A fired up NDP community media reception

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

“Let’s make Doug Ford a one-term Premier,” the strong words spoken by the Leader of the Official Opposition (Ontario) Andrea Horwath to her audience. Horwath demonstrated to her fired-up audience that she had an eidectic memory by having all the MPPs stand up as she called them by name and rank, wasted no time in letting her audience know who was responsible for the sufferings of the disenfranchised Ontarians as she puts it.

The event which took place on Saturday, November 16^th, at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Toronto East, on 2035 Kennedy Rd, Toronto, had a full house and was a Community Media Reception headed by Andrea Horwath and Ontario NDP MPPs. Horwath promised to hold the present government responsible and accountable to the taxpayers: she spoke of the need for good-paying jobs, decent pension and affordable housing for all Ontarians no matter their race, creed or color.

In her speech, the opposition leader told the crowd, “We will unite where the present Premier tries to divide, to build where he tries to tear down, and we will keep the pressure up with more legislation, more ideas and more plans to tackle the things that matter, we will not only be the party of resistance but the party of hope.”

Canada’s largest Caribbean newspaper spoke with several MPPs and of course the opposition leader herself about her fight to make things better and her future plans.

One of the questions Toronto Caribbean Newspaper asked of Horwath, was, how she planned to go about creating good-paying jobs with pensions and tackle affordable housing to which she answered, “As we are adapting to climate change we are also doing that in a way that keeps people working in good jobs and provide the training that people need so that they can transition to good jobs in our economy.” She said, whenever huge economic transformation occurs it’s always those at the top that benefit and everyone else is left with the crumbs.

Horwath told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “That’s why I also spoke about making sure we reduce the growing gap between the millionaires and the rest of us, and all of those things can be achieved by public policies, we just have to make the commitment to do it that way.”

Horwath’s message to  Ontarians is, “You don’t have to settle for the least of the bad options, you can actually settle for an option that’s positive, you can actually have the kind of change that transforms our province into a place where everybody can build a good life.”

Toronto Caribbean Newspaper also spoke with Laura Mae Lindo who is an MPP for Kitchener Centre, Critic, Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Chair of the Black Caucus, Lindo told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper “Prior to me being elected, there was no black caucus. This is something that the community asked for, and Horwath supported and asked me if I would chair the black caucus; all of a sudden we have five MPPs that are focused on the needs of black community members.”

MPP for Brampton Centre and Deputy Leader Sara Singh was at the event and she told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper what the gathering meant to her, “A day like today means that we get to connect with our members who have been doing some of the grassroots organizing around issues that matters like: pharma care, dental care, making sure we have affordable housing. The reception that we are having today is to also connect with members of the ethnic media, because we recognized that outside of the Toronto Stars and the Globe and Mails, the ethnic media plays an important role in our community in terms of sharing that message and those values.”

“I am proud to have a caucus that is 50% women, more reflective of the people of Ontario, and the first black caucus ever in the history of our province. These are things that I have set out to do as leader, because when I took over my party it was pale, male and stale.” were Horwath’s final remarks.