Tidbits
web posted December 1996
Solidarity Forever?
More than one dozen unions have stated that they will no longer help shutdown Ontario cities to protest the provincial government's agenda.
After meeting with the Ontario Federation of Labour to discuss the aftermath of the Day of Action held on October 25 in Toronto, 13 unions issued a statement saying that it was time for a different approach.
Sid Ryan, Ontario head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, had a somewhat different story though. Ryan stated that all of the participants had agreed that another city would be targeted. Ryan disputed one of the dissenting union leader's claims that the protests were creating a public relations nightmare for labour.
Well, the groups also decided near the end of November that Sudbury, ESR's home city, was to be the next city targetted. Only one problem...Sudbury's unions sometimes didn't toe the line. The Sudbury and District Labour Council voted 59 to 1 not to hold city-wide demonstrations, calling the Day of Action idea a waste of time. The unions shall instead formulate a different agenda to combat Mike Harris' government.
Here's your growing economy!
The Conference Board of Canada says Canadians will see wage gains in 1997. James Frank, its chief economist, says wages exceeded inflation this year for the first time in three years.
Frank predicts wages will rise at least 2.4 per cent for satisfactory workers and 3.9 per cent for top performers. The inflation rate is forecast at 1.9 per cent.
The federal government is right, the economy has been booming through its term!
He has a sense of humour...
Bob Dole showed immense class and more talent then the average guest on a recent Saturday Night Live. His opening segment was legitimately funny as he poked fun at himself and Norm McDonald, who does do a good Bob Dole.
Imagine Bill Clinton doing the same thing? Who knows what admissions he'd make in an effort to ingratiate himself with the crowd. Kudos to Dole for being a classy loser...and winner.
Religious Schools Denied Funding...
Jewish and Christian leaders in Ontario are pretty disappointed in a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that stated that they did not have a right to tax payer funding for their religious schools. The Supreme Court ruled that governments are not constitutionally obliged to pay for religious schools, except Roman Catholic schools in Ontario and Protestant ones in Quebec.
Pity the High Court only went half way. Schools should be private, not government funded, and no argument can convince me that it is moral to fund only one religion in each of the two provinces. An out-mooded idea that the main minority religions in these two provinces are in danger from the majority is that, out-mooded. It's time that the High Court realized that funding one religious school system exclusively is immoral.
Conservative Victory in Prince Edward Island
Congratulations to the provincial Tories of PEI who won the provincial election on November 18. Starting the election with one lone seat, they ended with 18 seats, to the Liberal's eight and the first New Democrat elected in the province's history. Good luck to Premier-Elect Pat Binns!
Government Sponsored Racism is Constitutionally Protected!
Or so lawyer Chile Eboe-Osuji believes. Eboe-Osuji represents a group challenging, in court, the Ontario provincial government's decision to scrap employment equity.
Eboe-Osuji said the equity law provided protection to women, aboriginal people, the disabled and visible minorities. Removing this law violated their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he said.
He said section 15 of the Charter basically states that everyone has the right to equal benefit and protection of the law, without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or physical disability.
So what am I missing? If everyone has equal benefit and protection
of the law, than why should someone have extra-ordinary coverage? Why
is someone protected because of their race, color, religion, sex or physical
disability, while someone else is not? Is that equality? 