Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1996-02-28, Page 10Page 10 - Luekuow Se. t net Wednesday,. February gp 1996 00 from Bruce a by Cluis Slosr Nearly 1,009 Bruce County residents descended in Canada's steel city Saturday to help east an i rndeliblo mark ita, Ontario's history b s • In what was one of the the protests P r cvi. ace • has ever seen, union.mein- bets, social justice groups and 'concernedcitizens from the county throughout joined " about 1204 0.00 O tarians-. in Hamilton -to pretest the.Harris gc ,1`e r- n invents :economic policies'' and proposedchanges to :. social spending. The Bruce County contin- gent ntiii'i- gent was driven to protest thatthe provin- cialconcerns h government's plan to lay-off :thousands of public Sector workers will wreak havoc on the area's :econo- my. Less jobs means less money in -Bruce County, said Don McAngus, presi- dent of Local 1330 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (LUPE). "Cuts to the public 'sectorr cut off income and cut off cash flow to the local economy," McAngus, who represents r maitatenence and trade staff at the Bruce County Board . of Education, said laid` off public_ sector workers won't have the, money, to a buy goods and: services in the area, That means small: rbusiiessownersand Work- ers in Bruce Count. will have a hard time finding s ..ni and being uc- cu t� erng � cessfuil he continued. McAngus said Bruce . ad MPP° Barb Fisher inits�, Tess jobsin: the area will result in a stagnant;econo . toypTory ' but � her yarn.4 ,.. tir!Q � mit continuo ° to talk about layoffs. • fat t e Ontario gov- ernment is reportedly plan- ninglay offto ..., ping to lay. ;. up,. 2`1�OUA public sector workers in the province as part ,of; its attempt t � reduce costs amp o � anfl eliminate the -deficit. The government is also considering the privatiza- tion of Crown corporations such as the LC130 and Ontario Hydro. And, the ministry of education is about to announce signifi- cant changes to. the way the province's schools are run. All of these' measures Would most likely result in the elimination of 'thousauds of public sector jobs across the province, , "We're }concerned. about rural Ontario, <. said Mark Cg iava `-tic.'president %lA. of the Bruce County branch of the Ontario 'Secondary School `feache[s'l ederatien. There are ome.;.5,000 workers, or more, who work. for the public service in Bruce County, That's an awful lot of money that goes i in to,the-local :econemy. and back to the governinent (th rou h taxes),". s)q. Ciavaglia said Mil f the gov- ernment starts eliminating jobs through: layoffs, nt onlywill people -not be able to support local businesses but'they will have to move , to cities. to find work. There is very little opportunity now forP Peo le in rural areas, Ciavaglia said, and':. F eliminating..:.ublic. sector jobs- will only exacerbate the problem. Dennis Fry, divisional. chairperson of the Power Workers Union (PWU) at BNPD, echoed Ciavaglia's concerns,. He said the gov- ernment's: proposed .private- zation of Ontario Hydro a would drivejobs out of Bruce 1 otiiity, Private own- ers, Fry said, would undoubtedly downsize_ the workforce, and 'lay off many, workers. Fly also said histoctcally, , privatization has forced the concepts of profit and taxa - tic into Ileprae f hydro. In the past, he said, privatiz- ing hydro rivatiz=ingg'hydro companies has• meant an increase in user rates. 1 The .fleetfof _ . 15 buses that.. carried Bruce .CountY Pro- testers to ro-testers'to the marsh was the result of the ce-ordinating efforts o the- county's f a h.; c ut�ty s teachers, educational sup- port up- P ort staff, `secretarial''and` custodial unions, CWE. representatives and ' the PWU. The.. protesters joined thousands of otherdemon- strators from throughout the province at Bayfront Park in. Hamilton, Then, represent- ing an impressive cross -sec- tion: -of the ' Qatar.° public, see workers side- by-side � ed sil- e by -side with' teachers, health care workers, church .. group and social : justice members, hydro;.workers e e. and, the unemployed. They Ilton rotest marched three km through Hamilton's downtown core to Copps Coliseum. The streets surrounding, the.; .march were largely e des rted, however setae people did line the. parade • route. Many cheered sup' port for the protesters, oth- ers simply watched. Protesterss chanted and waved placardsto express their their anger and.frustration with what�_. the government in. )efwas a peaceful march, . 1 e • ljarry �VVo..fe,dp�re�td nt of the Bruce County braileh of the Ontario Public School "Teachers Federation .said the province's deficit has been incurred over the past 45 ears byevery Ontario ,.Y Y� t ,. citizen. Now, the,. said, the. Harris government wants to eliminate it in less than three years, largely.. on the backs of the public. sector. ",It's: not fair, just or right," Wolfe said. Demonstrators said they. realize the deficit is a prob- lem; but the government's cuts are too much, too fast. They said they wanted to show the .government that Ontarians .from all back- grounds ackgrounds are unified in their opposit.k a to the • spertding cute, They also hoped the demonstration would help educate: the public as :to the effects of the,:govenii ent7 ' .. .economic policies and, spending reductions, Many protesters santthis Was, their "first protest' and .. they were glad' they had taken part. They said protcstingg in a peaceful way is another -mons of .partici- patine in: the democratic • process, u leaving i see eavang l�rwncaxdne stopped at Bruce WIPP -Barb Fisher's office on 'the way to Hamilton to drop offs let- ters writtenby teachers, families and citizens con cerned about the effect's of government cutbacks in`, Bruce County. The letters included family pictures in an attempt to "put a human face on the proposed cuts," according to ,Colleen Bastian, Bruce president of the Federation of Women Teachers Association of Ontario.."We want the . goy errnent to. know these cuts, . are affecting real People and • real families:.' • Expect byScott Hendof il g After seeing, a winter withsma+ll,reductionsiii • snowP low'servicefrom' government. cuts, Bruce County residerits. can expect much less with the Ontario Employees= Public Service Union,.OPSEU, strikein. full swing. "Basically, you're, not goingto have ;.much in. pl pi vv said ` o s or sanders,Bob "id Barron,� site n� a - .� -work, representative He and sixother OPSEU members were, picketing at the' Ministry of Transportation's Kincardine patrol yard. They join ' more' than 55,000; public servants able 'to strike . bytoday. bout,:l2�00govern- ment, o v r. n- xent,workers areconsid-: ered' essential -'and cannot strike, three of which work at the Kincardineatrol ard* P Of those ; three, one Burin essential employee is a Ministry. of Transportation plow : operator. Under... nor- mal �, circuimstance, the Kincardine yard has two to three other hired plows available in wintery weath- er. "We're only going to plow when there is an accu- mulation of snow," Barron said. :. That accumulation will haveto. be 12 centimetres. ''We're not plowing.any ramps or shoulders." He. also said they will only be spreading salt and sand when .there are ice or freezing rain conditions: Plows and sand trucks that would normally, be out when snow starts : falling, will sit idle until the snow reaches the 42 centimetre mark. There are picket lines set up at yards in Durham, Meaford, Clavering and Owen Sound. ' .CuG©tiinawrhl`iiwww ww D Huron County, Complete 1-1 13 13 b 113 y "' ur.:" Hprop001.0. ` fjeL k 0.w rp t: res, '9.6 edition 3� 000 .c r c.i tier co rin Hu on r sauce .ou ti. ..co in rc 1'3 1996 y+ UCk w►' Commuhify° Cenf e BINGO •Sunday, March 3 1996 4..41 + ►. Winner Ross, Sounders riders 'Ifiraiker n at 6:30rt,:nt. Ingo starts at y:15 .1'rlr o Headquarters •lJ %IAA Mid-sized Cars D . cP Passenger i Cargo„ Q 0 ' . Vann Pickup Truck ' p Daily, Weekly, 1Vlurltl�lyo D rj insuran ce,Rentals & •u More • 13: D ',ante Deltvei r p a CIA* about our. • transpertailon service © 11 13 -Q' D D' ' O CAR & :Tlt1rC RENTALS . b. bion of Suncoa t Ford 0 5t10 Enron pd., 0oderlch al' CAU, C�CGTAsk for Helen • o 113 l'52.4834711.tit tc : gm 1 est N agrg