Who really created this crisis?

Everywhere we turn, working people are being told to “tighten your belts.” Teachers are told to do more with less. Parents are told to be patient while classrooms overflow, child-care spaces disappear, and wages fail to keep up with the cost of living. But when we look at the real numbers, a very different story emerges.

The Ontario Auditor General’s latest reports, released in September 2025, paint a clear picture of a government that has failed to manage even its most basic responsibilities. From the child-care program that still hasn’t delivered the promised spaces, to a housing regulator that isn’t protecting homebuyers, to a skills fund that handed out three-quarters of a billion dollars to poorly ranked projects, the Ford government has proven again that it’s not on the side of working families. Add to that Ontario’s stalled climate plan—still in draft form since 2018—and we see a pattern: chronic mismanagement and misplaced priorities.

Meanwhile, the workers who keep our schools, hospitals, and communities running are barely holding on. In Toronto, teachers, educational assistants, and child and youth workers—those shaping and supporting the next generation—earn between $30,000 and $62,500 a year. You simply cannot live in this city on that wage. For new teachers and education workers entering the profession, home ownership is out of reach, and even paying rent often means taking on multiple jobs or leaving Toronto entirely. The people who care for our children shouldn’t have to choose between their calling and their survival.

While public services are starved of resources, corporate profits have soared. Economist Jim Stanford’s latest data shows oil and gas companies, real-estate developers, and banks have pocketed tens of billions in windfall profits since the pandemic—in some cases increasing profits by nearly 1,000 percent. The grocery giants have quietly doubled their profit margins, even as more children come to school hungry. These aren’t “natural” market outcomes; they’re the results of deliberate policy choices that reward greed over public good.

Teachers and education workers see the impact every day—in classrooms where poverty, housing insecurity, and hunger show up as empty lunchboxes and anxious eyes. We also see the difference when governments invest in people: when child care, housing, and public education are funded properly, communities thrive.

Stanford’s message is clear: workers didn’t create this crisis—billionaires did. To rebuild a fair economy, we must stop blaming teachers, nurses, and public servants for the failures of corporate and political elites. That means taxing wealth, investing in housing and infrastructure, expanding public services, and supporting collective bargaining rights—not cutting them.

The good news? We’re not powerless. Across Canada, workers are standing up, bargaining stronger contracts, and winning wage gains that outpace inflation. That’s where hope lies—not in austerity, but in solidarity.

Nigel Barriffe is a  Dad, Public School Teacher, Singer Songwriter