The Rexdale community responded to councillor’s meeting on Jan 11 regarding Ford’s City Budget Cuts.
by Noaman G. Ali
“We said we would be willing—and this was just dialogue, wasn’t offers passed back and forth—that we’d take this,” Bob Kinnear makes a zero with his fingers, “provided that the Toronto Transit Commission maintains the level of service.”
But according to Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 (ATU 113), which represents over 10,000 TTC workers, the City’s negotiators rejected the proposition during bargaining last year.
“You know why? Because for Mayor Ford it’s all about an ideology that they have.” Rob Ford and his crew would rather give a pay increase, so that in the end they can blame tax increases on the workers.
On today’s show (9 Jan 2012), Steve da Silva interviews Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya of GlobalResearch.ca on the U.S.-Israeli war preparations with Iran.
For our second feature interview, we talk with Canadian Auto Workers Local 27 President Tim Carrie about the situation of locked-out Caterpillar workers in London, Ontario.Featuring music from the Consumer Goods – ‘Hockey Night in Afghanada’ off their 2008 album, The Anti-imperial Cabaret.
Click here to link to podcast or listen to the interview directly from the Mp3 player at the bottom of your BASICSnews.ca window.
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a research associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization, (GlobalResearch.ca) an independent research and media institute organization and one of the world’s leading sources of news and analysis for geopolitics. Nazemroaya is also a sociologist and an award-winning writer, specializing on the Middle East and Central Asia, with numerous contributions to ALJazeera, Russian TV, and Press TV. Nazemroaya was also on the ground in Libya reporting live for multiple media outlets as NATO conducted its merciless bombing of that country’s civilians and infrastructure. Nazemroaya has published numerous pieces on the geopolitics of the looming U.S. war against Iran.
On this episode of Radio Basics (December 19, 2011), Steve da Silva and Kabir Joshi-Vijayan interview Russell Diabo, the spokesperson of Defenders of the Land and the Editor/Publisher of First Nations Strategic Bulletin.
Diabo talks to us about the struggle of indigenous peoples against the Indian Act, lands claims processes, and the puppet governments.
Click here to link to podcast or listen to the interview directly from the Mp3 player at the bottom of your BASICSnews.ca window.
On December 17, 2011, BASICS Community News Service held its second Annual General Meeting (AGM), just a little over a year after launched as a formal mass organization with a constitution in 2010.
The main tasks of the AGM included reviewing the successes of the past year, putting forward suggestions for the upcoming year, and electing a new executive.
In the realm of media work, highlights from the past year include:
Rebel Diaz live in Toronto
Any one or organization interested in joining the BASICS news team or in the School of People’s Journalism may contact us at [email protected].
BASICS sat down with the Venezuelan musician, Sandino Primera, to talk about: his music; the impact of his late father, Ali Primera; and the Venezuelan revolution.
KI LEADERS SPEAK, NEW VIDEO LAUNCHED
Monday March 5, 2012, 6:30pm
Steelworkers’ Hall, 25 Cecil Street
RALLY AND MARCH WITH KI
Tuesday March 6, 2012, 12:30 p.m.
255 Front St. W.
N.B. Come early at 11:30 to participate in the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network actions (http://www.facebook.com/
As part of this broader mobilization, the Toronto KI Support Group, CUPE 3902, OPIRG U of T, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, and Earthroots are organizing a speaking event on March 5, 2012 at the Steelworkers’ Hall at 32 Cecil Street in Toronto.
At these events KI leaders will speak to the public about the situation they are facing with God’s Lake Resources Inc. and about KI’s bold vision for their homeland and environment..
For more information about how you can help build this mobilization, please check out the Toronto KI Support Network’s facebook page at www.facebook.com/
March 16th pre-budget Rally and March: Fight Poverty, Demand a Living
Income, Housing, Public Services for All!
-Solidarity Against Austerity-
Friday, March 16, 2012
Rally and March
12noon
College and Bay St, Toronto (Outside the Ministry of Housing)
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Join the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and allies for a
march and rally on Friday, March 16th, in the lead up to the 2012
Provincial Budget. The McGuinty government has hired former head of
the TD bank, Don Drummond, to propose and provide the basis for
massive social cutbacks in their 2012 budget. It is being drafted as
the Provincial component of the austerity agenda that is gathering
force across Canada and internationally. City Hall, Queen`s Park and
Ottawa are delivering austerity, but clearly it is being cooked-up on
Bay Street by bankers like Drummond to the benefit of their rich
friends.
We have to stop the cuts and fight for what poor and working people need!
The measures they intend to hit us with will fall on top of the losses
we have already faced:
-Social assistance rates have lost at least 55% of their spending
power since the days of the Harris Tories; the base amount for welfare
today is a despicable $599/month;
-The minimum wage has been reduced in real terms and more and more
workers are forced into low wage jobs with E.I, employment standards
and protection for workers being steadily eroded;
-The fastest growing numbers amongst the poor in Ontario are
racialized people without status; forced in to an economy that
benefits from their massively underpaid and exploited labour, but
fails to provide even basic services;
-Waiting lists for social housing across this province are decades
long while people are priced out of the private housing market and
homeless shelters are overcrowded;
-Access to affordable childcare is almost non-existent while thousands
wait for limited subsidy spaces.
For poor people and workers in this province, it has been a constant
state of crisis. McGuinty is now preparing to make this situation much
worse.
On March 16, we will be rallying at an Ontario Government location but
taking our march to Toronto`s financial centre where the real
decisions are being made by and for the ’1%’.
We will be marching to oppose austerity measures but also to demand
the reversing of previous cutbacks, the right to a living income, the
right to affordable and accessible housing, and for good quality
public services for all! We will be marching against the kind of
society Drummond and the rich are creating, and for one that meets the
needs and improves the lives of all of us!
JOIN US!
HOW TO BE INVOLVED IN MARCH 16:
-Organize a contingent: bring a group of people from your
organization, neighbourhood, city or union local to this demonstration
- bring your demands
-Drum out Drummond: bring drums, noise makers, pots and pans
-Organize a group of students or a ‘kids block’ to be a part of the
day as part of March Break
-Banners, flags and signs: Organize a ‘banner making day’ in your
area, bring your banners to the march
-Help fund a bus, food, transit tokens, ASL, and materials for the
day: if you or your organization or union local can make donations of
money or in-kind, please help us make this day as participatory and
accessible as possible
-Build the movement: add your organization’s to the list of endorsers
for this day of action
-Get the word out: help us get the message out about this day of
action, download the poster and flyer at www.ocap.ca, forward this
announcement far and wide, contact us if you would like to help with
postering, flyering, etc.
GET IN TOUCH: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 416-925-6939
Web: OCAP.ca
Facebook: OCAP
Twitter: @OCAPtoronto
