Quoting Graeme Bacque <[log in to unmask]>:

> FWIW, Layton and his life partner and fellow MP Olivia Chow  have a
> combined annual income that probably approaches a quarter of a million
> bucks. (Not to mention all the fiscal and in-kind perqs associated with
> being a member of Parliament).

I don't know the details of Jack and Olivia's personal finances, but I'm sure
they don't make nearly as much as your average Bay Street investment banker. At
the end of the day, moreover, they are fighting for policies like a living wage
and a national child care system that won't benefit them personally in any
material way - if anything, they'll have to pay more taxes.

A few months ago in Ontario, the NDP was the only party to vote against the
massive MPP pay raises (McGuinty's alone was $39,000!) on the principle that
the minimum wage and social assistance should be raised first - and
dramatically. Most of the NDP MPPs, including Howard Hampton, have promised to
contribute their pay raises to local community organizations. You can bet this
will be an issue in the October election.


> When the New Democrats were in power in Ontario from September 1990-June
> 1995 (under the leadership of the turncoat Bob Rae) they  froze social
> assistance rates (in April 1994), brought in a repressive system of
> 'welfare police'  and carried out a a forensic audit of every social
> assistance case file in the province. The 3% increase that kicked in at
> the end of February 2005 was actually the first increase to social
> assistance in Ontario in /*twelve years*/ - and the previous raise
> (implemented in January 1993 - almost 2 1/2 years before the Mike Harris
> government took power) had been a mere one per cent.
>

Two things - first, the Ontario NDP took power at a very unfortunate time. The
early 1990s delivered the worst recession in North America since the Great
Depression. Other parties like to blame the NDP, but the fact is that similar
economic problems happened across Canada and the US. So it wasn't the NDP's
fault. Perhaps they could've dealt with it differently. But coping with the
recession wasn't made any easier by the big business establishment, which
downright refused to co-operate with the government and did everything it could
to undermine the NDP. Second, Bob Rae was no democratic socialist (as we now
know); he was, as you put it, a "turncoat." But that's no reason to distrust
every politician. I think Jack and Howard are pretty genuine. But they need to
be given a chance to walk the talk.

Graeme - I hope you reconsider leaving the listserv. I've enjoyed reading many
of your postings.

Jeff

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