by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
December 14, 2004
Last week, Debbie Peliti, a single mom on welfare was walking home from her volunteer job when she noticed a crisp $20 bill blowing in the wind. When the mother of six tried to catch it she noticed a plastic bag containing approximately $40,000 lying in the middle of the road. She went into a nearby branch of TD Canada Trust and informed the branch of her find. accompanied by two bank employees she returned to the street and picked up the money that was later stored in the bank’s vault. Peliti then left and had to borrow $10 from a friend in order to buy cigarettes. Later the branch of the bank admitted that it was in fact their money and presented Peliti with a $2,000 reward.
By not taking money that didn’t belong to her, Debbie Peliti achieved her 15 minutes of fame. She was the subject of numerous media articles and news clips and to steal or not to steal became a popular subject of radio talk shows. It was easy to get the impression that the elites in the media were shocked, not so much that a person would look for the rightful owner of the loot so much as the fact that it wasn’t kept by a single welfare mom with a bunch of kids. She obviously could have used the money more than the bank could have and Marxism is apparently far from dead in the world of the Canadian bourgeoisie.
Then along came NDP MPP Michael Prue. Never one to miss a political opportunity, Prue invited Peliti to the legislature as a prop for his argument that national child benefit supplements (as well as rewards for honesty) should not be clawed back from welfare payments. Notwithstanding the politics of the situation Peliti’s visit to Queen’s Park was filled with irony.
When Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello announced that Peliti’s $2,000 reward would not be deducted from her welfare payments, the entire legislature gave her a standing ovation. It’s easy to see why. any one of those MPP’s could no more give money back to the rightful owner than they could fly to Mars and they would certainly have given a standing ovation to an astronaut who had just returned from the Red Planet.
The highlight of Peliti’s trip to the legislature was when she met Premier Dalton McGuinty. We all know that if McGuinty had found the $40,000 in the middle of the road he would not have tried to return it to the rightful owner. He would have kept it, taxed it, put a surcharge on it and then blamed the previous Conservative government for building the road where the money was found.
McGuinty was quoted as saying to Peliti, “ I just want to congratulate you, thank you and tell you how proud we are of what you did and the good example that you set not just for your kids but for all Ontarians. You did a wonderful thing.” actually it wasn’t a wonderful thing that Debbie Peliti did – it was the right thing.” But then Dalton wouldn’t know the right thing if it came up and bit him.
and Peliti was quoted as telling the premier, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say”. a simple statement, yet it probably went over the head of the premier who lies and breaks major election promises with impunity.
If McGuinty would like to reduce the welfare rolls, perhaps he should start with Debbie Peliti. He could give her a job as his own personal ethics advisor. If Honest Deb could acquaint McGuinty with such concepts as truth, honesty and keeping your promises he may not end up as the one term wonder that he’s headed for now. and if Dalton is worried about where the money to pay Peliti will come from (and he’s probably not worried; after all it’s not his money) he could always get it by firing some of the spin doctors who advise him that he can break promises as long as he blames it on the previous government.
Unlike McGuinty, Peliti will be up to the job. after all she’s raised six kids to be honest--how hard can it be to raise number seven?