Did Ontario Tories really just double down on “right to work” agenda?

Published January 21, 2014

Ontario Tory leader Tim Hudak raised eyebrows when he released a jobs plan last week that didn’t include any reference to “right to work” legislation. Making union dues voluntary is popular in some conservative circles, especially in the United States. It weakens unions so they can’t bargain or organize effectively. Hudak had been talking up […]

Thank unions for the weekend: corporate exec

Published January 18, 2014

In a recent roundtable about unions moderated by the Canadian HR Reporter, a senior executive at Canadian Pacific explains what unions accomplish for everyone. “When you talk to anyone remotely connected to the world, they understand the role of unions providing what we have today. They’re a key driver in the creation of the middle-class, […]

The one chart that blows anti-union arguments out of the water

Published January 15, 2014

“What have the unions ever done for us?” Well, they reduce poverty, for one. As part of its Rights at Work campaign, Unifor pulled together the data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on some of the world’s most developed countries to compare the impact of unionization on a country’s poverty rate. Look: the […]

Old-school Tory schools Stephen Harper on fair wages

Published December 8, 2013

Old-school Tory Hugh Segal stands out in the Senate for standing up to Stephen Harper. His latest act of independence came this weekend, when Segal spoke about how important collective bargaining rights and fair wages are to Canada’s economy. Segal reminded people that the old Tory party believed in these tenets, just as the Conservative […]

Five federal bills to watch

Published November 22, 2013

Bills on the legislative docket say a lot about the Conservative government’s priorities. Here are five you should know about. 1. Bill C-2 is at Second Reading in the House of Commons. The government calls it the Respect for Communities Act, but a more apt name is An Act to Use Drug Addicts to Fearmonger About Harm Reduction. […]

10 new Conservative Party policies to worry about

Published November 4, 2013

Now that the dust has settled, here’s a roundup of 10 new policies of the Conservative Party that passed at the party’s weekend convention in Calgary — and why they’re bad for Canada. The party wants the government to: 1. Bring in a less progressive taxation system to cut taxes for the rich and have less tax revenue overall […]