Dear Mike Harris Dalton McGuinty:
Mike, correction, Dalton, we at The Toronto Tribune are having a very
difficult time telling you two apart.
In 2003 Dalton, you promised to reverse the devastating Mike Harris anti-the-poor 21.6% cut to basic welfare rates. It has never been
done. In fact basic welfare rate remained frozen for 13 years from 1992-2005. There have been only 3
pathetic cost of increases to basic welfare since Mike Harris's attack on the poor, an attack that you Dalton have continued unabated.
Further Dalton you promised, in 2003, to get rid of Mike Harris's vacancy de-controls. It has not happened. Allow us to remind you of your
"promise" made in August of 2003 just before the October election of that year.
"I want to be clear about our plan for rent control. We will repeal the
Harris-Eves government’s Tenant Protection Act and we will bring back “real
rent control” that protects tenants from excessive rent increases. We will
get rid of vacancy decontrol which allows unlimited rent increases on a unit
when a tenant leaves."
One of the numerous problems with vacancy de-controls is it provides incentive to
unscrupulous landlords to find ways to circumvent the
legal process and get rid of tenants without due process. This allows these money-grubbing landlords to then raise the
rent to whatever the market will bear. The only remedy, through
the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal (now called the Landlord and Tenant Board),
wasn't and isn't much relief when an illegal and unwanted move
is forced on a tenant thanks to this disastrous legislation.
The Toronto Tribune must ask what is the difference between these two men when they both do all they
can to hurt the poor. Dalton you might talk a good game with your pathetic do-nothing anti-the-poor committee. It's obvious to us
that you Dalton, are the leader of the Mike Harris Fiberal Party of Ontario.
If you want to help the poor increase social assistance rates today and
remove the vacancy de-controls that your beloved mentor, Mike Harris, enacted into law.
Don't study these issues until the next election then again, is that your goal all along?
With our kindest regards,
The Toronto Tribune
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