Personal support workers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees gathered in Etobicoke on Wednesday to rally outside Premier Doug Ford’s office as unions continue to direct their anger at the Progressive Conservative leader.
At the latest rally, attendees said they were worried about Ontario’s new regulatory body for personal support workers, fearing it could lead to less favourable working rights for the in-demand, low-staffed profession.
“When this PSW registry was first announced, it was billed as a benefit for PSWs,” says Debra Maxfield, chairperson of CUPE’s health-care workers committee.
“They said it would be like any other college of professionals, like the Ontario College of Nurses. The reality is far short of that.”
The protest in Etobicoke was the latest in a string of demonstrations — predominantly led by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union — targeting the premier.
Last week, some protesters with the union paddled to Ford’s Muskoka cottage to demonstrate.
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“Today, Local 358 joined fellow OPSEU/SEFPO locals to paddle to Doug Ford’s cottage with one clear message: we aren’t going away,” one Instagram post from the union said. “We won’t stop until public services are properly funded and workers receive a full Bill 124 remedy.”
Bill 124 was wage restraint legislation passed by the Ford government before the pandemic, capping public sector pay at one per cent.
The cottage protest came shortly after hundreds of OPSEU members descended upon the annual Ford Fest, an annual event thrown by the Ford family and the Progressive Conservative Party, held this year in Thompson Memorial Park.
In that case, roughly 850 public service workers, representing 4,000 workers in the vulnerable services sector who have been on strike for four weeks, planned to disrupt the gathering by making their purple shirts with the words “worth fighting for” visible to the premier.
After Ford was introduced by Scarborough MPP David Smith, protesters drowned out the premier with a chorus of chants that continued throughout Ford’s speech.
The premier chastised the protesters after the event, claiming they’d ruined a family-friendly barbecue.
“Am I disappointed that they dropped off four busloads of protesters and were using very vulgar language, using the F word every 10 seconds in front of little kids and family,” Ford claimed on June 23. “And then best of all, they ate the hamburgers and ate the ice cream while they were protesting.”
He added, “Am I disappointed? Yes, I’m disappointed.”
While protesters were outside his constituency office on Wednesday, Ford appeared at an unpublicized, closed-door event in Hamilton to promote shipbuilding in Ontario.
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