by Lynn Kennedy
The LCBO strike may be over, but the fight isn’t. Ontarians have gotten a reprieve of three years without store closures, but Doug Ford is still going to be working hard to put booze in every convenience store in the province. Why, you ask? Because he ran on a “Buck-A-Beer” and alcohol-everywhere platform (his not the Party’s) in the last election.
He doesn’t seem to realize that walking that picket line day after day, being in solidarity, does something to a person. A unit is formed, a group with one agenda. Strength in numbers, unity, shared beliefs – that’s what took place over the past 15 days for nearly 10,000 LCBO workers. We are united, we are strong, and we are backed by the best union I’ve ever belonged to. Doug may have won when it comes to ready-to-drink alcohol in convenience stores, but the power of a united group is bigger and stronger. And we all vote, and our families and friends vote. And a big hats off to CBC for reporting where the $2.5B in revenues generated by the LCBO go in this province. NOT to CEO’s but to health care, schools, etc. But it doesn’t go far enough. Ford seems to think he will generate millions of dollars in revenue by expanding sales into other locations. Do the math. Read Mike Crawley’s piece in CBC.
Why is he fixated on more convenient alcohol? Why is he so against growing the LCBO, so that alcohol is sold safely, by well-trained staff in secure locations? Why is he not focusing on the fact that Ontario has hospital ER closures, a HUGE lack of health care practitioners (I’m sure everyone knows someone who doesn’t have a family doctor these days?), and few nurses or ER docs to be seen.
I recently spent 8.5 hours in the Kemptville District Hospital ER for a severely infected thumb. There are NO walk-in clinics in my area. NONE! So an infected thumb sits for hours to get a prescription for antibiotics, and that spot could very well have been taken up by the little kid who fell off his bike and hit his head, or the older man with major back pain, or the young girl who kept passing out. THOSE are emergencies, much more so than an infected thumb. The triage nurse told me that KDH has funding for ONE ER doctor and, if they are lucky, three nurses. There were at least 25 people in that waiting room and nobody was being called to see the doctor. The poor guy with back pain went up to the desk multiple times, because he couldn’t sit any longer and he was finally taken through. Kemptville is growing in leaps and bounds, with Mattamy homes tract houses coming online soon. How many more will show up to see that ONE DOCTOR in the ER?
And the Premier of our province has the gall to post a map showing where you can buy your booze during the LCBO strike! Nowhere was there a map showing me where I could find a walk-in clinic. I guess we know what Doug Ford’s priorities are.
Instead of booze in stores, how about affordable housing? Not $2500/month apartments! Not townhomes in the $600,000 range! How about places that our most vulnerable populations can afford to live? Newcomers, people with disabilities, ODSP recipients, seniors and others on fixed incomes?
Do I sound bitter and angry? Of course! This guy is using $225M of OUR tax money to break the agreement with The Beer Store. He could have just let the agreement run out in 2025 at no cost to any of us footing the bill. But his agenda is to keep us all drunk, stupid and poor.
How can you tell he’s lying? His lips are moving.
