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1 June, 2009
Seven sit-ins at rural offices of three MPs and four Ministers – including Canada’s Finance, Treasury, and Inter-Governmental Affairs Ministries – got Stephen Harper’s attention and the question now is will his government listen. Tomorrow, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union will stage another manifestation on the crisis facing the forest sector, this time a protest and march that will lead to direct face-to-face talks with the Harper team in Ottawa.
The sit-ins were carried out early last week in an escalating strategy by the CEP to spotlight the mass job and social loss that has overtaken forest-based communities across Canada. CEP is adamant that it is Harper’s responsibility to find the answers. And CEP is ready to work with government to ensure the correct measures are found.
March and Rally
Tuesday, June 2
The sit-ins follow mid-May strategy meetings and a protest at AbitibiBowater’s headquarters in Montréal. That protest was directed more at the Harper government than at the bankrupt newsprint company. Last week’s sit-ins at the rural offices of key lawmakers mean this issue will stay focused on rural Canada’s very survival and way-of-life.
Tomorrow, 2 June, at 11h30 in Ottawa, the CEP will rally first at the offices of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Riatt and then march to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s building. They then will meet with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose Ontario offices in Whitby-Oshawa were the only CEP-occupied offices not in a rural area.
Six of the seven sit-ins across four of Canada’s provinces produced immediate results. Three sit-ins occurred in rural government offices in Québec, two in British Colombia, and one each in New Brunswick and Ontario. In British Colombia, an MP, Jay Hill, a lead Tory whip in Ottawa from Prince George/Peace River riding, was the only legislator refusing CEP’s invitation to discuss the crisis. At the other occupation in British Colombia, inside the offices of John Duncan, Vancouver Island North riding, the CEP spokesman for the occupying team, promised, “We plan to keep on making noise and do whatever we have to do” to move this government to action.
The CEP is demanding financial support for the industry at the federal level. The union is also demanding iron-clad protections on pensions, something that will not be compromised. And CEP will insist tomorrow that the Harper government must enact industry tax relief for companies’ converting black-liquor from the wood-pulp process to energy. That set of tax breaks exists for pulp and paper firms in the US and the CEP insists on a level playing field.
The CEP is also demanding a national summit on the forestry crisis in which key stakeholders will decide on strict guidelines aimed at employment stabilisation and forest regeneration measures. The sit-ins made one targeted politician jump on that idea quickly. In Québec, the Minister for Inter-Governmental Affairs, said she will convene such a summit.
ICEM affiliate CEP calculates that 55,000 jobs in the forestry sector have been lost over the past two years alone. Far more were lost in earlier years. The impact of these good-paying jobs on others in rural communities – when those jobs disappear – is immense and the ripple effects must be multiplied to get the real economic picture.