Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Unions slam NDP as dangerous to workers and Canada

Need proof that the federal NDP isn't ready to be official Opposition, let alone Canada's government-inwaiting? A spokesman for one of Canada's largest labour organizations says he has the proof.

On Thursday, Canada's building trades unions, along with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, held a forum in Ottawa focusing on the looming skilled worker shortage in Canada with the hope that policymakers would attend and then act to ramp up apprenticeships for skilled trades as well as increase immigration of accredited skilled workers.

"We invited every MP in Ottawa to attend," said Christopher Smillie, a senior adviser for the Building and Construction Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Canadian Office.

"Conservative MPs showed up, Liberal MPs were there, but not even one NDP MP showed up," said Smillie, who speaks for 450,000 construction union members all across Canada - 40 per cent of whom are actively engaged in the oil and gas industry.

"Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition has a duty to listen to Canada's largest industry and the men and women who work for these large energy producers," he added.

"The NDP should be interested in construction jobs," Smillie said, adding that heavy hitters from energy and construction companies, along with workers and government departments managed to find the time to get "together in a collaborative way."

Smillie said nine New Democrats initially committed to attend, but then zero showed up and none even had the courtesy to call. "Frankly, it was really rude."

James Smith, international vice-president and Canadian director of the 65,000-strong United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, asked: "What message are working people in my union to take from their no show?"

Smillie says the message is clear -that the NDP appears to be "more of a fringe group still rather than the official Opposition."

The irony is the NDP has traditionally relied heavily on the support of big labour.

The forum, entitled Oilsands - Labour Dead end or Skilled Trades Super Highway?, laid out the worker shortage time bomb that is ticking in Canada for skilled labourers like boilermakers, carpenters, electricians, pipefitters, plumbers, welders and others.

Many of Canada's skilled workers are heading into retirement and most parents today don't encourage their children to learn a skilled trade, they want them to attend university instead, said Smillie. As a result, a severe shortage of 300,000 skilled tradespeople by 2017 is looming unless decisive action is taken.

The NDP, meanwhile, is opposed to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that will ship 700,000 barrels per day of Alberta bitumen to Texas for refining, should it receive approval from U.S. President Barack Obama. It is expected to create 300,000 jobs in Canada and up to 179,000 jobs in the United States, according to an August report by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

Reached in Bathurst, N.B., on Friday, NDP labour critic Yvon Godin said it's just an unfortunate mistake that no NDP MPs showed up.
"I will not deny that the invitation did come, but it was just an overlook, but anybody who knows me knows I work hard for labour," said Godin.

Smillie, however, says the fact that the NDP opposes the pipeline shows how out of touch it is with the majority of labour members.

"The messaging has been hijacked by small labour organizations," said Smillie. "The CEP (Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada) gets on the air and says organized labour is opposed to the Keystone pipeline because Canada will lose jobs. Well, I can tell you right now, our labour organization is much larger than the CEP or the Alberta Federation of Labour and we back the pipeline 100 per cent," said Smillie.

Godin says he's opposed to the pipeline because it will export jobs to the U.S., but he also thinks the oilsands should decrease its carbon footprint. The two are completely incompatible. More refining means more greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta, which would paint an even bigger target on the oilsands for people like the NDP.

Janet Annesley, a vicepresident with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says: "The last thing we have in Alberta is a shortage of jobs. We have a shortage of people and it's only going to get worse unless our policy-makers start acting now.

"If we were to keep all upgrading and refining in the province of Alberta, we would be doing a huge disservice - huge damage - to our economy," said Annesley. Refining all bitumen in Fort McMurray would superheat Alberta's economy, causing wage inflation and making our industries less competitive as well as the rest of the economy.

Currently, Alberta refines about 60 per cent of its bitumen. "If we were to keep the entire value chain in Alberta, we would need to reconcile our greenhouse gas policies with our economic goals. Because you're essentially taking on the emissions of a product that is being used elsewhere. It wouldn't be the consumers of those products that would have to account for those emissions, it would be Alberta, rather than the end users," she said.

Smillie agrees. "The NDP would be very bad for workers and the entire Canadian economy," said Smillie. "They haven't risen to the task."

Here's hoping come the next federal election, voters will turn many NDP MPs into no shows permanently.

Origin
Source: Calgary Herald 

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