Monday Jan. 30 and Tuesday Jan. 31 promise to be busy days for the Commission on Quality Public Services and Tax Fairness as it begins the second half of its tour of 12 communities across Ontario listening to expert testimony on fair tax reform and stories and commentary from frontline providers and clients of the province’s public services and programs.
Joining Commission Chair Judy Wasylycia-Leis as a panelist for the daytime public hearings will be Linda McQuaig, an award-winning journalist and author who has written extensively on corporate power in Canada and income inequality.
Monday’s public hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Lillian H. Smith (Toronto Public Library), 239 College Street. The evening’s town hall forum will take place at Ryerson University, Jorgensen Hall, 380 Victoria St., starting at 7 p.m.
Tuesday’s public hearing is scheduled for the OPSEU regional office (membership centre), 31 Wellesley St., starting at 10 a.m.
Here is a partial list of confirmed speakers for the Toronto sessions:
- Hugh Mackenzie, Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
- Andrea Calver, Co-ordinator, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
- Sheila Bock Wellesley Institute
- Wanda Gorician, Community Counselor, Elizabeth Fry Society
- Christiana Constantin, Intake Law Clerk, Children’s Lawyer Office
- Naomi Ives Peak ODSP Action Coalition
- Mary Cornish, Chair, Equal Pay Coalition
- Rob McMillan, Special Needs Corrections Officer
- John Rae, Human Rights Activist
- Deena Ladd Coordinator, Workers’ Action Centre
- Kevin O’Dwyer, President, Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association
- Denis Vaillancourt président l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario
- Bryan Evans, Associate Professor, Department of Politics & Public Administration, Ryerson University
- Stuart Deans United Steelworkers Union
- Amy Clements Domestic Violence Counselor, North York Women’s Shelter
- Jeremiah Bach, CAMH Peer Recovery Facilitator, OPSEU Local 500
- Ayesha Adhami Immigrant Women’s Health Centre
- David Stone Earthroots
- Rod Sheppard, President, the Society of Energy Professionals
- Adam Vaughan, Councillor, City of Toronto
- Michael Kerr The Colour of Poverty, The Colour of Change
