This article was published on Wednesday June 29, 2016 in the Huffington Post.
I have made no secret of my respect for our new Prime Minister, especially after the disdain I held for his predecessor.
That’s why it can be tough at times to watch – as good Canadian jobs are lost to Mexico, a place of horrible human rights abuses – while Justin Trudeau publicly talks about being such good friends with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Imagine this. You buy a house. You like the house a lot. You find it welcoming, and can imagine having a long life with that house. You particularly like the kitchen, and the neighbours seem nice. So you sign the deal, and go to the bank to work out the mortgage.
Just as you get to the bank, your realtor calls. Turns out, that kitchen you liked so much? It’s no longer part of the deal. Or maybe it will be. It’s going to take a couple of years living in the place to sort out.
In the meantime, the sale price stays the same, and your mortgage will be just as high as before.
There has been a thaw of sorts lately in Ottawa and other corridors of power, as far as labour’s relations with government go – and that’s a good thing for working people across this country.
After a decade of being frozen out by the Harper Conservatives, what we are seeing now is a rebalancing of the voices heard by our members of parliament – including those who sit in cabinet.
(and I would argue moral) ambiguity about the place of unions in Canada.
Conservative governments who can't rewrite the constitution to take that right away will use underhanded tactics to rob Canadians of their rights at work.
For the latest example of conservative politicians working hard to undermine constitutional rights, just look to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister.
Loren Remillard’s ideological tirade against unions (June 20 “Secret ballots and democracy”) is both under-researched and misleading.
Remillard falsely asserts that workers in Manitoba cannot vote by secret ballot to join a union. In fact, it has been enshrined in Section 40(1)2. of the Labour Relations Act for decades.
Vote with your heart. Vote for the person in your area and the national party you believe will best address your biggest concerns.
That is the ideal of how elections are meant to work, and the guiding principle of those who have long advocated electoral reform to replace our current first past the post system with some form of proportional representation.
This was published in the Huffington Post Friday June 10, 2016.
Unifor’s Auto Council made a momentous decision recently about the all-important contract talks to get underway this summer.
In two unanimous votes, the 120 delegates passed resolutions calling for each company to commit to bringing new products to Canada, and to specific investment mandates for Canada for assembly and powertrain operations.
That means there will be no deals with GM, Ford or Fiat-Chrysler without specific commitments from each that we will have new products made right here in Canada.
This was published in the Huffington Post Wednesday June 1, 2016.
The first few residents of Fort McMurray, including Unifor members, begin returning to their homes this week, with the real work of their ordeal still lying ahead of them.
Forced to flee four weeks ago in the face of a wild fire gone out of control, more than 88,000 people have found shelter in temporary accommodations set in civic centres and hockey rinks, in hotels or with friends and family since the fires pushed them from their homes.
Published in the Huffington Post Wednesday May 25, 2016
Kevin O’Leary premiers his new reality show this weekend – an all-too real show, in fact.
The man who made a name for himself as the loudest and most offensive cast member of the Dragon’s Den reality TV show will be testing the waters at the Conservative Party convention this weekend for a possible leadership bid.
This was published in the Huffington Post on Wednesday May 18, 2016
Much has been written about the immediate negative impact the Trans-Pacific Partnership will have on some of our key economic sectors.
There is no shortage of examples.
Deep and fast cuts to vehicle tariffs and changes to North American content rules would encourage auto companies to move more jobs off-shore to low-wage jurisdictions, costing thousands of jobs.
