Author Archives: CanucksBanter

Bonfield mayor’s decision to close landfill will not end strike

Posted on by

http://cupe.ca

Aug 19, 2013

Instead of closing Bonfield’s landfill, the mayor should be back at the bargaining table to resolve a strike that he caused. Sixteen Bonfield municipal workers have been on strike since August 1.

“Closing the landfill, with no outlet for the community’s waste to be stored safely, will not only prolong this unnecessary strike, but it is also already attracting bears to our community, and this is definitely not safe for the residents,” said Steve Boyle, CUPE National Representative. “Our members know what it takes to keep the landfill operating safely for our residents, and we want to resolve this strike so we can serve the community, but we need a willing employer to resolve this strike. We also understand the mayor has left town and gone to Ottawa for a conference while the community is without public services when he should be right here trying to find ways to end this strike.” 

“Citing safety concerns for the mayor and council as the reason for closing the landfill is a bit of a stretch,” said Boyle. “As elected leaders of this community, they should be more worried about the safety of the community from bears looking for garbage than being concerned about their own ‘safety’ from residents unhappy about the mayor’s actions that are prolonging the strike.” 

“If they had not cancelled public meetings and caused this unnecessary strike, they would not be in this situation,” continued Boyle. “The mayor and council must face the public and should be held accountable for their actions.” 

Boyle also noted that the mayor decided to close the landfill after a safety inspection from the Ministry of Labour’s health and safety officers. The workers have been on strike for a fair contract since August 1. In addition to pushing for concessions, including plans to contract out public services, the mayor threatened to impose new terms and conditions forcing the workers into a defensive strike. 

For further information, please contact:

Steve Boyle, CUPE National Representative, 705-662-5975
James Chai, CUPE Communications, 905-739-3999

Examining Harper’s record and spotting a fake economic recovery

Posted on by

 

Duncan Cameron

By Duncan Cameron    August 20, 2013   http://rabble.ca

Photo: Liam Richards/University of Saskatchewan/flickr

A new report from Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) on job creation in Canada arrived just as the Prime Minister said Monday he intends the next election to be about jobs and the economy. As part of a study of poverty, CPJ has published a set of fact sheets on job creation in Canada since the 2008 recession. It looks at regional and generational differences, assesses job quality and measures newly created jobs against new job seekers.

Anyone who believes what Conservative cabinet ministers have been repeating about job creation in Canada should read the CPJ fact sheets.

Carol Goar of the Toronto Star identified the CPJ report as explaining why many Canadians are still experiencing the recession. The Canadian employment rate is down: the number of jobs created (950,000) has not increased as fast as the population (1.8 million). Unemployment is stuck at 1.4 million. When talking about the unemployed, the government does not include discouraged workers, people with part-time jobs looking for full-time work, temporary jobs, or the under-employed. Add them to the total, and the real unemployment rate is one out of ten out of work.

CPJ explain about 500,000 jobs are needed to get Canada back to where it was before the recession. Stronger job growth where resource prices are strong (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and in construction mask weaker job growth in services and manufacturing.

Employment trends are weakest for Aboriginal Canadians. Young Canadians suffer disproportionately from unemployment — about one in five is without work.

Sadly, paid work increasingly means precarious jobs: part-time, low-wage and unstable. Older workers are relying more and more on temporary work.

Policy analysts divide over what to do about a lackluster economy. Some want to leave the market alone, most think governments need to lead in order for it to recover.

Conservatives believe the marketplace works fine, and any problems can be fixed by allowing prices to adjust. Unemployment is explained by the failure of rates of pay to fall, because of minimum wages, unions, employment insurance, welfare and other market imperfections, which need to be eliminated or reduced.

The problem with this view is that rates of pay are falling — policies to reduce wages have been successful, increasing inequality as Stephen Gordon has shown in Maclean’s. For the Harper government, business-funded think-tanks, and other supporters of the market view, this just means wages have not fallen enough. More of the same is just what is needed.

Those unwilling to wait for the economy to correct itself will want to know how it can be improved.

In Canada the standard strategy for an underperforming economy is a currency devaluation, accompanied by fiscal tightening. Exports incomes increase, import increases are cut off, and the private sector leads the recovery.

Floating the Canadian dollar down used to only require lowering Canadian interest rates below U.S. rates. Unfortunately, the U.S. beat Canada to the interest rate bottom, with a “zero bound” rate, introduced to revive American capitalism.

Historically low rates do prevail at the Bank of Canada. This is supposed to encourage recovery, though without bringing a currency devaluation, it is hard to see how it is going to happen.

Former Bank of Canada Deputy Governor William White called low interest rates having one foot on the accelerator. With the Harper government curbing spending, White observed, Canada has the other foot on the brake.

This contradictory policy needs to be fixed. The obvious choice is for the government to take the foot off the brake and spend borrowed money for needed public investments in urban transit, retrofitting buildings to reduce energy use, recreation, culture, the arts, advanced education, child care, and straight job creation.

The Harper government is ideologically opposed to government spending, but expect it to consider taking its foot off the brake by lowering taxes. Another reduction in the GST would inject new money into the economy, for instance. And it would also be an excuse to reduce direct spending (and reduce wages) further down the road.

The Official Opposition have their work cut out for them just to expose the poor Canadian economic record, let alone engage Conservatives in a rational debate based on economic evidence.

Stephen Harper does not expect Canadians to discover that job performance has been poor and that the economy is not improving, while the standard of living for most Canadians is declining. He has announced plans to prorogue Parliament, cutting the fall session short. This will limit the time for parliamentary debate and the subjects raised by the opposition.

If the economy is going to be the ballot question in the next election, as Stephen Harper suggests, Citizens for Public Justice have afforded parliamentarians and all Canadians with what is needed to examine his government’s record.

Duncan Cameron is the president of rabble.ca and writes a weekly column on politics and current affairs.

Photo: Liam Richards/University of Saskatchewan/flickr

What legislation will ‘die’ when Harper prorogues Parliament?

Posted on by
By Kelsey Johnson    
http://thetyee.ca       Published August 19, 2013

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to ask the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until sometime in October will mark the end of several controversial pieces of legislation.

Under parliamentary rules, 19 government bills will die on the order paper in either the House of Commons or the Senate.

Among the pieces of legislation affected by the impending prorogation are the Senate Reform Act, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, and the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, all of which have been met with varying degrees of criticism.

Delaying the return of Parliament also means the slates of the various standing committees have been wiped clean. This means the revision of the First Nations Elections Act and the Combating Counterfeit Products Act have been terminated, at least for the time being.

Studies by committee into questions surrounding animal welfare, bee health, infrastructure and the state of Canada lobster industry will also grind to a halt. The rules do not allow committees to sit when Parliament is prorogued.

While the bills have theoretically died on the order paper, the government could make a motion to reintroduce the legislation at the stage it was at before prorogation. In order to do that, however, it must get unanimous consent.

Otherwise, the legislation must begin the process all over again. Since the government has a majority, it is likely the legislation the government wants to reintroduced will be fast-tracked through debate.

As for private member’s bills, they are not affected by prorogation. They will automatically be reintroduced at the last stage reached in the House of Commons via a specific standing order.

Kelsey Johnson reports for iPolitics, where this article first appeared.

Most Canadians doubt health care system prepared to handle ‘tsunami’ of aging boomers, new poll shows

Posted on by

From:     Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News  13/08/19

Three in five Canadians surveyed said they will have to rely on the public system for home care and long-term care if they need it later in life.

Canadian Physiotherapy Association/CNW GroupThree in five Canadians surveyed said they will have to rely on the public system for home care and long-term care if they need it later in life.

Canadians have little faith the country’s health system is prepared to handle the needs of a looming “tsunami” of aging boomers, a new poll has found.

Six in 10 Canadians surveyed said they lack confidence in the health system’s ability to care for Canada’s rapidly greying population.

Women, as well as Canadians aged 34 to 54, and those already caring for an elderly person, are among those least confident that hospitals and long-term care facilities can handle the demands of a population that is living longer than at any other time in the nation’s history, according to the Canadian Medical Association’s annual report card on health.

Only in Quebec does a majority (54 per cent) believe that hospitals and long-term care facilities in their area are sufficient to meet the needs of the elderly, according to the survey.

The anxiety Canadians have about health care in their so-called golden years is both real and well-founded

The Ipsos Reid poll of 1,000 Canadians was released to coincide with Monday’s opening of the CMA’s annual meeting in Calgary, where main items on the agenda include a special session devoted entirely to end-of-life care issues.

“The anxiety Canadians have about health care in their so-called golden years is both real and well-founded,” outgoing CMA president Dr. Anna Reid said in a statement released with the poll.

All levels of government, including the federal government, “need to act to address the demographic tsunami that is heading toward the health care system,” she said.

A vast majority of Canadians — 93 per cent — support a national, seniors’ health strategy for home care and long-term care, the poll found, with support highest in Alberta and Ontario, as well as among women and Canadians nearing retirement age (55 to 65).

Three in five Canadians surveyed said they will have to rely on the public system for home care and long-term care if they need it later in life.

Half are “very” concerned about maintaining their health in their retirement years; seven in 10 are worried about their financial future, the poll found.

Those already caring for an older adult are among those most worried about there not being enough services should they ever need home or long-term care in their own old age.

Reid, who has been caring for her own elderly father, who suffers from dementia, said more resources are needed for nursing care, home-based care and palliative care, particularly in smaller communities. “We know how to do good palliative care, it’s just not being practised across the board,” she said in an interview.

We could be saving the system an enormous amount of money by providing far more support in the home environment

It costs nearly $1,000 a day to keep a senior in a hospital bed, and $126 a day for a bed in a long-term care facility, said Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, incoming president of the doctors’ group.

“To keep them in home with supportive home care and assisted living costs about $35 to $50 a day,” he said. “We could be saving the system an enormous amount of money by providing far more support in the home environment.”

The average life expectancy of Canadians has increased by more than 30 years since the early 1900s, to 78 for men and 83 for women in 2011. But the number of years lived in good health is sliding. The majority of today’s seniors have at least one chronic condition; as many as one in four has two or more.

Overall, the 2011 census counted nearly five million people aged 65 and older in Canada.

By 2031, 22.8 per cent of the population will be 65 or older, jumping to one quarter — 25.5 per cent — by 2061.

The Ipsos telephone poll was conducted between July 17 and July 26. A sample this size is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points.

Three-quarters, or 75 per cent, of those surveyed gave an “A” or “B” grade to the overall quality of health services. However, views on the future are split — about half think health services will get better and the other half believe things will get worse.

Only about half gave an “A” or B” grade to access to diagnostic equipment such as MRIs and CT scans, or access to specialists. The marks were worse for mental health, with only 41 per cent of those surveyed giving an “A” or “B” grade for access to mental health services.

Few — 29 per cent — gave the federal government top marks in dealing with health care in Canada.

The Real Reason Behind Harper’s Annual Arctic Trip

Posted on by

August 18, 2013

By Andrew Chernoff

According to reporter, Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia News, Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government are planning on staying the course with no intent on turning back on the federal Conservative government agenda. Full steam ahead. Damn the torpedo’s!

In his article, “Stephen Harper uses first speech of northern tour to lambaste oppositions’s dangerous ideas and vacuous thinking’, Tandt writes:

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the occasion of his eighth annual Arctic summer tour to deliver a blistering, highly partisan and combative speech in which he defended his record across the board and hammered the opposition relentlessly.”

Was this a good news speech Harper was delivering to the people of the North and the city of Whitehorse? Oh…..wait….it was a speech to Conservative Party supporters at a barbeque for about 200 supporters.

Tandt noted that, “Harper sounded more like a campaigner than a mid-term prime minister on a relaxed visit to one of his favourite regions. “You have trusted us, and we have delivered, despite the Opposition,” he said. Indeed, Harper claimed, the government has delivered on 84 of “more than 100 specific pledges” made in the last election.”

Of course Harper was just a wee tiny bit biased to the Conservative faithful in touting his federal government record.

Are they really “accomplishments” as reporter Bryn Weese , of QMI Agency wrote in his article, “Stephen Harper harkens back to gold rush, slams opposition to kick off northern tour”?

Harper lauded his actions, you know….the negative consequences being felt by 99 per-cent of Canadians; of his policies and the Conservative governments unapologetic support of global threats to Canadian sovereignty and shameless submission to the powerful and filthy rich 1 per-cent.

Anti-union sentiment is rampant with Bills before Parliament that seek to continue eroding what is left of the middle class in this country; trade agreements like CETA and TPP threaten Canada’s autonomy from coast to coast to coast; federal government layoffs threaten access to government; changes to EI seek to add more anxiety and stress to an already high unemployed Canadian population especially amongst young people.

Harper has never known what it feels like to be on welfare. Harper has never known what it is like to go hungry and scrounge for food; Harper has never had to use a food bank; Harper has never known what it is like to live from pay cheque to pay cheque with no savings to speak of or cushion to fall back on if your budget gets hit with a surprise.

Harper has never had to rely on the social safety net like many Canadians have and do.

Harper never has to worry about his defined pension benefit unlike many Canadians who are facing attacks on theirs and being threatened with a defined pension contribution. Parliament has decided their own fate on that subject, whether Canadians like it or not.

The point is, Harper is completely, unapologetically, unequivocally out of touch with the majority of Canadians.

Harper has no empathy or understanding of the reality of the work of nurses, steelworkers, sawmill workers, fisherman, coalminers, janitors, bus drivers, policeman, fire fighters and the rest of Canadians on the front-line like retail and service sector workers. Many Canadians have more than one job, as they struggle to make ends meet with a minimum wage.

When is the last time Harper had to make ends meet with one or more minimum wage jobs? Never!

Harper does not care how his policies are impacting the reality of the majority of Canadians and their families, many of them working in jobs highlighted above.

Harper’s arrogance is too far gone.

He believes his speeches. The speeches are not words to him. The speeches are not spin or hype. To him, the speeches are the truth.

Harper’s personal philosophy and political beliefs are his Bible. To question his integrity and direction is to commit the most unpardonable sin and to take his name in vain, is blasphemous.

Harper spoke of the mining of the North, how it led to the finding of gold over a century ago. But he did not speak of the sweat and toil, the strife and hardship, the impact on the health and well-being of the miners that slaved to extract that gold in harsh, inhumane conditions.

“The North is Canada’s call to greatness. As Conservatives we believe this with a passion… And as Conservatives, we have pledged that northern development will mean northern prosperity,” Harper told his faithful.

Of course Harper is excited about the potential of the North; of course, he believes the North is his…oops….Canada’s,,,, call to greatness.

The North, the Arctic, will be the cherry on Harper’s political legacy: the tapping of the North and Arctic’s economic richness and development of its land and resources are his ultimate goal, in my opinion.

We have seen it with the Alberta tar sands, and his unrelenting pursuit of the development and selling of “dirty oil”. Why should the North and Arctic be any different?

It may provide some northern prosperity, however long, or, short lived it may be, as history has already shown. But the expanded raping and further imperialising of the North and Arctic will provide untold wealth and riches to the 1 per-cent, with only a few crumbs to appease Canadians but many negative consequences because of it.

That is the real reason behind Harper’s annual Arctic summer trips.