The poor are always with us, but do they have to invade
Rosedale, the poshest neighbourhood in Toronto, and possibly the
province?
About 150 low-income, disabled or homeless residents marched
though the upscale area recently trying to get across the message
they are unfairly treated and provoked some tut-tutting.
The demonstrators, including some from Sudbury, argued it was
time they took their story to the doorsteps of those they say
benefit most from Liberal government policies. They pushed empty
shopping carts to symbolize they cannot afford groceries.
The hot spot was when they burned an effigy of Premier Dalton
McGuinty outside the home of financier Gerald Schwartz, an odd sort
of Liberal who attends party fundraisers. He has flaunted his
wealth by demolishing the house next door—a house many would feel
privileged to live in—to expand his already huge mansion.
The only other inflammatory note from a marcher was a comment
the poor lack necessities, while “bastards like this can live in
every kind of luxury.”
But this was more than offset by a store owner who said the
marchers were hooligans and an indelicate act should be performed
on them with a screwdriver.
A newspaper said social activists staged the demonstration to
promote themselves and gave the poor a bad name.
Letters in newspapers mostly took the hostile theme the
demonstrators refuse to work and expect those who work to keep
them.
One said they were spitting in the face of a society that helps
them instead of being grateful.
Another said they implied those who provide better homes for
themselves take money that should go to the poor.
One countered defensively the better-off get tax breaks that
help them keep money, but deserve them.
Another sniffed the demonstrators would have been more useful if
they had protested in a park and picked up litter there instead of
bothering the inhabitants of Rosedale.
None conceded the demonstrators had any justification for
marching through this neighborhood close to downtown, which is home
to many who are wealthy. But they fail to recognize when the poor
venture into such surroundings, the contrast draws more attention
to their cause.
When the poor complain the province pays a single person on welfare
only $536 a month and requires employers to pay a minimum wage of
only $7.75 an hour, this seems particularly miserly amid such
comfort.
Some Rosedale residents, not all, earn 30 or 40 times as much
and deserve to earn more, but it is difficult to justify earning 40
times as much. Many also have tax advantages including cars, dining
out, or taking vacations as a business expense by attending
professional conventions conveniently held in Las Vegas, which are
benefits denied the poor.
Doctors have help from the public to get into their lucrative
profession, because the province spends hundreds of thousands of
dollars training them.
When business wants to get its views heard by politicians, it
donates thousands to politicians and hires people inside them to
promote its interests.
Doctors’ organizations hire expert professional lobbyists and
constantly remind their members to keep up the pressure.
The poor cannot afford such aids to getting their voices heard, so should anyone begrudge them going where they can to get a better hearing and even to swanky Rosedale?
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s Park press gallery.
