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DURUM REGION-PICKERING ACORN CHAPTER CURRENT CAMPAIGNS:
FEDERAL PEOPLE PLATFORM
Ontario has the power to rein in the predatory payday lending industry. Ontario ACORN has laid out
a plan that would force the industry into the financial mainstream by enforcing a 60% interest rate cap, licensing of lenders
by a government body with the power to revoke, suspend and deny license's and banning rollover loans. ?? and a lower rate
for people on social assistance??
Ontario is the only Province in Canada where municipalities are responsible for social housing, and
its time for Ontario to take back its traditional responsibility and upload the cost of social housing. Further they should
allocate an additional $1.9 billion for affordable housing (as called for in the Ontario Alternative Budget 2007) to address
the repairs backlog ad begin construction of new social housing units.
Ontario should introduce full Rent Control with an end to the practice of vacancy de controls. Implement
minimum fines for landlords (Currently there are maximum fines of $25,000 for individual landlords and $100,000 for corporations).
And eliminate fees for tenants taking action against their landlord at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Ontario should implement legislation making it mandatory tor landlords to obtain a license, and maintain
it in good standing to be able to continue renting. Further, the establishment of a Rent Escrow Account,
for situations where there are serious code violations and the landlord is refusing to comply with the
residential tenancies act. This program can grant tenants a temporary rent reduction, tied to licensing violations, and allow
tenants to place the rent owed into an escrow account until repairs are made.
Across Ontario, parents are forced to stay out of the workforce or to spend huge portions of their income
on childcare. Child care must be affordable, as in Quebec where parents pay a flat rate of $7 a day for quality public child
care. Childcare can not be for profit, spaces that are created must be publicly run or controlled by non-profit corporations.
The wages, working conditions and benefits of Early Childhood Educators everywhere must match those that currently offered
to staff in publicly run, unionized environments. There must be more frequent, random inspections by MLS and the Health departments
to ensure compliance with the Nursery Act.
Temp agency represent a major shift in the nature of work in Ontario, with workers making 40% less than
permanent workers, and are often treated like second class workers. Temp agencies should be required to acquire a license
from a Provincial government body to be able to operate.
The minimum wage should be permanently pegged to inflation.
In 1995, the Conservatives cut Ontario Works by almost 22 per cent and disability benefits (Ontario
Disability Support Program) were frozen in 1993. Many families spend most of their assistance benefits just to cover their
rent and this is driving people into abject poverty. To brsg the rates back up to pre 1995 levels adjusted for inflation would
require a 40% increase.
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