Special Diet Fightback Taken To Pupatello's Doorstep

On Saturday, November 26, some of the communities that the Liberals wish to return to poverty and hunger took to the streets. Saturday was a first look at the mobilization and resistance they will now face.

Some six hundred people, including many families with children, gathered at Toronto City Hall. Buses brought people in from various parts of the City and from other Ontario communities where the Ontario Common Front (OCF) is taking up the fight around the food supplement.

The crowd marched up Yonge Street full of spirit and determination and turned west to the Sutton Place Hotel-home to Sandra Pupatello, Minister Responsible for Hunger. On this day, however, the Sutton Place suddenly overflowed with unwelcome guests. Taking the cops completely unaware, a large section of the crowd was able to march into the Hotel and drive home to its owners that they had made a bad choice of tenant in Sandra Pupatello. The takeover of the Sutton Place by angry people resisting the attack on their right to eat properly should give the Liberals the message that when poverty is taken into our homes we will hesitate to take it into theirs.

The demonstration wrapped up with a series of speeches in front of Pupatellos’ residence. This woman receives a $20,000 a year housing allowance on top of her six-figure salary so that she can live in luxury. This fact enraged and disgusted those who had come out that day and reinforced their determination to win this fight. We wish to make clear there is no intention to mount any token protest and accept the loss of the Special Diet. The fight to restore the Supplement and win an increase in the rates will be very serious. We’ll see if McGuinty has the stomach for the fight he’s brought down on his Government.