seems like a sexy way to bring an issue to the fore, it is fraught with problems.
Suppose Mayor Hazel McCallion runs in Mississauga-Streetsville. Do you really think a Bob Delaney or a Ted Woloshyn would beat her?
If she wins, there would have to be a by-election, either for the provincial seat or for mayor.
Even if the municipal third-party protest garnered enough votes to swing a seat, does anybody really think that would end pooling? The only real beneficiaries, of course, would be the Tories since the Liberals now hold all local seats. Hmmm. Aren’t they the folks who dug this sinkhole for us in the first place?
Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to clutter the political landscape with special interest parties or candidates. Yes, they have a right to run and no one can stop them, although more than one councillor has suggested a hefty deposit be required to discourage people who are not serious about winning office.
Before they rush out to become fringe candidates themselves, councillors might want to remember how they generally feel about the species when they show up in their territory.
Do they really want candidates running against them in four years to highlight specific problems of on-street parking, transit, councillors’ salaries, airport noise, bike paths etc., etc.
How about a slate of candidates to protest the fact that they haven’t been able to fix pooling yet?
Comments (5)
To Air Bus or not to Air Bus, that’s the question!
Globally speaking from a USA point of view, news sources query the $200,000 million of our social services through the Harper-Kahn “Infrastructure Hush Fund” links up Al Qaeda related groups and the redirection of Andersen consulting and accounting filing fees that emptied the $10,000 million “Air Bus War Chest” before never finding their way against Sandra Pupatello’s revelations through Brampton Small Claims Court, in regards to sunset clauses on John Baird’s liable suit.
The reverse liable onuses imposed by Harper’s “Drive By Smears” is obvious that Navdeep Bains and Vic Dillon’s legislation on Employment Agencies (set up by Andersen) lands on top of the tomb of our “Lost T-4 slips” and beneath the pyramids of our vanishing records of employment and occupational codes.
Before Mr. Harris handed down the box of missing bones to Marilyn Sharma, to hand down to 905 Faith Communities, Jesus’s dental records must have been hidden in the basement of the Compass Outreach Centre basement since the 911 download because no ones actually examined the glass jar where the spiritual leaders behind Enron kept their teeth.
Seems we have to figure out where Bush is going , that Harris has already done to us, to figure out what Harpers up too?
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/48501/
Posted by Guitar Man | February 28, 2007 12:44 PM
Posted on February 28, 2007 12:44
To sunset or not to sunset?
The $66 million cavity in our Dental Hygienists Bill of Rights already shows up in the differential treatments between Wajid Kahn and Navdeep Bains before the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Government has one year to get back on track to Sections 7 Legal Rights of the Charter.
The aching tooth and gingivitis behind the five year arbitrary suspensions of foreigners are surpassed by the region’s $724,815 administration fees just to extract both Sections 6 Mobility and 7 Legal Rights of natives through the Acting Commissioners behind Peel’s Social Services pooling.
Whether an Anti-Terminal Illness Act is needed if he or she is believed to have committed an In Dental-able offense.
That’s the arbitrarily question?
Posted by Wayne Nagy | February 26, 2007 3:24 PM
Posted on February 26, 2007 15:24
B-I-N-G-O !!! It’s when you add up the Poverty by Postal Code Bingo cards in regional pay increases where the pooling charges are just to administer off loading into Hamilton and Toronto
David Szwarc $216,789
Janet Menard $165,764
Suzanne Ritchie $133,243
Jane Andersen Renton $105,428.
Margaret Radisa $103,591
A $724,815 dental chair in the Mississauga South Compass Outreach Centre would be well worth replacing missing Bingo balls for ages I- 35 to N- 55 regardless of how political affiliations are first on the pooling list.
By the time Hazel brings separation out of mandatory retirement from GTA to Ontario Works in Peel, we just may never see the Freedom of Information Act before Harper and Baird replace Justices Bonnie Wein and Casey Hill with their own Workfare appointees and more partisan toothless legislation.
Posted by Abbe | February 21, 2007 4:12 PM
Posted on February 21, 2007 16:12
It’s not just seniors that face the inanities being challenged by the former Ringling Bros and Barnum and Baileys Traveling Circus, if a tooth is a tooth, is a tooth is a tooth, Peel Region’s Dan Otchere’s consultations behind the Success Before Six seems like we’ve ended up paying for $113,280.13 bumper stickers when new codes of ethics are needed to retrieve the missing Bingo balls “B-7 to O-69”.
When it comes right down to the wire, Justice Sidney B. Linden must have been brought out of mandatory retirement because Ms Marilyn Sharma’s founding appointment to the Social Services Tribunal (by John Baird) was just another pooling flaw in the in Freedom of Information Act before the Ontario Works in Peel were entrusting to butcher dental insurance that were slashed by special interest “Employment Services” groups.
The first early-warning signals of problems with Peel Health, formerly Ontario Works, is still the absence of our vital statistics and addresses used to bungle up in our T-4 slips through outsourcing.
Posted by Wayne Nagy | February 14, 2007 5:22 PM
Posted on February 14, 2007 17:22
It’s not just seniors that face the inanities being challenged by the former Ringling Bros and Barnum and Baileys Traveling Circus, if a tooth is a tooth, is a tooth is a tooth, Peel Region’s Dan Otchere’s consultations behind the Success Before Six seems like we’ve ended up paying for $113,280.13 bumper stickers when new codes of ethics are needed to retrieve the missing Bingo balls “B-7 to O-69”.
When it comes right down to wire, Justice Sidney B. Linden must have been brought out of mandatory retirement because Ms Marilyn Sharma’s founding appointment to the Social Services Tribunal (by John Baird) was just another pooling flaw in the in Freedom of Information Act before the Ontario Works in Peel were entrusting to butcher dental insurance that were slashed by special interest “Employment Services” groups.
The first early-warning signals of problems with Peel Health, formerly Ontario Works, is still the absence of our vital statistics and addresses used to bungle up in our T-4 slips through outsourcing.
Posted by Wayne Nagy | February 12, 2007 10:52 PM
Posted on February 12, 2007 22:52