Elect Rick Moffit NDP Kitchener Centre

I am running for election because the prosperity gap is getting bigger in Kitchener and across the province. We are becoming a society of haves and have-nots – a society with growing inequities, and that’s not the type of society I want to live in.

I have been living in the community for almost 20 years with my wife Lucia and our two sons James and Lucas, working as an elementary school teacher, coaching hockey and serving on community organizations.

Four years ago I helped found the Child Care Action Network because as a parent, I was traumatized trying to find regulated, quality child care for my children - our families deserve better.

This election is about straight talk and fairness.

Hard-working men and women – the majority of people in Ontario – do their best to make ends meet. Many work at two or even three jobs to pay their bills and ensure their children and older parents have what they need to make their lives comfortable.

Governments are supposed to help their citizens. Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals have chosen to help themselves instead:

Instead of raising our minimum wage to $10 per hour McGuinty gave himself a $40 000 a year pay raise.
Instead of fighting to save jobs in Ontario, McGuinty has chosen to blame the federal government.
Instead of reducing greenhouse emissions by closing coal-generating electricity stations, McGuinty broke his campaign promise and kept them open.
Instead of reducing emergency room wait times and ensuring the best possible health care for everyone, McGuinty gave us a Health Care Tax.
Instead of making sure that colleges and universities are affordable for our children, McGuinty has broken his campaign promise and ended the tuition freeze.
Instead of keeping hydro rates affordable, McGuity broke his campaign promise not to raise rates, and not to allow the public sector to make a profit off of our electricity.
Instead of working to eliminate child poverty, McGuinty has broken his campaign promise to end the National Child Benefit clawback and McGuinty has broken his campaign promise to invest $300 million in new provincial money into child care.
Instead of fixing the flawed Education Funding Formula introduce by the Conservatives, McGuinty broke his campaign promise and his Education Minister has admitted they haven’t even addressed the issue fixing the funding formula.

The Record July 31, 2007 - 2nd Opinion

This region must deal with loss of manufacturing jobs

By Rick Moffitt

The Waterloo Regional Labour Council wants to clarify its position on the ongoing manufacturing job loss crisis in our region. We believe this position was misrepresented by Cambridge Coun. Ben Tucci in the July 12 article, Workers Must Share Blame For Job Losses: Councillor.

Tucci's inference that workers are blaming business for job losses and worse, that we do not want to engage all stakeholders in a wide-ranging discussion on seeking solutions to this ongoing crisis, simply does not stand up to scrutiny. Since the May 2006 announced closure of the BF Goodrich tire manufacturing facility, the labour council has called for public meetings to deal with this ongoing crisis.

We have sought and continue to seek inclusive meetings with organized labour leaders, municipal, provincial and federal politicians, and business leaders to both preserve existing manufacturing jobs and secure new jobs for our region.

Through the use of press conferences, marches, protests, town hall meetings and media appearances we have appealed to members of the public to open a discussion on this crisis. In my opinion, Tucci has, until this moment, been noticeably silent on the issue.

Indeed, until the labour council brought forward its proposal (also brought forth to regional council, Kitchener city council, and Waterloo city council), there has been absolutely no discussion at the Cambridge council, or any other, about convening a manufacturing-jobs summit.

I am sure that working men and women and business leaders of both large and small companies appreciate this is now a possibility. It is troubling that we have continued to watch the job loss totals rise for 15 months since the labour council first raised the issue.

The damage to our region has been significant. Governments have seen their tax base erode, retail business has been affected, the average wage loss for displaced workers is over $10,000 per year, and the emotional and psychological effect on workers and their families who have lost their livelihood has been devastating.

Just as damaging is the pressure on those who continue to work -- but do so looking over their shoulders wondering if they will be next. All stakeholders need to have a meaningful discussion about both the causes and the solutions to our job loss crisis and the virtual wipeout of sectors of manufacturing in our region (rubber, shoes, textiles, furniture).

Tucci's attempt to blame the victims -- hard working men and women -- serves no useful purpose, because it is factually incorrect.

Let us call a spade, a spade. The failure of government policy, regulation, and bad trade agreements that promote neither free nor fair trade is the root cause for our job losses. Canadian workers are able to compete on the world economic stage in terms of quality, productivity, innovation and design -- regardless of the product.

Ordinary working men and women cannot, however, compete if our government continues to allow other countries unfair competitive advantages while at the same time it refuses to use the economic tools available to it.

Our federal government has the capacity to direct our monetary policy (a high dollar) and to protest the refusal of competing countries to allow their currency to float on the international market (like China), or artificially lower the value of their currency using interest-rate policies (such as Japan's 0.5 per cent interest rate).

Our provincial government has the capacity to appoint a jobs commissioner, just like a Liberal government did in British Columbia. That same commissioner is responsible for saving 75,000 jobs in the same time period our provincial government has chosen to ignore the loss of 150,000 jobs.

Governments have not enacted positive procurement policies (buy Canadian). Nor have they actively tried to educate or promote the value of purchasing made-in-Canada products.

Many of the so-called free trade deals are a sham. The American government refuses to accept our softwood lumber products without imposing duties and tariffs despite losing numerous court cases.

Recent events in China highlight the danger of lax health and safety standards in the manufacturing of food and drugs. How does one compete against an unregulated competitor?

When Korea wants to have free and unfettered access to our automobile consumers, but refuses us access to theirs -- how do we have the capacity to compete?

When Third World countries use child labour, prison labour, have no limits on the length of the workday or week, no minimum wages, benefits, or standard working conditions -- how can anyone compete?

Morally, we should not be condoning and embracing the exploitation of these workers. Economically, we must recognize that whatever advantages these countries enjoy, based on such egregious violations of the basic principles of fair and free trade -- must not and cannot be accepted by Canada.