BELOW IS AN OPEN LETTER TO ONTARIO LABOUR LEADERS AND THE ONTARIO NDP.  WE KINDLY ASK THAT YOU READ IT, AND IF YOU AGREE, USE THE FORM BELOW TO SUBMIT YOUR NAME AND/OR THAT OF YOUR ORGANIZATION.

Ontario is in a time of crisis.

In Ontario today, someone dies of COVID-19 roughly every hour. Hospitals are on the brink of collapse, as are those who staff them. If the status quo prevails, analysts predict the situation will become even more dire. Triage protocols and patient transfers without consent are being used. The worst is yet to come. Hundreds if not thousands more may die. Thousands of families are mourning the loss of their loved ones. Tens of thousands of Ontarians infected risk long-term health implications and permanent disability.

Doug Ford has failed. Instead of taking proper action to protect people’s lives, the Premier granted extraordinary powers to police, while the real criminals such as large corporations, factories and Long Term Care shareholders are let off the hook. To date, not enough steps have been taken to protect the BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+, homeless, and disability communities that would be put most at risk from these actions, and from the pandemic itself.  

The ONDP has proposed real solutions to end the pandemic. But Ford has not listened. The decision makers around him have not listened. They have ignored the cries of health care professionals, small business owners and marginalized communities. We appreciate the passion NDP MPPs have shown in this fight as well as the critical motions put forward by Andrea Horwath in the Ontario legislature this week for paid sick days; paid time off to receive the vaccine, a withdrawal of the extraordinary police powers, the closure of all non-essential businesses and direct financial support for workers. But given that none of these motions passed and the government does not seem eager to correct their course, it is now time to escalate. Lives hang in the balance.

We view the events of this past weekend as a real tipping point in the balance of Ontario politics right now, and we as a collective of riding associations, equity committees, community activists and allies would like to support the ONDP to take advantage of this as a bold and innovative Official Opposition.

For working people, the ability to withhold labour and stop production is the most powerful tool available. It is high time it is used. Doug Ford must be told that until workers and their families are safe, Ontario will not be “open for business.”

Ford has declared multiple “states of emergency,” all with little effect. The ONDP and labour movement must now declare a state of emergency of their own.

Therefore, as a collective of NDP riding associations, equity committees, labour activists, other allies and community members, we call on the ONDP and labour leaders to:

1) Renew the demand for paid sick leave, double hazard pay for essential workers, and the closure of non-essential industries with full compensation for those put out of work. The millionaire bosses, not the taxpayers, should pay for these measures.

2) Call for an immediate and sustained increase to financial support (ODSP/OW) for people living with disabilities, and accelerated vaccine protocols for family caregivers of people living with disabilities.

3) Call for and organize mass work refusals to achieve these measures. Declare a “state of emergency,” and activate extraordinary measures to facilitate mass work refusals, strikes, walk-outs, or other forms of withdrawal of labour in the face of deadly working conditions. These actions need to be taken in the shortest possible amount of time.

It is crucial that these acts of defiance against a callous Ford government are taken with the full support of the leaders of the working class, our ONDP and labour leaders.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. At this moment, only the working class can save Ontario. We call on you to fulfill your duty to your class, and to the people of Ontario.