Gerry Ritz Has to go

Ok, enough is enough. No ands, ifs or buts, Gerry Ritz has to go.

I know, I know, Ritz is only putting into place the Harper agenda like a faithful old lapdog but, bottom line, the minister is responsible.

What makes things worse, I think, is his denial in the beginning of this latest scandal. His story just didn't hold up. Some say he just lied about it, figuring he’d get away with it. I don’t know for sure, but I do know what side of the coin I fall on. I just don’t trust Gerry.

I think what I find most annoying is that for Ritz and the rest of the Harper Conservatives, this is all about protecting business. Their corporate friends. These Conservatives forget, their primary responsibility is to protect its us.

Ritz is ignoring the fact that:

• Because we tolerate over crowded feedlots, cattle turns up on the killing floor, caked with mud and cow shit 
• A vaccine is available which would put a stop to this e-coli problem but it costs about $3.00 an animal and the government sees this as too much of a burden to producers to insist they use it. 

• Huge meat packers mostly hire immigrant workers on work permits who don’t dare complain when production lines are cranked up to unsafe speeds, making it impossible for the workers to do their jobs safely. 

• Despite what the so-called Agriculture Minister says, there are fewer inspectors on the plant floor, leaving much of the responsibility to the producer. 

Ritz just doesn't seem to get it. He has dodged question period in the House of Commons and left a press conference, held on the completion of his tour of the XL plant, after four questions because he didn't like where the questions were leading.

Calling this a scandal is not too big a word. Canadian’s health is at risk and from my perspective, having the Ag Minister resign isn’t enough. This whole damn incompetent government should step down.

Perhaps Andre Picard said it best in today’s Globe and Mail when he wrote in part:

Peter Sandman, a business professor at Rutgers University and the guru of crisis communications, says there are six strategies required during a situation like tainted beef: 1) don’t over-reassure; 2) acknowledge uncertainty; 3) treat the public’s fears as legitimate; 4) express your own feelings; 5) offer people things to do to protect themselves; 6) don’t worry about panic because panic is rare.

The company, the regulator and the minister failed on every single one of these points.

Worse yet, they have no excuse because we’ve seen this movie before.

In 2008, when Maple Leaf Foods Inc. produced listeria tainted luncheon meats that killed 22 people and sickened 35 others, the company responded in textbook fashion. CEO Michael McCain was front and centre: He was available to the media, he was transparent and he was contrite.

Maple Leaf recalled all its meat and shut down the plant – which is what XL should have done. The company then apologized, in print and via its CEO, it fixed the problems, and it compensated the victims.

Mr. Ritz was minister during the listeria crisis. His government commissioned a report from Sheila Weatherill, which cost taxpayers $5.3-million.

Obviously, he has not read or understood that report, which, in addition to its technical recommendations for improving food safety, had two overriding messages: 1) That communication by the CFIA and the government more generally were appallingly bad and 2) there was a “void in leadership” that contributed to the deaths.

Today, as the E. coli tainted meat outbreak demonstrates, communication is as bad, if not worse, and the void in leadership is even more gaping.

Are Calgary's Petroleum Investors Acting a Bit Odd?

I sometimes wonder about my fellow Canadians. Remember when the rallying cry was to restrict foreign takeovers and to be once again the masters of our own resources; our own economy.

All that seems to have gone out the window. Sucked in to supporting globalization, many Canadians don’t seem to care any more and other Canadians have paid the price.

Remember Caterpillar and their shut down of Canadian operations in in a move which saw Canadian jobs moved to an American right to work state. To the government, the caterpillar employees were just another bunch of greedy workers. Steven Harper sure didn't give a damn. He saw Caterpillar as a corporate friend during the election and made much of giving them a significant tax break as a  handout.  What we saw was, Canadian workers,used as pawns in the race to the bottom.

I find it all a bit confusing.

In Alberta, particularly in Calgary, when the Canadian Government created Petro-Canada just so our country would be present in a small section of what was largely then an American dominated oil sector Calgarians refused to fill up at Petro-Canada gas stations claiming the company reflected the socialist bent of the Liberal Government. They hated PetroCan for what it was. They referred to the Petro-Canada head office as Red Square.

Now a Chinese company, wholly owned by the government in communist China wants to take over Nexxon. A company with its head office in Calgary and no one in Alberta seems to have a problem with it. No talk of socialism and no suggestion of boycotts, just a line up to cash in when the deal goes through.

Go figure.

Saskatchewan Government Squandering Precious Resources

Zamboni Treatment Shot Down in Flames

Two years ago, give or take a couple of weeks I blogged about the so-called MS Liberation Treatment and the Brad Wall government's support of it.

I said "In the face of two new European studies debunking controversial Dr. Zamboni's "Liberation Treatment" for Multiple Sclerosis Saskatchewan's Premier figures damn the torpedoes. full speed ahead. Who knows what drives him but I'd wager it was a meeting with someone in small town Saskatchewan or from his church who came to him with a heart wrenching story about living with MS and not a well thought out strategy from within the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health."

Originally Saskatchewan put up $5 million and issued a call for clinical trial proposals in October 2010. The goal was to proceed with those trials by the spring of 2011.

However, by June 2011, it was revealed that only one proposal had been received and that was lacking in substance.

So in January 2012, Brad and his buddies decided to send multiple sclerosis patients to the U.S. for the clinical trial of a controversial treatment. The province is providing $2.2 million so that 86 MS patients can be included in the two-year, trial at the Albany Medical Center. So for, one patient, a man from Saskatoon, has been selected to participate.

The Harper government followed Wall and pledged $5 million in support of the study.

Meanwhile, a study was released Tuesday proving yet further conformation that Dr. Zambini's treatment is not credible. The finding have prompted an American  MS expert to criticise Canadian Government's support for the treatment. The Globe & Mail quotes David Hafler, the Chair of the Neurology Department at Yale University saying, "The debate in the scientific community was brief, swift and is over. The government has squandered precious resources not using peer review, but instead using emotion and theologic belief and I think shame of the Canadian Government for bowing to those pressures."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after receiving reports of injuries and deaths to patients undergoing the treatment, issued warning against participating in the procedure. Canadian Health Minister, Leona Aglukaq was not surprisingly unavailable for comment.

One might argue that the Liberation Treatment, is no treatment at all as a growing number of studies all point to the fact that blocked veins have no impact on the development of MS.

Is anyone listening?

OK I'll get back to it.

An anonymous fan of this blog commented yesterday that he/she was getting sick of seeing Dean del Mastro 's ugly puss sitting their as the last post on my blog.  Anonymous  is right. Dean is as ugly as they come and mean spirited too. Time to move him down the list.

It has been a weird kind of summer for me and I haven't had the creative energy to generate any new postings. However, people do still come to the blog despite my lack of new postings. Nearly 50 hits yesterday.

Perhaps anonymous is right though and I think needed that boot in the rear to get me thinking about issues again.

Don't you just love it when bad things happen to nasty people

They don't get a lot nastier than Dean

I for one got so sick of watching the nasty Conservative Dean del Mastro defending the Harper government's conduct through the robo-call scandal. It some ways he epitomized the government's arrogance through out.

Well, this week an Election's Canada investigator told the court that Dean Del Mastro knowingly and willfully exceeded election spending limits. Then covered it up.

I am keen to watch this one play out.

La Festival Mondial de la Biere

This afternoon we all went headed up to Place Bonaventure where they are holding the Festival Mondial de la Biere. Beer from around the Quebec and the world.

It was a pretty good deal, for $20 you could get 20 tickets and a the beer cost anything from 2  to 5 tickets for a 4 ounce sample. I figured there was too much to try everything so I would stick to IPAs. I particularly liked what was on offer from the Cheval Blanc, a Montreal brew pup that had four IPAs on tap.

We shared around anything that was particularly delightful or unusual:

•  One by Dieu de Ciel called Umami a red German style beer which was a morrel mushroom flavour - very earthy and they also had a black IPA with a strong coffee flavour - a breakfast beer if you ask me.
• A rose hibiscus wheat beer
• The Aphrodisiac was a vanilla and cocoa stout
• I quite liked the Falconer's Flight IPA from Le Cheval Blanc.
• Shelley  tried Unibroue's La Terrible stout which once you got used to the background flavour of cloves was quite good.

We tried a  mint, raspberry, chocolate stout which in my view was better left in the bottle and we weren't too impressed with the cream IPA either.

The venue wasn't particularly striking, but the crowd made the place hop. It some point everyone started doing what I called the beer cheer, kind of like the wave at a sporting event. In the hall with its low ceilings  it sounded like a train rushing through.


The food wasn't bad either, everything from large pretzels to BBQ kangaroo.

It was interesting to see booths by Richard's, Kieth's and  even Heineken being ignored by the crowd looking for something different. 

Montreal in Summer

Montreal is a pretty busy place in the summer.


The Entrance to our Metro Stop

It is Grand Prix weekend so there are street parties all over. Crescent Street is jumping and we passed a big reception area not far from us on Notre Dame. Big events mean the students are out too and last night hilocopters hovered above the city all evening making what would have been a lovely night to sit outside a little noisy.

They changed tactics a bit last night and held a nude protest. I am sorry I missed that one.

We spend late morning and afternoon at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I had forgotten how large a collection they have. Impressive.

Visiting my mother twice a day means we are in and out of the Metro system alot. Up and down those escalators, back and forth. It is a great system though. Every station was designed by a differant archetict so you really get to appreciate their creativty.

Today there were police posted at almost every station. Someone set off a smoke bomb last night and they aren't taking any chances there will be a repeat.

Here in Montreal

Photo Shelley Banks

We are here in Montreal trying to keep tabs on how my ailing mother is doing.

This afternoon we took a break and had lunch in Chinatown then walked into Old Montreal - people watching and checking out the shops and the old port.

We walked back along the old Lachine Canal through Griffentown and Little Burgundy and stopped for a much needed beer at the Burgundy Lion before heading down to check out the situation at the Verdun General.

One of the things I love about a big city is the characters you meet, This guy was out giving his iguana a ride on his bike. He was pleased to have his picture taken.

When we parted company and wished him a good afternoon he assured us that both of them would very much enjoy their bike ride.

Photo Shelley Banks

NDP Must be Doing Something Right

The National Post says Canada is leaning to the left.  My first reaction was that they are just trying to get a rise out of their right wing readers but, when you look at the numbers. Perhaps they are right and it is about time.

 The nationwide Forum Research poll says the NDP would form a minority federal government if an election were held today. As well, a strong majority of Canadians believe the country suffers from an income gap. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. 

More than two thirds of Canadians of voting age, thought the NDP was the best bet, compared to less than one-third who chose the Harper Conservatives  and one-fifth the Liberals

Isn't it Time we Said No?

OK, full disclosure here. I was involved in collective bargaining, on the labour side of the table, for about 30 years. Most of the time, as chair of the union committee.

My first experience at the bargaining table was as a committee member at a Montreal television station. That process ended with a three-day wildcat strike and a brief occupation of the station’s lobby. We won a good settlement and were glad to put it behind us and get back to work.

After that, not long before I retired, I had one other set of negotiations go sideways on me, we were locked out of a mine in Northern Saskatchewan the membership turned down a negotiated settlement. The employer shut the place down and flew us south that Friday afternoon. I managed to get the deal sweetened enough, in talks across the picket line between the CEO and me, to get a settlement that stuck. Otherwise, I always managed to find a reasonable agreement.

I only tell you this because, I think you will agree, I think it shows that I do know a thing or two about collective bargaining.

That is perhaps why I am so concerned as once again the Harper Conservatives get ready to legislate striking employees back to work. This time it is CP Rail. Once again it is Labour Minister Lisa Raitt to the rescue of the Conservative’s Corporate friends.

There is no question that Raitt learned a few things since screwing the employees at Canada Post and Air Canada. She must have been sent for training because she has learned to frame things a little better than she did but the cold hard truth is that employers have learned that there is no need to bend to pressure from their unions. Employers can gut hard won provisions in collective agreements, cut and slash pensions, undermine working conditions and with impunity. Lisa and people like her will always be there to make sure they come out on top.

Once in last minute mediation employers have no incentive to do very much. They know the drill. No union negotiator with half a brain would think for one minute that any imposed settlement will come down on their side. The odds are stacked against them. It doesn’t matter if the terms of settlement are legislated or if the final deal is sent off to an arbitrator, the union can’t win.

Historically, the right to bargain was won after hard struggle. It was a trade off. A compromise that pretty much put an end to the era wildcat strikes to settle differences.

There has been relative labour peace in Canada for decades now. The process, for the most part worked. There was a balance of power at the table;

• Employers knew the unions had the right to withdraw their services. 
• Union members knew a strike meant real financial sacrifice. 

 It was in both side’s interest to get a deal.

In Harperland, large employers don’t have to worry that anything will get in the way of their slash and burn agendas.

News reports say that “Teamsters Canada Rail Conference President Rex Beatty is 100% behind the 4,800 CP workers who have been off the job since 0001 a.m. Wednesday. He says, “The battle these workers are waging is of utmost importance,” We'll see.

Civil disobedience in defiance of a bad law is well justified. We will see if Mr Beatty or perhaps better yet, Teamster International President James P. Hoffa are prepared to stand up and defy the legislation when it is passed. It is high time a few predominant national union leaders led from the front.

I’m not holding my breath.

The Difference Between a Bust and a Boom

Saskaboom

I have been known to argue that the Saskatchewan “boom” is all a figment of Saskatchewan Party’s Premier Brad Wall and his cronies at the Chamber of Commerce’s imagination. You don’t see it on the street, thousands of university student can’t find summer employment and much of small town Saskatchewan has a depression era look to it.

How the politicians and the media characterize boom or bust, the winners, losers or the also ran in our economy, for me at least always has had a bit of Alice and Wonderland to it.

For example, these days, if we are to pick the big loser in the Canadian economy, listening to the media at least, most of us would say Ontario. The manufacturing sector, the backbone of Ontario’s economy is having a tough time. The high Canadian dollar has put the boots to competitiveness in exports.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is being figuratively burned at the stakes in the Globe & Mail, western newspapers and on the CBC for his comments about “Dutch Disease”. He has had the temerity to ask why unchecked tar sands exploitation is so good for Canada when it forces the value of the Canadian dollar even higher, hurting those who produce goods for export, most of them situated in Ontario.

This we are told has turned Ontario into a “have not” province.

The other side of the coin, we are told is, Saskatchewan. Brad Wall’s favorite two words are innovation and of course, “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Potash is hot! 

National Post Graphic

• Mining is hot! 
• Gas is hot! 
• Oil is hotter! 

Newfoundlanders are commuting from “The Rock” to fill vacant jobs. Temporary foreign workers scattered all around the province are driving our trucks, welding in small manufacturing operations, building our homes and working in our fast food joints. What is not to like?

Not so fast. New Statistics Canada figures tell us a slightly different story.

If we take a look at the “percentage of the population claiming Employment Insurance benefits”:

• Our poor cousins in Ontario come in at 4.41% 
• Powerhouse Saskatchewan is only slightly less at 4.28% 

For those who are mathematically challenged, the figures are just a bit above one tenth of one percent apart.

Is this how we define the difference between a boom and a bust?

Isn't it time we started paying attention?

A Rare Day

I'd like to get one thing straight off the top.

You couldn't pay me enough to listen to talk radio's John Gormely or any other of the cadre of rabid right wing professional pontificators. I work at keeping my blood pressure at a reasonable level and no amount of pharmaceuticals are up to the task, if I spend more than about five minutes listening to the Gormely's of the world spout off.

Brad Wall Needs to Take a Hard Look

That being said, I found my self agreeing with Gormley's conclusion that Saskatchewan Party cabinet minister Bill Hutchinson is probably safe in his position, simply because Brad Wall would not want to be seen to be backing down and agreeing with the Film Industry's demands that Wall punt old Bill.

I don't agree with the talk show host's contention that Wall has little choice however. Hutchison's record as a minister leaves much to be desired with most people considering him a buffoon rather that cabinet material. Old Bill should have been shown the door after his stunt, trying to fool a CBC television reporter into thinking that Sask Party employees and campaign workers were random people Bill just came across at a food court. Bill looked like the fool he is but, Brad stood by him.

Brad is simply afraid to step up and show real leadership. He looks more like a small town mayor.

I also disagree that Brad has lots to choose from as he picks his new cabinet. I figure the gene pool is pretty shallow. Small town rubes most of them. Gene Makowski? Come on John. Give me a break.

Update

The one time in my life I agree with Gormley and we're both wrong. Hutchison got turfed from cabinet.
Happy to be wrong. Good work on this one Brad. 

Lukiwski Responds

Anyone who follows my blog will know that I don't hesitate to take issue with  my Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski when he or his colleagues in the Harper Government take positions I believe are untenable. .

After I received what I felt was an inadequate and inaccurate response to a letter he wrote to me about my concerns to cuts to the CBC I responded to him electronically and then I posted the text of that e-mail here.

I wasn't surprised, but I confess to being a bit disappointed at his intemperate response to me. I always felt it was my Member of Parliament's duty to represent the wishes of his constituents to his caucus. Apparently Tom Lukiwski only represents Conservative Party members and others who blindly support any positions their government puts forward.

Below is my latest letter from my MP. Interestingly although it doesn't clear up the inaccuracies in his first letter it does show how he really feels about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. If nothing else the honesty is refreshing.

I know it a bit tough to read but clicking on the letter will enlarge it.

What did Unions Ever do for me?

With Brad and the boys getting ready to set labour policy direction by what Saskatchewan Party supporters told them in the doorstep during the last campaign I got thinking how things hard won, can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I noticed a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Unions – The people who brought you the weekend" It made me laugh but, it also got me thinking. What else aside from negotiating contracts, representing members, fighting grievances and keeping an eye out for health and safety, did the union do for you and me lately. 
So, I started to make a list of things we tend to, take for granted.

I thought let’s see;

• Vacations and vacation pay 
• Minimum wage laws 
• overtime pay
• a five day work week
• Unemployment insurance
• Old aged pension benefits
• Long term disability
• Stat holiday pay
• Human rights legislation
• Workers Compensation
• Maternity/paternity leave
• Health and safety rules 

If you ask me, that is pretty good, for a quick, short list. The Aussies did a very funny video about all this.

So, if in the future someone says to you, “What did unions ever do for me?” You can answer, “A hell of a lot buddy. A hell of a lot.”

I know some readers will say “Don’t be nuts. The government gave us those things.”  Don’t be too quick.

You might have noticed lately. Governments don’t generally just hand stuff out to working people. Let me tell you. In each and every case, for each and every one of those benefits. There was a tough, tough fight.

Those benefits were won through collective action – lobbying politicians, in bargaining and on picket lines. Everything we have and now sometimes take for granted,was hard fought for.

The danger today, is that we forget how bloody hard those benefits were to get – and how easily they can be taken away.

Brad Wall is Warming up the Steamroller

I note that the Saskatchewan Government has turned down binding arbitration as a means of settling the outstanding issues in what has become protracted bargaining with the people who work at the Cancer Agency.

 Whatever could be wrong with binding arbitration. If you think the position you are taking in bargaining is fair? If you are confident your position is a fair one, wouldn't you think a reasonable arbitrator might think the same.

The natural conclusion to draw is that, the government of Saskatchewan knows they are being unreasonable, particularly in these booming times.

I also read in the paper this morning that the Saskatchewan Government is going to “review” our labour laws again in what will be a look at our “out of date” legislation.

My immediate reaction to all this was, “These guys just don’t get it.” People won’t put up with this. Stand by for yet another war between our business friendly government and labour.

The last time they did this, they looked kind of stupid. After all, one of the most right wing judges in the province ruled their essential services legislation went way too far and was put in to place without proper consultation with the stakeholders. Well no that is wrong, it was without consultation with one of... no, half of the stakeholders. Their process was to basically, just ignored organized labour.

They are about to do it again but, I think I was wrong about them being out of touch. They very much “Get it”

To the Saskatchewan Party, very much like the Harper Conservatives it isn’t about finding consensus, or building bridges, or fairness, or need.

Despite all the good old boy talk, Brad Wall’s government is all about us and them, about creating division, pitting one side against the other.

What is good for business is good for Brad. After all, could the Chamber of Commerce be wrong about anything?

Brad and the boys are sitting pretty with an electoral system that handed them 85% of the seats in the legislature with 64% of the popular vote. They can pretty much do what they want.

Will Saskatchewan the people who will be affected by what will no doubt be yet another gutting of Labour legislation stand up and speak out. I doubt it. Only 66% of us even bothered to vote. Speaking up, writing letters or - God forbid - going to a demo takes even more effort than casting a ballot.

Oh sure, the usual suspects will get up on their high horse but will the public actually listen? I sometimes thing the term Labour Communicators is an oxymoron. Think Bob Bymoen for example.

It isn’t a very good time for unionized workers in Saskatchewan. Standby, the government is just warming up the steamroller.

Send the Bugger Back to the UK

Conrad with his wife Barbara Amiel

Canadians have to ask themselves why, would it be in the best interest of the country to allow Conrad Black, back into Canada?

Black who so famously renounced his Canadian citizenship so he could become a British peer, and who is sometimes known as Prisoner no. 18330-424, is due to be released from his country club jail this coming Friday. He says he wants to settle back into, what for him is a normal life, in Toronto.

Now the question is, how promptly the convicted felon will be able to return to Canada. Prisoner no. 18330-424 is not able to re-enter our country without the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration’s permission but, Jason Kenney is predisposed to open the door wide to anyone who is able to bring a few million dollars with them. But, how does that fit with the Conservative law and order agenda.

Black was a pompous and shady character even before he tossed his citizenship aside and frankly I figured the Brits were welcome to him.

As a newspaper owner, he promoted the likes of Harper. It will be interesting to see if the PM returns the favour.

A Big Night at the Sask Book Awards

Anne and I were Big Winners        Photo Shelley Banks

We attended the Saskatchewan Book Awards Saturday night here in Regina. It was quite an evening with an amazing number of connections.

Two of our friends, writers and floor hockey players both of them, came up winners. It was all very exciting;

Eric Greenway is one of the principles in Hagios Press and one of their nominated books, Jeff Park’s The Cellophane Sky: Jazz poems won the Saskatoon Book award.

Then, Anne McDonald won the First Book Prize for her novel, To the Edge of the Sea, published by Thistledown Press. The book description says, In the mid-19th century three young Prince Edward Islanders explore their disparate futures at home and away, in a debut novel that is lyrical and precise in its descriptions of land, sea and people, and powerful in its accounts of both personal and political histories of the province and the country. It is also about John A. MacDonald and his efforts to form Canada into a real country.

We were sitting at Anne’s table and we were all holding our collective breath when Anne’s name was called out. It was a real treat to be there, one year to the day from her launch at the Bushwakker so of course, when the official gala event was over, we had to go back to the scene of the crime and finish our celebration with a pint or two.

We were also pleased that Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers took home prizes in in three categories. The authors, Carmen Robertson and David Cronlund Anderson led a University of Regina trip to Peru that Morgan went on a few years ago.

The guest speaker was Mark Abley. Although Mark has deep Saskatchewan roots, he lives and works Montreal. He is a poet and a columnist for the Montreal Gazette.

We used to live in the same neighbourhood in Pointe Claire and one of his daughters went to school with Chris for a few years.

To top it all off, we were all surprised at the end of the evening when I somehow managed to win the raffle and took home chocolates, a bottle of wine, hand painted wine glasses, a copy of each of the winning books and a gift certificate for the Willow on Wascana, one of our favorite Regina restaurants.

Lukiwski Disingenuous About CBC

A Team Member Tom Boy Lukiwski

I recently wrote to my Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski about my concerns about the recent cuts to the CBC. I recieved his response today. Tom must think I am stupid. I found his simplistic response insulting.

I responded this afternoon and that letter is below.

Dear Sir:

I am in receipt of your letter concerning your Government's cuts to the CBC Dated April 23, 2012.

While I am sure its content was provided to you as a kind of form letter so you could respond to the many of your constituents who have written to you and to your colleagues over the past few weeks about our concerns about sustainability of the Corporation I would like to pursue a few of your points a bit further.

First let me say that I agree with you that the Liberals cut the CBC's budget substantially during the Chretien years just as the Government did under Conservative Brian Mulroney. So, it is true you are not alone. Attacking he CBC has been a Government sport for some time.

I do find your statements that the CBC will now be able to focus on "new digital technologies" and have a stronger presence in communities to be not much more than bafflegab. Ask the people in Northern Saskatchewan if they think the closing of the La Ronge station will help to do that.

Further you should not forget that with these cuts, the CBC will no longer have the technical facilities nor the trained personnel to record local music in any of the three prairie provinces. I am not sure how that helps serve local communities or musicians.

I am also particularly interested in your comment that "it will be less expensive for taxpayers, held hostage by fewer unions" Now I know that you, or someone on your staff, just made that up. The CBC held hostage by their unions? What poppycock. You are very out of touch.

I trust you know what a shit sandwich is. Just in case you don't the internet describes it as "The news is dressed up with first a positive friendly statement then the crap in the middle, and then a positive statement like "thanks for taking the time to write" to take the edge off things at the end.

In any case, this writing style, I find quite offensive and it seems, all I ever get from you.

I am passing your letter on to the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting as an example of the double speak we have come to expect from you. Who knows they may give you some kind of honourable mention for disingenuous efforts to justify the actions of your government.

Sincerely

Gord Hunter

How the Government is Screwing Canadian Workers

Well. It is hard believe to what lengths Harper and his gang of thugs will go, to screw Canadian workers all in the name of the economy.

This time the Government has bent to pressure from the industry - again - and made it easier to bring in foreign workers into Canada. The waiting time will be shorter and employers will be able to exploit incoming workers further by paying them 15% lower than the average wage for the job into which they are hired, in the area.

This is a great deal for business but the effect is, that it keeps wages down for Canadians. I don't claim to know how it works across the board  but I know more about how the influx of foreign workers has effected the transportation industry.

In the last several years it has been difficult for trucking companies to lure young,qualified Canadian workers into their industry. It is a tough life, with long hours on the road and a lot of time away from home. And,  to top it off, people don't make a hell of a lot of money doing it.

The result is, that trucking companies are always looking for new recruits and if truth be known, often hire high risk drivers simply because they are scraping the bottom of the driver pool.

So what is the problem? Lots of jobs are tough. What makes this industry unique.

Well, to start with, it wouldn't be unfair to characterize their industrial relations practices within the trucking industry as neanderthal.

• They push drivers to drive more hours than regulations allow then abandon them when they are caught doctoring their log books. 
• When poorly maintained equipment is discovered and the driver ticketed for it by inspectors, they leave to driver to fight the ticket on their own time and on their own expense.
• They take a laisse faire approach to health and safety
• Ask drivers to go out on the road with trucks with poor tires and bad brakes
• They push drivers out on the road when conditions are simply unsafe to do so
• Health benefits and pensions are appallingly low.
• They cheat drivers on their wages and
• They pay wages lower than the rest of the community.
• Drivers are paid by the mile so, if road closures or weather strands them. They can sit for a couple of says with no pay.
• When road conditions are bad, their regular 8 hour run, can take 14 or 16 hours. Then they do it all again the next day.

 Why, you have to ask, do they get away with this? Why do people stay?

People stay because it was a career they choose years ago and they options for a career change are limited.

The industry could, if they wanted to, make the industry a great one to work in. It isn't that tough but it does require a bit of initiative and the ability to think outside the box. Not common traits found amongst truck company managers.

Instead of jumping into the breach, getting together and fixing what has to be fixed they decided that there was no need to go that far. They didn't have to. The Government jumped in to the rescue.

Now instead of paying a decent wage and improving working conditions it is easier to bring drivers in from abroad. They first went to UK but, when the word about the Canadian's treatment of workers got back to Britain, that pool dried up. They then went  to the Ukraine, then Indonesia and Mexico. They went anywhere that the economy was soft. Where people were desperate to find a better life.

Drivers and mechanics were hired in all these countries and brought to Canada to fill the jobs. It didn't matter that many of them had never even seen snow, let alone driven in a prairie blizzard or through the mountains in snow.

It doesn't take long for these guys to figure out they are being exploited and few stay beyond their original commitment or, they do stay until they qualify to stay here in Canada then they move on to another industry.

Meanwhile, Canadian drivers and mechanics continue to work for less than they should  and governments do less and less to help train Canadian workers and they continue to undercut them by bringing in a continuous stream of workers to exploit.

Trucking is only one example. In large construction projects in Saskatchewan employers continue complain that they can't get skilled workers but they still want to pay less that they do in Alberta, with less benefits To help them out, Premier Brad Wall travelled to Ireland to hire unemployed Irish workers while increasing technical school tuition making it more difficult for local men and women to afford job training.

Not a Very Christian Response

A couple of issues that are bound to get the people in small town Saskatchewan all riled up are gun control and prayer.

Bumper sticker with sayings like "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" are common out here on the prairie. The gun registry never was about outlawing guns but telling that to a Conservative was risky. You just might get shot.

This week there is a bit of a stir in Middle Lake Saskatchewan about prayer. It seems that five or six of the 17 graduating seniors at Three Lakes School in Middle Lake voted against having a prayer before the meal at graduation celebrations. Jacob Nantau led the charge to reject the religious observance from the celebration thought perhaps a neutral moment of silence would be more appropriate in a public school.

For his efforts Nantau has been harassed, had religious tracts stuffed into his locker and had his car vandalized several times which doesn't seem to me to be a very Christian response.