Law Times

Page 6 April 14, 2014 • lAw Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT Elections bill Go back to the drawing board ormer Reform party leader Preston Manning got it right in ex- pressing his concerns about the fair elections act last week. "It seems to me that the biggest challenge that we have with [the] Canadian electoral system is not its fairness, although one has to address that, but it is this declining participation in elections generally," the Toronto Star quoted him as telling a parliamentary committee last week. So while the government has every right to seek to tighten the rules to ensure fair elections, it's also equally important to look for ways to maintain and increase voter participation. With turnouts de- clining, it's crucial, in fact. It was good, then, to hear Manning and respected former auditor general Sheila Fraser expressing their concerns about the move to re- strict Elections Canada's ability to conduct outreach activities aimed at encouraging voter participation. At the same time, critics have raised legitimate worries about the bill's proposal to end the process whereby one voter can vouch for the identity of someone else. As a result, there's a real concern the act will help decrease voter turnout even further if people are unable to produce the required identifi cation. e Conservatives deserve the benefi t of the doubt that they have real concerns about vouching. But in the absence of concrete evidence that or almost a decade now, succes- sive federal governments have been hammering away at public service unions as they try their best to destroy them. But now the unions are starting to stand up and fi ght for what they repre- sent. And with a federal election set for 2015, it's more important than ever. e union leaders and militants had a beautiful occasion to get together recent- ly at a meeting of the Broadbent Institute in Ottawa. ey had a whole ballroom to themselves and made the best of it. Elizabeth Woods of the Public Service Alliance of Canada reminded her audi- ence Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government had announced in 2012 it would lay off or downsize something like 19,000 public servants and save $5.2 bil- lion in the process. As members of the PSAC, public ser- vants in Ottawa have front-row seats to watch the slaughter. Woods told her au- dience the Conservative government is creating stress among workers fi ghting over the remaining public service jobs as it cuts services to the public. She talked about workers having to tell people: "Sor- ry, I can't help you with your income tax; you'll have to call this toll-free number." At the same time, there have been legislative eff orts targeting unions. Bill C-377, for example, was an attempt to force unions to tell the government how they use the dues they collect. ere seems to be no end to it, Woods told the audience. " e government points the fi nger at public servants, saying they are privileged, draining taxpayer resources, that their working conditions are too good for them, and that they should be satisfi ed with less," she said. ere has been a massive, consis- tent, and largely successful campaign by the Conservative government to knock down unions. Woods described situa- tions where public service workers are afraid to stand up for their union. A worker came to her and said: "I agree with what you're doing, but don't make me wear a union T-shirt in front of my colleagues. People in my union know I'm militant, so they don't want to talk too much to me because by association it would mean they, too, are in the union." Even management's attitude has changed. "I have more trouble now to obtain a room to hold a meeting," said Woods. "We've had labour confl icts with the government in the past but now we feel our right to exist is being challenged." Roxane Larouche, direc- tor of the national commu- nications offi ce of the United Food and Commercial Work- ers Canada, said: " e attacks by the right are as plain as the nose on your face." Business and the Harper government are in it together against workers, she said. "Last year in the Harper government's omnibus Bill C-38, workers who lose their job now have to take a job up to 100 kilometres from their home at 70 per cent of their previous salary." Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, brought a tale of horrors and of continu- ing collusion between Harper, Canada Post Corp., and private enterprise. In 2011 following a lockout, Harper turned Canada Post into an essential service, passed a back-to-work law, and reduced the salaries postal workers had negotiated. In 2012, Harper increased postal workers' pension contributions by 40 to 50 per cent. e move meant a $700 an- nual increase in contributions. en came Bill C-60. Under it, the federal government gives 59 Crown cor- porations directives on what to put on the negotiating table. Last December, the government ac- quiesced to Canada Post's four-year plan to end home delivery, raise the cost of sending a letter to $1, and privatize cor- porate post offi ces. "We see collusion to eliminate 6,000 to 8,000 jobs and the next step, if we don't stop it, will be privatiza- tion and a levelling off of salaries from the bottom," said Lemelin. e only answer is for the public ser- vice unions to band together before the next election and explain to members of the public how they also lose out when workers come under attack and the gov- ernment cuts public services. "It will require an organized campaign to mobilize workers into a common or- ganization to bring about a diff erent so- ciety," said Lemelin. At the end of the workshop, the au- dience le the room more determined than ever to fi ght for workers despite the continuing parliamentary setbacks and legislative defeats. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@rogers.com. ©2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, com- pleteness or currency of the contents of this pub- lication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. 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As we know, the actual problem we have seen is the mis- use of robocalls, and the bill rightly takes aim at that through a mandatory public registry and beefi ng up penalties for misconduct. With so much division over the bill and the need to tackle voter participation as much as elections fraud, the government should reconsider its position. An elections bill is something that should have broad support and it's clear this one doesn't. Go back to the drawing board and come up with a bill that focuses on the real problems in our elections system. — Glenn Kauth F The Hill Richard Cleroux F

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