Yep its true the right wing crumdgeon Neil Waugh,business columnist at the Edmonton Sun, has become the friend of the workingman and gasp building trades unions!
Though he still manages to get his digs in on the AFL and the divide in the house of labour over the issue of CLAC and CNRL brining in temporary workers, and whether the house of labour should salt CNRL or boycott them.
In his latest column he blasts the Alberta government making him sound like he signed up with the NDP. Move over Brian Mason there's a new pinko in Redmonton.
Alberta unemployment rates are at "near record low levels. The demand for manpower exceeds the available supply of skilled workers in many sectors of the economy," the CAPP document noted. (Unless you are an Alberta Building Trades Council tradesman sitting at home while Chinese and Filipino boilermakers, welders and electricians are showing up at two, maybe more, Fort McMurray jobs.) CAPP's "solution" is "training and immigration."Sooner or later someone must be asking, if Albertans are giving up billions in forgone royalty (oilsands plants only pay 1% until payout), why are we wreaking environmental havoc in the boreal forest with this massive buildup in production? Especially if the "immigration" solution is to import crews from the Third World?
Why aren't energy companies being forced to build their value-added facilities in Alberta, rather than sending the stuff down bullet pipelines to American refineries? This huge ramp-up in oil- sands production maybe CAPP's agenda. But remind me again, what's in it for Albertans?
More on Waugh
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Waugh, Edmonton, Sun, columnist, NDP, left, labour, unions, oil-industry,
1 comment:
During the Telus lock-out Waugh seemed to be the sole media voice not pushing the pro-corporste line. Despite living in Calgary I made a point of keeping an eye on him after that. I have a cabin about 40 yards from the Wabamum de-railment, he roasted CN too.
He may have been a crusty right-winger at one point but he seems to have seen the light - a similar transformation can be seen in Naomi Lakritz here in Calgary - an angry, almost hateful far right winger - while standing on the pickets during the Calgary Herald strike she seemed to have a road to Damascus moment and is now one of the few voices of sanity on that rag - though I haven't picked up the Herald since their Agriculture columnist wrote that the UFCW took advantage of the 'naive and gullible Africans' working at Lakeside.
Post a Comment