The fight for regional employment in Eastern Quebec and the Maritimes

Interview by TML Daily with Yannick Proulx, President, Regional Council, Quebec Workers’ Federation, Bas-Saint-Laurent-Gaspésie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine

Residents of Percé on the Gaspésie protest the EI reform. Their banner condemns the “black hole” seasonal workers suffer, the period when these workers are without an income from EI or their jobs.

TML: Tell us about the work of the Regional Council at this time.

Yannick Proulx: In our region, the question of employment is a crucial one and our situation is complex. The situation with regards to Employment Insurance (EI) for example, is a source of great insecurity. The Harper government’s reform is aimed at seasonal industries and these are of utmost importance to our region in the forestry industry, tourism and fisheries.

Robbie Burns, Grand Falls, Mackenzie and Gaza

25 January 2009 marks 250 years to the day since Scotland’s national poet was born. PETER EWART* reflects on the legacy of Scotland’s celebrated bard whose polemics against the exploitation, injustice and oppression of his time enraged the establishment and won him enduring love from the peoples of all lands.

The statue of Robert Burns in Halifax’s Victoria Park Square is the centre of innumerable political rallies, as this one in October 2006 against the apartheid wall in Occupied Palestine | Photo copyright 2006, Howard Harawitz, All rights reserved.

MANY PEOPLE IN THE MARITIMES have Scottish blood in them, and the same holds true for people across Canada, especially in parts of Ontario and northern British Columbia where I reside. Indeed, at one point in Canada’s history, Scots were the third largest ethnic group, and they have certainly played an important role in the development of the country.

A good number of these men, women and children are descended from the hardy Scots who were scattered to the wind in the 18th and 19th Centuries, sometimes driven out of their homes and forced off their land, sometimes imprisoned or exiled, other times leaving poverty and hardship, in search of opportunity and a better life.

Crisis in forestry: More mill closures in New Brunswick and Quebec

(6 June 2007 ) – UPM Kymmene paper and ground wood mills in Miramichi, NB will shut down for nine to 12 months, and four more mills in Quebec are facing temporary shutdown, a communiqué from the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) informs.