Municipal Elections 2010

Municipal Elections 2010

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) campaign to endorse and help elect candidates in the recent Ontario municipal election met with significant success as over 1200 endorsed mayors, councillors and trustees were elected. Locally the Grey-Bruce Labour Council endorsed two school trustee candidates and three candidates for councillor. The effort was a clear success as all but one candidate is now in office.

CLC political action campaigns and activities implemented by local labour councils and local unions have become a centrepiece of the work to protect working families in our communities. Working families have fallen victim to a never ending list of legislative and policy initiatives at all levels of government that have robbed them of jobs and dignity and for those that remain in the workplace the necessary protection that regulations pertaining to the workplace provide. Examples of such initiatives would be bad trade deals, failure to develop a reasonable industrial jobs strategy, protection of social and healthcare services, failure to adopt “card-check” certification to make unionization easier and failure to adopt “made in Canada” policies by some municipalities (quite acceptable under even free trade agreements).

Elevating the political activity of those that represent the interests of working families is an absolute necessity to ensure a worker’s voice. Too often the voices of the right receive the attention of government and media; after all they have such catchy phrases as “I will end the gravy train” which is closely attributed to the new mayor of Toronto. Running and endorsing candidates that stand in clear opposition to such meaningless platitudes and vicious attacks on working people is an absolute necessity. More locally and in our region there are those that no doubt aspire to the equivalent in right wing views, but between the endorsed candidates and those with strong social conviction already in place the absolute necessity of working through the CLC and Labour Council to elect and then hold accountable those elected is critical.

This municipal election stands ahead of what is expected to be a federal election in the spring and a provincial election in the fall and the successes of this municipal campaign now holds the lessons to lead those who believe in the value of working people to greater success at the ballot box next year and in four years back at the municipal level. On behalf of the Grey-Bruce Labour I offer thanks to all those that worked to elect candidates that are friends of working people and to offer encouragement to all candidates to put working families first.

Dave Trumble
President Grey-Bruce Labour Council

Labour Council Supports Steam Generator Transfer

Dear Editor;
In evaluating the facts associated with the plan to ship used steam generators from Bruce Power to Sweden for recycling the Grey-Bruce Labour Council has resolved to support the shipment. The basic tenets of this support are found in light of the facts that 3-4 million shipments of radioactive material are safely shipped each year in Canada and that this shipment is governed by the same regulations and that the specific radioactivity is significantly lower than the vast majority of these shipments. In addition when it is noted that the entire life cycle of steam generator removal, shipment and recycling process is handled by well trained union members and that the idea of minimizing waste is consistent with all environmental initiatives the Council Delegates were able to strongly support the shipment.
The Labour Council discussed the facts of the issue and heard to some degree the details of the falsehoods put out to needlessly alarm people in respect of this issue. The discussion was fact based and to this end the delegates focused on the responsible and accurate reasons that support this initiative and hopefully that will bring this recycling technology to Canada so the Canadians can carry out this very same project over the next couple of decades when, not if, the remaining CANDU units in Ontario have to have their steam generators removed and the metal recycled.
Dave Trumble
President, Grey-Bruce Labour Council