Table of Contents
Every week, OPSEU's We Own It campaign publishes a newsletter called The We Own It Weekly. It's a round-up of news and information about the growing movement to protect communities from privatization.
To receive the newsletter directly, you can sign up for it on the We Own It website. You can also keep in touch with the campaign through its Facebook page and Twitter feed.
And here's the latest issue:
TalkON interactive town hall
The goal of We Own It has always been simple: make privatization a key issue in the 2018 Ontario election.
To succeed, we need to spark thousands of conversations – telling friends, family, and neighbours that strong public services are good for us all.
To help kickstart those conversations, join us for a special interactive town hall on public services called TalkON.
During the event, OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas will be presenting his union's election platform, which is called Vote Better. And you can bet it's going to call for an end to privatization.
You can participate in TalkON in a few different ways:
Over the phone
On the web
On Facebook Live
Please join us. And invite your friends and family, too. They can find out more at www.talkontario.ca.
In the news
MPP raises the alarm about horse race privatization
Taras Natyshak, the MPP for Essex, is warning about the economic damage being done to rural Ontario communities by the privatization of the horse racing industry.
“We have seen the destruction of a once vibrant horse racing and breeding industry, that supplied 65,000 good rural jobs in Ontario,” Natyshak told Blackburn News.
On May Day, workers demand an end to privatization
During rallies and protests in places like Iran and Puerto Rico, workers across the world celebrated May Day by calling for an end to privatization.
“Unemployment, prostitution, drug addiction, child labour, selling kidneys, burglary, homelessness, and other social ills are the outcome of the government’s [privatization] policies in recent decades,” said the group that organized the May Day rally in Tehran.
In Puerto Rico, Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico President Mercedes Martinez said the U.S. government is forcing school privatization on the island: “It’s a colonial situation that we are facing."
We Own It Events
TalkON interactive town hall on the provincial election
7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 8: www.talkontario.ca
Mississauga town hall to make privatization an election issue
7 p.m. – 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 22, Mississauga Valley Community Centre & Library, 1275 Mississauga Valley Blvd.
Toronto town hall to make privatization an election issue
7 p.m. – 9 p.m., Thursday, May 24, The 519, 519 Church St.
Scarborough town hall to make privatization an election issue
7 p.m. – 9 p.m., Wednesday, May 30, Malvern Community Rec Centre, 30 Sewells Rd