OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress is asking Canadians to send 20 postcards in 20 days to the prime minister telling him to take action now to end violence against women.

“On December 6th it will be 20 years since 14 young women were murdered in Montreal simply because they were women,” says Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Ironically, as this anniversary approaches, our government is trying to eradicate the firearms registry, the one concrete measure taken to reduce gun violence against women.”

Byers says the CLC and its affiliate unions have distributed thousands of postcards and have asked people to return them to Prime Minister Stephen Harper between November 16th and December 6th. The cards urge him to keep the gun registry, and also contain messages asking that Canada improve the lives of women by: improving the funding of shelters for women and children; investing in new social housing; setting a national standard for welfare rates; providing equal pay for work of equal value; and improving services, including a nationally-funded child care program, better public pensions and access to Employment Insurance.

Byers says, “Rather than promoting women’s equality, the federal government is severely limiting women’s capacity to organize, advocate and lobby. They won’t support women’s equality in the workplace and have limited women’s rights to challenge discrimination before the courts. We will not accept an erosion of our hard-won equality rights and we will not be silenced by a socially conservative government agenda.”

The 20 Days 20 Ways postcards are available on the CLC website. The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.2 million Canadian workers.

Each year, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations make submissions to the federal government as it prepares for the upcoming year’s budget. Below are links to both submissions.

MOFA Federal Budget Submission

CLC Federal Budget Submission

Below is an open letter that was sent June 13, 2009 to the President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council regarding SSHRC’s capitulation to Minster of Science and Technology Gary Goodyear’s intervention regarding the York University conference on Israel/Palestine to be held June 22-24.

CAUT Letter to SSHRC President

CAUT sent the attached letter to the Leader of the Opposition in Senate regarding Bill C-10, The Budget Implementation Act, and the introduction of “equitable compensation” through The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act embedded in this legislation.

Letter on Equitable Compensation

CAUT Analysis of Federal Budget 2009

The 2009 federal Budget comes at a time when the economy is facing its most serious downturn in a generation. The financial meltdown that has spread throughout the world is now being felt in the real economy. Economic growth is retracting rapidly, job losses are mounting, the value of assets and savings are being eroded, and more and more businesses and households are facing bankruptcy… (more)

Missed Opportunities: Budget ignores vital role for post-secondary education

(Ottawa, ON – January 27, 2009) The group representing university and college educators in Canada says today’s federal budget is filled with half-hearted measures that will not adequately stimulate the Canadian economy, will do little for the most vulnerable, and will fail to meet the needs of Canada’s vital post-secondary education sector… (more)

November 30, 2008
To Members of the Executive Council
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The Canadian Labour Congress has been working through the weekend to develop a range of materials that unions and labour activists can use to show their support for an alternative government.

Our web site has been updated to include a message people can send directly to their Liberal, NDP and Bloc Member of Parliament. It also contains information about why Labour supports a Coalition government. In the coming days, we will add information about rallies that are being organized in communities across the country.

Attached is a graphic that we are urging affiliates to place on the front page of their web site and link directly to our e-mail message to MPs.

The links to the email action are:

English / French

In solidarity,

Ken Georgetti,
President
Canadian Labour Congress

Hello NUCAUT members,

Like most of you, I have been overwhelmed by the potentially historic national political activities of the past few days, which started while we ourselves were all in Ottawa attending CAUT Council.

I have been participating in daily teleconference meetings of the CLC Executive Council, commencing last Saturday, with today’s just having been completed. The situation has been evolving at such a rapid pace, and my apologies for not passing on regular updates which in any case have become public very soon after I receive them.

You all know that a Coalition agreement has been signed and announced by the three party leaders at the press conference yesterday, with the Liberals and NDP agreeing to govern (if given the chance) as a Coalition to June 2011, with Bloq support to at least June 2010.

We are being urged to do all we can to educate the public that this is how parliament does work; that a Coalition government should be given a chance now that it’s clear that Harper has lost the confidence of the House. We have evidence (draft letter to gov gen, copied to NDP and Bloq; as well as CBC radio interview) of Harper urging the gov gen in September 2004 to consider allowing the Tories to form a coalition gov’t with the NDP and Bloq should the Liberal minority gov’t fail!

The non-confidence vote is set to happen next Monday, December 8th, but the fear is that Harper’s request to the Gov Gen to prorogue parliament may be granted before that. Constitutionally, parliament can be prorogued for up to 364 days(!), but it would be likely that the gov gen (who is now returning from her European visit) would ask that the Tories have some plan in place for parliament to re-convene in January. Government members have already announced their back-tracking on withholding the $28M to political parties and the banning of public sector strikes to 2011, and a moving ahead of Budget Day to January 27th. All of this of course is just damage-control, with no announcement yet on any economic stimulus plan whatsoever (unique among the G20 governments!).

The Conservatives have commenced their huge PR campaign and costly advertising attempts to convince Canadians of the unfairness of them not being allowed to govern. Latest indications is that their position will be that if a non-confidence vote succeeds then at very least we should have another election to let the people decide.

We are countering with a “Coalition Yes - Make Parliament Work” campaign, with radio and other advertising which you will soon hear. Rallies are being planned for major centres across the country, for this Thursday. The Toronto and Montreal rallies however will be on Saturday. It is expected that the pro-Tory rallies will also be on Saturday. The Coalition rally in Toronto will be at Nathan Phillips Square, with the Tory one set for Queen’s Park.

We are encouraging our members to attend the pro-Coalition rallies, each of which will be presided over by a community leader, with a senior Liberal MP and NDP MP speaking. We are also encouraging our members to participate in the education of the public as to the legitimacy of a coalition government, through conversations, email messages, letters to the editor, poll-participation, etc. Proroguing Parliament is not the answer!

Dileep J A Athaide
Secretary-Treasurer
Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE)

Please see link below, a letter which has been sent by CLC President KenGeorgetti to Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Brother Georgetti’s letter contains some valuable suggestions on how to begin to address the crises in the manufacturing and forestry sectors in Canada.

Federal Budget 2008 - CLC