By now, most have heard about Sun TV's faux citizenship ceremony orchestrated by the Harper regime to help promote its brand of Canadian patriotism. Putting aside questions of the ethics of a Canadian broadcaster allowing itself to be a propaganda arm of a government increasingly hostile to the traditional values of Canadians, I recommend Thomas Walkom's article in today's Star.
Entitled What the fake citizenship scheme says about Harper, the article offers the following insights on the deviant path the Harperites are treading:
The old Conservative brand, associated with prime ministers like John Diefenbaker and Joe Clark, emphasized practicality melded with compassion. The new one focuses on pride, patriotism and toughness.
Martial valour is an integral part of this new image. From that stems Harper’s emphasis on the military...
Toughness is expressed by the government’s emphasis on jails and mandatory sentencing, as well as its take-no-prisoners approach to political foes.
But above all, the Conservatives want to brand themselves as the party of patriots.
Recent reports of seismic disturbances in Saskatoon are undoubtedly due to John George Diefenbaker proving restive in his grave.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Liuna Local 183 Continues Its Bad Behaviour
Yesterday I wrote about the scuffle that broke out at a meeting of Liuna Local 183, a meeting that saw members demanding answers to the strange tale of the firing, rehiring, and resignation of John Manadarino, the training centre executive who misappropriated union funds but whose union executive defenders claim is merely the victim of a political vendetta against the executive.
The latest news reveals that the union is now considering legal action against those who were expecting and demanding some forthright anwers from the executive about Manadarino and his current role as the head of the Canadian Tri-Fund, a LIUNA agency that promotes industry safety and employment.
In what sounds suspiciously like the union equivalent of corporate libel-chill,
John Evans, the lawyer for Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 183, said Monday the union is looking into the conduct of members at the rowdy meeting which prompted the physical removal of the two workers.
“The local is presently investigating and will determine shortly what further action, if any, will take place,” said Evans, who also acts as a spokesman for the local.
Meanwhile, Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan said he won’t intervene in the affairs of the union, an affiliate of his umbrella organization.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said. “I don’t know nearly enough to wade in.”
Solidarity forever, eh brother?
The latest news reveals that the union is now considering legal action against those who were expecting and demanding some forthright anwers from the executive about Manadarino and his current role as the head of the Canadian Tri-Fund, a LIUNA agency that promotes industry safety and employment.
In what sounds suspiciously like the union equivalent of corporate libel-chill,
John Evans, the lawyer for Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 183, said Monday the union is looking into the conduct of members at the rowdy meeting which prompted the physical removal of the two workers.
“The local is presently investigating and will determine shortly what further action, if any, will take place,” said Evans, who also acts as a spokesman for the local.
Meanwhile, Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan said he won’t intervene in the affairs of the union, an affiliate of his umbrella organization.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said. “I don’t know nearly enough to wade in.”
Solidarity forever, eh brother?
Monday, February 6, 2012
Tim Harper on Caterpillar's Betrayal of Canadian Workers
As it hauls its billions in profits south of the border, Caterpillar executives should make a detour and stop in Ottawa to drop off the money they owe Canadian taxpayers.
Failing that, the Conservative government should be waiting for them at the border demanding the tax break and handout cash looted from the federal treasury.
But since both scenarios are highly fanciful, it is time for an end to the scattershot, no-strings-attached tax breaks being tossed from Stephen Harper’s government to large multinationals that are using it to drive down the standard of living in this country.
And those are just the first three sentences in Tim Harper's excellent and trenchant analysis of the Electro-Motive debacle, which I highly recommend.
Failing that, the Conservative government should be waiting for them at the border demanding the tax break and handout cash looted from the federal treasury.
But since both scenarios are highly fanciful, it is time for an end to the scattershot, no-strings-attached tax breaks being tossed from Stephen Harper’s government to large multinationals that are using it to drive down the standard of living in this country.
And those are just the first three sentences in Tim Harper's excellent and trenchant analysis of the Electro-Motive debacle, which I highly recommend.
Liuna Fails Its Members
The Labourers’ International Union of North America Local 183 seems to be playing right into the hands of neoconservative forces that would like nothing better than to see right-to-work legislation that would make union membership optional.
The problems at the union, which I wrote about previously, escalated into violence yesterday at a meeting in which members demanded answers about John Mandarino, the training centre executive who showed his contempt for the members' dues in a variety of ways, including misappropriating funds.
In addition to physically removing those who wanted full disclosure about the Mandarino debacle, the union executive threatened legal action against the questioners:
Local 183 business manager Jack Oliveira told the meeting that members who asked questions about Mandarino are linked to the union’s previous leadership and are “politically motivated.” Those leaders lost a close, bitter election fight last summer.
“If there is any undermining of this organization, steps will be taken to stop this once and for all. . . . I will bring charges against you,” Oliveira warned.
At a time when union membership is at an all-time low, Liuna Local 183 seems primarily concerned with concealing cronyism and possible corruption, hardly inducements for workers to surrender hard-earned dues to an organization that seems to have lost sight of its very reason for existence.
The problems at the union, which I wrote about previously, escalated into violence yesterday at a meeting in which members demanded answers about John Mandarino, the training centre executive who showed his contempt for the members' dues in a variety of ways, including misappropriating funds.
In addition to physically removing those who wanted full disclosure about the Mandarino debacle, the union executive threatened legal action against the questioners:
Local 183 business manager Jack Oliveira told the meeting that members who asked questions about Mandarino are linked to the union’s previous leadership and are “politically motivated.” Those leaders lost a close, bitter election fight last summer.
“If there is any undermining of this organization, steps will be taken to stop this once and for all. . . . I will bring charges against you,” Oliveira warned.
At a time when union membership is at an all-time low, Liuna Local 183 seems primarily concerned with concealing cronyism and possible corruption, hardly inducements for workers to surrender hard-earned dues to an organization that seems to have lost sight of its very reason for existence.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Martin Regg Cohn On The Wider Implications of the Electro-Motive Debacle
So the first lesson of the London massacre: Ottawa must be vigilant about vetting foreign investment and retaining jobs, but also mindful of valuing — and anchoring — our homegrown intellectual property. Why underwrite our companies if we willingly sell off our embedded brainpower to foreign bidders who leave Canada cash-rich, patent poor and jobless?
That, and the following, essentially sum up an excellent article by Cohn found in today's Star:
Another lesson: When it comes to the economy, empathy isn’t enough. Premier Dalton McGuinty adopted a reflexively tepid tone from the start, expressing the vain hope that both sides would come to their senses. Belatedly last week, he ratcheted up the rhetoric by exhorting the plant’s owners to play fair.
But he never picked up the phone to the employer. Nor did he reach out to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to forge a non-partisan common front. When a company treats its workers like dirt, a premier should leave no stone unturned.
But of course, the one error Cohn makes in his piece is the underlying assumption that either Harper or McGuinty really give a damn about ordinary people in this country. Proof that this is a misguided assumption: our 'leaders'' virtual silence on yet another instance of unfettered capitalism wreaking havoc in this country, and the aiding and abetting role they played.
That, and the following, essentially sum up an excellent article by Cohn found in today's Star:
Another lesson: When it comes to the economy, empathy isn’t enough. Premier Dalton McGuinty adopted a reflexively tepid tone from the start, expressing the vain hope that both sides would come to their senses. Belatedly last week, he ratcheted up the rhetoric by exhorting the plant’s owners to play fair.
But he never picked up the phone to the employer. Nor did he reach out to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to forge a non-partisan common front. When a company treats its workers like dirt, a premier should leave no stone unturned.
But of course, the one error Cohn makes in his piece is the underlying assumption that either Harper or McGuinty really give a damn about ordinary people in this country. Proof that this is a misguided assumption: our 'leaders'' virtual silence on yet another instance of unfettered capitalism wreaking havoc in this country, and the aiding and abetting role they played.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Educate, Educate, Resist
I have to admit that nowadays I am feeling the pessimism of old strongly reemerging, not to the point of giving up my blog and whatever value it might serve in the fight against the extremists who now control the Canadian government, but to the point where I realize that the battle is lost without the willingness of Canadians, no matter how hard their daily struggles might be, to educate themselves about the issues and keep current with as many facets as possible of the neoliberal agenda being relentlessly advanced by those who pretend to represent us.
To that end, I list the following for your consideration in today's Star:
Caterpillar shutdown: U.S. company bails from London, Ont.’s Electro-Motive Diesel plant
Walkom: Caterpillar closing part of a coordinated attack on unions
Chantal Hébert: Conservative reform plans aimed beyond 2015 election
To be passive, to excuse our lack of activism with a facile dismissal of politics as 'not being interesting,' to continue to narcotize our minds and infantalize ourselves with the latest electronic gadget or reality show diversion is to reject both the rights and the responsibilities of citizenship, and to condemn future generations to a hardscrabble existence.
Thus endeth the sermon.
To that end, I list the following for your consideration in today's Star:
Caterpillar shutdown: U.S. company bails from London, Ont.’s Electro-Motive Diesel plant
Walkom: Caterpillar closing part of a coordinated attack on unions
Chantal Hébert: Conservative reform plans aimed beyond 2015 election
To be passive, to excuse our lack of activism with a facile dismissal of politics as 'not being interesting,' to continue to narcotize our minds and infantalize ourselves with the latest electronic gadget or reality show diversion is to reject both the rights and the responsibilities of citizenship, and to condemn future generations to a hardscrabble existence.
Thus endeth the sermon.
Friday, February 3, 2012
I'm Back - Nothing's Changed, Just Getting Worse
After a week out of the country with limited access to the Internet and Canadian news, I see things keep getting worse. First thing I read this morning was how the Harper regime faked a Citizenship ceremony staged on Sun TV, the ever-faithful tool (and I mean that in the full sense of the word) of government propaganda. Now that the truth has gotten out, I'm sure the government will find some way to burnish Sun's up-to-now- unblemished reputation for journalistic integrity.
Next comes word that Caterpillar Inc. is closing down its Electro-Motive plant in London because the workers wouldn't accept a 50% reduction in their wages and the gutting of pensions and benefits. Expect the usual suspects to lay the blame on an intransigent union, while those of us who can think will see yet another sad result of Harper and McGuinty's corporate appeasement policies.
And finally for now, despite the fact that Old Age Security is on pretty solid financial footing, Harper and Flaherty, that dynamic duo of despair, show no signs of backing down, despite widespread anger, in their plan to raise the age of entitlement to the pension, regardless of how that will affect countless Canadians.
I keep asking myself when my fellow citizens will finally rouse themselves sufficiently from their apparent inertial indifference and have a strong and unequivocal reaction against this tide of neo-liberalism, a reaction that can't be ignored even by the fascists now in control of our collective fate.
Next comes word that Caterpillar Inc. is closing down its Electro-Motive plant in London because the workers wouldn't accept a 50% reduction in their wages and the gutting of pensions and benefits. Expect the usual suspects to lay the blame on an intransigent union, while those of us who can think will see yet another sad result of Harper and McGuinty's corporate appeasement policies.
And finally for now, despite the fact that Old Age Security is on pretty solid financial footing, Harper and Flaherty, that dynamic duo of despair, show no signs of backing down, despite widespread anger, in their plan to raise the age of entitlement to the pension, regardless of how that will affect countless Canadians.
I keep asking myself when my fellow citizens will finally rouse themselves sufficiently from their apparent inertial indifference and have a strong and unequivocal reaction against this tide of neo-liberalism, a reaction that can't be ignored even by the fascists now in control of our collective fate.
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