Government and Democracy

Working people are finally being heard

Published in the Huffington Post July 7, 2016.

There has been a thaw of sorts lately in Ottawa and other corridors of power, as far as labour’s relations with government go – and that’s a good thing for working people across this country.

After a decade of being frozen out by the Harper Conservatives, what we are seeing now is a rebalancing of the voices heard by our members of parliament – including those who sit in cabinet.

Manitoba's Anti-Union Bill Is A Step Backward

Published in the Huffington Post June 22, 2016

 (and I would argue moral) ambiguity about the place of unions in Canada.

Conservative governments who can't rewrite the constitution to take that right away will use underhanded tactics to rob Canadians of their rights at work.

For the latest example of conservative politicians working hard to undermine constitutional rights, just look to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister.

Electoral Reform Is An Important Debate For This Country

Published in the Huffington Post June 16, 2016

Vote with your heart. Vote for the person in your area and the national party you believe will best address your biggest concerns.

That is the ideal of how elections are meant to work, and the guiding principle of those who have long advocated electoral reform to replace our current first past the post system with some form of proportional representation.

New products key to auto bargaining

This was published in the Huffington Post Friday June 10, 2016.

Unifor’s Auto Council made a momentous decision recently about the all-important contract talks to get underway this summer.

In two unanimous votes, the 120 delegates passed resolutions calling for each company to commit to bringing new products to Canada, and to specific investment mandates for Canada for assembly and powertrain operations.

That means there will be no deals with GM, Ford or Fiat-Chrysler without specific commitments from each that we will have new products made right here in Canada.

It’s O’Leary who needs the adult supervision

Published in the Huffington Post Wednesday May 25, 2016

Kevin O’Leary premiers his new reality show this weekend – an all-too real show, in fact.

The man who made a name for himself as the loudest and most offensive cast member of the Dragon’s Den reality TV show will be testing the waters at the Conservative Party convention this weekend for a possible leadership bid.

Investor protection the most insidious part of the TPP

This was published in the Huffington Post on Wednesday May 18, 2016

Much has been written about the immediate negative impact the Trans-Pacific Partnership will have on some of our key economic sectors.

There is no shortage of examples.

Deep and fast cuts to vehicle tariffs and changes to North American content rules would encourage auto companies to move more jobs off-shore to low-wage jurisdictions, costing thousands of jobs.