Green Party launches investigation into Elizabeth May after Hill Times, Toronto Star report on allegations of workplace bullying
The federal Green Party has launched an investigation into allegations of workplace bullying against party leader Elizabeth May after former party employees came forward to The Hill Times and Toronto Star to accuse the veteran politician of being verbally abusive and creating a hostile work environment. Speaking to reporters in Centre Block on Monday, Ms. May (Sannich-Gulf Islands, […]
Are we facing the end of jobs?
The Canada Service Corps is to be the new youth service program to help instil a sense of service, community, and work ethic among young people. The program announced by Prime Minister (and Youth Minister) Justin Trudeau is an old idea coming back that will have new urgency in a rapidly evolving world. And the […]
Public service needs better data to measure diversity, says task force
Planning the future of diversity in the public service is not possible with out-of-date data, leaving certain groups unintentionally sidelined, a joint task force studying equity initiatives found, after a months-long examination of inclusion and diversity in the public service. In its final report released Dec. 11—Building a Diverse and Inclusive Public Service—the joint union-management […]
Summer jobs program anti-abortion clause is a crock of Liberal nonsense
OTTAWA—When Justin Trudeau’s government was elected in late 2015, one of the things the then incoming prime minister signalled was there would be a change in tone and approach: a lot less smash-mouth wedge-type politics that typified the Harper era. So it has taken many by surprise to see the Canada Summer Jobs program become […]
NAFTA leaves workers coming up short
While NAFTA talks continue in Ottawa, very little focuses on its impacts on working people. Before committing to any agreement, we need to ensure that Canadians’ lives and our communities have been improved by this trade relationship. Twenty-three years ago when NAFTA was originally negotiated by the Mulroney Conservatives, they tried to sell Canadian workers […]
Chief trade promoter embodies work-life, public-private balance
Ailish Campbell’s eight-year-old son tells his friends his mom sells bread and airplanes. And he’s not totally wrong—wheat and aircraft are two of Canada’s largest exports. As Canada’s chief trade commissioner, Ms. Campbell travels about one week per month promoting Canadian business, helping Canadian exporters, and attracting foreign investment. “I’m like, ‘okay cool, on some […]
Greed is not a social policy
OTTAWA—When the CBC sought comment about efforts by Tim Hortons heirs Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri Lynn Horton-Joyce to recoup benefits from employees soon to be making $14 an hour, the reporter was told the pair wouldn’t be available to comment because they were at their winter home in Florida. Of course it wasn’t only […]
Senate ethics officer halts Meredith harassment probe pending outside inquiry
The Senate’s ethics watchdog has suspended a two-year investigation into allegations of workplace harassment by former Ontario Conservative Senator Don Meredith pending the results of a probe by another authority. On Dec. 1, a notice on the Senate Ethics Office’s website announced that the inquiry “concerning former Senator Don Meredith, regarding allegations raised in a […]
Phoenix backlog up by 70,000 cases, but 54,000 collective agreement cases are priority
A new Phoenix pay system update shows there remain 54,000 open cases related to collective agreements yet to be processed, signalling the lingering backlog will probably continue for several months. There were 335,000 cases beyond normal workload reported as of Nov. 29, meaning a total of 589,000 open cases are waiting to be processed, according to […]
Buildings key to Canada’s clean-energy future
In Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr’s recent piece in these pages on the Generation Energy conference, he cites three things Canadians can do to work towards Canada’s clean-energy future: expand and improve renewable energy sources; decrease the greenhouse gas footprint of non-renewable energy consumption; and use less of both. When it comes to addressing the […]
