'Enough is enough': Province-wide rally to protest Ford government

People are rallying in cities across the province Saturday as part of the Ontario Federation of Labour’s ‘Enough is Enough Day of Action.'

The protests and marches taking aim at the Doug Ford government, with participants looking for solutions to the cost of living crisis.

“We are seeing people, month after month. Countless people having to choose between paying for food, or putting a roof over their heads,” said Lisa Bezaire, a housing social worker in Windsor, Ont.

She was one of dozens who came out to Windsor’s rally, hosted out front of Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie’s office Saturday afternoon.

The Ford Progressive Conservative government was re-elected into office one year ago on Saturday, and the Ontario Federation of Labour is marking the occasion by organizing rallies across Ontario to speak out against their policy and spending decisions.

“People can't afford basic goods and groceries,” said Patti Dalton, president of the London and District Labour Council. “We're looking at massive privatization by the Ford government and we want to see better funding and staffing for public services, like education [and] health care.”

The Federation of Labour wants to see real wage increases in both the private and public sector, keep schools and health care public, more affordable groceries, gas and goods, rent control and affordable housing, and an effort to make banks and corporations pay.

“Wages are not staying up with inflation. And that's what we hear from everyday workers, and people that are unemployed, or on social assistance, they just don't have enough money to survive,” said Mario Spagnuolo, the interim president of the Windsor and District Labour Council.

Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky was at the rally, noting it’s a first for her to join a rally out front of an opposing member’s constituency office.

She said the government isn’t investing taxpayer money in a way that is helping people get by.

“We could spend that money a lot wiser and it would have a much better impact on the people in Windsor and Essex County,” she said.

“Doug Ford is in our corner here. I feel that every single day,” said Dowie. “He loves this community.”

Dowie was not at his office Saturday, but said the PC government has delivered on reducing the cost of living, shortening hospital wait times by moving some non-urgent surgeries to private clinics with OHIP still picking up the tab.

He said the province has also steadily increased the minimum wage is paving the way to getting more homes built and is working to create the conditions for economic prosperity through record investments in infrastructure and the auto sector.

“The people responded a year ago by sending me to Queen's Park and saying we wanted to be part of the solution,” he said.