An appeal for a personal reply without any passing of the buck
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an open letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne reprinted in this newspaper at the writer’s request.
Dear Premier Wynne:
After watching your pre-election television advertising stating how much you stand for the people of Ontario, I am amazed that you can make such claims with a clear conscious. As soon as you were re-elected, you continued to sweep the needs of injured workers, or those suffering work related diseases under the carpet, also ignore the poor living in despair on the streets of our cities, as if they did not exist or their plight is not important enough for all party debate in the legislature.
As injured workers experience nearly four times the rate of poverty in Ontario, recognition of those statistics may not be something you wish to publicly acknowledge. But without you so much as making any mention of the plight of injured workers (who are living in various states of poverty in Ontario-or the homeless living on the streets of our cities), besides our seniors trying to just make ends meet on meager pensions, your failure to act and lack of debate on these “priority people issues,” to say the least, is very unbecoming of you and your party.
Premier Wynne, you state that you stand for the people, but by people you obviously mean the corporate rich, or government CEO’s like David Marshall, special appointees like Elizabeth Witmer or the hundreds of others with special privileges who manage to get themselves on the sunshine list, most of them paid by taxpayers money, way above their worth.
Your “for the people” statements then appear not to be representative of the poor people living in poverty on the streets of our cities, or injured workers who are real people that get frustrated and depressed because they are unable to work besides the fact that the WSIB continually denies their entitlement to fair and just compensation, or Ontario’s seniors having a hard time to just make ends meet.
Madam Premier, I realize that you are somewhat committed by party politics inherited from your predecessor and the party faithful and have a horrendous budget to get under control, but this attitude of taking from those who can least afford it, then catering to the corporate rich and political rich, (at the expense of hurting the very people who are in most need of your help), is a smear upon your integrity, leadership and is morally wrong and unjust.
Simply put, for you to continue to condone the illegal actions that have been practiced by the WSIB over the last four years is not only morally wrong but unjust. Be forewarned that for Wynne, Flynn, Marshall and Witmer to try and convert these radical and hurtful changes to the WSIB Act, to appear as somewhat legal, by having the wordings manipulated to coincide with such radical changes that completely abandons the Meredith Principles and the original intent and spirit of the act, these actions have great potential to erupt into another political disgrace.
Those who are oblivious to the hurt of others, might ask why? But since you became premier, you have continually been advised of the devastating effects and the financial ruin these illegally practiced, radical and hurtful changes are already having upon injured and diseased workers. However, you continue to ignore all the expert legal and professional advice from those who deal directly with these people on a daily basis and report to you the consequences of your actions. You still continue to create more stress and hurt by the mental and financial hardships imposed upon them by these changes. Premier Wynne, shame on you and those who follow your lead, because this is wrong!
Should you allow Mr. Marshall and his high priced flunkies to continue such disregard of the law by manipulating and construing the wordings of the WSIB Act to suit the circumstances of an agenda that is both callous and hurtful to the very people that the WSIB is supposed to help; and then attempt to have such radical changes enacted into laws, that are not for the benefit of injured or diseased workers, but rather for the WSIB and employers to gain even more power to suppress or deny claims, (with less consequences). The WSIB and employers are able to force workers back to work in pain, which is wrong, unfair and unjust behaviour and demonstrates indifference to the needs of injured workers.
This complete reversal to the original intent and spirit of the act, and the complete dismantling of the time tested Meredith Principle’s, now removes all shreds all credibility left, that the WCB had as being there to help injured workers. This is now gone, since Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Witmer have taken over the WSIB!
Madam Premier, rest assured, no matter what David Marshall does, the buck stops at your door, and full responsibility is yours alone. Especially when you know and fully realize the financial hurt, mental hurt, and loss of dignity that these callous changes have already caused over the last four years, for the working class people of Ontario. Mr. Marshall knows and you know, that these changes are way outside the boundaries of what would be remotely considered “as reasonable under the circumstances.” In fact these changes stretch the limits of the law to all reasonableness, are way out of bounds and are illegally imposed upon workers.
Premier Wynne, you know in your heart that these people deserve much better treatment and respect than what you are allowing the WSIB to dish out. You state in the newspapers that, “governing is not easy and the objective is to do important things.” Well, I would respectfully suggest to you, that the most important thing you could ever do for the good of the people of Ontario, is scrap these radical and hurtful changes in their entirety, now and before it’s too late, because they are causing great harm to the very people that you are supposed to help, support and protect.
Madam Premier, these people are the people to whom you are responsible to help and assist, not allow some high priced bureaucrat, without a care or conscious to hinder, hurt and destroy people’s lives. Believe me, Mr. Marshall will be long gone, but in the eyes of those observing your actions around the world, the smear upon the Province of Ontario that will be associated to these shameful humanitarian issues will linger for a long time. The federal mistreatment of Canada’s First Nation peoples should be a prime example of that sort of legacy and Ontario doesn’t need similar shame!
Premier Wynne, you and only you can stop Mr. Marshall turning Ontario into a place of humanitarian disgrace. But by allowing him to continue the dismantling of what was previously enshrined as historic principles of fairness and justice, (that brought the Worker’s Compensation Laws to be enacted within this province, by moral, fair and just politicians of yesteryear (1913)). Surely you and your liberal followers can strive to achieve similar standing, and maintain such standards by simply showing some care and compassion for working class people and “you truly standing up for them, as your people.”
In one bold move of scrapping these hurtful policies and taking money from other areas instead of the poor, you would become the people’s premier, instead of being viewed as one who does not really care for working class people, because you attach more priority and attention to the corporate rich, the political rich, or those who view financial profit as a priority over compassion for others.
In conclusion, I respectfully ask for your intervention in this very serious matter instead of someone in your office sending me the usual reply (that all of us advocates get by return when we try to write you directly, basically stating that the Minister of Labour is responsible for the workplace safety and insurance in Ontario). The MOL, however, expertly fluff off that issue by stating that benefit policies come under the WSIB etc; thus the bureaucratic circle of going nowhere.
Being an ex-police officer, to me the passing the buck routine was always a very good indicator of someone not wishing to bear the ultimate responsibility for ones actions, someone with something to hide, or doesn’t want the public to know.
As a result of past experience then, I hereby make a special request to you, asking would you please have the courtesy to personally reply to my plea for your help for these people: Ontario’s salt of the earth working class people. It is important to me to better understand your own point of view on these issues, rather than get the usual reply full of bureaucratic constipation as explained above. My address is P.O. Box 88, Manitowaning, ON POP INO.
Respectfully submitted,
Colin Pick, president
Manitoulin North Shore Injured Workers Group
Manitowaning
