Ever since the Electro-Motive Canada lockout began, accusations have been directed against London’s three Conservative MPs and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Calls were made for Stephen Harper and local MPs to intervene on behalf of the locked-out workers.
That they reacted with indifference could hardly have been considered a surprise, given their party’s hostility to unions. Nevertheless, almost as much anger is directed against Conservatives as at EMD owner Caterpillar. Outrage at the company’s actions spread quickly through Canada, as seen in the spread of boycotts and protests.
But it is in Southwestern Ontario where this struggle has had the most resonance. What was once Ontario’s industrial heartland is struggling with one of the highest rates of unemployment in Canada. People in London recognize that whether the union had accepted Caterpillar’s offer or whether the jobs moved to the U.S., the effect on the local economy will be the same.
Anger is not confined to those normally pro-union, but includes local businesses and London’s mayor, a former Liberal cabinet minister. The usual right-wing response that unionized workers are overpaid was stretched to the breaking point by a demand for half wages and benefits from a company making record profits.
It is not so much its inaction that looks bad on the Harper government, but that the lockout undermines its argument that corporate tax cuts produce jobs. Electro-Motive Canada, under a previous owner, was given $5 million in tax cuts by Harper personally. The Harper government recently lowered Canada’s corporate tax rate by an additional 1.5%, voluntarily cutting almost $3 billion from government revenue. This at a time when it is planning massive budget cuts to reduce its deficit.
The lockout is equally damning to the Conservative claim that free trade will attract job-creating foreign investment. The federal Conservatives are finishing up a new free-trade deal with Europe and have plans for a deal with India next. Given the fact that the government will not discuss the details of these free-trade negotiations, there is no way of knowing whether they would leave Canada more vulnerable to actions like those of Caterpillar’s.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has largely escaped the anger directed toward Harper. That may be in part because Harper is seen as more of a poster boy for the free-market policies.
But McGuinty is equally committed to corporate tax cuts and free trade. He is planning to cut another $2 billion in corporate taxes in the 2012 budget, and is an enthusiastic supporter of free trade, even if a deal with Europe risks overturning local content rules in the Green Energy Act, his chief response to Ontario’s manufacturing losses.
Given Harper’s preference for an Alberta-style resource economy, his indifference to Ontario’s manufacturing losses can be understood. For McGuinty, the Caterpillar lockout hits closer to home.
Queen’s Park cannot escape the fallout if the Electro-Motive Canada lockout and closure becomes the new norm for labour relations in Ontario. The loss of tax revenue and the social service costs of entire communities with double-digit unemployment would ensure that Ontario would not escape from have-not status for decades to come.
Harper can use his majority government to safely ride out the next four years. McGuinty has no such luxury.
Original Article
Source: lf press
Author: James Ede
That they reacted with indifference could hardly have been considered a surprise, given their party’s hostility to unions. Nevertheless, almost as much anger is directed against Conservatives as at EMD owner Caterpillar. Outrage at the company’s actions spread quickly through Canada, as seen in the spread of boycotts and protests.
But it is in Southwestern Ontario where this struggle has had the most resonance. What was once Ontario’s industrial heartland is struggling with one of the highest rates of unemployment in Canada. People in London recognize that whether the union had accepted Caterpillar’s offer or whether the jobs moved to the U.S., the effect on the local economy will be the same.
Anger is not confined to those normally pro-union, but includes local businesses and London’s mayor, a former Liberal cabinet minister. The usual right-wing response that unionized workers are overpaid was stretched to the breaking point by a demand for half wages and benefits from a company making record profits.
It is not so much its inaction that looks bad on the Harper government, but that the lockout undermines its argument that corporate tax cuts produce jobs. Electro-Motive Canada, under a previous owner, was given $5 million in tax cuts by Harper personally. The Harper government recently lowered Canada’s corporate tax rate by an additional 1.5%, voluntarily cutting almost $3 billion from government revenue. This at a time when it is planning massive budget cuts to reduce its deficit.
The lockout is equally damning to the Conservative claim that free trade will attract job-creating foreign investment. The federal Conservatives are finishing up a new free-trade deal with Europe and have plans for a deal with India next. Given the fact that the government will not discuss the details of these free-trade negotiations, there is no way of knowing whether they would leave Canada more vulnerable to actions like those of Caterpillar’s.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has largely escaped the anger directed toward Harper. That may be in part because Harper is seen as more of a poster boy for the free-market policies.
But McGuinty is equally committed to corporate tax cuts and free trade. He is planning to cut another $2 billion in corporate taxes in the 2012 budget, and is an enthusiastic supporter of free trade, even if a deal with Europe risks overturning local content rules in the Green Energy Act, his chief response to Ontario’s manufacturing losses.
Given Harper’s preference for an Alberta-style resource economy, his indifference to Ontario’s manufacturing losses can be understood. For McGuinty, the Caterpillar lockout hits closer to home.
Queen’s Park cannot escape the fallout if the Electro-Motive Canada lockout and closure becomes the new norm for labour relations in Ontario. The loss of tax revenue and the social service costs of entire communities with double-digit unemployment would ensure that Ontario would not escape from have-not status for decades to come.
Harper can use his majority government to safely ride out the next four years. McGuinty has no such luxury.
Original Article
Source: lf press
Author: James Ede
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