5 Reasons To Put A ‘Donation To OCAP’ On Your Holidays Wishlist

1) There’s a Grinch in Town, and His Name is Rob Ford

Rob Ford doesn’t have a red nose like Rudolph. He has the long nose of a liar! During his campaign, he promised Torontonians that there would be no service cuts during his reign as mayor, but that soon proved to be a bold faced lie. On the chopping block already are libraries, childcare, unionized jobs for city workers, parks, community start-up grants and museums.

In October, Toronto Community Housing Board approved the selling off of over 700 homes. In a city where the wait time to get into affordable housing is nearly a decade long, this is just not acceptable.

If his political allegiance was not clear enough, his city council has even cut the Christmas Fund, a program that brought holiday gifts to needy children (we couldn’t make this stuff up!).

Our plan is not to wait for his heart to grow three sizes bigger. It is to ramp up the fight back now and kick those greedy grinches out of office.

2) ‘Tis The Season For Resistance

We in OCAP believe in the power of resistance and work to build poor and
working class movements that can effectively challenge cutbacks and
poverty. We organize using direct-action and mass mobilization and have
been doing so for over two decades. Year after year we are contacted by
people who have been unjustly kicked off of welfare, evicted, arrested and treated unfairly, but every year we also see many amazing victories
because we fight to win!

3) Scrooge, Harper, McGuinty. The Fight Against Austerity Starts At Home.

As austerity measures are ramped up in Toronto and around the world, the
need to put forward a real meaningful opposition is increasingly important and urgent. Unions across the country and across the world are under attack A dangerous omnibus crime bill is being pushed through on the federal level, and Jason Kenney, the Conservative Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, continues to attack migrant and refugee communities.
Organizations like OCAP can bring experience, tactics and knowledge to
the long fight which lies ahead of us.

4) More Bang For Your Buck Than A Boxing Day Sale

Although OCAP operates on a very modest budget, with three organizers, the operation of a downtown Toronto office, and a multitude of related
expenses, we only just manage to scrape by. We need a stable source of
regular support that can keep us afloat. Donations are our main source of income. In the past 20 years, despite our very modest budget, we have put hundreds of millions of dollars back into the pockets of poor people. Our Special Diet Allowance campaign alone took a small, unknown benefit that had previously been providing poor people across the province with 5 million dollars a year and turned it into a massive campaign whereby we saw that program start bringing in over 200 million dollars annually for poor people. We are a direct action organization, and to us, that means fighting for results.

5) Lumps of Coal for the Ruling Class

It is clear that there is anger and discontent on our streets. Levels of poverty are growing, and we know that there is a ruling class to blame for this. We are not a charity. We are building a movement that can fight back and bring us victories; in the courts, on the streets, at the welfare office and everywhere else that the struggle rages on.

This holiday season, give the gift of resistance!

If you want to make a donation, please visit:
http://update.ocap.ca/sustain or contact us at OCAP@tao.ca or
416-925-6939

In addition to a one-time holiday donation, you can become a sustainer who makes a donation every month and helps us keep doing the casework and organizing that we do.

We also have T-shirts and commemorative magnet sets that make great
stocking stuffers for the radical on your shopping list.