IS THE FOCUS GOING TO SHIFT FROM LIBERAL CORRUPTION TO JUDICIAL CORRUPTION?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Liberals acquitted in bribery case". Upon reading the story it appears somewhat credible until I started thinking back. Had I ever in my life seen corruption in a courtroom? Well in fact I have. That started me thinking. The corruption I had seen was in regards to a school board and their employee relations. At the time I realized that the form of corruption was maybe up for discussion. In other words could it possibly have been simply gross bias and gross incompetence versus the fix is in, someone owns the judge type of corruption? Depending upon your interpretation of corruption both of these behaviours likely fall under the umbrella of corruption.

Then a friend called and he was livid. Now his knowledge and understanding of politics is far greater than the average. He just out and out called a spade a spade. He suggested that indeed the fix was in. Whether it had to do with who appointed the judge in the first place, for example Dalton McGuinty, or whomever, he was adamant that justice was not served. He reminded me of some very strong evidence that surprisingly was not mentioned in the Record article. That evidence was the tape recording of an alleged bribe offered to the one candidate not to proceed with his nomination to become the candidate for the Liberal Party in that riding.

The proof of course is in the pudding. If that tape recording is as clear as apparently the spurned candidate and possibly the prosecution believe then maybe we could have an appeal filed. Appeals are quite standard when either a jury or judge alone hears a case and the losing party (usually) believes that there has been some breech of rights or process. Whether an appeal is even possible in the case of a directed verdict I simply don't know. I expect that the Crown introduced the tape recording and had the persons on it identified by the potential candidate who claimed to have been bribed. Surely the Judge would have wanted to hear the defendants either confirm or deny that it was indeed them on the tape. Throwing the whole case out without any rebuttal from the defence is incredible. Was the Crown's case really that weak or is there more to this? I expect that we will hear more.

ONTARIO LABOUR REFORMS LONG OVERDUE

Last Friday's Waterloo Region Record carried this article titled "Minister Flynn says labour reforms have broad support". Firstly part time workers, after Bill 148 is passed, must be paid at the same rate as full time staff including benefits. Colleges and universities have long been relying on contract or session workers who are paid significantly less and without benefits as full time employees with similar skills and experience. Universities have about 50% of their teaching staff as part time whereas colleges are made up of 70 to 85 percent part time staff. This has been a bonus for these institutions while essentially exploiting part time employees by paying them less than the full timers.

Other changes will include the right for part timers to refuse shifts when less than four days notice is given. The minimum wage will rise to $14 per hour this January and to $15 per hour by the following January. Lastly three hours pay will be given to employees on call whether or not they are called in to work and if their shift is cancelled with less than two days notice they will also receive three hours pay. It almost sounds as if Ontario and the Liberals want to bring the province into the 21st century. While Canada and the U.S. are essentially regressive labour wise, Europe have long recognized the inherent fairness of progressive labour laws. My working experience in this province leads me to believe that the Progressive Conservative Party are the mouthpiece for entitled, ignorant and regressive employers. Indeed they are the only party in the Ontario legislature who voted against Bill 148.

EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE - WHAT A JOKE IN ONTARIO

Even decades ago when women were legitimately complaining that they were getting paid less than men and or being pigeon holed into different jobs than men thus enabling the employers to claim that the men's jobs were more difficult or responsible etc. it was all a crock. A red herring. Back then the argument was how do you objectively determine which job is of equal value to another? Again a crock. I say this because then and now there are jobs that are identical ie. the same duties and responsibilities yet they pay vastly differently even by the same employer. The "difference" if you will is solely determined by the employer. They call one job full time permanent and the other part time or casual. Even if the duties are identical and the hours similar. It's was and is simply a way of getting cheaper labour by employers.

Two examples come to mind. Both were unionized! Shameful! Brinks guards and drivers did exactly the same job whether part time or full time. You carried the same guns, the same bags of cash and drove the same armoured trucks. The full time unionized guards in those days were receiving $20-25 per hour and the part timers $9 per hour. I never did see what the route to full time actually was.

Brewers Retail were just as bad. They had identical work within Brewer's Retail stores selling beer by the case to the public. Full timers again made more than double the part timers working right beside them doing the exact same work. The route to the full time, union protected jobs was through the A and the B lists. If a part timer somehow offended either a union guy or a store manager he would never be promoted onto the A or B list. Note the key word is offended. It could be a joke, a look, a failure to jump high enough when requested/ordered; it could literally be anything. And you never knew until after a few years when the updated A and B lists came out and you still weren't on them. Of course your manager still wanted your services and why not when you worked just as relaibly and hard as the full timers (or harder) but for half the money. What a deal for the company.

City of Waterloo summer public works department employees were the same thing. Only there you soon learned what it took to get hired on full time with a union protected job. Organized sports in high school were key. If you played baseball or hockey then you were one of the good old boys and you were on your way. Otherwise forget it, you were going nowhere. What a system.

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried a story titled "Precarious work at Ontario colleges". It's all about the current strike at the community colleges. A big issue is the issue of Sessional or Contract faculty at Ontario's Colleges and Universities. Once again it's a blatant case of underpaying hired help to do the exact same jobs as your full time employees. These are often highly educated individuals, including Doctorates at the University level, who for some reason have been hired on a part time or Contract basis to teach courses. To date these workers are part of the huge exceptions permitted under Ontario legislation allowing employers to discriminate on whatever basis they choose. It is reprehensible and grossly unfair. And it continues on. Perhaps the colleges exploitation will diminish after the next contract is signed. Perhaps not. Shame on the decision makers at both the College and University level who were and are responsible for this blatant discrimination.

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY PROFITS WHILE CITIZENS PERISH

Today's Woolwich Observer has quite an Opinion piece by Steve Kannon. Essentially Steve is suggesting as per his title that "A drug crisis unlike others, but pharmaceutical cash means nothing will change". The drug crisis is opiods and it includes prescription drugs that are being abused. Pain killers such as oxycodone are front and centre with illegal synthetics such as fentanyl being a result of the initial over prescription of the legal drugs. Canada has the second highest per capita consumption of opioids in the world with the U.S. being number one. Charming isn't that?

The real kicker is Steve's claims that much of this abuse is driven by pharmaceutical marketing to doctors and health professionals. Then Steve goes further by suggesting that the pharmacuetical manufacturers and distributors have even been lobbying the U.S. government for legislation to weaken the Drug Enforcement Agency's enforcement efforts. They lobbied successfully according to Steve by donating "...more than a million dollars into their (Congress) election campaigns.". Doesn't that give you a warm feeling knowing how legal it is to buy political influence south of the border. I would suggest that while influence can still be bought here, north of the border, generally it's done in more subtle, less blatant ways.

Steve's final paragraph is "But there's money to be made, and the corporate gaenda tops all. The crisis, deaths and all, is our political economy in microcosm. Expect hand-wringing and nothing else.".

OUR RIDICULOUSLY SLOW JUSTICE SYSTEM

A lawsuit was filed last June against the Waterloo Regional Police Service. Unsurprisingly both the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board and the Waterloo Regional Police Association have put forth documents to the courts suggesting that the courts have no jurisdiction in the case. If either of these groups had behaved properly and followed their mandates in the first place this problem would not have been allowed to grow and fester for so many decades. They claim that the issues arising in the lawsuit, namely sexual harassment and discrimination, are governed by the collective agreement. Justice Deena Baltman will hear jurisdictional matters as well as the issue of whether the suit should be certified as a class-action suit.

Unfortunately after the court date of last September 25 in a Brampton Courthouse, the next date is not until June 2018. The lawyer for the Plaintiffs expects that Justice Baltman will reserve her decision and release thereof until the fall. This is far too long especially for female officers whose sympathies and leanings will likely be scrutinized carefully in the interim by both their superiors and their fellow officers. The title of today's Waterloo Region Record article by Liz Monteiro is "Constables start group for female officers".

THE SHAME OF ONTARIO'S ENVIRONMENTAL NON-PROTECTION

Grassy Narrows, Elmira and Sarnia's Chemical Valley are all examples of neglect and negligence by our Ontario Ministry of the Environment. That they can delay, ignore and pretend that all is well in these communities is beyond all reasonableness. Basically it's politics first and the environment last. Only if the two on a rare occasion become aligned in their interests will progress be made environmentally.

Sarnia's Chemical Valley and Elmira's mini Chemical Valley have been infamous for a very long time. In Sarnia there are usually newspaper exposes every decade or so in the Toronto papers. The same thing has happened again with an investigation by the Toronto Star, Global News and two journalism schools. Benzene has been being discharged into the atmosphere in and around Sarnia, three to ten times above the annual criteria for some time now. Benzene is carcinogenic and is a cause of leukemia or blood cancer.

A health study of the nearby communities has been called for and ignored by Liberal politicians for at least a decade. It is being called for again after the release of the latest data. Of course all the usual suspects, in other words opposition politicians from the Conservatives and NDP are jumping on board the Health Study train. Similarly if the Progressive Conservatives win the next provincial election you can say goodbye to a health study anytime in the upcoming decade. Nobody really wants to disturb the chemical industry gravy train in the area.

IS DEMOCRACY A JOKE?

Well it certainly is in the workplace. I spent roughly fourty years in the Ontario workplace and it's much worse than a joke. I have to assume that most provincial Ministry of Labour's are just about as ineffective and pro employer biased as the Ontario one is. Just like our provincial Ministry of the Environment, the proof is in the pudding. Our air stinks, our water requires more and more treatment in order to be allegedly safe to drink and our Great lakes as well as rivers and streams running into them are all polluted. Fish are contaminated and fish advisories barely cover the worst contaminants in the fish.

For the Ministry of Labour just look at the never ending deaths and injuries on the job here in Ontario. We are a disgrace and until or unless workers decide to shut down offending companies it will only get worse. The Ministry of Labour barely give wrist slaps to repeat offenders. Corporate convictions and fines nicely insulate the guilty human beings who make choices favouring production and profits over human suffering.

Unionized plants likely have better safety records simply because the union are under some pressure from their members to protect them and their legal rights enshrined in various provincial labour laws. Of course these laws are meaningless unless they are vigourously enforced as well as observed by companies. Without vigourous enforcement however they are a joke. Good companies hardly need these laws and bad companies ignore them if they think they can get away with it. Generally they can.

Old time attitudes among those in charge are barely swayed by legislation and public attitudes for some. Those attitudes are why employees can not sue negligent employers for millions of dollars. Employers lobbied hard for Workmen's Compensation laws which removed the right to sue in favour of the government handing out compensation to employees injured on the job.

When individual decisions are covered by government insurance it becomes much cheaper to ignore costly health and safety laws in favour of short term financial gain.

Never in all my years working in the non-union environment did I see anything even remotely approaching democratic decision making in workplaces. It mattered not that employees generally speaking were the ones risking life and limb. It mattered not that employees were putting their future earning potential at risk on a regular basis by performing dangerous work. Work that was unnecessarily dangerous simply to save time and money for the employer.

Then think of workplaces that have psuedo military styles and attitudes. Yes police work is inherently dangerous but when the chain of command allows quasi criminal Police Act charges to be laid for disobedience then it becomes ridiculous. Worse yet is when full criminal charges can be laid essentially for internal disciplinary matters that have gotten out of control, courtesy of police management demanding blind, unthinking obedience to the old boys network. As per yesterday's posting Police management have long abused their authority and it is decades past time for honest and real change. Fair hearings by unbiased persons without conflicts of interest would be a pleasant change.