Recently I
covered a community meeting in Port Rowan. The subject was hydro privatization
and there was a good turnout for a nice summer evening.
You can find
the story at https://www.norfolknews.ca/news-story/7388445-citizens-want-to-take-back-control-of-hydro/
Former New
Democrat MPP Rosario Marchese was in excellent form in making the case to buy
hydro back. You can hear a portion of
his remarks at https://soundcloud.com/user227575210/z0000032
More Privatization
As the story
mentions the meeting was sponsored by the We Own It campaign and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union
(OPSEU).
After the
meeting I had the opportunity to talk with Jeremy Thibodeau, 1st Vice-President
Local 230: of OPSEU and asked him to elaborate on the situation In Grey County
that he had referenced during his remarks.
Grey County
was about to decide on selling off one of its Long Term Care Facilities to
private interests.
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| Thibodeau and Marchese show what is happening to hydro prices. |
Thibodeau
told me that a vote was coming soon. In
fact, the vote had been scheduled for earlier in the spring and Councillors who were opposed
walked out of the meeting to deny a quorum and buy time to develop other
strategies to stop the sell off
Unfortunately, the delay was only a temporary one. On June 29th the issue came to a vote.
This is
complicated stuff and what follows is only a brief summary of the latest events.
Where is Long Term Care Headed in Grey County
Grey County
has three long term care facilities.
Grey Gables in Markdale, Lee Manor in Owen Sound and Rockwood Terrace in
Durham.
Rockwood
Terrace needs considerable work to bring it up to Ministry standards.
After a
lengthy consultation process, staff came back with recommendations that were
largely accepted by Council. At that
June 29th meeting, Council gave final approval to build a new 166 bed Long Term
Care Facility in Durham to replace Rockwood Terrace.
Council also
set the wheels in motion to sell Grey Gables to a private operator
Additionally, staff are being asked to prepare Request for Proposals to obtain services of a
management company which will input into how the new LTC Care Home will operate
in Durham. This same company would administer the day to day operation of
the current homes and the new facility.
You can read
more details of the meeting at http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2017/06/29/grey-to-proceed-with-long-term-care-plan
OPSEU vows that the fight isn’t over. https://opseu.org/news/opseu-taking-fight-save-grey-gables-provincial-government
OPSEU vows that the fight isn’t over. https://opseu.org/news/opseu-taking-fight-save-grey-gables-provincial-government
My sense is
that this kind of debate must be ripping Grey County apart. Sure, there are lots of complexities to the
issue but Ontario’s cities, towns and villages will continue to feel these kind
of pressures as senior levels of government carry on implementing their
austerity agendas.
