A ServiceOntario owner who had their business of 23 years closed by the Ford government speaks to CityNews in a broadcast exclusive. Richard Southern with why she feels like she's been "thrown in the garbage".
@@mmcer no but some unamed staples employee will be? The kiosk are directly in staples. I'm not walking into a government building to get government documents I'm walking into a staples...do you not see a problem with that?
@@farmerjer9339 the media AND the gov't are reporting that documents will be handled by "Service Ontario Employees". Those folks are experienced and vetted against all security protocols and do NOT work for Staples. Staples in merely a location for the kiosk. Now if you don't want to trust a Service Ontario employee, then that's another discussion that may have merit, but I am not privy to those details.
They could just have relocated her and her staff to the Staple's location. Instead, they closed the location and laid off the staff. I expect they will use Staples employees who are now trained to do the work but at a lower cost.
It's not. For smaller areas, they are. Canada has an issue in that while, yes, most of its population lives in a very small area, it still has to provide services to every Canadian. This story is a complete sham of what a news story should actually be. The green sign shows another ServiceOntario station that exists in the area of Fonthill, the suburb community of Welland, and isn't the new Staples location. It's no more than 12 minutes away from this one that's closing (not sure where the location is so I just set the destination to the end of Welland). So 2 stations, contracted by the government, for an area that's 12 minutes apart. Population of around 50,000. The Staples location is in between Welland and Fonthill, in a mall, so it can serve both areas adequately -- not sure if they're planning to close the Fonthill location. You know this story is a lie when the woman said she liked the old ServiceOntario spot because of parking. The Staples is part of the largest parking lot in the whole area.
Let me let you on a small secret! Ontario and Quebec are all about big corporations no matter what government is in power! This area and Canada is about huge corporations that have been here since the being of Confederation. This type pf thought, which is socialist and government only perpetuate this.
@@JessT-vg7ib By outsourcing healthcare and offering out services to large foreign corporations and by spending your money building highways that don't save anytime but make foreign construction companies millions. Your taxes have not gone down.
So private ownership of a government office is a thing? I had no idea. I always thought that the people you deal with at Service Ontario for your license and stuff were all government employees.
The lady in the interview also is a private owner she pays for her employees herself not the government. So doug ford just shifted the contract he had with her to staples. Doug ford and the conservative do not like small business owners just big businesses owners.
@user-lm4qq7hl3d subcontracts exist throughout all sectors of the government. They have to meet reporting and privacy standards and the fees go to government accounts.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
Doug Ford really gives off corrupt politician vibes with the repeated controversies. First the Greenbelt thing, then the Ontario place redevelopment scam and now this! Good job City News and Richard Southern for covering this!
I never like to hear people losing their businesses. But she did have a good run at 23 years. The severance pay to her employees should not be out of her pocket since the government put her out of business.
@@JessT-vg7ib Yes media should go after the government, That is their duty. Who else is going to investigate political cronyism, kickback, fraud, etc of politicians?
Glad i moved out of Ontario to Saskatchewan in September now debt free and got a doctor within weeks of moving here as well my husband. Bought a house in Tramping Lake near Unity. People are amazing here.Thank you Saskatchewan ❤ for giving us hope again!
@@user-sp7hd5fd7mwell it is Canada. What like the weather here in Ontario is so great as to overlook paying some of the highest taxes in the world? Shut up. Just shut up.
I don’t know about other people but my Service Ontario is closer to me than the nearest Staples. According to GPS: Service Ontario - 3 minutes away Staples - 20 minutes away Hey Doug Ford! How is this more convenient for me?
Good point. Mine would be on the Queensway, and I don't drive. I knew Chow was going to cause problems. Maybe she's getting some points from Europe 😅😂. So much is so wrong with Canada, Eh? 😂blessings.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
You always could... Vote for an independent candidate in the next election. If more people would do so, and if those candidate would get into office they are more likely to represent the community values of their riding instead of "Party" politics.... Food for thought. :p
Plenty of good people. But the majority want to "vote for the winner!" And dismiss the good ones because ".. they can't win". We pay for the stupidity of the majority.
And what is the interest of the general public? The new location is in the largest shopping mall of the area and has public transit stops right next to it. It's in between both major areas and also in between the town center and another suburban area. It also has the biggest parking lot in the area, so this woman stating what she prefers about the old spot is "good parking" is rubbish. This is Fonthill and Wellam. Every retail spot has good parking anyways.
Don't be surprised if all the Canadian banks shut down their branches and open up these small kiosks in stores like Walmart or Costco. It's all about the all-mighty dollar.
More things to micromanage. There's a reason of the 2 terrible political systems that took hold in the 20th century, one of them is a failure in every regard whereas the other one can sort of lift itself up economically at least. China did not become the 2nd biggest economy in the world out of sticking with communist principles of the government controlling everything. They opened up their market, allowed private businesses to operate smaller tasks for them. China's economy is now getting worse that Xi is getting the government more involved again.
If the purpose of contacting out to staples was to open more locations for convenience, then why not just keep the independent owners still running along with the staples stores?
Because money is finite. If you have to pick one location over another, this new one is far better. This is not a difficult concept to understand. This Staples is in the largest mall of the area and has public transit stops right next to it. The parking lot is the biggest parking lot in the whole town, so that woman saying she prefers the old location because it has good parking is full of BS.
@@user-lo9mr1zr1d People don't understand this. They're so ideologically captured they just want to attack Ford and the Conservatives. Canada Post has locations in Shoppers Drug Marts. No one complains.
From a premier who talks a lota bout supporting local businesses he is sure keen to give all the business to his buddies who run massive, multinational corporations. You happy now Ontario?
Wait… service Ontario is a privately owned thing? I thought it was government? Why is Ontario shutting these down? Guess I’ll need to find the earliest stories on this…
Security features will be enabled to fight crime. High tech printers special paper facial ID. They have all the tech to help with that. Clearly you guys are missing the bigger picture.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
@@mcrow9599 no, both offer groceries which was considered an essential service, but the food areas were the only ones open in Wal Mart during lockdown...
@@ryuuguu01 Staples donated to both candidates. That's what major companies do. They donate to both. They try to curry favour and want that favour even with the party they didn't prefer to win. For example, Disney has for decades donated to both Republican and Democrat politicians, even those running against each other.
Why does anyone own a government service building in the first place ? I feel sorry for this lady, but I don't think anyone should own these as a business... am I missing something?
Because money is finite. There's already 1 in Fonthill. This new one is in between the 2 areas, is in the largest mall of the area, and has public transit go directly to it. This is like saying why doesn't Canada Post just open a location on every street corner instead of contracting into Shoppers Drug Mart locations. Money is finite.
That the government did not give them enough notice to let employees go without paying out big eats in their savings. I am guessing she may have had to pay to get out of the lease early also. She did not say she did not have savings just not a pension plan.
The new ServiceOntario is the middle of the 2 population centers of the area and has a massive parking lot (it's in the biggest mall of the area) and has public transit go by it. This is by far the more accessible location for the majority of people. There is no actual strong argument against this specific location changing. Dislike it now being a contract with Staples? Fine, but that isn't an argument without knowing the actual financial details. If the amount spent by the provincial government is the same, this is so obvious a net positive move. Better location, more accessible, and the location isn't dependent on 1 person running the lease for the office space -- you're not with a business that leases the area anyways. This is similar to Canada Post locations in Shoppers Drug Marts.
Staples is American franchise with operations throughout Canada think time has come to stop putting big corporate profits against what's best Canadian's
This new location is more accessible as the major mall it's in has bus stops next to it and it's in between the 3 population centers of the area. How is this location worse than the previous one?? Everyone who upvoted your comment does not deal in reality or logic. They see a news story that has an obvious partisan leaning to it that they share and they agree with it solely out of partisan necessity.
@calvinhobbes6118 Besides the point though. Going "out on your own", being self employed - you know the risks and terms. Furthermore if you don't know the deal of being self-employed, you find out pretty quickly. This lady has been doing it for 23 years... not like she's in her first or second year and "didn't know"... To add to that - yes, these days it is hard. We are definitely in "hard times". But... we weren't always in these hard of times. Again, she's been at it 23 years.. what was she doing with all her disposable income during the 2000s and 2010s when inflation was low and interest rates were constantly trending down for those 20ish years.
Party doesn’t mean anything it’s all about the leader and their mystery sponsors. The party name is just an escape goat or target to point at and not the actions.
I worked for the same company for 44 years and retired without a company pension. She has the same pensions as every other working person in Canada (outside of Quebec) OAS and CPP. My Wife and I both worked for companies without defined benefits pension plans so we contributed to RRSP’s for most of our working lives. Unless she was just scraping by as a business owner she has no excuse for not doing the same. Depending on a contract to last forever, especially a government one, is a little bit foolish.
Exactly. The point of her saying "I don't even have a pension" is just an admittance of irresponsibility or stupidity. Yes, it's harsh to hear. But it's the truth. She was running it (being self-employed) for 23 years. Everyone who is self-employed knows that there is no pension (aside from CPP/OAS). That's one of the risks you take. You're completely on your own.. and for her to be running a business for 23 years, then act like "She got cheated out of a pension"... is silly. She was essentially the same thing as any other term employee for the goverment. Yep - she was lucky in terms of renewals, but she was operating on a contract nonetheless. Furthermore, yes, the last 5 years have been trending down, and things are now pretty rough financially. But - What was she doing with all her disposable income for the previous 20 years throughout the 2000s/2010s when inflation was low and interest rates were constantly trending down and at an all-time low. Sorry, you can't play the "blame the governent/economy" card on this one.
@user-wt5bf4rw7e Also isn't my fault that these sole proprietors - working on contract - didn't have the hindsight to save some money or invest in a pension when the gravy train was rolling.
This poor woman has been let down by Doug Ford! Who can they turn to? Who can they speak to about this situation? I really would like to know I live in a small town and it’s very convenient where we have it. There’s no staples and you have to go to the next town to go to Staples. I hope this isn’t happening all over Ontario.
How does a person who has a well run business for 23 years not have enough savings put away for a pension ? It’s a fact that a private business does not come with benefits of unemployment insurance, or a pension. What was she thinking ?
Staples handling personal and private information is not a good idea, Doug Ford. At least Service Ontario locations only handled our private information. If you wanted to cut a few locations, the workload still should be with trusted Service Ontario locations. Not a good move, Doug Ford.
A lot of Canadian tire stores had service Ontario that were run by their own employees and it worked fine. Staples can do better with longer hours and less shoppers in the way
Some Service Ontario locations were franchised? That’s nuts! The name itself says says that it should be a government office not “owned” by anyone but the people of Ontario.
Time for change, there was a lot of curruption at Service Ontario. They were selling your information to car thieves. It was on the news last week! The new hours are good! Service Ontario inside a canadian tire was always busy with shoppers. Staples is down the road and never busy, plenty of parking. Win win for us. Sucks for the lady but after 20 plus years she has made bank! New opportunities will come her way. One door closed but another will open.
The ladies in this location were always pretty good and efficient. You can look forward to a different face every week that can't do the job at Staples from now on.
You don't get a pension without paying into a pension. If you don't have a pension you're supposed to build up your own retirement savings and investments.
THIS IS BEYOND DISGUSTING! This lady has put in her time and livelihood for this to help Ontario’s people and this is how we and the government we elected treat her? So glad I’m in British Columbia where the NDP will never shutter and sell public assets to private and corporate entities for billions of dollars. Keep your Doug Ford and conservatives. We don’t want em on the west coast.
I can personally confirm that owner is 1 of the nicest people.ive ever come across, especially at a service ontario which isn't always a fun experience. Terrible.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
Plenty of Canada Posts are located in Shoppers Drug Marts. The Staples is in the largest mall of the area and has public transit go right to it. This is by far the better location.
The MNRF has progressively eliminated their services, contracting out data services to a Tennessee based firm, dropped the biology based analysis for private outsourcing. They have also downloaded and funded almost a million dollars yearly to a Charity based subcontractor; The Federation of Anglers and Hunters. The MTO is also been sliced and diced with subcontractor outsourcing with far less services. Time for the media to investigate how much each of the various ministries positions and programs have been eliminated and outsourced. Let’s see how much salaries and bonuses of ministry administrators have increased as a result of these changes.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
Office furniture store selling and renewing licenses makes no sense. How often to people shop office supplies? I mean I haven't been in a Staples for over a decade. Why not City Hall or the Legislature?
Interesting! Like other commenters, I had no idea that some Service Ontario offices were private. I hate to say it but her problem was trusting Conservatives. For Klaudia, this was a very expensive lesson to learn!
Go after these official it is about time Canadians stood up to these politians money for all these assylm seekers we pay the taxes stop this screwing.of the Canadian tax payers.
John Lederer, Executive Chairman of Staples donated money to Ford's Leadership Campaign and to the PCPO to help get Ford elected. Now, his company gets an exclusive deal to take over Service Ontario Locations.
Not every location is being moved into a Staples. It was 11, in the entire province. How is this hard to comprehend? This location is also at most 12 minutes away from another ServiceOntario and the new location replacing this old one is even closer than that. Stop acting like this service has completely disappeared for this area.
@@CanadianEhHole that was 11 too many. No private organization should be handling government documents. ... and ask yourself why was Staples and Walmart choosen? Greed thats why. How is this hard to comprehend?
People cannot go there during working hours Dougie? Service Ontario locations are open six days a week so just go on one of your days off. Not like anyone needs to go often just once every few years to renew cards.
My local one isn't open on Saturday anymore. They were 9 to 4 mon to fri then 9 to 12. If there wasn't anyone in there 30 min before closing they would lock the door. I know a lot of people here in my town that will drive 40 minutes to avoid dealing with our local office.
23 years in service of our people and our government and they just kick her out on to the streets? she got nothing? our citizens need to come together and recognize her work for all those years, and at the very least make sure shes good for retirement. people like her helped keep the economy and the entire system running and operating for everyday regular people so they can do all the things we take for granted in this country.
Never knew this. It is crazy. More people lossing jobs and unemployment up because of this. So glad for the up date. But nothing can now be done. I thought it was weird when Doug Ford had it on the news about closing locations. I thought it didn't sound right. And sure enough now we know. 🙁🙁
This serviceontario is one of the worst locations, just look at the reviews. It’s my local location and I drive an extra 20 minutes not to deal with the rude employees. I hate to see someone lose their livelihood but maybe that has something to do with their decision?? Idk
They moved the new location to the biggest mall in the area and it has bus stops going to it. The new spot, regardless of the Staples deal, is objectively better.
It was a story setup. She "prefers" the old location because it has good parking... this is Fonthill and Welland. Every retail location has good parking. The new location, which she seems to know where the Staples is, Is in the biggest mall of the area. There's no place with better parking than a small town mall with the parking equivalent of double a popular mall like Yorkdale has.
No one wants to see someone lose a job. But they were not the friendliest of humans, stopped.going to service 0ntarios 4 years ago and just do it on the Internets.
privatization, transferring our wealth to a private corp. this is what pp wants to do. and what the heck is staples looking at my medical info for isn't that illegal
