Labour

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-386, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time this afternoon with the member for Windsor West.

It will not surprise members that I am speaking in opposition to the Conservatives' budget implementation bill at third reading. We in the NDP moved 62 amendments to the government's budget that would have immeasurably improved the bill by taking out the most contentious sections and allowing them to be dealt with in stand-alone bills.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Madam Speaker, although amendments are an important part of the legislative process, my amendments today would be superfluous if the government had not dumped a number of non-budget items into Bill C-9. However, it did, so I am moving an amendment to delete all sections from C-9 that deal with Canada Post.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Conservative everything-but-the-kitchen-sink budget is yet another giant step away from the promise of transparency that these supposed reformists rode in on.

This Trojan horse is stuffed with all sorts of measures the government does not have the courage to present to Canadians as stand-alone bills. It is an abuse of power taken straight from the Liberal playbook, and it is an abuse of the trust of Canadians.

If the government has nothing to hide, why is it burying so many nefarious initiatives in one omnibus bill?

NDP bolsters spirits of Vale Inco workers as strike entering 11th month

Welland Tribune

Posted By CAROLYN MULLIGAN/QMI Agency

SUDBURY — Striking Steelworkers are being urged to demonstrate the same courage now that their predecessors did when they fought, bled and even died for the right to assemble and demand a fair deal in the workplace.

A meeting like the one held Friday morning at the Steelworkers' Hall at 66 Brady St. would have been illegal in his grandparents' day, Hamilton Centre MP David Christopherson told 200 Steelworkers.

Local 6500 urged to be courageous at union meeting

CAROL MULLIGAN, The Sudbury Star

Striking Steelworkers are being urged to demonstrate the same courage now that their predecessors did when they fought, bled and even died for the right to assemble and demand a fair deal in the workplace.

A meeting like the one held Friday morning at the Steelworkers' Hall at 66 Brady St. would have been illegal in his grandparents' day, Hamilton Centre MP David Christopherson told 200 Steelworkers.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the government is failing Canadian workers. Worse, it is actually endangering workers’ safety.

A report released yesterday showed that while the provinces have cut the number of disabling workplace injuries by 25%, the number of serious injuries in federal workplaces like Canada Post and the trucking industry has increased. It is no coincidence that those rates rose at the same time the government cut the number of workplace inspectors.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): On behalf of the NDP Caucus, it is an honour to rise in this House today to commemorate the National Day of Mourning in somber remembrance of workers killed, injured, or exposed to toxins at work.

Chris Charlton, MP (Hamilton Mountain, NDP) Mr. Speaker, I spoke to the Conservative government’s Budget when it was first tabled in this House and, unfortunately, I won’t have the opportunity today to go into detail again about what a profoundly negative impact it will have on seniors and hard-working Canadians.

Let me just re-iterate some of the key points that I raised last month.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, workers in Hamilton are still reeling after the abrupt announcement by Siemens that it will be closing its doors, putting 550 people out of work.

The province lost a “competitive process” to Charlotte, North Carolina, a state that will not only get our current jobs, but $130 million expansion as well.