Muskoka residents will be protesting in Bracebridge on April 25.
According to Mike De Rose, President of the North Simcoe Muskoka District Labour Council, the initiative is part of a province-wide protest called “Fight Ford.”
The local event will take place at 12:00 p.m. in front of Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith’s office at 230 Manitoba Street in Bracebridge.
De Rose said the protest is about “protecting public services and local democracy.”
“This government is underfunding hospitals and healthcare to the point where hospitals aren’t even receiving adequate funding to address the inflationary increases year-over-year,” said De Rose.
He also said they will protest what they describe as the government’s attack on local democracy, including a shift from elected school trustees to appointed board members with higher salaries who may lack experience in the education sector.
“They have to fund services properly, and they have to restore transparency and faith in our democracy. Hospital funding has not kept pace with inflation,” he said. “We’ve seen in Muskoka and around what that means. That means temporary ER closures, and in some cases, like our neighbours in Minden, full ER closures.”
De Rose said those have been ongoing issues for a long time in the province, and without adequate funding, people “won’t see much change.” He said the government needs to tax “super wealthy” people and corporations, and not small businesses.
“People in Muskoka are asking for a system where decisions are made locally, services are properly funded, and the public can actually see how those decisions are made,” said De Rose. “This protest is not an NDP protest or a Liberal protest or associated with any specific political party or stripe.”
He said everybody is welcome to participate.
Graydon Smith, MPP for Parry Sound–Muskoka, said that from a local democracy standpoint, some school boards in Ontario have failed to meet expectations. He highlighted the Near North Board in Parry Sound, which he said put students at Parry Sound High School in a difficult position this year and required provincial intervention to address the situation.
“I think the changes that the minister is making are welcomed by many,” said Smith. “We continue to see investments made by the government, and many of those investments having a really positive impact right here in the riding in
Parry Sound–Muskoka.”
Smith also said they have seen record spending in health care and record spending in education. He said he welcomes anyone who wants to express their opinion at his constituency office.
