Milton NDP Blog

751 unmarked graves. I don’t have words. I don’t know what to say. I don’t want this to be political. Now is not the time. Now, this week, it’s time to listen. Time to read and learn. I want to go back and reread the story of Chanie Wenjack and the Secret Path . I’ve held my fingers in the bullet holes at Batoche but I want to go back and review the life story of Louis Riel . I don’t want fireworks on Canada Day. I want to hear the sound of drumming . I should reread the story of Shanawdithit , the last Beothuk . I see there is a new graphic novel about her. I should listen to Falen Johnson’s program Unreserved every week on the CBC. I will take some time to read some of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports . I will commit 751 minutes to reading, listening and saying quiet prayers. Mike Druiven Editor, Milton NDP Monday Message.

The PC government along with the town have announced further progress in the decades-in-the-making Education Village. The village now includes a retirement facility. Sounds good right? Wrong. They have specifically named Schlegal Villages as a partner. Of course! James Schlegal has donated upwards of $50,000 to the PC Party since 2007 , $20,000 of which went to the Minister of Health’s leadership bid. Schlegal is also a leading member of the government’s Incident Management System (IMS) Long-Term Care Table. He can make decisions about the very homes he owns! So how did the Schlegal Villages fare during the pandemic? Well this is where things get really ugly. It seems they are facing not one but two lawsuits over their mishandling of patient care during the pandemic. There were 21 deaths and 90 infections at The Village of Erin Meadows long term care facility in Mississauga. In Windsor the Village of St. Clair facility had 63 deaths with 177 resident cases and 143 staff cases. The Wi...

Alina found work in the catalogue department of Simpson's department store but the family had a difficult time becoming part of Canadian society. "What precisely do the Canadians think DPs are?" she asked. "Sometimes I feel as though we were expected to be some new strange species." - from a CBC history article titled Displaced Persons . Black school children are still mocked about the colour of their skin . Black students are four times more likely to be expelled from a Toronto high school than White students. Black workers are twice as likely as Asian workers and four times as likely as White workers to report experiencing racial discrimination in major decisions at workplaces in Canada A visibly indigenous women is attacked in her car while dropping her son off at school in Vancouver. An indiginous women is hit with a trailer hitch thrown from a passing car in Thunder Bay. And now three generations of a Muslim family are killed in one brutal act in London. ...

Lately, we’ve been engrossed by the Medici: Masters of Florence TV series. Season one chronicles the early days of Cosimo de' Medici, 1428–1464 in his new role as head of the famous Medici bank . The series portrays his conflict with Rinaldo Albizzi who accuses Medici of “usury”. In 15th century Europe the Catholic church had outlawed this practice - one that we know continues to this day. Usury def. Making a loan with excessive or abusive interest rates. When we get a loan from the bank we expect the interest rates to cover administration plus a profit margin. Whether or not those profit margins are a little high is another discussion. What about a government loaning money? Should the interest rate on Student Loans cover administration plus a tidy profit? Do we expect our government to profit on the backs of our youth? That is what is happening in Canada. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. Recent grads are struggling to find work . Those who are earning usually work in precariou...