No Group Hug from Premier Wynne for Huronia Survivors

UPDATE Sept 17/13:  I called it right yesterday. The delay in the court case was because the government came to their senses and a deal was struck.  Kudos to Premier Wynne for finally stepping up to the plate.  It's just too bad she had to be forced to do so.

The Government has settled the suit offering $35 million to a fund for the survivors and will issue an apology.  

CBC: Huronia Regional Centre lawsuit ends in $35M settlement

The court case for the Huronia Regional Centre victims has been delayed until tomorrow. 

Kirk Baert, a lawyer bringing the class action case to court said today on the adjournment; "The parties have agreed to adjourn the start of the trial for one day. Because this matter is before the court it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

This case has received sporadic coverage as its worked its way to court.  Fortunately in the last few days the issue has gained much more attention and that may be why the case was delayed in court today.  Let's hope so.  

This delay could be for any number of reasons. Yet this case has been headed to court for sometime, the legal teams should be ready.  It would take something unusual for delay to be granted.  Further its unlikely the delay was because those bring the case forward wanted it, its more likely it was the Government's lawyers that made the request.

Now I am a former political staffer in a past government, from another province. I know what I would have been thinking if a case like the Huronia kids case were happening on my watch.  I would want to know how it got this far? Why have 'we' not found a way to settle this? What could we do to resolve the situation? Does this have to be a court case now? What's the right thing to do?

Kathleen Wynne, during the Ontario leadership race, met with some of those involved in this case, some ten or so months ago. According to reports she listened and was empathetic.  For the first time in years these folks felt someone in government was listening.  They dared believe a settlement could be had, especially now that Wynne was now Premier Wynne. 

As Premier, Wynne has been giving out group hugs to anyone within reach, and she has a great reach. Sadly some of the people most in need of the Premier's attention are being forced into what could be a lengthy and costly legal battle.  Many of the people involved in this case are in their 80's, many have died waiting for someone in government to acknowledge what they went through, to say we're sorry.

Let's hope today's delay is the result of someone in government coming to their senses.

some links

Toronto Star: Ontario allowed decades of child abuse: Goar

Toronto Star: Huronia Regional Centre: Class-action lawsuit set to begin over alleged abuse

Institutional Survivors - Background

The Orillia Packet HRC lawsuit to begin Monday

CBC.ca Huronia Regional Centre lawsuit alleges abuse, seeks $1B

Little Angels and Tiny Toddlers... Ontario's shame, our collective shame

The dormitory and hallways stank of excrement, children went to the toilet and showered in the open, exposed to everyone, once showered they were given clothes by a staff person from a locked room.  These children had nothing, not the clothes on their backs nor underwear they wore each day.

It was the Huronia Regional Centre in the 1970's. Originally named the Orillia Asylum for Idiots. Thousands of children were sent here, conditions so unsanitary, any child who was admitted would be exposed to Hepatitis, parasites and other infectious diseases, and the Ontario government knew this.

The Ontario Government is forcing these people to court to settle their claims against the institution and the government. There is little dispute the harm was done, little dispute people were beaten, abused, humiliated and confined in conditions considered inhumane. Sexually abused, forced to beat up other children.  

The case goes to court September 16th.  Carol Goar of the Toronto Star has called the trial “a day of reckoning”.

You can find out more below, follow the links. I'm hopefull all three Ontario political parties can agree to an apology and settlement. Or must these people relive the horrors in court. Challenged all the way by the Government of Ontario, Our Government. 

From Ontario Newswatch: 

Closed after 133 years in 2009, developmentally handicapped children were housed over the years in what some former residents allege were horrific, Dickensian prison-like conditions. 

Thousands are suing the Ontario government in a massive class action suit that alleges they were systematically sexually, physically and emotionally abused while the Ontario government was exclusively in charge from 1945 to 2004. - 

In 2011 CBC covered the story;

The lawyerKirk Baert: 'How far do you think the government would have gotten in the '50s, '60s and '70s if they had held people convicted of murder by the ankles and dunked them into bathwater full of ice cubes or forced them to scrub floors with toothbrushes or kicked them or punched them.
'If you think about the hierarchy, about where these people stood on the totem pole, they were below convicted felons.'

See also 

CBC Radio One documentary “The Gristle in the Stew”Listen now! Read about the documentary here and some of the incredible comments at the bottom of the article. - See more at: http://www.institutionalsurvivors.com/#sthash.nGPZMvR4.dpuf

Canadian Senators - Retirement you can count on

It seems that when you suggest changing anything about the Senate in Canada, other than tinkering around the edges you are a simply "a group of ideologues that haven’t a clue about the constitutional or political reality of this country." Dale Smith - protector of the senate

Dale and I don't agree.

The NDP and before them, the CCF have advocated for abolishing the Senate. It remains a key part of democratic reform required in this country.  We have listened to Conservatives and Liberals at various times call the Senate useless, loaded with party hacks, then promise to reform the body.  It never happens. 

The Senate was created to protect the moneyed people of Canada, from the potential damage members of parliament could inflict on the gentry, if left to their own devices. 

Liberal and Conservative Prime Ministers load the body up with Liberals and Conservatives. Most often these people were party bagmen, fundraisers, corporate donors, or former MP's.  

The Senate costs us somewhere north of 90 million dollars every year. That for  about 100 people. They get paid $132,000 per year, staff, travel and even something called hospitality.  They receive 64 return trips to Ottawa each year, they can use to fly anywhere in Canada. 

The 64 trips can be to for any purpose. They can use them to fly from Ottawa to Calgary to host a Liberal or Conservative fundraiser.  Hospitality money can entertain Liberal or Conservative party activists, potential corporate funders, or the Senators buddies. 

More tomorrow on the money side and scandal. More in days ahead about abolishing the Senate.

He Committed Fraud - Senator Nancy Ruth

Contrast these comments on Senate scandal...

Senator Nancy Greene Raine - It's okay to have the same people review Senator Duffy's expenses and its okay to do it behind closed doors.

Senator Nancy Ruth - "In my opinion (Senator Duffy) committed fraud."

Senator Lillian Dyck - Senators are abusing the system, while people are hungry, living on the streets.

See raw video on CBC here.

Bill C-377 has Alberta Senator Seething!

Last December (2012) the Harper Conservative government passed Bill C-377.  The bill is nothing more than an attempt by non-union contractors to harass and create added costs on unions in their lifetime pursuit to eliminate unions.

From Rabble.ca

Well, there we have it. The Conservative government has just rammed Bill C-377, legislation which will saddle unions with ridiculously detailed, costly financial reporting requirements, through the House of Commons. The bill was successfully voted in by MPs on Wednesday evening, by a margin of 147 to 135. - Conservative government rams through anti-union Bill C-377 December 13, 2012

The bill had little debate and was rushed through the House of Commons. The Senate has been dealing with Bill C-377. In second reading Senator Elaine McCoy (last Progressive Conservative Senator left in the Senate) had to say ...

Bill C-377 is so audacious, so mendacious, so outrageous, that I can really only think of one twosentence review, and in this I am paraphrasing Dorothy Parker, whom many honourable senators will know. She once said in her two-line book review: “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”

This comment of hers is attributed to a book written by Mussolini called The Cardinal's Mistress. Let me paraphrase Dorothy Parker: This is not a bill to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force. - Senator Elaine McCoy, May 2, 2013, Excerpt of Debates of the Senate (Hansard)

You can get more information here on the Bill, the votes and debate at Open Parliament

For Heaven's Sake!

Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto continues the game of playing at being Mayor of a big city. Faced with numerous scandals over his term and a video that may show him smoking crack, The Mayor fires his chief of staff today.

You have to wonder what could come next.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford fires chief of staff CBC.ca-26 minutes agoShare Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has fired his chief of staff, the latest development in a tumultuous week at city hall where the pressure is growing for ...

Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel crack wise over Toronto's Rob Ford

Toronto Star-28 minutes ago

Mayor Rob Ford sidelined as football coach by school board

Even the usual supporters are after Ford to say something about the alleged video of him smoking crack. See Toronto Sun story here.

Logical Fallacies and Weak Arguments: The Case of Scott Reid, MP

I was visiting our 'farm' property in the Lanark Highlands this past month.  The area is represented by Ontario's first elected Reform Party MP and now is a Conservative MP. One of the chores is to check the mail box, usually it contains some severely politically slanted mailing from Mr. Reid.  I almost never find myself agreeing with him. I would like to answer some of his surveys, yet that is darn near impossible.

Below is a recent copy of a mailer from MP Reid.  Rather than rant, I asked my buddy, a Professor in Media Studies, to read the mailer and this is what I got back...

This is what passes as public discourse these days.

A List Of Fallacious Arguments
BILL S-214 Senate Bill

BC Liberals and Right Wing Nasty Campaign

Big Oil is funding the BC Liberals. Earlier this years Christy Clark, BC Premier flew into Calgary and met with Oil Executives and held a fundraiser for her political party. Clark is travelling a well laid road, former Premier Gordon Campbell built the road.

What seems unusual is the urgency attached to these appeals.  Big Oil is eager to attend.  Now there can be only one real good thing these folks care about BC this time out.  Pipeline.

The BC New Democrats are way out front in the polls.  It will take a major miracle for the Liberals to win or a lot more money. Already we are seeing that money in action.  Several attack sites have been set up, many of them created on government time by OIC appointments in the Premier's Office.  Then there are the BC Govt ads on TV.  To date in the two years she has been Premier, Christie Clark has spent 64 million dollars on govt ads.

Then there is the former logging CEO, Jim Shepard  who has raised over half a million dollars with the goal to raising over a million for an extremely nasty series of attack ads on the BC NDP under the guise of a grassroots campaign called Concerned Citizens For BC.  The group can spend as much as they want prior to the beginning of the election period.  They can get money from whomever they wish. No disclosure required.  The Koch brothers could make a donation and we wouldn't know it. You can likely count on Enbridge to donate, especially since they need not be worried about people finding out.

The Liberals manage to out spend the NDP almost two to one every election. This time out they will likely smash their record spending of the 2009 campaign.

We still have to see who else will jump into the fray. Expect independent contractors, forest companies, Insurance companies & resellers, car dealers and Chamber of Commerce.

Look to the nastiest BC campaign ever, if you think your province has nasty campaigns you haven't seen the effort produced by BC's right wing free enterprisers.  Expect the BCTF, BC FED and other NDP friendly groups attempt to match the Liberals gang.



Financial Post: Alberta powerbrokers throw lifeline to B.C. premier as threat of tougher pipeline fight from NDP looms


The Tyee: Right-wing Group Plans 'Blanket Coverage' Ad Blitz against BC NDP