McGuinty defends Ontario's closed-door 'public consultations' on poverty

Several protesters and a New Democrat member of the legislature were ejected from the public hearing in Peterborough on Monday, and a similar situation occurred Tuesday when the cabinet committee hearings on poverty moved to Cobourg.

"People in their 70s and 80s were jostled and forcefully removed," complained NDP finance critic Michael Prue. "I didn't get bullied out, but I wasn't let in either."

Prue said that in both cities the committee has visited so far, local Liberals were allowed to attend the so-called "public" hearings, while elected members like himself were thrown out along with poverty activists who had not been invited.

"The consultations are a sham," Prue said. "There is no intent to listen to poor people, no intent to listen to poverty activists. They are very stage-managed.

"It's disgraceful when people are not allowed to speak face to face with elected representatives."

Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews chairs the special cabinet committee, which has until year's end to devise a plan to make measurable reductions in poverty. There are only two more consultations scheduled, for Ottawa on Friday and Hamilton next Monday.

"She's trying to establish some settings, some opportunities where they can have good, honest exchange so she can come back to us with the best ideas, the best intelligence she's gathered from the ground," McGuinty said Tuesday.

He also said the government wanted to meet privately with selected groups such as local health units, mental health associations and agencies such as the United Way to hear their ideas for dealing with poverty, but he never explained why they consultations were billed as "public."

"I know there are all kinds of people who want to speak to us about this issue and I understand that, but there are other ways they can contact us beyond meeting with the minister," McGuinty said. "I know that Minister Matthews is trying to set up some smaller opportunities for people to have a really good exchange in terms of proposing some solutions."

But the New Democrats said the government should at least let the public into the consultations so people can hear the ideas being put forward and see which ones the committee seems to like.

Prue said a recommendation from Matthews that those shut out of the government's consultations could give their feedback through a website won't help poor people have their voices heard by the Liberal committee.

"They told the poverty activists to go online," Prue said. "Some of them started to laugh because most of them don't have a computer. And in a rural place like Cobourg, they have to make an application to use the computer in the public library and wait their turn."

Prue said the Liberals were "afraid" to hear from low-income families, but McGuinty pointed out that Matthews had dinner Monday evening with young people living in a shelter in Peterborough.