The turnout at a planned rally Thursday was small, but the message was as important as always, say the two members of the Orillia for Democracy group who attended.
They were in front of Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop’s office in Orillia to voice concerns about the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While they have taken issue with that response in many areas, the one that stands out most is the government’s strategy for schools. Essentially, it doesn’t have one, said Dennis Rizzo and John Winchester.
“We expect our government to have enough foresight to think through these things and have a Plan A, a Plan B, a Plan C,” Rizzo said. “The leadership isn't there. Yes, we all got blindsided by this, but it’s seven months down the road now. You can’t just hope it will go away.”
Winchester said he has reached out to Dunlop, Premier Doug Ford, Education Minister Stephen Lecce and his parliamentary assistant, Sam Oosterhoff, but no one has responded.
His question: Why do some classrooms have up to 30 students in them when the province is putting stricter limits on gatherings elsewhere?
Their silence “tells me that they’re not interested in dealing with the hypocrisy of it all,” Winchester said.
He noted Ford earlier said he would like to see five kids in a classroom “if it were up to us.”
“Mr. Ford, it is up to you,” Winchester said.
The former teacher feels all instruction should be done online at this point, as the province is reporting hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day. He doesn’t want deaths of staff or students to be “what it’s going to take for them to say, ‘OK. We need to go online.’”
He and Rizzo also want to see the province start putting its $6.7 billion in pandemic response funds to good use. Lecce has talked about hiring more teachers, educational assistants, nurses and others for schools, but his plan doesn't even translate to one position per school in Ontario, Rizzo said.
“That’s Lecce math,” he said. “We have a provincial government that is loath to spend money, even if it’s given to them.”
He stressed the concerns shared among Orillia for Democracy members are not partisan.
“We would support any government that acknowledges, ‘We’re stuck,’ and brings people together (to find a solution),” he said. “Why does everything have to be spun? When you try to BS the public, we see it.”
His message to Dunlop: “Show that you’re here to work for the people and not just sit on the pedestal you were elected to.”
Rizzo and Winchester were the only ones at Thursday’s rally, but they weren’t concerned about the turnout.
“John and I have the time,” Rizzo said, noting many others have work or other commitments.
