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MPP's Office In Permanent "Lockdown" Over "Special Diet" Cuts
Submitted by ocap on Wed, 03/01/2006 - 14:42.
Belleville - Following on the heels of signing up over 900 low income people for the "special diet" benefit, the Tenant Action Group (TAG) has forced Ernie Parsons' Liberal MPP constituency office into permanent "lock down" mode. Last week's arrest of five TAG members at Parsons' office was the culmination of a relentless militant campaign to give the Liberals a taste of what is in store if his government follows through with their threat to force families into destitution.
Though-out the summer TAG, with the help of local doctors, held eight "Hunger Clinics" signing people on disability and welfare onto the $250 "special diet" benefit. These "Hunger Clinics" were organized by low-income people themselves living in local subsidized housing projects.
In retaliation to winning over 900 "special diet" victories in Belleville and Trenton (not to mention thousands more across Ontario), the Liberals announced cuts to the "special diet" benefit. TAG immediately gathered eighty strong and physically forced our way into Parsons' office delivering an ultimatum announcing that we'd return if the cuts were carried though.
Later, when the Minister of Community and Social Services visited our small town we gathered outside the Liberal fundraising venue and forced Pupatello to enter through a back door.
The five arrests occurred only after meeting with Parsons and his refusal to arrange a meeting of single moms with the Minister.
OCAP's "Raise The Rates" campaign has won millions of dollars for low-income people in Ontario. Inspired by OCAP, Ontario Common Front groups through-out Ontario are gearing up for an escalation in a campaign that has already achieved our goal of a 40% social assistance increase; albeit temporarily.
It is profoundly appropriate that a government that treats people like shit should feel under siege from the community they purport to represent and fear for their safety. The Raise The Rates campaign is the first glimmer of light poor people have experienced in over a decade. We need to escalate this campaign and maintain the wins already achieved.
