PSAC endorses Bloc’s progressive policies, not its goal of separatism
Published by Patrick March 6th, 2006 in News / OpEd, Nycole Turmel Tags: bloc, election-2006, turmel.
The Ottawa Citizen, Mon 06 Mar 2006
Re: Labour pains, March 1.
The Citizen rightly claims that the Public Service Alliance of Canada “endorsed a number of separatist candidates in the Pontiac, despite the fact that the union represents workers whose livelihood depends on a strong federal government.” However, poll after poll suggests that about 25 per cent of Bloc Quebecois supporters are federalists.
The reason is that the Bloc is proactive and progressive on a range of issues, from pay equity to anti-scab legislation to child care. On the basis of its strong support for social, human and labour rights alone, it gets support from workers and their families.
And while the leadership of the Bloc supports separation for Quebec, this is an issue that will not be decided in a federal election.
Workers and businesses in the area should be more concerned about the Citizen editorial board’s support of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) which, in the words of the editorial, is “regularly putting forward serious policy proposals.”
The Harper government and the CCCE, and by implication the Citizen, endorse the concept of a fiscal imbalance between the federal and provincial governments, a notion that I and my union reject. I suggest that your acknowledgement of a fiscal imbalance and lack of support for measures to ameliorate it will do more to undermine workers and businesses, including the Citizen, whose livelihoods depend more on a strong federal government than on the endorsement and democratic election of a Bloc MP.
Nycole Turmel, Ottawa, PSAC National President