A look at what a Budget can buy
on the 2nd Anniversary of the death of Kimberly Rogers
August 9, 2003

 

Canadians were outraged in August 2001 when Kimberly Rogers died, destitute, alone and eight months pregnant, while under house arrest for welfare fraud. What many people do not know is that the conditions and policies that set the stage for this tragedy are still in place, despite a recommendation from the Rogers Inquest Jury to eliminate the bans on welfare.

 

Today, August 9th marks the second anniversary of the death of Kimberly Rogers who died while serving a conditional sentence of 6 months under house arrest after pleading guilty to welfare fraud.

So it was interesting to read in the Toronto Star today just how much of our tax dollars, the Eves government wasted on the "Magna Budget".

In April 2001 Kimberly Rogers was convicted of welfare fraud for receiving $13,648.31 in student loans while collecting social assistance. The money helped pay for four years of community college. (She earned a diploma in social services in April 2000.)

Compare that with the $206,000 the Eves government spent on the Magna Budget:

$206,000 of our tax dollars spent on presenting the Tories' propaganda budget is equivalent to the same amount of money in annual benefits for:

• 33 Ontarians on Ontario Works (OW)
  Single people are entitled to a max of $6,240 a year on Ontario Works
  
  

• 20 Ontarians on OW who are single parents with one child
  Single people with one child are entitled to a max of $10,210 a year on Ontario Works
  
  

• 18 Ontarians with a disability
  Single disabled people are entitled to a max of $11,160 a year on ODSP - Ontario Disability Support Program

And what about the $24,750 paid by the Eves government to a Tory strategist as the "event" project manager for the Magna budget?

The Tory strategist earned TWICE as much for managing the budget event than Kimberly Rogers was convicted of defrauding taxpayers for.

And so today, I remember people I've never met who died tragically under and during the Tory regime:

* Kimberly Rogers and her unborn child who died in August 2001, living on $18 a month after paying her rent.

* Dudley George, an unarmed participant, shot to death by police on Labour Day, in 1995, at Ipperwash Provincial Park during a protest.

* 7 people who died in Walkerton from tainted water in the spring of 2000.

And I think also about the 106 Ontarians convicted of welfare fraud who are now banned for life from ever collecting welfare.

The Tories have no interest in easing up on their "zero tolerance" policy for welfare fraud, despite a recommendation from the Rogers Inquest Jury that the welfare bans be eliminated and despite support from over 20 municipalities in Ontario who passed resolutions supporting the end of the Tories' zero tolerance policy.

I hope that Ontario voters will show Mr. Eves and the rest of his Tory clan, the same level of tolerance as they show disadvantaged Ontarians by sending them packing from Queen's Park in the next election, whenever "it" happens.

Barbara Anello

Eves refuses to pick up Magna tab
$206,000 bill was twice the estimate
Opposition wants Tories to repay bill

CAROLINE MALLAN
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF

Premier Ernie Eves has refused to repay taxpayers for some of the extra costs that arose out of the decision to present the budget at a Brampton auto parts plant.

Eves told reporters yesterday he will not even consider having the Tory party pay some of the $206,000 bill associated with the March 27 budget show at Magna International, including $24,750 to a Tory party strategist who was the "project manager" for the event.

"Why would we consider giving any part of any budget production (costs) back?" Eves said following a Toronto event with members of the Greek community. Reporters had been told the Premier would answer questions at the event, but plans were abruptly changed when most of the queries at an earlier news conference were about the cost of the Magna budget.

Documents obtained by the Star under Freedom of Information legislation show taxpayers paid for items such as extra private security guards, translators, a make-up artist for Eves and Finance Minister Janet Ecker, and "secure" buses to transport members of the media and MPPs from Queen's Park to Brampton.

All of the technical support at the Legislature, including staff necessary to deliver a budget there, sat idle that day.

The extent of the various bills — more than double the $100,000 Ecker said it would cost at the time — had the opposition Liberals and New Democrats demanding that the Tories repay the money.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton vowed to hound Eves on the issue in the coming election campaign, saying the issue will not go away despite all the wishes of the Tories, who withstood a wave of negative publicity over the Magna budget and were cited as being in contempt of the Legislature by Conservative Speaker Gary Carr.

"I'm calling on Ernie Eves to ensure that a cheque from the Conservative party gets delivered to the provincial treasury by the end of the business day," said Hampton.

Liberal MP George Smitherman (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) said the entire tab should be paid by the party because the budget was a thinly disguised partisan advertisement.

"From Day One this was a Conservative party infomercial that has blown up in their face. There is no reason why taxpayers should be stuck with this outrageous bill."

In defending the budget tab, Eves said satellite time required to air the broadcast to viewers in rented hotel conference rooms in Ottawa, Thunder Bay, North Bay and London amounted to the bulk of the bill.

"So the cost is more than we anticipated, there is no doubt about that, but we knew that there would be an additional cost and the overwhelming majority of those costs are directly related to producing that feed and getting that message out," Eves said.

But the documents obtained by the Star show that of the $206,333 spent, only $26,200 was spent for satellite links to those communities, not the "$98,000" cited by Eves.

That $98,500 that Eves referred to was for the television set, production crew, including the make-up artist, and the floor director.

Source: Toronto Star

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Page last updated August 9, 2003