My name is Irene Harris.  I am Secretary-Treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Labour.  In my pre-budget submissions to you today, some of the things I will talk to you about are:

• what the international monetary fund is saying about fiscal stimulus;
• how big our deficit in Ontario should be; and
• what kinds of funding and risk sharing can best provide security for Ontarians in retirement. 

The issues are dry, but their impact is anything but.

Their impact is the story of hundreds of thousands – millions – of Ontarians behind all the big numbers, the charts, and the graphs. 

It’s my job, and my wish to talk to you about what the crisis in the economy is doing to communities, families, your constituents, and our members. As an elected officer of Ontario’s central labour body, I am here today to represent:

• workers who were among the 66,000 who lost their jobs in Ontario last month and who are facing great uncertainty about their future;
• workers who immigrated to this province with great hopes for their future and for their children’s future are facing this crisis without extended family, savings and with a social safety net in tatters;
• public sector workers who will face unprecedented demands on the crucial services they provide to our communities, and who are already stretched far too thin after years of underfunding and understaffing; and
• workers who have just retired, and face an uncertain future because either they don’t have pension plans and the value of their own savings and investments have been greatly diminished or they do have pension plans which are now significantly underfunded.