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Economic Concerns site
STATEMENT ON PRE BUDGET PLANNING
TO STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
ONTARIO LEGISLATURE
FROM ANADIAN PENSIONERS CONCERNED, INC. ONTARIO DIVISION
JANUARY 31, 2001. Prepared by: MAE HARMAN
Canadian Pensioners Concerned Inc. (CPC), founded in 1969, is a national, voluntary,
membership-based, non-partisan organization of mature Canadians committed to
preserving and enhancing a humanitarian vision of life for all citizens of all ages.
CPC began with a special concern about whether retirement income would allow for a
good quality of life for seniors. We have expanded our interests over the years to include all
age groups and especially those who by virtue of illness, physical or psychological
impairments, age and/or economic need are especially vulnerable in a society driven by the market place and economically determined values, often to the exclusion of other social values that sustain and enhance a fair, just and inclusive social order.
CPC is pleased to have this opportunity to present our views on budget planning.
Budgets
Ideally, government budgets are the expression in money terms of the policies
and programs which the government adopts in order to govern effectively and efficiently in the best interests of all citizens.
The prime concern of government should not be how much money can be saved but
how to ensure that the rights and basic needs of all citizens are met:
- Adequate nutritious food;
- Safe, affordable, accessible housing;
- Adequate health care;
- A safe environment with an uncontaminated water supply and clean air;
- Opportunity to pursue education and training;
- Rest and recreation;
- Adequate research and testing of food and drugs;
- A working infrastructure for information, transportation, communications, water,
waste
disposal;
- A social safety net that takes care of the needs of those most vulnerable - the
children, the
old, the sick, the homeless, the poor, the disabled and the abused.
Each person in the province must have the opportunity to develop one's full
potential. We need the full contribution of each citizen as worker, earner, consumer, taxpayer and community participant, if the province is to play its role in the new economy of the 21st century. We cannot afford a sub-culture of people who are denied opportunities to
succeed and where so much emphasis is placed on punishing the welfare recipient
and the homeless, cutting off supportive measures and downloading responsibilities
to municipal governments which cannot afford to meet the needs. We are all the
poorer when many of our fellow citizens are never given a chance to succeed and to
contribute to the economy and to their communities.
Taxation
CPC is opposed to the minimal tax movement. We look upon taxation as the source
of funding for governance that provides for a well functioning civil society. We believe in a fair progressive system of taxation where the tax rate rises with rising levels of income. We hope that Ontario will follow that pattern as it institutes its own income taxation system, separate from the federal system.
The Provincial Sales Tax is a regressive consumption tax which has a greater impact on
low income people with no discretionary income. It should be removed.
The present rising costs of fuel are presenting much anxiety to low income seniors
and others on fixed incomes, whether homeowners or tenants. We suggest that taxes on fuel
and heating be withdrawn. This would not only benefit the user but make it unnecessary for businesses, including landlords, to pass on increased costs to consumers and renters.
Downloading
Downloading of responsibility for services such as welfare, public housing,
transportation and roads, is placing an undue burden on the municipalities, which must depend on
property taxes for funding. Larger cities attract many people who present special problems such as homelessness, illness, mental disabilities, lack of facility with English, etc., which add to municipal expense. Small communities may not have property which yields high taxation. Transportation in a large city may serve many people from outside, who come to the city to work, conduct business, attend school, etc. These factors must be taken into consideration by the province. In all fairness, roads and public housing must be in good repair if turned over to municipalities, or costs of repair and replacement must be covered by the province.
Privatization
In spite of the fact that the experience in other jurisdictions has demonstrated
that privatization does not provide more efficient effective service, we are moving
steadily in that direction. Canadian Pensioners Concerned deplores this trend.
Privatization means that the making of profits for the private shareholders comes first.
Corners will be cut which lower the quality of service. Less staff and less qualified workers will be hired. Staff benefits will be cut and working conditions become less favourable. Staff satisfaction and loyalty will decrease. Standards will be lowered with lack of inspection and supervision. User fees will be introduced, which make services unattainable to those most in need. Those who can pay for services will move to the head of the line while others wait or go without.
California's current problems with the supply of electricity should warn us of what can
happen to our Hydro in Ontario. The tendering out of home care services in Ontario to large
private firms has not served patients well and has presented many problems for our local
non-profit agencies which have developed over the years and worked well but must now compete with large private entrepreneurs.
Seniors are fearful that government will continue to privatize public services such
as health care, education and water supply, and that these will cease to be responsible and
responsive to the people and will be unavailable to those who cannot pay what the market demands.
Whose Responsibility?
We recognize the responsibility of each individual to take care of one's own needs
within one's capacity to do so and to take some responsibility for one's neighbour. Within a civil society it is the duty of government to set the framework and provide the standards and services which provide good opportunities for all citizens.
As we emerged from the Dark Ages, we began to build institutions to provide health
services,educate and train people, provide employment and develop a society which supported
people in a good quality of life. The old Town Meetings developed into sophisticated,
representational government which dealt with people on a much larger scale. Following the Great
Depression of the thirties, our Canadian leaders developed a social safety net which provided Old Age Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Family Allowance and other measures designed to protect the most vulnerable -- the sick, the aged, the disabled, the unemployed, and children, in times of need. Today by government’s failing to meet the needs for adequate welfare, low cost housing, protection from abuse, availability of special drugs, rehabilitation, home care, we are pushing back onto communities, families and social agencies the responsibility for care which should be provided by government.
The fact is that many people do not have family to take care of them, or are themselves
trying to
care for an aged partner with health, disability or senility problems. Many people are
isolated
from neighbours and community and have no one to call upon for help. The
disabled are cut
off from contacts because of a lack of appropriate transportation and access to
buildings. Many
families are struggling to earn a living and care for ailing family members at the same
time.
Home care and institutional services are hard to come by. Many people live on the
streets or in
shelters. Food banks are in ever greater demand. Churches and other organizations
provide
meals for people who are hungry and beds on the floor for the homeless. Charities
compete with
each other for funding to carry on their services. Volunteers are worn out looking
after people.
Children go to school hungry. Whole families are lodged in one room in a run down
motel. It
is a disgrace for people in Ontario in 2001 to be forced into living in such
circumstances.
Government must take responsibility for meeting the basic needs of the people
through
public programs and by supporting the services of the volunteer non-profit
agencies, which
were organized by their communities to meet new and special needs.
Health Care Services
Adequate health care means the right service at the right time and place by the right
caregiver. Health care is not a commodity to be marketed but a service. The health care system
must be integrated and coordinated so that services flow from one level to another --
- Disease prevention and positive health care;
- Primary health care delivered by a team of professional caregivers including doctors,
nurses, social workers, dietitians, physiotherapists, etc., according to the
needs of the group or community to be served;
- Hospital care;
- Transitional care to help the patient adjust from intensive hospital care to home
care;
- Home and community care;
- Retirement and Old Age Homes;
- Institutions -- nursing homes and special care for Alzheimer and other patients
with
mental health and senility and other special problems.
- Patients should be able to tap into the system at whatever stage is
appropriate to
their needs and re-enter as their needs change.
CPC strongly supports the Canada Health Act and stresses the need to include within it
such
services as Home Care and Pharmacare. As previously mentioned, we are totally
opposed
to privatization of health services and equally opposed to a two-tier system, where
those who
can pay can go to the head of the line for services and those who cannot pay can wait
for
whatever service may be left over.
Seniors remember the days before Medicare and many of us bear the scars of
inadequate care in
those days, when families hesitated to go to the doctor because they were ashamed
that they
couldn't pay. Some families were wiped out financially because of the expense of
hospitalization or long term illness or injury.
There are many stresses and strains in our health care system at present but these
could be
removed with careful coordination and long term planning. In the long run, this would
cost less
than letting peoples' health deteriorate.
Home Care
The need for Home Care services has been exacerbated by closing of hospitals and
sending
patients home "sicker and quicker than ever before". There has never been adequate
funding for
appropriate home care services for both those returning home from hospital (now
often
needing much more sophisticated nursing care than in the past) and the frail elderly
and the
disabled who need supportive services to enable them to continue to live in their own
homes as
long as possible. The tendering out of contracts to for-profit companies has led
to a
lowering of quality of care .
Institutions
Chronic care facilities, rehabilitation services, retirement homes, nursing homes,
special care
for the senile and for children with special disabilities, are all in short supply.
Appropriate
standards and inspection are needed for these facilities.
Pharmacare
While the majority of drugs prescribed for seniors and other patients on low incomes is
covered
by government, some prescribed drugs are very expensive and are not included on the
Pharmacare list. For some patients, it means a choice between purchasing the
prescribed
drugs or buying food. This situation needs to be remedied.
Education
Cuts in education budgets and greater demands on teaching hours have left teachers
feeling
de-valued and students feeling deprived. The atmosphere that has been created
in schools
does not facilitate learning.
All children must have the opportunity for a full education, including the arts as well
as science
and technology. Children with special needs must have special assistance. More
innovative
projects are needed to help street youth become trained and employed. College and
university
students must not be saddled with heavy debt or forced to drop out because they
cannot pay
their fees and living expenses.
Housing
The Ontario government should reverse its decision to opt out of financing public and
cooperative housing. Municipalities need assistance in providing both shelters and
affordable,
accessible, safe homes. The ever growing number of homeless people, including
children, is a
disgrace. Rent controls need to be reinstated.
Environment
Our ecosystem is fundamental to human survival. Hence we need to take
immediate and
appropriate measures to:
- publicly maintain and manage our precious supply of water and prevent its sale
outside
of Canada,
-
prevent contamination of the air we breathe and of our water,
- preserve adequate acreage for the production of food and avoid the
industrialization
of agriculture by allowing the establishment of factory farms,
- preserve our forests, wetlands and parkland areas.
Children's Services
Children are our future and our greatest asset. They and their families must not be
abandoned to
live in poverty, substandard housing or abusive situations. They must have
adequate health
care, education and recreation and special help with special needs. Quality day care
should be
available as a public service at an affordable rate to families with pre-school children.
Conclusion
The tendency to provide short term remedies for major problems needs to end. Poorly
thought
out changes often lead to the destruction of good systems that only need some
alteration. Such
changes, once undertaken, are often hard to reverse.
Government has the responsibility to those who elect it to consult openly, to
determine needs,
to plan carefully and to deal with all citizens with honesty, respect and dignity.
Basic needs
must be met efficiently and effectively. A healthy, happy, well educated and well
employed
citizenry will work with government to generate reforms and build a strong economy
that can
support services and deliver a good quality of life for all.
A progress report on sustainable development to the ministers of the Organization
for
Economic Cooperation and Development stresses that while "economic, social and
environmental developments are strongly linked, and equally important for the
well-being of
current and future generations," too often environmental and social dimensions "lose
out to
shorter-term economic considerations, while environmental and social policies are
sometimes
formulated without due regard to their economic consequences." (David Crane: "Radical
change
needed for new economy". The Toronto Star, July 2, 2000).
In this paper we have presented a long list of concerns and of things which need to be
done if all
of our citizens are to enjoy a good quality of life which is surely essential to a civil
society.
Ontario is rich in its resources, especially its people. Working together with other levels
of
government, we could make a fairer distribution of resources and programs through a
fairer tax
system and effective and efficient management in order to truly make Ontario a
province where
anyone would be proud to live.
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