🚀 go-pugleaf

First, let me apologize for putting my name to something
other than the real thing.  However, I do not want my
employer or service provider to pay any cost if someone
decides to be vindictive and call the big bad union cops.
This way, I can express my opinion and hopefully not worry
about incurring some damage on them.

That said, I am all for a day of protest, but as mentioned
in the subject line, only for the right reasons.  The current
protest angers me a lot.  The closest example that I can come
up with is a spoiled teenager being told by their parent that
they need to cut back on allowance and extras because of
financial problems.

This is where Ontario is at the moment.  For the last 20 years,
people have been asking for money and getting it.  Now, people
expect that and when they are told no, they complain.  They didn't
complain that we were spending too much when they were getting a
lot of money, so they shouldn't complain now.

Having said this, I think there are poor people who really need
the money, and we should protest against those that are on welfare
and don't need to be.  There is also more money that could be spent
on education and hospitals, but not on misuses of that.  Why should
we pay 3 times the costs of seeing a doctor because someone has
a little cold and cannot wait until the morning.

Is my position typical of Ontarians?  I am not sure.  I am a first
generation Canadian, and my parents and I have worked very hard
to get to the point where we are.  I had to sacrifice ski trips and
special clothing because we simply could not afford it.  I had to
help out with a garden to help cut the food bill.  I had to take
an extra job for spending money and to help my folks out.  Having
been born into a lower class Ontario family, I think I do have some
experience to speak from, and some validity in my statements.

so, let us protest the following:

- people who use food banks as a supplement to their income, taking
  valuable food away from people who really need the food.  Give me
  a break here people!  Why don't you take candy from babies next!
- people who go to food banks expecting to pick and choose.  If you
  are asking someone for help with food, No name or brand name is
  not important unless there is some additive that you are allergic
  to in the no name brand.  This happens a lot, just ask my father.
- people on welfare should live within their means.  If you are on
  welfare, and you want your kid to go to a special trip, have them
  get a small job, or save up money.  Don't complain about the
  emotional damage made by not sending them with their friends.  Teach
  them restraint and that you don't always get what you ask for.  If
  it means only going to a restaurant once or twice a month and using
  second hand clothes, it can be done.  If you want more, work for it.
- people on welfare who buy lots of cigarettes and alcohol.  I remember
  every time that I went to see a friend that lived in Cambridge, there
  would be people that got taxis to take them to the beer store and back
  again.  Being blunt, I do not want my tax dollars being used to support
  someone's sorrow or habit.  If I am buying them food, shelter, and the
  occasional convenience, I can live with that.  Anything else is
  frivalous.  Maybe we need to restrict the amount of alcohol and
  cigarettes a person on welfare can purchase.
- students who get OSAP (which some students refer to as the Ontario
  Stereo Acquisition Program) and use it for non-school purposes.
  While some entertainment is okay, there are too many students who
  slack off or don't get money from their parents.  This takes
  valuable money away from those students who are bright and
  academically deserve the chance to university.  Going to university
  or college is a right, but having the government help to pay for it
  is a gift, not a right.
- parents who are complaining that amateur sports are no longer free
  and that it will hurt their children.  Forgive me for being so blunt,
  but it if it so important, than it should be at the top of your
  personal list to make money available for it, not the government.
- people working in places where unions have changed their environment.
  I know a hard working man who supports his children and wants to work
  extra to get some money to pay for lessons for his kids, but the unions
  don't want him too as it will look bad on the rest of the people.
  I know another who was called a 'scab' for crossing picket lines when
  he has to pay for his family's expenses going to Sick Kids in Toronto
  to see his only neice.  Unions are for their members, not the other
  way around.

In general, anyone who has a 'me too' attitude.  If you want something,
work for it.  There are lots of people in Ontario who started from nothing
and worked hard to get to a respectable position.  Not all of these
people are very talented or very bright, but all of them have lots of
pride and have lots of determination.  That is the common factor with all
of the people who are making something of themselves.  It is easy to sit
back and let the government take care of you, but if you have pride, then
that is not a viable option.

Simply put, we need to infuse Ontario with pride, not slothfulness.

Having been there, these are some of the problems that I see in soceity.
Instead of seeing this as our system being pillaged, let us see it as
an oppurtunity to throw our $0.02 cents in.  Let us do the right thing
and give our tax money to the people that really need it, not those who
are abusing the system.

thank you for your time,
a concerned citizen in Kitchener-Waterloo