New Democratic Party

QUEEN’S PARK – The Official Opposition Ontario NDP welcomes news that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has decided to ban gambling commercials that feature celebrities and athletes, which will help protect both children and adults from the explosion of unregulated advertising content under Ford’s Conservatives.

In June 2023, NDP MPPs tabled a PMB with their solution for a ban on iGaming advertisements. Prohibiting celebrity and athlete involvement is a welcome first step.

Quotes

“Health professionals have been sounding the alarm about the impact that online gambling advertising is having on people, especially on youth. Today’s news is welcome – now we need to follow the advice of experts and keep pushing for more.”

-MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), NDP critic for Health

“We’ve seen an explosion in advertisements for online gambling ads in the past few years, which puts people with gambling addictions and Ontario youth at risk. I’m pleased to see the AGCO’s recognition that more needs to be done, and hope Ford immediately calls our PMB to second reading debate. Let’s keep pushing and get this passed”.

-MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West), NDP critic for Mental Health and Addictions

“For too many years Ontarians lacked effective consumer protections when it came to online gambling. Today’s action from the AGCO is finally a positive step in the right direction – and a sign that our bill with expanded protections is needed.”

-MPP Tom Rakocevic (Humber River – Black Creek), NDP critic for Consumer Protection

“I’m happy to see the AGCO agree with us about the impacts that gambling ads can have on our children and youth, and welcome today’s news. The evidence has been clear for years and it’s never too late to do the right thing. I’m excited to see our PMB become a reality – it’s the clear next step.”

-MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain), NDP critic for Children, Community and Social Services

Transcript: Canadians that are trying to either buy their own home, rent an affordable home, or in the case of Peggy, trying to stay in an affordable home, are all getting kicked in the teeth. They're facing these challenges because the market hasn't been set up for them to compete with families in similar situations with similar incomes. Instead, Canadians wanting to find their way into a home are having to compete with deep-pocketed corporate investors. This is what's structurally wrong with the Canadian housing market.

There are people out there that'll tell you different things about that. The Liberals so far have only been willing to take action concerning foreign buyers, but we know they only represent about five percent of the market. Conservatives will argue that it's government spending, it's the Bank of Canada, or anything else that diverts attention from the real problem. The genuine issue is the massive corporate profits made by turning what should be a market about people securing a family home into an asset class for profit generation.

This isn't a phenomenon that occurred by accident. If you delve into the history of real estate investment trusts (REITs), you'll find that they began their rapid ascent in 1996. Coincidentally, this was right after the Liberals canceled the national housing strategy. The trend has been growing ever since. It's myopic to focus solely on the last two years and the housing market fluctuations during this exceptional period. The trend of Canadians being pushed out of affordable homes started much earlier than that, and it's a pattern seen across both Liberal and Conservative governments.

These administrations have been lacking in supply-side solutions. Additionally, they've cultivated a tax culture that rewards companies for buying affordable buildings, ousting tenants, and then hiking rents. Through the tax code, if you're part of a REIT, you're exempted from paying corporate tax on your profits, as long as you distribute the income to individual investors. Normally, a company would first settle corporate income tax on its earnings and then distribute its dividends from the remaining amount.

Another way the housing market has been undermined is by both Liberal and Conservative governments not renewing operating grants linked to many affordable buildings, be it co-op housing or non-profit housing. Federal operating money made those units more than just affordable – they were rent-geared to income, which is the gold standard for housing. It ensures tenants don't end up paying an exorbitant portion of their earnings on rent. As these 40 or 50-year mortgages began to expire towards the end of the Harper government's term, the promise of not renewing these operating grants was made. While the Liberals ran on a commitment to sustain them, they backtracked.

Consequently, buildings across the country that had federal funding, ensuring they could offer affordable rents to tenants, were told by both Conservative and Liberal governments that there would be no funding renewal. This meant they either had to raise the rents or sell their buildings. This situation made them ripe targets for REITs, which had the financial means to outbid non-profit associations experienced in housing.

This is a long-brewing problem, and while the pandemic exacerbated the situation, attributing the crisis solely to pandemic-induced government spending is a mistake. The housing crisis has been building up for ages and has now reached a critical point. We must take actions to stabilize the market and salvage the affordable units we still have. Experts reveal that for every new affordable housing unit we establish in Canada today, we're losing 15. This rate is unsustainable. The decrease in supply, combined with the detrimental role of REITs and other corporate landlords, is at the crux of the issue.

We need proactive government intervention to address and resolve this problem, ensuring Canadians have access to affordable housing. This is why we're announcing specific measures today. Jenny has already mentioned imposing a moratorium on REITs and corporate landlords from purchasing affordable buildings. We've also discussed establishing a fund so that non-profit housing experts can acquire and manage these buildings appropriately. Another crucial step is eliminating the preferential tax treatment for REITs, which only makes them a more enticing investment option, drawing more capital into a system that's undermining our housing market.

We shouldn't be incentivizing investors to exploit a mechanism that makes housing less accessible for Canadians. Our package of solutions aims to conserve affordable units, create more of them, and stop rewarding major investors who profit by forcing Canadians out of homes they can afford, leaving them to fend for themselves.

The Federal NDP will be having its party convention in Hamilton from October 13th to 15th, 2023. There, the federal executive will be elected, the delegates will decide whether or not to keep the party leader, guest speakers will do their thing, and delegates will debate policy and the general direction of the party.

How do I become a delegate to convention? Here's an unofficial guide I got in my email on how to be a delegate (it's slightly different for each province).

How do I amend the NDP constitution/amend the policy book/or make the NDP take a stance on a particular issue?

The deadline to submit policy proposals has passed. If you're someone who has proposed policy, please post it below!

Cost, Deadlines, and Other Details

Link to official convention details: https://www.ndp.ca/convention

The delegate fee for youth is $99, if you're unwaged it is $149, and the regular fee (as long as you register before the 25th of August) is $349.

Non-Paywall Article

Sharing this old-but-gold article on social mobility. The great visuals make this one the perfect link to share and ignite some much needed discussions regarding inequality and welfare.

This really happened! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-auditor-general-greenbelt-report-1.6930390

The Ford government removed approximately 2,995 hectares of land from the Greenbelt in December — while adding more land elsewhere — to build 50,000 homes. The government said the changes were part of its plan to build 1.5 million new homes in the next decade to ease Ontario's housing crisis.

As CBC Toronto first reported, land registry and corporate records showed several well-established developers were among the owners of the land that was removed from the Greenbelt. Some of those developers have made financial donations to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario or its politicians.

The CBC analysis also revealed several of the properties were purchased after the Ford government came to power in 2018 while they were fully or partially off-limits to development.

Lysyk agreed to look into this decision in January following a request from the leaders of all three opposition parties, who raised concerns about whether developers who benefitted from the Greenbelt decision knew about it in advance.

Instead of finding they were tipped off, Lysyk found it was the developers themselves who, in many cases, successfully lobbied to have specific sites they owned opened up for housing development.

Lysyk's audit found that 12 of the 15 parcels of land ultimately chosen for removal came from specific requests from developers or their representatives.

"Many of these individuals had advocated for the removal in emails and in-person meetings within a few months prior to their removal," according to the report. "For example, one lawyer representing three housing developers emailed the Chief of Staff on Sept. 27 and 29, 2022, providing site specific details for the land they sought to develop."

According to a timeline of key events, two prominent housing developers approached Clark's chief of staff in Sept. 2022 at a building industry event, and provided him with packages containing information on two sites in the Greenbelt — the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve in Pickering and a site in the Township of King that was purchased that very month for $80 million.

Shortly after the September event, one of the developers provided Clark's chief of staff with information related to three other sites.

"About 92 per cent of the land that was ultimately removed from the Greenbelt was requested to be removed by the developers the chief of staff dined with at [the event]," the report says.

Ontario NDP Volunteer portal. Map of current opportunities, and a sign up for the general volunteer list.

3700 Metro employees are on strike after they voted to reject a tentative agreement with the employer yesterday. Solidarity! https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/gta-metro-grocery-store-workers-reject-tentative-settlement-begin-strike-action

A former United Church minister and family therapist is seeking the Manitoba NDP’s nomination for Brandon West in the next provincial election.

New Democrat MPs have accused the federal Conservatives of turning their backs on Northern Ontarians by supporting a decision to reduce the number of electoral districts in the North from 10 to nine.

Video, starts at 18:35.

CAMBRIDGE – NDP MPP Catherine Fife (Waterloo) met with seniors who have experienced spousal separation in Ontario’s Long-Term Care system today, pushing to bring the Till Death Do Us Part Act back to Queen’s Park committee for discussion and debate.