By Chris Shannon

For those who were around during the early to mid-nineties, a familiar pattern may be emerging. Ontario was then, as it is now, in an economic crisis. The province was bleeding jobs and the coffers at Queen’s Park were short over $10 billion.

Bob Rae, Ontario premier and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader at the time, decided that public sector workers were the answer to saving money. He ripped open union contracts and imposed forced unpaid days off. Union leaders were incensed. The newly termed “Rae days” marked a split between labour and the NDP. Sid Ryan, head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees - Ontario, and a perpetually failed NDP candidate for election, said he would “Never forgive Rae for what he had done.”

Shortly afterward, Mike Harris and the Progressive Conservatives were elected. Rising to power on what they called their “Common Sense Revolution”, the Harris government slashed and burned across the board in the name of fighting the deficit.

Everything from hospitals to welfare payments were cut. Ironically, by the time the Conservatives were forced from office the deficit was still a considerable size; for although the government decreased spending, they also decreased what they took in because of massive tax cuts to the rich.

Fast forward to 2010, and an embattled premier Dalton McGuinty is facing a deficit in the province’s finances. Once pressured by high finance to hand out money for bail outs, these same institutions are now arguing that deficit spending needs to be controlled. The premier is already hinting at possible “Dalton days”. and finance minister Dwight Duncan is looking at “targeted cuts”. Tim Hudak, the current leader of the Conservatives and endorsed by Mike Harris, is climbing in the popular polls.

Back in the nineties, the left, labour and community groups were caught off guard by the regressive force of government cut-backs and restructuring. Started under Rae's NDP government and carried through by Harris' Conservatives, cuts had a devastating effect on the people in this province.

Those who tried to fight back did so in primarily a reactive way, staging one-off protests or city shut downs in response to government action.

This is an economic crisis that we did not create, and we should refuse to pay for it. We have already seen attacks on municipal workers in Toronto and Windsor, and precarious workers at York University and McMaster.

Ontario activists should start moving now and be proactive. The first step would be the setting up of a provincial ‘Common Front’ to fight against cuts.

Next, we should start agitating and planning for a province wide general strike to say no to ANY concessions. Fighting through individual strikes and grievances is a failed strategy, and hoping for change through the electoral process takes too long ˗ it took a decade to get the Conservatives out. Besides, advocating for a better party in government usually means just slightly better of a few evils.

It’s a tired phrase, but if we don’t learn from history we’re doomed to repeat it