National President: Mike Crawley.

Vice President (English): Chris MacInnes

Vice President (French): Imran Ahmad

National Policy Chair: Maryanne Kampouris

National Membership Secretary: Matthew Certosimo

Videos

For a background of the dispute between Mayor Rob Ford and the Toronto Star see below or here and here.

John Honderich

Chair of Torstar Corp.

Rob Ford

Mayor of Toronto

Honderich: If our local democracy is to flourish, it is essential Torontonians be well informed and conversant on all local issues.

Ford: I have no respect for the Toronto Star whatsoever. If people want to read a paper, pick up the Globe, Post or Sun. That’s what I encourage people to do.

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Honderich: We have the chief magistrate of the city . . . using the tool of blackout to prevent the city’s largest newspaper from receiving notification of public events, briefings or announcements from his office.

Ford: This is so ridiculous. We might have sent out five press releases. And at City Hall there’s a press gallery. You send only one press release, everybody gets it. It’s like one big family.

–

Honderich: Mayor Ford has no obligation to speak to or be interviewed by the Star. That is entirely his choice.

Ford: The bottom line is, I won’t give them an interview. I do not want to talk to them. If they want to trash me, and do whatever they continue to do, that’s up to them, that’s their prerogative.

–

Honderich: The ban has been in place ever since Ford won the mayoral race more than a year ago. It stems from Ford’s rage over a piece the Star ran during the campaign about his conduct as a football coach.

Ford: Until you apologize for what you wrote I’m not talking to you. And let’s leave it at that.

–

Honderich: Candidate Ford was furious and filed an immediate notice of libel, which is entirely and appropriately his prerogative. But he never followed up, as required, and his suit has now lapsed.

Ford: You don’t make up stories that are not true about me coaching football and ever since that — and everybody knows it’s not true.

–

Honderich: The Ford freeze recently went a step further. The mayor’s staff was holding a briefing on arts funding and other members of the City Hall press gallery were told about it privately. In this case, they were also specifically asked not to tell the Star about it.

Ford: I’ll give you an example. We invited everyone. My press secretary, Adrienne Batra, is leaving us today, it’s her last day, so we had a big party for her two nights ago, and we invited every single media outlet, every councillor — this is the only media outlet that didn’t show up.

–

Honderich: This conduct cannot be allowed to continue unchallenged. The issue is far too important.

Ford: It’s not even worth talking about.

 

CP24 gives the background,

The site was last used when Ford was a city councillor in 2010. The domain name has since been taken over someone else, unknown to the Ford camp.

Employees Serving or Voting at an Election

Employees to have three consecutive hours for voting

6. (3)  Every employee who is qualified to vote shall, while the polls are open on polling day at an election, have three consecutive hours for the purpose of voting and, if the hours of his or her employment do not allow for three consecutive hours, the employee may request that his or her employer allow such additional time for voting as may be necessary to provide those three consecutive hours and the employer shall grant the request. R.S.O. 1990, c. E.6, s. 6 (3).

Deduction from pay prohibited

(4)  No employer shall make any deduction from the pay of any employee or impose upon or exact from the employee any penalty by reason of his or her absence from work during the consecutive hours that the employer is required to allow under subsection (3). R.S.O. 1990, c. E.6, s. 6 (4).

Time off best suiting convenience of employer

(5)  Any time off for voting as provided in subsection (3) shall be granted at the time of day that best suits the convenience of the employer. R.S.O. 1990, c. E.6, s. 6 (5).

Sign the petition here.

The Ontario Liberal Party platform was released today, with a press conference held at the Marriott hotel in Toronto.

Highlights of the platform include:

“A drive to completely implement North America’s first, full-day kindergarten program by 2014, followed by provincewide after-school programs for children aged 6-12;

A new tuition grant for full-time undergraduate students from lower- and middle-income families that will save $1600 per student in university and $730 per student in college, annually.

Increasing postsecondary attainment by adding 60,000 new spaces including three new undergraduate satellite campuses;

Helping seniors stay healthy at home, with a seniors’ healthy home renovation tax credit for things like ramps and walk-in baths;
Returning house calls for the frail and elderly and providing an additional three million hours of homecare from personal support workers;

Creating 50,000 new, clean-energy jobs through Ontario’s world-leading FIT program; and

Reducing electricity bills by 10% through the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit.”

2011 OLP Platform

Consecutive hours for voting

132. (1) Every employee who is an elector is entitled, during voting hours on polling day, to have three consecutive hours for the purpose of casting his or her vote and, if his or her hours of work do not allow for those three consecutive hours, his or her employer shall allow the time for voting that is necessary to provide those three consecutive hours.

Time at convenience of employer

(2) The time that the employer shall allow for voting under subsection (1) is at the convenience of the employer.

The best part about this is that the time off is paid:

No penalty for absence from work to vote

133. (1) No employer may make a deduction from the pay of an employee, or impose a penalty, for the time that the employer shall allow for voting under subsection 132(1).

Hourly, piece-work or other basis of employment

(2) An employer who pays an employee less than the amount that the employee would have earned on polling day, had the employee continued to work during the time referred to in subsection 132(2) that the employer allowed for voting, is deemed to have made a deduction from the pay of the employee, regardless of the basis on which the employee is paid.

Get out and vote!