The Trudeau government’s promise to repeal former prime minister Stephen Harper’s vicious anti-union laws is fulfilled as Parliament votes to adopt Bill C-4. The bill repeals Bill C-377 and Bill C-525, two of Harper’s most vicious laws. The post VICTORY: Parliament Repeals Harper’s Anti-Union Bills C-377 And C-525 appeared first
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The Canadian Progressive: Liberal government moves to repeal Harper’s anti-union bills C-377 and C-525
This week, the Trudeau government moved closer to fulfilling its promise to repeal Stephen Harper’s vicious anti-union bills C-377 and C-525. They introduced introduced Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tories’ Senate gambit shows Harper still runs the party and the party still holds Parliament in contempt
PHOTOS: The Senate chamber, empty, as it should be. Below: Stephen Harper, apparently still the de facto leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Conservative Opposition…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Trudeau Government Blocks Harper’s Draconian Bill C-377
The Liberal government has announced what appears to be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first step towards repealing Harper’s Bill C-377, a draconian law that sought to weaken Canada’s labour movement. The government has waived reporting requirements…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Bill 5 and sunshine lists generally are lousy public policy and a serious invasion of privacy
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature in the sunshine. It doesn’t matter that no individuals are visible, does it? Below: Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley and Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, back when he was a Canadian Taxpayers Federation agitator. So-called sunshine lists, which publish the salaries of public employees who are paid
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sid Ryan Has A Plan
Given the odious, intrusive and likely unconstitutional nature of Bill C-377, the ‘private member’s’ bill covered with the indelible palm prints of Stephen Harper that forces labour unions to publicly disclose how they spend their money, it would be surprising indeed if unions did not have a plan to fight
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Contemptible, Arrogant Martinet
The other day I wrote a post about the resurrection of Bill C-377, the Harper backed private member’s bill that would wage war against unions in Canada. Toward the end of the post I made reference to Senator Don Plett’s arrogant dismissal of witness Paul Cavalluzzo during Senate hearings on
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Cudgel Resurrected
To the red-meat crowd (a.k.a. the Harper base et alia), few things can seem more gratifying than an attack on unions. Viewed as the enemy of all that is good and holy (i.e., unfettered profits), unions, we are often told, have had their day and really shouldn’t be disrupting our
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Harper War Against Unions Continues
So what else is new? In today’s Star, Tim Harper tells a tale of the ongoing indefatigable contempt Canada’s putative prime minister has for unions. Like another Conservative entity, C-377 refuses to remain dead. The bill, proposed by a private member, Russ Hiebert, who is actually a front for Harper
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: One Last Assault On Labour
www.nationalpost.com/ Jim Stanford writes that, by resurrecting Bill C-377, the Harper Party is making one last assault on labour. The bill died in the Senate last year when Conservative senators, led by the now retired Hugh Segal, revolted and refused to pass the bill because — according to Segal
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Context, Tory MP Russ Hiebert’s shifty campaign for Bill C-377, and me
The Parliamentary trolley, on its way back from the Senate, stops in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in the Langevin Block. The dog at left was never owned by Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, who was well known in his day as a labour expert, although it clearly does
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Conservatives vs. Conservatives – Anti-union bill gets gutted in Canadian Senate
When the Federal Tories took “progressive” out of their title after merging with the Reform Party, it was inevitable that the radical right wing ideology of the Reformers would come into conflict with the more pragmatic former Progressive Conservatives. This … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: CUPE: “We cannot and will not let Stephen Harper silence our voice”
“We cannot and will not let Stephen Harper silence our voice and we will not accept any form of right to work legislation.” by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) | Feb. 6, 2013: At its first national bargaining conference the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) promised to fight against attacks on
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Editorial Recommendation
A bit of a busy day today, so I only have time right now to recommend today’s editorial in The Star, a timely warning about the implications of increasingly popular anti-union legislation that has only one goal: to reduce the remuneration of workers. One can only hope that Canadians will
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Unions After Bill C-377
In my favorite Shakespearian play, Hamlet, there is a scene wherein his erstwhile friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, explain that an acting company that used to enjoy great popularity has fallen on hard times. Thanks to a new craze in which troupes of child actors have become the rage, and “are
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Bill C-377 can be just the start – let’s shine a light on some corners that are really in the dark!
The ideal Canadian workforce, Harper Conservative style. Below: Social conservative B.C. MP Russ Hiebert. Well, you can’t fight a call for transparency, so why bother? I say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! The so-called Conservative Party of Stephen Harper quietly whipped its troops in the privacy of their
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Workers of the World Unite- You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Union Shackles!
That perhaps might have been the call in Michigan yesterday, as it joined 23 other states in enacting so called ‘right-to-work-legislation’ that ‘liberates’ workers from mandatory union membership and union dues. Passed by a Republican-dominated House of Representatives, the new law was proudly proclaimed by Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Odious Servitude
In its ongoing and odious servitude to a reactionary constituency, the Harper regime continues to use the heavy hand of government to target and harass those whose ideology differs from its own. I have already written several times about Bill C-377, …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Unions Under Attack: A Star Reader Writes
In two recent posts, I discussed Bill C-377, a Harper-driven anti-union measure disguised as a private member’s bill. Introduced by Conservative MPP Russ Hiebert, it is designed to require full disclosure of all union expenditures, including monies a…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Open Warfare
With Bill C-377, the Harper government has declared open war on labour. Tom Walkom writes in today’s Toronto Star that:The real target of Conservative MP Russ Hiebert’s private member’s bill is union financing.To be precise, the target is the auto…
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