Views: Transition Begins in Ontario — On June 8 Ontario Premier designate Doug Ford held a press conference where he announced that “the transition of power” with the Liberal government was well underway. He said he would be meeting with Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor where he expected to be invited to officially form a government, which he did later that day. The new government will be sworn in on June 29. He informed that he had spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on election day and that he presented his priorities for the province. He also said that they spoke about relations with the United States and that he pledged to “stand united against our neighbours to the south and I’m very sincere when I say that. United we stand as a country and I’ll work hand in hand with the Prime Minister.” When asked about when he would start implementing some of his campaign promises such as claims about reduced gas prices he said, “We have to see the financial situation that’s been left behind, and over the next couple of days and weeks you’re going to hear from us, but the most important thing is getting our fiscal house […]

Views: New Government Lacks Consent of the Governed Despite Majority — Forty-two per cent of eligible voters did not cast a ballot in the June 7 Ontario election. Of the 58 per cent that did, 40.49 per cent voted for the PCs and Doug Ford. This is said to be a decisive majority which gives him a mandate to implement the measures he campaigned on. However, the vote that allows the PCs to form the government with 76 out of 124 seats came from only 23.48 per cent of eligible voters. To say this is a majority government tells us something about the state of the electoral system said to be a representative democracy. The NDP becomes the official opposition with 40 seats and 33.57 per cent of the votes cast, representing 19.47 per cent of eligible voters. The Liberals received seven seats and 19.59 per cent of the votes cast, which represents 11.35 percent of eligible voters. Together the NDP and Liberals received 53.16 per cent of the votes cast, representing 30.82 per cent of the eligible voters, which is more than what the PCs received. Once again, the first past the post method of counting votes is an […]

News: Windsor West, Lowest Voter Turnout in the Province — Voter turnout in Windsor West as a percentage of eligible voters in the riding was the lowest in the province at 43.83 per cent. It brings no honour to the major parties which are supposed to act as primary organizations which link the citizenry to governance. Nonetheless, the number of people who voted was higher by 2,598 than in 2014. The riding contains both the University of Windsor and St. Clair College; however given that the date of the election was moved by the Liberal government from October 2018 to June 2018 there was no possibility for a large mobilization of university and college students on their campuses which could have boosted turnout in the riding. At the time of making the change the Liberals claimed that it would contribute to boosting turnout due to better weather in June. The campaign in Windsor West was an example of how the party system operates to either completely suppress the concerns of the people or reduce them to a ping pong match where concerns are used to score points against rivals. This is how the building of a new mega-hospital was used […]

News: Results in Windsor West — The riding was won by the incumbent NDP candidate Lisa Gretzky whose vote increased by 5,278 from what it was in 2014. The Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Adam Ibrahim received the second most votes with 11,073, an increase of 5,813 from 2014 when the PC candidate received 5,260 votes. The PCs replaced the Liberals as the second party in the riding. Ibrahim presented himself as a representative of the “new PC Party” as opposed to the party of Mike Harris. The Liberal candidate Rino Bortolin received 5,762 votes compared to the 13,976 votes that went to the Liberals in 2014, a drop of 8,716. It is likely that some of those who deserted the Liberals in the riding voted NDP on the basis of trying to stop a PC majority. Bortolin had sought to distance himself from the Liberal government during the campaign, openly telling Kathleen Wynne not to come to the riding; he was better off on the basis of his own personal “brand.” In the 2014 election Liberal cabinet minister Teresa Piruzza lost her seat to the NDP candidate at the hands of the working people of the riding by 1,022 votes. […]

News: The Results in Windsor-Tecumseh — Windsor-Tecumseh is a working class riding in the heart of one of Ontario’s automotive and industrial centers. The voter turnout in the riding had been one of the lowest in the province at 43 per cent in the 2014 provincial election. This time it increased to 49 per cent, still 10 per cent below the provincial average. There were 43,179 valid votes cast. (The number of spoiled, rejected and declined ballots will not be published for six months.) The NDP won the riding with the vote for incumbent Percy Hatfield going up from 22,826 in 2014 to 25,221 — an increase of 2,395 votes. It was well known that Hatfield would likely win the riding again. The Liberal vote collapsed even further from where it stood following the resignation of Dwight Duncan, the former Liberal MPP and Ontario Finance Minister who led the charge for the McGuinty government against teachers and education workers and all public sector workers with Bill 115. This time the Liberal vote went from 5,605 to 3,513, a drop of 2,092 votes. The Progressive Conservative (PC) vote went from 5,485 to 11,675, an increase of 6,190 votes. This was 2,981 […]

News: Student Vote Results — Student Vote is run by elementary and secondary teachers in their schools. Students learn about candidates and parties running in the provincial election and then participate in a parallel vote in their schools. Some schools invite candidates to speak to students, while others have students do research on the candidates and parties prior to voting. How students participate is up to their particular school. As of 4:00 pm on June 7, province-wide some 2,166 schools had reported their election results, representing all 124 electoral districts in the province. In total, 280,691 ballots were cast by student participants. There were 268,091 accepted ballots, 7,103 rejected ballots, 2,562 declined ballots and 2,935 unmarked ballots. Student Vote reports that participation increased by more than 60 per cent compared to the 2014 Ontario provincial election. In that election, 173,072 votes were reported from 1,388 schools. Below are the results provided from Student Vote for the province of Ontario followed by those for Windsor area ridings, including the results in each participating school in these ridings. Political Party Seat Count Seat % Vote Count Vote % Ontario NDP/NPD 66 53.23% 86,564 32.32% PC Party of Ontario 45 36.29% 71,648 26.75% […]

News: 2018 Ontario General Election Province-Wide Results — Posted below are the overall voting results of the 2018 Ontario General Election, as of June 8, 5:46 am, with 8410 of 8419 polls reporting, as provided by Elections Ontario. Stay tuned for further news, analysis and views on the election results. Percentage of polls reporting:     99.89 % Registered Electors on List:     9,888,888 Voter turnout (Province-wide):     58.00 % Political Party Number of Seats Won or Leading Number of Votes Percentage of Votes Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario 76 2,322,422 40.49 % New Democratic Party of Ontario 40 1,925,574 33.57 % Ontario Liberal Party 7 1,123,283 19.59 % Green Party of Ontario 1 263,987 4.60 % Ontario Libertarian Party 0 42,918 0.75 % None of the Above Direct Democracy Party 0 16,186 0.28 % Independent 0 8,644 0.15 % Trillium Party of Ontario 0 8,178 0.14 % Northern Ontario Party 0 5,802 0.10 % Consensus Ontario 0 2,684 0.05 % Freedom Party of Ontario 0 2,567 0.04 % Ontario Party 0 2,310 0.04 % Ontario Moderate Party 0 2,191 0.04 % Communist 0 1,471 0.03 % Canadians’ Choice Party 0 1,234 0.02 % Stop the New Sex-Ed […]

News: Election Results for Windsor Area Ridings — Congratulations to Windsor area candidates who won tonight and a very big thank you to all of you who helped my campaign in so many ways. It was a great experience and now that the election is over, there is a lot to discuss. I invite you to continue checking this site for news, analysis and views on the election results. How to hold the new government to account is a new challenge which we can definitely tackle so long as we stay together and hold firm. This website, empoweryourselfnow.ca, will continue to post updates and reports on matters of concern so send your news, announcements, reports, photos, comments and concerns to info@empoweryourselfnow.ca With best wishes for the continued success of our work for democratic renewal, Laura Chesnik Below are the election results for the Windsor and area ridings. WINDSOR-TECUMSEH Remy Boulbol — Liberal   3,513 Laura Chesnik — Independent   863 Percy Hatfield — NDP   25,221 Mohammad Latif — Progressive Conservative   11,675 Henry Oulevey — Green   1,907 Voter turnout: 48.20 % WINDSOR WEST Rino Bortolin — Liberal   5,762 Chad Durocher — None of the Above Direct Democracy Party   435 Krysta Glovasky-Ridsdale — Green […]

News: June 7 Voting Information — Today is election day across Ontario. Polls open at 9:00 am and close at 9:00 pm. Any Canadian citizen who lives in the riding and is at least 18 years of age is eligible to vote in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh. If your work schedule does not already provide three consecutive hours of time off during polling hours you are entitled to three consecutive hours of time off without a reduction in pay. If time off is to be given during the work day, the time is to be determined by the employer. If you have received a voter information card from Elections Ontario in the mail indicating the poll location where you should vote then you are registered and on the voters list and only need to present a piece of ID that shows your name in order to vote. If you haven’t received the card, you may not be registered to vote. You can still vote by registering at your poll location. The location where you must vote can be found using the Voter Information Service at www.elections.on.ca or by calling Elections Ontario at 1-888-668-8683. For acceptable types of ID for those […]

Views: How Will Having an Independent at Queen’s Park Make a Difference? — All of us together know the conditions of the different sectors of the economy in which we work and in our lives and communities yet we’re blocked from making the decisions which affect our lives. This is because governments are formed by parties which set agendas according to what marketing companies say will get them elected. Once they are in power, we see the level of corruption. They serve private interests while presenting excuses which blame the people for the problems. It looks like electing an independent is useless but this is not the case. We have our own minds and voices. It would in fact open lines of communication which presently do not exist — from the Legislature to the community. At present we only find out what is happening at Queen’s Park through distorted media accounts which are often more inclined to arouse passions than inform the public. The process does not permit us to work out our own opinions on the matters and speak out publicly for positions that favour the interests of the people, not those of the rich. Our elected representatives should […]

Views: Extracts of Letters and Comments — Laura’s campaign calls on everyone to “Empower Yourself Now!” by voting for her as an independent. She brings her experience fighting for the rights of teachers and education workers for proper working conditions, which in turn affirms the right to education of the youth. She stands for the rights of all. Voting for Laura is also a way to reject the unacceptable party-dominated system of electoral politics that blocks people from having a say in all the matters that affect their lives. The issue of empowering ourselves is an ongoing issue. Come June 8, while the particular circumstances facing us will change, this fundamental issue will remain and Laura will continue to take it up for solution. A Tecumseh resident wrote: “I think it’s important to have Laura as an independent candidate in Windsor Tecumseh. Why should people waste their vote on one of the major parties, especially when they give themselves the right to do whatever they want once in office? I think voting for Laura is a way to make our vote count. That’s how I’m empowering myself now!” Another said: “The town halls, round tables and other actions held here […]

News: Windsor Casino Workers Ratify Tentative Agreement — June 4. Caesars Windsor workers ratified the third tentative agreement presented to them by a vote of 75 per cent after being on strike for over 60 days. The latest agreement was reached between their union Unifor Local 444 and the U.S. corporation Caesars Entertainment on June 2. The highlights of the three-year deal, according to an outline provided by the union, include the following changes from the prior tentative agreement rejected by the workers: pay raises in years 1, 2 and 3 respectively go from $0.75, $0.50, $0.50 to $0.75, $0.75, $0.25; retirement incentives, and a letter of understanding that the company has no plans to “close any existing food service outlet or eliminate/contract out any department within the bargaining unit during the term of the new collective agreement.” Ontario has 25 slots and casino locations employing some 16,800 people in food, hospitality, security and gaming. When workers defend their wages and working conditions and oppose contracting out in one location, it contributes to workers doing the same in the others. Congratulations to the Caesars Windsor workers for standing firm.

Views: What Is Happening with Teachers’ Pensions? — In conversations with teachers during this election campaign a question that keeps coming up is what the government is up to with our pension plans. Since 2016, Ontario’s Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, an officer of the Legislature, has been raising the alarm about the government’s accounting practices. In her pre-election review of its financial projections she noted that the government is forecasting revenues from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and insufficient pension expense for the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Plan. Our pension funds however are not a government asset. They belong to us. According to Lysyk the pensions are not a “true asset” because the government does not have the unilateral legal right to withdraw funds from the plans or reduce future minimum contributions to the plans without the express agreement of the plans’ joint sponsors. The sponsors of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) and the Ontario government. Each appoint five members to the plan’s Board and together, they select the chair. Each Board member is appointed for a two-year term and can serve for up to four consecutive terms. The OTF is overseen […]

Concerns: Unacceptable Poverty Levels in Ontario — It is estimated by Statistics Canada that over two million people (14.3 per cent) in Ontario live in poverty. This figure is based on a poverty level established at 50 per cent of the median Canadian household income and is called the Low-Income Measure. Among the poorest of the poor are people on social assistance. The two main social assistance programs in the province are Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). OW is described by the Ontario government as providing income support to people requiring financial assistance to cover costs of basic needs and providing employment assistance. It is considered a punitive program which is hard to access and whose recipients are harassed and deprived of benefits when they do not participate in government employment programs. Individuals on OW are forced to participate irrespective of their concrete situation. The ODSP program provides financial assistance and health-related benefits to people with disabilities who need help with living expenses. As of March 2018, there were 453,366 beneficiaries of OW benefits and 502,650 beneficiaries of ODSP benefits, a total of over 955,000 individuals. A single person on OW receives $721 a month, […]

The Need to Fund the Electoral Process and Not Political Parties — One thing many Ontarians would be shocked to know is how much the political parties in the Legislature act to ensure their activities are funded by the state. These parties unanimously amended the Election Finances Act in December 2016 to give themselves state funding to compensate for a ban on corporate and trade union political contributions and limits on contributions from individuals. Even before this, these parties made sure they were reimbursed for their 2014 election expenses to the tune of $2.1 million while their individual candidates received a total of $3.1 million. The provision of state funding to political parties based on their performance in the previous election is patently unfair. It further destroys what is supposed to be a level playing field with everyone standing as equals in the exercise of their right to elect and to be elected. If state funds are to be provided to political parties and candidates, democratic principle would require all to be funded equally or none at all. To do otherwise only aggravates the crisis in the political system where fewer and fewer people consider themselves represented by the so-called […]

News: People’s Need for Decision-Making Power in Health Care — May 22. A coalition of social organizations held an all-candidates’ meeting at Windsor’s School of Social Work to provide a venue for candidates to address the public’s concerns on the state of health care, how funding for the system should be increased and how the system can be made to function to serve the people’s needs. The meeting was well-attended, with pointed questions and discussion coming from the audience. Speaking to the Windsor Star, Philippa von Ziegenweidt, spokesperson for Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) said the organizers’ aim was to make sure the public was informed about the stand of the candidates and who the candidates are. Notably, counter to the spirit of the event and the need for an informed electorate, the Windsor Star’s report only mentioned by name one NDP candidate, three Liberals and a PC, along with a passing reference to two nameless Green Party candidates. Independent candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh Laura Chesnik was also present at the meeting. Some of the most vigorous applause of the event came in response to Laura’s remarks when she reiterated that one of the biggest problems facing health […]

Windsor Casino Workers Reject Second Tentative Agreement — On May 19 workers at Caesars Windsor casino and hotel rejected a second tentative agreement with a 53 per cent majority. The 2,300 Caesars’ workers are represented by Unifor Local 444. They launched their strike on April 6 after they rejected a previous tentative agreement by a majority of 59 per cent on April 5. The workers have the support of other working people seen in donations as well as visits to their picket line and participation in public rallies. The striking workers give a variety of reasons for the latest rejection including the wage package, increasing contracting out of restaurants and services within the casino which eliminates unionized jobs, concerns over security in retirement, working conditions and the lack of respect from their employer. Pitted against the workers’ claims on the oodles of money brought into the casino through gambling and concerts are the claims of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), the City of Windsor, the U.S. corporation Caesars Entertainment which manages the casino and hotel, and other contracted-out enterprises within the casino. Representing these claimants, Kevin Laforet, regional president of Caesars Entertainment, after the vote rejecting the second […]

May 17 : Nominations Close Today — Today at 2:00 pm nominations officially close for candidates in the June 7 Ontario election. Check back here tomorrow for a full listing of all candidates running in the four area ridings of Windsor West, Windsor-Tecumseh, Essex, and Chatham-Kent-Leamington.

Many Teachers Happy to See Laura Run — Many of Laura’s teacher and education worker colleagues have responded with enthusiasm that one of their own is participating in the election to defend their rights and the rights of all. A number of teachers came forward to get Laura’s nomination papers signed and help distribute flyers. Laura represents our own fight for working conditions that correspond to the jobs we do and in opposition to arbitrary government dictate. Our teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions. It is a matter of concern for all parents as well. To date, no matter which government has been in office in Ontario, agendas are set by what serves a neo-liberal agenda of privatization of education and disenfranchisement of unions and school boards and others with decision-making power and influence. A vote for Laura makes a statement that we need those who are known to represent the people’s concerns in office because they will not conciliate with the dictate which serves private interests. A teacher in Windsor

Laura Chesnik Officially Nominated — May 14. Laura Chesnik was officially registered with Elections Ontario as an Independent candidate in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh! Photo below.

May 15: Laura Informs Chrysler Workers She Is Running for Election — Laura went to Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant to inform workers that she is running for election in Windsor-Tecumseh (see photo below). Workers readily took the flyers with several taking extra flyers to distribute inside the plant. This is not the first time Laura has gone to the Chrysler plant gates to distribute literature which supports workers’ rights.

Workers Lead Discussion on the Direction They Want for Ontario — In this election, working people are leading an effort to hold forums, panel discussions, open mics and other activities where they themselves speak about their concerns and how they think solutions can be implemented for problems they face. Photos below.