Hot Tubbin' For Justice

This afternoon, I left my apartment with the intention of going for a walk in Kitsilano to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. As I approached the bus stop I noticed the Vancouver Police Department had blocked off the intersection at Broadway and Fir. It wasn't very clear what was going on so I walked down to get a closer look to check out the situation. The closer I got I realized that it was a protest march - and then I saw the familiar shade of fuschia poking out of the crowd - the CUPE flag! There was a float at the front along with the vibrant sounds of a dixieland band and the marchers carried signs, black coffins and banners in support of the Rainer Hotel . It was a strong image that was tasteful and and a great example of the power of respectful civil disobedience. Well organized and well planned - mad props to CUPE 1004 for organizing. Marching along Broadway - what a procession! I ran into one of the exec members of CUPE 1004 and asked wha...

The most important thing I took away from the GGCLC was the importance of getting out of your sector bubble and to take your values to unconventional venues. I was on Granville Island for the Vancouver Writers Fest, and at one of the venues there was a poster for the Living the New Economy Conference . I was curious so I went home, looked at the website and checked out the program. I am not an entrepreneur but my parents own their own business, my aunt and uncle have an gelato business so I grew up around small business.  As I've talked about before, CUPE BC is running a campaign called the Ten Percent Shift .  One of the sessions was called "Women and Leadership in the New Economy." I was sold right away - I am very interested in the new economy, women's issues and leadership so this was a marriage made in heaven! Plus Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer was on the panel and I respect her a great deal.  The event had about 50 people. There were a few booths - thi...

It's interesting how a complete stranger can change your life and one year ago today, Jack Layton died. I cried. I cried because we lost a champion of the labour movement. I cried because we lost a man who cared about the working people in this country. I cried because we lost a great Canadian.  I didn't know Jack personally. I got to meet him at one of CUPE conventions a few years ago. He shook my hand, said hello and smiled that famous mustachey smile. He always lit up the room at convention - he was articulate and inclusive. He wanted everyone in on the speech. He was always passionate - whether it was about pension reform, childcare, education, economics or the environment, he was passionate about everything.  At at the 2011 Canadian Labour Congress Convention he walked into a room of almost 3000 trade unionists from coast to coast to coast. You would have thought Bono had arrived by the reaction he got! It was right after the federal election where he had...

Home stretch! Today is the last day of the study tour - we have 4 meetings before we head to the Ottawa Marriott to meet up with the rest of the conference delegation. Today is also the day where I am the group lead - I'll be the one working with our MLO on introducing the group to our hosts, keeping the meeting on time and presenting the certificates and pins.  First up is a visit to Plasco Energy Group (specializing in the plasma gasification process) - upon arrival we see a giant robot. No photos allowed here, sadly but the view of the facility is incredible. They transform garbage into energy rich fuel which leads to some very interesting questions as we have 2 people in the energy industry in our group. It's a quick visit and we have to cross town again to the Ottawa Waste Water Treatment Plant. Next up is lunch with the President of of the National Research Council of Canada. John MacDougall is an alumni of the very first GGCLC. We get into a deep conversation of ...

After a residence breakfast at Carleton, we head to a small facility in an area of social housing to meet with the Community Housing Corporation. We talk about sustainable housing and like most communities in Canada, affordable and social housing is very hard to come by.  Ottawa Community Housing Corporation It was a nice day and Denis, alumni 2004 arranged for us to experience the Ottawa green belt at Mer Bleu or "the bog." In the middle of the city we go for a walk in a bog for about 25 minutes. Denis gives us a great presentation using a large stick to draw the city of Ottawa in the dirt. He draws a small half circle which represents Ottawa proper, then another semicircle and that is the greenbelt - an area of the city that is left for nature. The last semicircle represents the outskirts (where places like Kanata and Orleans are). After the walk in the sun it's off to a meeting with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).  As the ...

Another early morning (I sound like a broken record) takes us to Glengarry Fine Cheese on Lancaster. It's kind of a nice drive because this is the little town where very good friends of mine got married a few years ago. We get to the cheese shop and we're early. At the end of this conference we are to make a presentation and we've decided as a group to inject some humour into ours and create an 80s training montage - why am I telling you this? Well because we used all of our extra time on this day to film scenes. We all lined up on the grass and did sit ups and push ups while our MLO yelled at us military styles. Anyway, back to cheese. We meet with the proprietor and learn that this business has been in the family for a while and she has brought her experience in import/export to her business and has created a successful, sustainable product. We pick up some curds and are on our way to Hawkesbury. Hawkesbury is the third most bilingual town in Ontario with about 70% of...

Early morning again and it’s a team effort – coffees at Starbucks and breakfast sandwiches from Timmy Ho’s. Breakfast of champions! Then we have a long drive to Mountain where we are going to meet with the House of Lazarus, a community organization that runs a foodbank, thrift store, recycle depot. The woman who runs this place is a firecracker – she’s supercommitted to the organization and introduces us to the mayors of South Dundas and North Dundas. We get a tour of the food bank (which is small) where they let people pick their food rather than get preset packages. We learn that 30% of their patrons are working poor and like other communities in Ontario, manufacturing and mining were the 2 large employers and when they left town, people had to travel way outside of the area to find work. As shitty as the situation sounds, there is hope here. She works with public, private and social partners exemplifying a McKinsey “trisector athlete.” All of the money that she raises goes into trai...