Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

TORONTO – While 400 of its members at the Ekati diamond mine north of Yellowknife suffer the consequences of having scabs in the workplace, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) applauds the anti-scab Bill introduced today by the Bloc Québécois aimed at stopping this practice.

“During the last session of Parliament, the Bloc introduced Bill C-263 which was lost by only 12 votes,” explained PSAC President, Nycole Turmel. “We will work with the Bloc Québécois and other Canadian unions to ensure that finally, workers under federal jurisdiction are protected by anti-scab legislation.”

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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

I want to extend a special congratulations to all of the union brothers and sisters who ran and were elected to parliament on January 23rd. We look forward to meeting all of you over the next few months.

While we may have our differences with the new Conservative government, we intend to see what we can get done for working people between now and the next election. While many Canadians clearly voted for a change, many also voted for candidates whose party offered working families the most. We look forward to the positive and productive parliament that was promised. Read the rest of Ken Georgetti’s message at the CLC website.

Read the text of letters sent to the Party Leaders by the CLC here: Letter to Jack Layton | Letter to Paul Martin | Letter to Gilles Duceppe | Letter to Stephen Harper (all ).

Now that the election is over and PSAC members and all Canadians are waiting to see what the new Conservative minority government’s first actions will be, National President Nycole Turmel has written to the incoming Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition parties to put some of our members’ concerns before them and to ask for an early meeting to discuss these concerns, read the letters here: Letter to Stephen Harper | Letter to Paul Martin | Letter to Jack Layton | Letter to Gilles Duceppe (all )

Congratulations to all of you who contacted your federal election candidates and encouraged them to endorse the Make Poverty History goals! Thanks to you, more than 75% of candidates from all parties have endorsed the Make Poverty History goals of more and better aid, trade justice, 100% debt cancellation and an end to child poverty in Canada. In all, 987 candidates responded by our deadline, and even now, more are contacting us.

To find out how the candidates and their parties responded, visit the Make Poverty History website. You can also find out about the different party platforms to see how the different parties plan to act.

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