Ontario economic development minister Vic Fedeli was met by a small group of demonstrators outside a Timmins venue Wednesday night, when he arrived to speak to the Chamber of Commerce. But he did not stop to talk to the Labour Council organized rally.
Louis Clausi of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association called it “a labour council welcome”.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t come to speak to us,” Clausi observes, “but we wanted to express concerns with his budget from last year, that left many people behind.”
Fedeli was Doug Ford’s finance minister for the first year of his mandate.
Clausi said the demonstrators wanted to point out that the budget that Fedeli delivered last year hurts autistic children, patients of the mental health syste, and the health and school systems.
“The supports for those that are the vulnerable, that’s where the cuts are and they often don’t get to speak for themselves,” he remarked So we’re here to speak on behalf of all those who can’t speak or choose not to speak and say we’re not going to accept these cuts.”
(Bob McIntyre, MyKapuskasingNow.com staff)
Fedeli didn’t mention any of the protesters’ issues in his speech inside the hall community.
He touted what he sees as business-friendly initiatives by the government when he spoke to the local business community.
He said that when the previous Liberal government raised the minimum wage to $14.00 an hour, it was against the advice of a wide range of experts, including the Ontario Chamber.
“What happened? January of 2018, in one month we lost 50,000 jobs, just as forecasted by the experts,” he cited. “And so we were able to freeze that at $14.00 to give you, the business community, a chance to catch up, a chance to catch your breath and that will save you $1.5-billion this year alone.”
The minister also told the gathering that the government will cut red tape that’s stalling development of the vast mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire.
