Mantha’s News from the Park
MPP Michael Mantha, Algoma-Mantoulin
ALGOMA-MANITOULIN, ON – The Ontario legislature has only been back a couple of weeks and already we’ve seen some significant changes. On Thursday September 6,th the NDP blocked a Liberal majority with an unprecedented win in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election. Premier McGuinty engineered the by-election by appointing Elizabeth Witmer, the Conservative MPP, to an $188,000-a-year post as head of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, convincing her to give up the seat she’d held for 22 years. Voters in Kitchener-Waterloo were not fooled by Liberal antics and their cynical attempt to gain a de facto majority government; instead, they elected NDP candidate Catherine Fife, a well-known local leader who earned a whopping 40% of the vote. The people of Kitchener-Waterloo chose positive change.
For the past 10 years Catherine served as the Waterloo Region School Board Trustee and Chair, where she balanced a $675 Million dollar budget and created 1600 childcare spaces at no cost to the taxpayers. She has delivered positive results time and time again for the people in her community. Myself and my NDP colleagues are proud to have someone of her caliber joining us at Queen’s Park strengthening our caucus.
The results of this by-election sent a clear message to the McGuinty Liberals; the people of Ontario did not give them a majority mandate last October. Ontarians want their elected representatives to work together in the interest of everyone, not just the boardroom CEO’s and executives.
The Legislature was also called back early to push through the hotly contested Bill 115-Putting Students First Act. Teachers unions and civil liberties groups were outraged by this Bill which infringes on collective bargaining rights by giving the Minister and Cabinet the power to remove terms of a negotiated collective agreement.
We have spoken out clearly against the ill-advised strategy of issuing ultimatums, negotiating in public, refusing to discuss reasonable proposals from teachers, and threatening teachers with back to work legislation. In addition, we have fought against the McGuinty decision to cut spending on education by half a billion dollars in the last budget. On September 11th, Bill 115 passed in the Legislature with the support of the Tories and the Liberals.
I want to thank the constituents of Algoma-Manitoulin for hosting me in countless events in your communities throughout the summer; it was truly an enjoyable few months. I also want to thank you for your patience as we are still transitioning to a new location in Elliot Lake. As always, please feel free to contact my office about this issue, or any other provincial matters. You can reach my constituency office by email at mmantha-co@ndp.on.ca or by phone at 705-461-9710/1-800-831-1899.
Michael Mantha, MPP/député
Algoma-Manitoulin
